Page 5 of Secrets

“Millicent, this is Officers Graves and Humble. They’ll be here all night long for you.”

“Hi, Millicent,” smiled the female officer. She nodded but said nothing. Suddenly, they heard the screeching of tires, and Fowler ran toward the window.

“Shit. How in the hell did they find us?”

“I t-told you. I told you,” cried Millicent.

“Graves? Get her the fuck out of here. Go out the backway and run. I’ll radio for help but keep that girl safe!”

Millicent followed the officer out the back door and into the yard behind them. She radioed for help, and they could hear the sirens, but they also heard the gunshots.

It felt as though they’d run for days between houses and buildings, in woods and on streets. Finally, Graves sat down, and Millicent saw why.

“Oh, God, you’re bleeding,” she gasped.

“Millicent. I can’t run anymore. Take my ankle weapon and some extra bullets. This is all the cash I have on me. Your family brought some extra help to the house. They’ve radioed for additional officers from neighboring towns.

“You run for about an hour that way, and you’re going to hit a small town with a bus station. Take the bus to Chicago and find the FBI building there. Tell them what happened.”

“I can’t leave you! I can’t! If they find you…”

“Don’t. I don’t have the strength to fight you and them,” she said, cringing in pain. “Do as I say, Millicent. Do as I say and stay alive. Stay alive so you can put them away for life.”

Millicent was crying so hard that her own wounds were causing her to be in such pain, she wasn’t sure she could keep moving. But the officer was so convincing, so certain she had to run, she found it within her.

She made it to the bus station, paid for the ticket with the cash the officer had given her, and found the FBI office in Chicago.

They were as shocked to see her as she was to have made it there. It was months of moving from safehouse to safehouse before the trial began. She found out the very first day in Chicago that Tick had been killed by the officer who saved her. Her father and Jay both had been injured, but they were in custody.

Apparently, her father had other ideas of how his life would end, and it didn’t include bars and group showers. He grabbed the bailiff’s weapon and tried shooting his own daughter, then shot himself.

Millicent realized she’d evaded death once again. The problem was the worst of the Fraser family was now staring at her with venom and a desire to kill.

Her.

CHAPTER THREE

“He’s in prison for life, Millicent. You don’t have to worry about him any longer. Go and live your life. We can change your name if you like, but it won’t make a difference. He’s not going to get out.”

“What about all the people he worked for?” she asked the FBI agent.

“Honey, your brother Jay spilled the beans on every last one of them. Turns out he was ready to make a deal, but the D.A. wasn’t. But what he told them didn’t sit well with all those gangsters. You’re perfectly safe out there on your own. He’ll have another trial in a few months, but it won’t matter.”

“He’ll find a way to come for me,” she said, shaking her head. “How will I ever have a life?”

The agent stared at her, then nodded.

“Hold on a minute. I might know someone who can help you. Do you know how to cook?”

“I’m a good cook,” she said, nodding. “I taught myself.”

“Stay here.”

Six years. Six years of testimony, trials, witnesses, bodies found, weapons found, and her life on hold. Six long years. Now, her brother and father were dead, but the true devil of the group was still alive, and whether they believed it or not, hewould find a way to get to her and kill her. She just needed to find a place that he couldn’t get to.

“Okay, I have a job interview for you,” said the agent. He slid the sheet of paper across the table. It was the first of a dozen job interviews. She’d work a while at a kitchen, hotel, diner, or restaurant and then move on. She just kept moving south until a woman in Mississippi said she had the perfect place for her.

“Just call that woman, honey,” she said.

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