Behind her, he said, “Wait. I forgot about… Just sit. I’ll take care of it.”
The last thing she wanted was Forbes seeing her dirty underwear. “I have…personal things.”
“I bought them, remember?”
Not all of them, and they’d been clean then, but she didn’t argue. Instead, after he left, she set to work with the little time she had.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-TWO
Seven minutes later, Forbes helped Brooklynn into his pickup.
He was going to keep her safe if it killed him. God willing, they’d both make it out of this alive. Now that the police were involved, now that Forbes had names and dates and evidence, the people who’d murdered his family would be brought to justice.
Leo Taggart and Maury Stratton.
A cop and a real estate agent, of all things.
He could hardly fathom it. After a lifetime of wondering, of searching and digging and praying, he’d finally found the truth—thanks to Brooklynn.
He put her backpack, a shopping bag filled with the clothes he’d bought her, and his duffel bag onto the backseat beside the box he’d hastily filled with evidence.
“You’re sure there’s no tracker on the truck?” Brooklynn asked.
“I left it on the workbench. We’re safe.” When they were both buckled, Forbes hit the remote attached to his visor, and the garage door lifted. “You got the directions?”
“Yup. Should take us a little over an hour to get there.”
An hour.
One hour, and he’d hand all this over to Lori Putnam and the state police. He’d loop in the FBI as soon as he got a name.
It would be out of his hands. No matter what happened next, he could rest in the knowledge that he’d done everything he could.
Brooklynn’s phone dinged, and she glanced at the screen. “Jon sent his FBI contact.”
“He’s johnny-on-the-spot, isn’t he?”
She must’ve clicked the number because her phone was ringing. “We’ll send him a gift basket.”
Smiling, Forbes shifted and rolled the truck out of the garage into the darkness and around the winding lane to the circular drive in front of the house.
Up ahead, something glinted in the moonlight.
He slammed on the brakes.
She looked up. “What’s?—?”
A car was parked between the stone pillars, blocking their exit.
A tiny voice was speaking through the phone, but there was no time for that now.
A man stepped out of the hedge that Brooklynn had pushed through a few days earlier. He raised an object that reflected the dim light.
“Watch out!”
Her words were followed by a booming thump.
“Get down.” Forbes shifted into reverse and twisted to see the way back to the garage. If they could get inside…