Shadows Of Truth. Sharon Mignerey

Micah’s looking her straight in the eye, everything about him proclaiming he’d told her the truth.

      She’d thought about their conversation for a good part of her sleepless night, eventually deciding he had no reason to lie this time, no reason to be here except for the one he’d told her. Maybe her dad was right. Maybe the first step was to begin trusting again.

      She turned into the driveway and pressed the garage opener. Through the open side door, Rachel saw a woman about her own age sitting at the picnic table talking on a cell phone. When she saw Rachel, she waved and stood up.

      “Mom, there’s a stranger in our backyard,” Andy announced.

      “Yes, there is.” Rachel unfastened her seatbelt and looked back at her son. “Why don’t you sit here for a minute while I find out what she wants.”

      “Aw, Mom. I need to get a snack.” He fumbled at his own seatbelt. “Need, Mom. I’m starving.”

      “Just give me a minute.” By the time she got out of the car, the woman was halfway across the lawn, a welcoming smile on her face. Not smiling back was impossible.

      “I’m Erin Asher,” she said, pulling a wallet from her pocket and extending it to Rachel. “Micah sent me ahead. In fact, he’s right behind you.”

      Rachel glanced at the official-looking badge and identification for the DEA before looking toward the street. Micah was getting out of the car that had followed her with another man. The reinforcements Micah had promised had arrived.

      For once he’d told her the truth.

      The constriction in her chest eased, and she said to Andy, “You can get out of the car now.”

      “I bet you didn’t expect to find a stranger in your backyard when you came home.” Erin shook hands with Andy after he came around the car. “You must be Andy.”

      “Andrew Chester Neesham,” he said, shaking her hand briskly, “I’m named after my grandfathers.”

      “Are you? Now that’s something.”

      Just then, Andy caught sight of Micah around the side of the house, and a huge smile lit his face as he ran toward the man. “Sarah said you came back.” He launched himself into Micah’s arms. “I’m really glad to see you.”

      “Me, too, buddy.” Micah met Rachel’s gaze over the top of her son’s head before looking back at the boy. “You’ve grown a foot since I last saw you.”

      “Are you gonna stay this time, or run away like a rat?” Andy asked.

      Rachel felt her color rise since those had been her exact words in describing Micah.

      “I plan to stay,” he said, his voice gravelly.

      Since his head was bent toward her son, his hat hiding his face, Rachel couldn’t see Micah’s expression.

      Andy evidently took that for a promise because he said, “Good.” Wiggling out of Micah’s arms, he headed back toward Rachel. “I want a peanut butter sandwich for my snack. Okay, Mom?”

      “Carrots, too?”

      He grinned, pressing his tongue against one of his loose front teeth. “Maybe if I bite hard, my tooth will come out sooner.”

      “Maybe,” she agreed handing him the keys to the back door, her attention caught by the vivid blue eyes of the man with Micah. Vivid and cold.

      “This is Special Agent Flannery Kelmen,” Micah said.

      The man stepped forward, his handshake as brisk and no-nonsense as the expression in his eyes. “I met you briefly last spring.”

      “I remember.” Everything then about the man’s demeanor had been intimidating. It wasn’t a lot better now.

      He glanced back at the street, then nodded toward the back door that Andy was unlocking. “Maybe we could go inside?”

      Though voiced as a question, Rachel was positive it was a command. “Of course.”

      The next few minutes were taken up with making Andy’s snack and offering tea that they didn’t want to the others. Micah was mostly quiet, his eyes never quite meeting hers, which set Rachel’s nerves on edge. After Erin professed wanting to see a Lego tower that Andy was building, the two of them disappeared upstairs.

      Rachel cleared her throat. “Since you all are here, it looks like things are in place for the safe house. What’s next?”

      Kelmen met her gaze straight-on. “The primary focus of this mission is to finish the job, and you’re the key to tying together all the evidence we’ve gathered against Simon Graden.”

      He paused while Rachel looked from him to Micah, whose dark eyes steadily locked with hers, an expression there she couldn’t define. Then he looked away, and the knots in her stomach began churning.

      She replayed what Kelmen had just said. “There’s no safe house, is there?” Her lips felt numb.

      Micah shook his head, his expression unreadable, his dark eyes once again not quite meeting hers.

      “You’re going to help us take down Simon Graden,” Kelmen said, drawing her attention, his eyes on hers, his tone matter-of-fact. “Given the business he’s in, the half-million dollars he wants from you is small potatoes, but something about it is personal and has made him reckless. So we’re going to take advantage of that.”

      “We?” Rachel began to tremble, and a roar echoed in her ears as she looked back at Micah. “You’ve lied to me again, Agent McLeod.” She gestured angrily to the door. “Get out. All of you.”

      “Nice bravado.” Kelmen smiled at Rachel, though there wasn’t a single warm thing about the expression. “But we aren’t going anywhere until this case is closed.”