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The look of confusion on her face as she stared at Thatcher told me she had no idea what he was talking about.“Hamilton?”she asked him.
He shrugged.“If that’s his real name.”
“How do we know?”I probed.
“The number in her phone that he has called and texted her from is the same number that we were able to trace from the call that I received.”
“Motherfucker!”I roared, gripping the edge of the desk before swinging my eyes to Oakley.“When did you make plans for tonight?”
Her eyes were wide and panicked.“Today.Not long before you showed up.I … I was drying my hair, and I turned off the hair dryer.My phone rang.It was Hamilton.He asked me out.”She shook her head.“It can’t be him.That makes no sense.”
“What all did he say to you?”I demanded.
There had to be something there.If he’d set a fucking bomb in her car, then he had a plan.
“He … he said …” she stammered.“Uh, well, he asked if I wanted to go to dinner and a movie.I said yes.Then, he asked what I was doing.I told him I was working.No, wait.I said I was getting ready to go grocery shopping.He said to finish my work at the house and then he’d come get me early and take me to the grocery store.I thought it was an odd request, but I said okay.”
I felt Thatcher’s gaze on me then.I didn’t look at him.I kept my eyes on her.Looking for any sign or suggestion that she knew something.The memory of the liar that she had once been was in the back of my head, reminding me how good she was at it.Could she be that good of an actress though?Nothing gave her away.Not one small sign that she was keeping something from me.All I saw was fear, disbelief, horror, reflected in her eyes.
“When he said he’d take you to the grocery store, did he say anything else?Like not to leave the house?Anything?”Thatcher pressed.
She shook her head.“He … he made me promise that I’d wait for him, but that’s it.”
Did Thatcher see something I was missing?Was my fucking connection to her, which I couldn’t seem to sever, keeping me blinded to a truth she was hiding?
“He was never gonna hurt her,” Thatcher said finally.
I swung my gaze to his.This time searching his face for anything to tell me I shouldn’t trust her.Thatcher didn’t let emotions get in the way because he didn’t have any.He was detached, and because of that, he read people better than anyone I knew.If she was lying, he would see it.
“The bomb was in her fucking car,” I bit out.How could she be in on something like this?
“Yeah.And he was making sure she didn’t get in the car.Her keys weren’t in the house.We searched everywhere.He’d taken them already.She was never meant to get in that car.That was all a setup to force your hand.”
I narrowed my eyes.“Why didn’t I know about the keys until now?”
He shrugged.“Because I had a hunch.”He glanced over at Oakley, then back at me.“Why choose her car as the one to set a bomb in?It didn’t make sense.When the guys searched for her keys, they were gone.”
There was no accusation when he looked back at Oakley.He wasn’t blaming her, and from where I stood, I could tell he didn’t believe she had any idea Hamilton was mixed up in this shit.The relief that came with that knowledge shouldn’t have been so damn powerful.But it was.And not just because Sarah loved her.I needed Oakley to be innocent.
“What are you getting at?”I asked him when he didn’t say more.
Thatcher nodded his head at Oakley.“She’s Hamilton’s weak link, but he tried to test you and see if she was yours too.You saved her; she’s locked away from him.He can’t get to her, and he now knows she’s important to you.But what he doesn’t know is that we are now aware she’s important to him and he’d have never let her get in that car.Oakley was the only one of those he threatened who was actually safe.”
My stomach turned, and bile burned my throat.All this time, she had been dating someone dangerous.He could have hurt her at any time.I’d not protected her.
“We don’t know this Hamilton guy is who we are looking for.”I fucking needed him not to be our guy.If he was, I was going to live with the horror of what could have happened to her over and over in my head on repeat.
“It sure is looking like we are real damn close.Let her call him.Then, you work your magic with that damn super computer.”
I turned my gaze to Oakley.She was close to having had enough for one day.I wanted Thatcher to fucking leave and let her digest all this.She needed some time to rest, let it all settle.She didn’t need to be forced to make a call like this.
“You don’t have to—”
“Yeah, she fucking does,” Thatcher interrupted me.
I turned then and took a step in his direction.He wasn’t going to force her to do anything.
“I’ll do it, Wilder,” Oakley blurted out.“He’s right.We need to know.”
