Fatal Secrets. Barbara Phinney

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СКАЧАТЬ in the Witness Protection Program, is harder than leaving my precious baby girl. Kristin almost died because of the path I’ve needed to take. I love her too much to risk her life. For her safety, I must give her up, though it breaks my heart. Please see to it she’s placed in a loving, Christian home.

      Yours,

       Eloise.

      Kristin lingered over and over such parts as “nothing is harder” and “breaks my heart.” And each time, the ache increased. She needed to find her mother. Her only family now. Or did she now have brothers, sisters?

      The mere thought of a big family gripped Kristin. She’d been an only child, with grandparents that were now just a faint memory to her. When her aging parents, Anna and Barton Perry, had died in that terrible car crash last January, she felt so alone.

      Not so much now, though. She had a mother somewhere, and while sitting in this downtown coffee shop near her Westbrook, Montana, university campus, watching one particular man enter, Kristin knew she was that much closer to finding her.

      Was that Zane Black, the man she’d asked to meet her this Monday morning? With a demeanor that spoke of control, the man threw open the door and strode into the café. He really didn’t look as if he belonged in her small town, despite the jeans and sheepskin jacket. Maybe a big city or even Kalispell just south of here, but not in little Westbrook.

      Was this the private investigator she’d called? Kristin was about to stand when her cell phone rang, the soft version of “Ein Kleine Nachtmusik” barely heard in the busy café. Turning away from the man, she answered it.

      On the other end was an unexpected caller, Jackson McGraw. “I—I was just thinking of you,” she said to him shyly.

      “Really? Kristin, I have something that needs your attention.”

      Hope flared in her. “You’ve found my mother?”

      A distinct pause followed. “No. I’m sorry. I’ve told you all I know. I haven’t learned anything new since that day I last saw your mother. She left that night.”

      Sagging, Kristin raked her fingers through her hair, then quickly smoothed the right side down carefully, as she always did. Beneath the straight brown hair that was cut in such a way to conceal it, lay a thick scar, long and white, devoid of hair. Jackson had told her how she acquired the scar, but for now, she set that thought aside.

      “I wish I had better news for you.”

      Disappointment bit at her, and she blinked back the subsequent tears. “Then why are you calling? I got the impression that we wouldn’t contact each other again because Witness Protection made everything too dangerous.”

      “It does, Kristin. I personally have no access to the program. It belongs to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshal’s Office. Organized crime investigation comes under my jurisdiction. But I’ve received some new information that you need to know.”

      “What is it?” She had nothing to do with organized crime. And her biological mother had been hidden for years, after testifying against one Mafia member.

      “It seems that the Martino family has learned you live in Montana. We believe that they are searching for you.” His words sounded guarded, as if he weighed each one carefully to ensure a balance of gentleness and warning.

      “You mean that man my mother testified against?”

      “I mean the whole crime family. As a tribute to Salvatore Martino, the rest of the Martino family and their associates want to get to your mother, but we believe that they want you, too. Or they want you to lead them to your mother. Or both.”

      She gasped, hunkered over the phone further and set her forehead into her left palm. “I don’t understand. Why would they be after me?”

      “Hurt you, hurt your mother. They’re looking to honor Salvatore Martino, not to make any sense. What we need you to do is stop your search for your mother. We believe it may have sparked some interest in you.”

      Tears welled up again, causing a knot to tighten around her throat. She couldn’t look for her mother? It didn’t seem fair. “How do they know I’m in Montana?”

      “We’re not sure yet. They’ve learned that your mother gave you up for adoption and that you live in Montana. They know your first name was Kristin years ago, but that’s all they know.”

      Her heart tripped slightly. “Do you think they’d break in to your office and steal my address?”

      “No, they won’t,” he answered tersely. “Even if they could break in, they wouldn’t find it because last night I shredded all the info I had on you.”

      So he must have committed her phone number to memory. So much to do for just her, she thought. Why?

      “But if they’ve discovered you’re in Montana,” he continued, “they could find out more.”

      She gasped. “Then they could find my mother, too!”

      “Not if I can help it.” The grit in his words abraded through her cell phone. He’d do anything, she realized. Odd to have such determination, but since Jackson was the only FBI agent she’d ever met, maybe they were all that dogged. He just seemed so…concerned for her and her mother.

      She lifted her head and straightened. “So what should I do? I want to find my mother. I need to find her. I have no one,” she said, her voice cracking. The wounds of her parents’ deaths were still too raw. It had only been four and a half months. “And I…just don’t want to go through my life with no one. Do you understand?”

      Jackson McGraw didn’t speak right away. But when his answer came, his voice had softened. “I do understand. But for now, I need you to trust me, Kristin. Someone is after you, too, and if that person or persons find you, they may wait until you’ve located your mother. Or they may not wait and hope your death draws out your mother.”

      There was static on the line. “I’m stuck in Chicago right now and can’t get out to see you in person, nor do I want to just yet, for your own safety. I’m asking you to suspend your search. Information is being leaked out to the Martino family, so I wouldn’t trust anyone at this point. I mean no one.”

      “But no one here knows I’m adopted, not even the man who opened the safe for me. There are a few older people in Billings, but that’s it. Really, only you and your brother know.”

      She paused, her thoughts skittering from Jackson to Micah McGraw, his younger brother who she’d first contacted because he was a U.S. Marshal in Billings. He’d introduced her to Jackson. Then her thoughts moved to the private investigator she’d hired. All she’d said to Zane Black was she was looking for a woman. She’d planned to explain everything when she met him today. But now, considering what Jackson had said…should she even say anything at all?

      “I’m working as fast as I can to locate your mother, Kristin,” Jackson continued, “but in the meantime, please be very vigilant and don’t say a word to anyone, not even the police. Not just for your own sake, but your mother’s, too.”

      His tone changed with that last sentence, sounding the same as when he’d told her about that night in the safe house twenty years ago. The night when Eloise had fled.

      It СКАЧАТЬ