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“Jack,” she said. And then he folded her into his arms, his embrace gentle as she cried against him. I stood awkwardly to the side, an intruder on the moment, because the grief on Jack’s face was there as well and I knew they shared a common pain for the man they’d thought they’d known.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” she said, swiping at her eyes. “The FBI was here yesterday. They’re saying awful things about John. I don’t understand.”
“Let’s go inside,” Jack said. “We’ll talk it out. Just remember that you and the girls will be okay through all of this. I’m here for whatever you guys need. Whatever is said about John won’t change our friendship.”
She nodded a couple of times and wiped her eyes again and then seemed to see me for the first time. “I’m sorry.” Her face shone with embarrassment as she opened the door for us. “I don’t normally fall apart like that. I’m Jane Elliott.” She held out her hand to me and I shook it.
“I’m J.J. Graves. Jack’s really good at letting women fall apart on him. He gives good hugs.”
Her smile was brief, but in it I saw the attractive woman she’d been before life had leeched the color from her skin and put the dark circles beneath her eyes.
We followed her into a well-kept house that smelled like lemons and whatever she had cooking in the Crock Pot on the kitchen counter.
“I sent the girls to stay with my mother for a few days until I can get a handle on all of this. They don’t know yet. And honestly I’m not sure how I can tell them.” She gestured to the sitting area and Jack and I took a seat on a neutral colored sofa piled with colorful pillows.
“How’s Katie doing?” Jack asked.
“She’s good. A normal ten year old. She’s been cancer free for three years now, and all of her check ups have been good news. An Agent Greer is the one who came to see me,” she said, changing the topic. “Is what he said about John true? Was he a traitor?”
Jack sighed and looked straight at Jane when he answered. “Whatever John did, you know he did it for Katie. I know that and you know that. And I don’t blame him for it. You shouldn’t either.”
A tear escaped and she ruthlessly wiped it away. “He never said anything to me. That he was working with those other men. Agent Greer kept asking if I remembered anything, but I don’t, Jack. I swear. We were so busy with Katie at the time. One hospital stay after another. And we thought we were going to lose her. I didn’t pay attention whether or not John was getting phone calls at odd hours or if I’d ever seen him meeting with someone unusual. I barely remembered my name during that time.”
“It’s okay, Jane. Just take a deep breath. If I can do it, I’m going to try to see if the FBI will keep John’s name out of the media. You and the girls shouldn’t have to deal with that. And I can only imagine what it was like for you, but I need you to try hard and think of anything that maybe stuck out as unusual during that time. Names you might have overheard or phone calls. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important. The whole squad is dead except for me and Sam Wolfe, and he’s been missing for a few days.”
Her lip trembled and she bit down on it. “Agent Greer told me. He told me you were in danger. That we all could be. It’s part of the reason I sent the girls away.You need to get away from all this, Jack. I couldn’t bear it if something happened to you too.”
“You don’t have to worry about me. I’m protected. John talked about an experimental treatment for Katie, but he said insurance didn’t cover it. Did Katie ever get that treatment?”
Her brow furrowed for a minute. “Of course. It’s one of the reasons she’s still here with us. There’s an organization—Kids With Cancer—and they raise money to donate it to families who need the kind of treatment Katie did. They covered it all.”
“Who did John hang out with in his off time?”
“He was at the hospital whenever he wasn’t at work, but if he took personal time he hung out with someone from the team. Or he just spent it reading a book or something. You remember how much he liked to get lost in a book.”
“There wasn’t anyone you didn’t know hanging around? Maybe a couple of phone calls that were hangups?”
“I’m sorry.” She lifted her hands and let them fall back to her knees again. “I just don’t remember anything. All I know is that John’s dead, and we can’t ask him to his face why he did all this. I don’t know what to tell you, Jack.”
Jack sighed and patted Jane’s hand as she quietly wept.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
We left Jane and her tidy row house a short time later to make the drive back to Bloody Mary. I watched the scenery pass by in a blur as thoughts rattled around in my head like marbles.
“We’ve got a tail,” Jack said, flicking on his blinker and moving over a lane. “Just keep looking straight ahead. We don’t want to spook him until our federal friends can get a license plate and a description.”
I looked in the side mirror andtried to see the cars behind. The van was easy to spot a couple of lanes over and a few cars back. I didn’t see the grey Honda anywhere. “Which one?”
He moved over another lane andI saw a black Jeep with oversized tires and tinted windows follow us over. He stayed back several cars in length. Jack’s cell phone rang and he put it on speaker.
“You’ve got a tail,” one of the agents following us said.
“I see him. Can you get a license plate?”
“Negative. He’s keeping a car between us and the windows are too dark to get a visual on the driver. I’m about to get off at the exit and Agent Carlson will move in. I’ll pick you up about a mile down the road.”
“Let me see if I can help you out some.” Jack disconnected and sped up, putting distance between our tail and us. I had a white knuckled grip on the door with my right hand, and my left reached out and slapped the dash as we squeezed between a semi and a minivan. He slammed on the brakes and I jerked against my seatbelt, while the semi laid on the horn.
