Page 95 of Run for Her Life
“I didn’t know.” She sputtered out the words, her face frozen in uncanny horror. “I swear… I… Oh my God, how could this have happened? Who is he?” Her red, teary eyes stared up at Aiden. “Who is he?”
Zoe couldn’t answer. The duality inside Jim was so stark, like an inner fault line that had finally caused a crack too deep that it swallowed everyone around him. It was too close to home. As she watched Lisa, she wondered if this was the fate that awaited Gina too. If one day Zoe would snap and be consumed by that rage preserved for organized fights and do something so catastrophic.
Perhaps it was a good thing that Aiden was mad at her. He didn’t need to get close. No one should.
A tall, imposing woman with flaming red hair and harsh but striking features arrived around the corner—Mackenzie Price.
“Detective Price?” Zoe blinked in confusion and the memory hit her. “Oh my God, you were there!”
“I need your assistance on a case, so I came to Pineview Falls.” She folded her arms. “I found out at the sheriff’s department where you were. When I got there, you had already been shot and Dr. Wesley was standing over you. For a second, I thought he was the one that shot you.”
“I don’t like guns.” Aiden shook his head.
“That’s it? Not, ‘Why would I shoot Zoe?’ You’re the one who needs a psych evaluation. Ow!” A string of pain pulsed down her side when she shifted slightly. This was going to be a long recovery.
Aiden’s lips twitched. She bit her tongue, remembering their earlier hostile exchange.
“She was the one who shot Jim in the knee,” Aiden said.
“And that’s why I was in hot water for getting involved in a face-off in a federal case. Sorry, I couldn’t visit you in hospital. I was busy giving my statement and apologizing to the higher-ups.”
“Thank you.” She smiled weakly at Mackenzie and glanced at the shining ring on her finger. “How’s Nick doing?”
“He’s a bit of a hard-ass as the sergeant.” When her phone chirped, she frowned. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
“I’m sorry, Storm,” Aiden said softly, his face haggard. “I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”
“I get it.” She played with a loosening thread on her sweater. “I don’t know what I was thinking.” She took a hitching breath, her body tensing. “I was protecting my mother, Aiden.”
He was taken aback. “Your mother? What does that have to do with any of this?”
“She was the woman who distracted David while Viktor sabotaged the haunted house. This was Red Trigger business.”
“They wanted a bunch of teenagers dead?”
“Just one. Michael. The son of some developer who was interfering with their operations. They needed to send him a message, and the rest of the kids were collateral damage.”
“Your mother worked for them?”
It was the hardest confession of Zoe’s life. But she couldn’t bring herself to share with anyone that Rachel was a hitman for the organization. She had taken lives.
“I still don’t know entirely what her role was but I guess I just wanted to protect her memory.”
“I understand now.”
“Thanks. Please tell me you didn’t call my sister.” She threw her head back.
He laughed. “I told them not to. I figured I should ask you first.”
“Good. Gina doesn’t handle bad stuff very well.” She bit her lip, a heavy weight sitting on her chest. There was that message from Jeff that she was supposed to convey to Gina. How was she going to do that? Where on earth would she begin?
“Storm…” Aiden fumbled to find the right words, sounding unsure. He never did that. He was always certain and calibrated in his responses. “About Red Trigger, I was?—”
Mackenzie returned. “Sorry, that was Nick. He was just checking up on me.”
“I never asked you, what case did you need my help with?” When Mackenzie’s eyes flickered to Aiden, Zoe assured her. “I trust him. It’s okay.”
Mackenzie’s face turned serious. “Nick and I have been looking into a cold case from about a decade ago. A homicide. With the new DNA ancestry technology, we sent an old sample for retesting.” She paused and took a shuddering breath, like she was almost second-guessing herself. “There was a fifty percent match… to you.”
