Page 20 of The Agent
“Everything okay?” he called warily.
She didn’t answer. Just remained glued to the screen, her face growing impossibly paler.
“Oh, my God,” she whispered.
Caleb took brisk strides toward the counter, but Marley was shielding the computer screen from his view. “What’s going on?” he demanded.
Slowly, she lifted her head and looked at him. The terror and confusion he saw in her gaze raised every warning flag he had.
“It’s him.” She shuddered. “Why won’t he leave me alone? Why can’t he just—” Her breath was quick and shallow. “Oh, God. I have to call the police.”
CHAPTER 5
“MARLEY,YOU NEED TO CALM DOWNand tell me what’s going on,” Caleb said in a firm tone.
But she was already marching over to the phone, mumbling unintelligible things. As she dialed, Caleb leaned forward to examine the page on the laptop, the message that had just shaken Marley’s entire world. He hissed in a breath as he read the words on the screen.
I miss you, sweet pea. Stay strong. I’ll see you soon.
Caleb’s body hardened with icy fury. Grier. That son of a bitch had contacted Marley, just as Caleb had known he would.
“Detective Hernandez,” he heard Marley stammer from behind him. “Yes…please…tell him it’s urgent.”
Caleb read Grier’s message again. Short, but sweet. Each word was branded into his brain, the last four bringing a wave of satisfaction and a jolt of adrenaline. Grier was coming for her. Caleb had known Grier wouldn’t be able to stay away. Yet along with the gratification of knowing that his hunch had been right, a knot of fear twined around his insides as he realized precisely how much danger Marley was in.
Grier’s saccharine words rang of love, not hate, but when you were dealing with sociopaths there wasn’t always a clear line between the two. Grier could turn on Marley any second. Hell, he could decide to strangle her to death if he didn’t like the way she prepared his coffee. The knowledge of what had happened to the last woman Grier was involved with wasn’t lost on Caleb.They’d never been able to conclusively tie him to her murder, but the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming. With nothing concrete to charge him with, the case had gone cold. Still, everyone involved felt Grier was their man.
Shit. He needed to call his supervisor and arrange for more agents to watch Marley, maybe get the local cops to patrol the neighborhood. Even Hernandez would have to agree this email spelled danger.
Hernandez. Damn. Marley was speaking to him at this very moment, her voice shaky as she told him about the message.
He had to get out of here. And fast. The local police detective knew about the stakeout, but not that Caleb had made contact. Which meant that his cover could be blown the moment the detective walked into the house and saw Caleb there.
“The detective in charge of the case is on his way over.”
Marley’s voice pulled him from his panicked thoughts. He turned to face her, glad to see some color returning to her face.
She gave him a rueful look. “I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?”
Caleb faltered. Explaining? Why would she need to—because he wasn’t supposed to know about any of this… She wasn’t aware that he knew about Grier, that he’d been hunting the guy for three months. That his best friend and partner had been killed because of her ex.
“Yeah,” he said, finding his voice. “That might be helpful.” He gestured to the laptop. “I’m sorry, I read the email. You were so upset, and I wanted to see—”
“It’s fine,” she interrupted. “Come on, let’s sit.”
He followed her back to the table, but even after they were seated, Marley didn’t continue. She suddenly seemed lost, turmoil and anger roiling in her brown eyes.
“Who was the message from?” he asked.
“My ex,” she said flatly. “Who made it pretty clear he’s coming after me.”
“I’m afraid I don’t quite understand.”
She inhaled slowly. “Remember I told you he wasn’t who he said he was? Well, what I found out that he was a drug dealer.”
Without preamble, she told him everything. She skimmed over the romance, but spoke in detail about the day she’d found out from the police who Patrick was, the investigation that followed, the shame and horror she’d felt when she learned the truth.
Each word made his temples throb. The disbelief dripping from her voice was unmistakable. So was the disgust in her eyes. AJ was wrong. There was now no doubt in Caleb’s mind that Marley had been completely ignorant of her fiancé’s criminal dealings. Nobody could act that well. Nobody could fake the horror conveyed in each word she spoke.
