David didn’t answer as the sound of his door closing reverberated through the car. Light streamed inside as he opened my door and fresh air filled the space.
“I spoke to Mr. St. Pierre. Perhaps he closed the store in anticipation of your arrival.”
My skin itched and small hairs stood to attention. “David, this feels off.”
“I’ll go in with you, Mrs. Elliott. You don’t need to worry.”
Getting out of the car, I stood in the otherwise-empty parking lot with the gentle breeze blowing the skirt of my green dress. It was the same one I’d worn when I arrived. Wearing it was only a small rebellion to not wear Marion’s purchases, but even small rebellions gave me hope. My eyes narrowed as I looked again at the isolated building.
My head turned from side to side, taking in the sparse surroundings. “Mr. Elliott uses a jeweler way out here?” I asked. “Why?”
“Ma’am, you’ll need to ask him.”
“It’s eleven in the morning on a weekday—wouldn’t this be busier?”
David shook his head. “I don’t ask questions.”
Maybe I didn’t in the past, but this was no longer the past.
“Wait,” I said, removing my phone from the purse. “I’m going to call Marion.”
“You could call from inside.”
My feet were planted as I found Marion’s contact information and hit call.
“Madeline,” his usual drawl flowed through my name.
“You didn’t tell me that the jeweler is in the middle of nowhere.”
“I don’t recall you asking for particulars.”
My gaze continued to flirt about. “So this is really it?”
“Yes, Madeline. Randolph St. Pierre is an old friend. He has a very successful business without all of the overhead.”
Overhead?
Did he mean such as paying patrons?
“This feels off,” I said.
“David will stay with you. I wouldn’t let anything happen to my wife.”
“Fine,” I replied briskly. “Goodbye.”
Shutting down the call, I looked David up and down. He wasn’t a large man, but he seemed solid all dressed in black. The first time I’d met him, I’d noticed his professionalism. He maintained the same distance today. “Are you carrying?”
I was asking about a gun.
“Yes, ma’am.”
I wrapped my arms around my midsection as a cloud momentarily dimmed the sun’s light and warmth. “Okay, fine. Let’s get this over with.”
A moment later, finding the door locked, David knocked.
Patrick
Tension drew the muscles in my neck and shoulders tighter until reaching back and gripping my neck was my only relief. Easing away from the table, I paced toward the cockpit and back. Voices filled the cabin around me as Sparrow and Mason continued their conversations, and Marianne flew us closer to our destination.
“She just arrived at the jewelry store,” Reid announced through the screen on the wall. Thankfully, Madeline’s necklace was again broadcasting. “Our men are there.”
My pulse raced as I contemplated the next move. “She never said she’s in danger. If they try to take her…” I didn’t finish my sentence, too many bad scenarios coming to mind.
“What’s the goal of this operation, Patrick?” Sparrow asked. With his dark gaze coming to mine and his flawless appearance in his designer suit, he appeared calm and confident, the same way his voice sounded.
Calm wasn’t a word that could be used to describe me. “This isn’t a normal operation.”
“It is,” Mason said with the same brevity to his tone. “Our goal is to extract the target. That’s it. We’ve done this before. We treat it like any other operation. We’re good. Our men are good. Look what they did with Ruby.”
Yes, the men on the ground Reid mentioned were the same men who had been with me yesterday. Yesterday, I was with competent Sparrows, but I didn’t have fifty percent of the A-team with me. Since I was successful yesterday, with this crew it seemed like today should be a slam dunk.
I was grateful for the additional support. It was no secret that I wasn’t thinking straight. My talk with Ruby had me off-balance. Though I tried not to think about her or our conversation, bits and pieces kept returning. There were so many things about my wife and daughter’s lives I didn’t know.
I needed to concentrate.
Now that we had Ruby, the next step was to get her mother, alive and uninjured.
The reason for extracting her, as Mason put it, was more than the fact that Ruby needed her.
I too needed her. I’d lost her once, and I wasn’t fucking letting that happen again.
“Can we trust the jeweler?” I asked. He’d agreed to let our men into his store.
“His closet is full of skeletons. Exposing those will end his stream of income,” Sparrow said. “While he is a jeweler, it’s a front. Our men said he was surprised by their visit but not shocked. It sounds as if Elliott has him in a perpetual quid pro quo arrangement.”
“And this jeweler guy…” I began.
“His name is Randolph St. Pierre,” Mason interjected.
I inhaled as I twisted my shoulders and turned my neck. “This St. Pierre said he was contacted for a rush wedding band.”
“That’s what he told the two Sparrows,” Sparrow said. “He said he sent it by courier to the ranch early this morning. Reid confirmed a delivery around six thirty a.m. According to St. Pierre, he received a call from Elliott later in the morning saying the ring was too big. His wife would be there for a resizing. He ordered a rush.”
“I’ve been looking,” Reid said. “A license—marriage license—is pending in Hunt County.”
My head shook. “Where the fuck is Hunt County?”
“This was filed in Commerce, Texas, northeast of Dallas,” Reid answered. “The JP has the same last name as one of Elliott’s ranch managers. I’m still working on that connection.”
“You’re saying a license was filed for Elliott and Madeline? Madeline Miller?” I asked, trying to wrap the idea around my head. I didn’t know where that name Miller came from, but I knew it wasn’t her true legal name.
“Not exactly,” Reid answered. “Marion Elliott and Madeline Alycia Tate. The personal information matches what you’ve given me. The only reason the license hasn’t been issued yet is that the customary and standard search revealed a few red flags.”
“Such as Madeline Tate was married seventeen years ago,” I said.
“That,” Reid replied, “and a death certificate was issued for the same Madeline Tate ten years ago from the Cook County Medical Examiner.”
My eyes widened as did the others around me. “What?”
“Let me look into that,” Reid volunteered.
“I never found that. How didn’t I find it?” I asked as I sat back in the leather chair. “Had I quit looking ten years ago?” My mind was a fog.
“It’s good you didn’t find it,” Mason said, staring across the table at me. “She’s not dead.”