Holiday On The Run

“We’ll pick them up,” Nate assured her.

“Thanks.” Melissa scooted into the backseat beside Hailey, while Nate slid behind the wheel. He started the car and then went back outside to brush off the light covering of snow.

She shivered, trying to remember where she’d left her car. Not far from here, she recalled, but near the area where the police cars were gathered. The thought of going any closer filled her with dread.

Should she forget about the child safety seat and their meager belongings? She’d rather not, since the lack of a booster chair could get them pulled over. Either way, it would bring her too close to the police for comfort.

“All set?” Nate asked as he came back into the car.

“Yes.” She forced herself to sound more confident than she felt. “I parked three rows over, closer to the building.”

“Okay.” Nate backed out of the parking space and followed her directions. She huddled beside Hailey as the red-and-blue lights flashed around them.

“There—the tan sedan parked beside the white pickup truck.” She pulled the keys out of her purse, which was slung across her chest beneath her coat, and handed them to Nate.

Within five minutes, Nate had their suitcase stored in his trunk and the booster seat secured in the backseat with Hailey belted in. Melissa chose to stay in the back with her daughter, but Nate didn’t object.

It wasn’t until they left the mall parking lot that she was able to breathe easier. It was a huge relief to know that she and Hailey were safe, from both the gunmen and the police.

Well, except for Nate.

The sick feeling in her stomach returned with a vengeance. Nate was a good guy, and she knew that he’d put his career on the line to help them.

Yet he was the last person she could trust with her secret. He couldn’t know the reason she’d run away from Milwaukee days after their high school graduation twelve years ago.

The same reason she remained a target all these years later. All because she’d witnessed something she shouldn’t have seen. Corruption of local politics as well as local law enforcement.

Dragging Nate into this mess would only hurt him and damage his reputation beyond repair in the long run. The best thing she could do for him was to disappear once and for all.

Never to be heard from again.

TWO

Nate kept an eye on Melissa using the rearview mirror. Her face was pale, her expression strained. He squelched a flash of empathy. Granted, she and Hailey had been through a lot, but he wasn’t about to let her off the hook, not by a long shot. The minute Melissa and Hailey were safe, he was going to get the answers he needed about what was going on.

Leaving the scene of the crime after he’d shot and wounded two men, even in self-defense, was the hardest thing he’d ever done. Doubt battered his conscience as he drove through the darkness of night.

What did he really know about Melissa after all these years? Obviously she wasn’t the same girl he’d fallen for in high school. For all he knew, Melissa could be mixed up in all sorts of things now, even something criminal.

Yet he’d risked everything by leaving with her. What on earth had he been thinking?

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” Hailey said, her tone plaintive.

He’d almost forgotten his promise to feed the little girl. He gestured through the windshield. “There’s a fast-food restaurant up ahead. Do you want me to go into the drive-through?”

“Yes, please,” Melissa said, reaching over to put her hand on her daughter’s arm. “Would you like some chicken bites?”

Hailey’s head bobbed up and down. “Yay! Chicken bites!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Nate found himself smiling at the child’s enthusiasm. And the truth hit him like a fist to the solar plexus. The real reason he’d left the scene of the crime was for Hailey’s safety. The little girl didn’t deserve to be dragged into danger, to be chased by men with guns.

Hailey was the true innocent in all of this. And he was determined to do whatever was necessary to keep the child safe from harm.

He pulled into the drive-through lane and waited in line for their turn. “Chicken bites for Hailey. What do you want, Mer—uh, Melissa? And what would you like to drink?”

“I’ll have a cheeseburger and water. Milk for Hailey, please.” She dug in her pocket for money, but he frowned and shook his head, waving it away.

Nate ordered a cheeseburger for himself, too, before pulling up to the next window to pay. When they were given their food, he handed the bag back to Melissa.

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Here’s your sandwich,” she added, handing up his wrapped burger.

“No problem.” He pulled over to park so he could eat. He listened while Melissa assisted Hailey with her chicken bites, encouraging the little girl to drink her milk.

He couldn’t deny Melissa was an attentive mother. Was she putting on an act for his benefit? He didn’t think so. But just caring about her daughter didn’t necessarily mean she was completely innocent in whatever had caused the two men to follow her through the mall. As much as he wanted to believe she wasn’t a criminal, he knew better than most that power and greed could turn the most innocent to a life of crime.

And he was determined to get to the bottom of whatever she’d got herself involved in.

“Why did you disappear after graduation?” he asked.

Melissa didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I’d rather not talk about this right now, Nate,” she murmured in a low voice, tipping her head toward Hailey.

He drew in a ragged breath, fighting his frustration. He understood that she wanted to protect her daughter from whatever had happened back then. Or from whatever caused her to run away now. Still, he couldn’t help feeling as if she had no intention of cooperating with him, despite the fact that he’d risked his career for her.

Shot two men to keep them safe.

Nate forced himself to finish his burger, which tasted like sawdust on his tongue. He’d find a motel room for Melissa and Hailey to stay in for tonight, but he wasn’t about to let them out of his sight.

