Page 69 of Trail to Trouble
Without so much as a glance back, she exited his home. Regret in every footstep.
ChapterEighteen
The spring sunpeeked through the window blinds, distracting Katrina from falling back to sleep. Who was she kidding? She hadn’t slept for nearly a week since she’d had dinner with Hunter. Her heart sank. Hunter. If only she hadn’t run into him. If she’d just put two and two together before accepting the interview at his company, she could have turned it down and avoided him. But no, and now she realized the man she longed for was within reach. Recalling his hold and kisses warmed her, yet saddened her.Dammit.
She flung back the covers, rolled out of bed and moseyed into the kitchen to start coffee. As part of her Sunday routine, she called up the online version of the Minnesota Press. Though she hadn’t lived in Minnesota for almost ten years, she still liked to keep up on the news there, her small hometown news in particular. She missed the Northwoods. Not always the extreme winter cold, but missed it nonetheless.
The Minnesota Press had changed through the years, focusing less on the smaller communities and more on the Twin Cities. She still got a few nuggets of information about her hometown and the people she’d left behind.
The coffee pot buzzed, and she rose from her chair to nab a cup of hot, strong black brew. Back at her laptop on the kitchen table, she scrolled, stopping on the crime report page. Twelve hundred and twenty-two assault offenses so far this year. Eighty-three sex offenses and two homicides. Wow, not much had changed in the past decade from when she first thought to check the numbers after she’d been assaulted.
She clicked on the headlines tab. The shock of the first headline nearly knocked her off her chair. Her breaths came quickly. Her heart raced. Extremities went numb. The computer screen faded to black. No, that was her vision. She placed her palms on the tabletop and squeezed her eyes shut, and rested her cheek on the edge of the table. It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t.
After choking down the lump in her throat, she sucked in a breath and let it out slowly, then she lifted her head and opened her eyes. Blinking rapidly, she cleared her vision.Hennepin County Assistant District Attorney Disappears. The professional photo was of the assistant district attorney who prosecuted Sebastián’s case. Katrina skimmed the article. The ADA didn’t show up to work on Thursday. Neither family nor friends knew of her whereabouts.
Katrina sprang from her chair and double-checked her door to make sure it was locked. She shouldn’t have to, because she had probably checked it three times before she’d gone to bed. She returned to her laptop to read the brief article again.
She supposed the list of suspects could be a long one, as the ADA charged a lot of criminals and prosecuted some as well. At least Sebastián shouldn’t be on that list since he was still in prison, yet the anxiety swirling in the pit of her stomach told her it was a possibility. After reading the article a third time, she moved on to another story. Then another. Typical stuff. She moved on to the state news.Prison Overcrowding Causes Early Releases.What? She couldn’t have read that title correctly, so she reread it. Overcrowding. What in the hell? Who cared if they were overcrowded? There was a reason they were sentenced to a specific period, and they should have to serve that time. She continued to read. No! Her hand flew over her mouth. It couldn’t be.No, no, no.
She flew out of her chair again and checked the lock on her door, then she grabbed her cell phone and paced her tiny kitchen as if she were a caged animal.
“Hello,” her brother, Kane, aka Kent Holmes, said.
“He’s out. Sebastián is out of prison, and the ADA is missing!”
“What?”
“I just read it in the Minnesota Press. Because of overcrowding, there was an early release of prisoners. Anyone set for release in the next two years, who served over five years, was released. Sebastián was set for release later this year. He’s out!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes!”
“Okay. Okay. We prepared for this. Right? You’re safe. You’ll be fine. We have new identities and have made no contact with anyone from our past.”
Silence.
“Katrina?”
Silence.
“Katrina?” he said louder, snapping her out of her reverie about Hunter.
“I need to tell you something. I ran into Hunter.”
“Hunter?”
Her brother said that as if the name didn’t click with him.
She inhaled slowly and let it out as slowly as she took it in.
“The guide from Yooper Adventures.”
Now it was her brother’s turn for silence.
“It was a total accident, but he recognized me and he knows we’re in hiding, but not formal hiding.”
“Does he know that the Garcias are a cartel?”
