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Photographs that did not do her justice at all.
So far Handley had been impressed by what Colin had found of this former IA lieutenant. And not just because of how beautiful she was.
Handley knew all about the corruption in the TSP, after all. It had been the defining point of his life since his son Houghton was only ten years old.
Not something he would ever forget.
Nothing he had found so far told of Heather—he could not think of a woman like her as lieutenant anything—being corrupt. Or dirty.
He watched her with her daughters now, after all.
A very loving mother. Beautiful. There was no mention of her children’s fathers anywhere in what Colin had given him. Colin was still searching.
He was looking forward to the challenge she would bring as she tried to pin Handley down. It would happen eventually.
Handley wasn’t a fool. He had broken several laws in the last thirty years. That those laws were in the protection of others would matter little when he faced his reckoning.
Which he would. With dignity and a lack of apology.
He had come to terms with what he had done many, many years ago. Now, it was just cleaning up the messes along the way. More than anything, he would have the answers before he went to his eternal reward or damnation. Whichever it was.
This Heather Coleson—either she would stand in the way of his mission, and he would have to address that. Or she would help, and he would have to use that.
In the meantime, he did enjoy watching her very much.
Handley stayed in his car, right there in the parking lot of the small park in the center of her Hughes Heights neighborhood. He owned four properties in the gated community under a variety of names.
Heather was with her daughters in front of him now. Just twenty feet away. Handley’s brother’s home was just a few yards away. He would need to be gone before Mason arrived home.
Heather was watching him now. She’d already looked at his car several times. A very suspicious girl, that one. The older child—a beautiful preschooler just six weeks older than his own Harry but far smaller—was running around to the swings. So sweet, so precious—she greatly resembled her mother. Heather was smiling. Her youngest daughter was strapped to Heather’s chest, little arms waving around and tiny feet kicking. The infant wore little pink shoes and a knit cap against the cold.
He remembered when Connie would strap their only child to her chest like that.
Connie had looked a bit like Heather. The long dark hair, the tall thin body. That unhurried graceful way of moving that was so eye-catching.
Yes, from a distance…
There was a resemblance.
It hurt to remember. It always would. It always would.
He watched Heather and her daughters for the longest time, remembering what he had had. What he had lost.
No. Watching Heather now, he couldn’t imagine her being corrupt. He just couldn’t.
Handley just hoped he was right about her.
For their new dance was about to begin.
20
Congratulations, Madison McAlister! You are the lucky winner of an early shift call in. Take one for the team, chick!
Well, there she was. There was a two-hour window each morning in the lab when there were only two techs in the entire place. The same window was echoed at ten at night. It hadn’t always been that way. Just one month ago—budget cuts had cost the lab those hours.
Just after Rory quit to have her babies and Charlotte started taking her comp time all at once to make a movie in Wyoming. It was only a twelve-week commitment for Charlotte. They were making this work.
Plus, with Hope joining second shift, they had just enough people to limp through each week. Barely. As long as the Wichita Falls jerks didn’t suddenly yank Hope away, they could make it work.
