those days after Sarah’s accident, when she didn’t want to see him because she thought he couldn’t love her anymore just because she was paralyzed. So she’d pushed him away, despite all his attempts to convince her he still loved her. Eventually Eric had been forced to face the fact she didn’t want him anymore.
He couldn’t let himself go there again. Not if he could help it. He just had to keep everything compartmentalized. Then there wouldn’t be any risk of getting in too deep.
Find Farrell, and keep his feelings out of it.
* * *
Hailey heard the sirens before the stream of cars tore around the corner onto Deirdre’s street and pulled up outside the house.
Hailey took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders as the pack of marshals climbed out of their cars into the rain. Their jackets and ball caps dampened fast, and she could barely distinguish the patter of rain from the stomp of boots up the front walk.
“Farrell might have been staying here since he escaped. We’re not sure.”
Jonah actually looked impressed for a second, like maybe Hailey had done something of note. The forty-something’s graying hair gave him a distinguished air, but she’d seen him cuff a four-hundred-pound biker without breaking a sweat.
The look of approval disappeared as fast as it had come when she told Jonah what they’d found.
“Not good.” His eyes darkened. “Looks like Princess Phelps has some explaining to do.”
Hailey nodded. This should have been a quick interview, a chance to bring new information to the team. Now someone—not Hailey—was going to have to tell Deirdre’s father she was wanted for questioning. For harboring a dangerous fugitive, no less.
Hailey checked her watch. One hour until Kerry caught the bus home and went to her dad’s for the weekend.
“Running late for something?”
She shot Parker a glance and scowled. “I’m focused. That’s how I found all this.”
Jonah stepped in front of her. “Parker, get upstairs and take a look.”
Hailey smirked, but Jonah turned and caught the look on her face. “They’re never going to warm to you if you don’t play nice.”
“It’s been four years since I joined the team. I figure if it hasn’t happened by now...”
Maybe their razzing her was their idea of respect. That was possible. But still, Hailey didn’t like double standards.
“Besides, why do I have to be the one that’s nice? Maybe they should go first.”
Jonah sighed. “Why does my job feel more like babysitting than federal law enforcement? And I’m not just talking about the criminals.”
Hailey opened her mouth, but Jonah lifted his hand, palm facing out. “Save it, Shelder. We’ll get the techs to go through all this. Find out who Deirdre and Farrell were working with.” Jonah folded his arms, his face completely neutral. “The BOLO will be updated to include Deirdre and her car. We’ll take this from here. You two head back to the office.”
Jonah wasn’t going to ream her for going off unsupervised? “What’s going on?”
“You want me to tell you that you did a good job?” Jonah asked.
“Might be nice.”
“That’s not going to happen. We all want to catch him, and you scored big with Deirdre and the files upstairs. Your actions versus the result, you barely broke even.”
“What?” Hailey couldn’t believe he thought she’d only done enough to outweigh her acting not exactly according to procedure. “But—”
“I get you want to catch Farrell, but this isn’t the way to do it. One of these days this jumping the gun is going to get you in serious trouble.”
Jonah ran a hand through his hair. “Once the team has finished processing the house we’ll run through what they’ve found.” He glanced at his watch. “How long until Kerry gets out of school?”
“You think Farrell’s going to come after my daughter this fast?” Some of the other guys on the task force had wives, kids. Would they be targeted, too? “Maybe we should put a detail on all the families. Just to be safe.”
Jonah folded his arms. “Look, we still don’t know if Farrell was injured last week or not. It depends if he’s already split town or if he’s sticking around to pay us back.”
“This is my lead, and it’s Charles’s weekend. Put someone on his house.”
Jonah strode away down the hall.
“Come on, Hailey.” Eric motioned to the front door.
Apparently Eric thought she’d done the wrong thing, too. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Together they stepped outside. The rain was falling in a steady stream. It felt like she was standing with her face against a sprinkler.
Hailey followed him to the curb, her drenched hair getting plastered to her head. “Jonah’s going to take all the credit.”
Eric looked back at her. Raindrops ran down his face. “You think?”
Hailey swiped the rain from her forehead. She should have grabbed a ball cap that morning. “Of course. That’s the only explanation for why he wants us out of here. Haven’t you learned anything? Jonah is going to make it look like I’m the victim and claim the lead for himself.”
“But Farrell will be off the streets. Isn’t that what we want?”
Hailey wanted to kick the gate. “That’s not the point...or not the whole point.”
“I thought our task force was a team.”
“That might have been in the brochure and all, but guys like Jonah only know one thing. Being top dog.”
Eric frowned. “Well, then, why do you stay if they treat you like this?”
“Why do you?”
“I’m trying to get my life back on track. And if you weren’t so contrary, I’d ask if we could help each other out.”
“Like allies?”
Eric’s lips curled into a smile. “A peace treaty. What do you say?”
Hailey opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. No one had ever offered to stand with her before. She stood on the sidewalk with rain running into the collar of her jacket.
Why couldn’t she say yes? It shouldn’t be this difficult to accept a good offer from a fellow marshal. A marshal who had worked witness protection had to be trustworthy. Why shouldn’t they have a true partnership?
His offer touched something that had lain dormant for so many years. She’d almost forgotten that place in her existed.
His anticipation seemed to fall away. “Forget it. Let’s go.”
Eric poured two coffees and set one in front of Hailey. She tapped a brisk rhythm on the edge of her desk with her pen. He was disappointed she hadn’t accepted his offer of partnership. Why couldn’t she see how much more they could achieve if they simply combined their efforts instead of butting heads all the time?
He typed his password in and brought up Deirdre Phelps’s cell phone records. She didn’t have a landline, but she did have internet service. He wanted to get his hands on her computer, check what websites she or Farrell had been looking at. He’d always loved computer forensics, and now that it played a bigger role in his work, he could add to the short tally of good things in his life.
The