Not until he found out who she was running from and why.

* * *

Melissa wasn’t hungry but knew she needed to eat to keep up her strength. The grief of her father’s impending death, which she’d pushed into the background when faced with the threat of danger, returned full force, making her throat swell with repressed tears.

A wave of fury filled her chest, and she had to make herself let go of her anger at the unfairness of it all. Since when was life fair? Right from the beginning, she’d been an innocent bystander. In the wrong place at the wrong time.

Hadn’t she suffered enough? She’d lost her home and her life, not to mention Nate. She’d started over in a new place with a new identity, not just once but twice. Thankfully she’d been able to find enough work to support herself—work she could do primarily at home with a computer. But still, it wasn’t as if designing websites and doing freelance graphic art work would have been her first career choice.

And surely her daughter deserved a better life?

The very idea of going back on the run, starting over and changing their identities again, filled her with despair. Her father had helped finance her new life twelve years ago.

But this time she was on her own.

Melissa closed her eyes, silently praying for strength and for safety. When she opened them, she was disconcerted to find Nate turned in his seat, staring at her.

For a moment her mind flashed back to the last time she’d seen Nate. The night of their graduation, when he’d kissed her beneath the oak tree in her backyard.

The night before her world had turned upside down.

If only she could go back to change the sequence of events. But those kinds of thoughts were useless. Better to concentrate on moving forward. She needed to stay focused on sheltering Hailey by doing what needed to be done.

“Are you ready to go?” Nate asked, breaking the silence.

“Sure. Finish your milk, Hailey,” she said, turning toward her daughter.

“Okay, Mommy.” Hailey drained the last of her milk with a loud slurp through her straw, making Melissa smile. “All done.”

She bagged up the trash and passed it up to Nate. Would he go outside to dispose of their trash? And if so, did she have the guts to steal his car, drive off and leave him behind?

Thankfully, he took the decision out of her hands by simply setting the bag aside and pulling out of the restaurant parking lot.

Melissa didn’t want to steal a car, anyway, especially not Nate’s, but what else could she do? Asking Nate to take her to the bus stop would be futile. He’d already insisted on taking her to a motel, and once Hailey was settled for the night, she wouldn’t be able to continue avoiding his questions.

Nate had had a strong stubborn streak even back when they were dating in high school, and she doubted that trait would have faded over time. Especially now that he was a cop.

She needed to find some way to convince him to let her go without him knowing the details that had the power to hurt him.

Far more than she’d hurt him already.

“Wait. Where are you going?” she asked in alarm when she realized he’d made a U-turn to head back toward the shopping mall. Even from this distance, she could still see the red-and-blue flashing lights from the police cars gathered outside the mall entrance.

No doubt there were officers searching for her. And she didn’t want to think about what would happen if they found her. Hadn’t they already tarnished her reputation? If they used the same tactics again, she could lose custody of her daughter.

Hailey would be the one to suffer, another innocent bystander in a political web of deceit and lies.

“Relax. There’s a motel not far from here called the Forty Winks Motel,” Nate assured her. “We’ll stay there tonight. They have several adjoining rooms.”

Adjoining rooms? She tried to hide her dismay. Did that mean Nate was planning to stay all night, too? If that was his intent, it would be difficult for her and Hailey to sneak away.

Difficult, but hopefully not impossible.

She refused to consider failure an option.

Melissa held her breath as Nate drove past the mall and turned left onto a side street. Her chest was tight with tension, and even after he pulled into the motel parking lot, she couldn’t seem to relax.

They weren’t far enough away from the mall—or the hospital, for that matter—for her peace of mind.

Then again, Melissa was certain she wouldn’t find peace until she left the Milwaukee area forever. And this time, once she left, she wouldn’t look back.

“This doesn’t appear to be the type of place to take cash,” she said, digging into her jeans pocket as he parked near the lobby entrance. “We’d be better off driving out a ways. The smaller motels aren’t as picky about payment.”

Nate turned around in his seat. “One of the reasons I wanted to come here is that they’re cop-friendly. All I need to do is to show them my badge and they’ll take cash.”

She smiled through her trepidation and dug in her pocket for the small wad of bills she’d tucked there. “All right. I have my share.” Now that they were here at the motel, she wondered about his personal life. “So, uh, are you sure your girlfriend won’t mind?”

He lifted a brow. “No wife, no girlfriend,” he said lightly.

The news shouldn’t have been reassuring, yet she couldn’t squash the brief flash of relief.

When she held out the cash, Nate scowled and shook his head. “Keep your money. I’ll take care of this.”

Before she could argue, he pushed open the driver’s side door, letting in a blast of cold air. When he shut the door behind him, she couldn’t help watching him as he walked into the building. Not that she was interested in picking up where they’d left off twelve years ago, but it was surprising to realize just how much taller and broader across the shoulders Nate had become.

Melissa tore her gaze away, glancing over to make sure Hailey was all right. Her daughter’s eyelids were drooping. No doubt she would fall asleep as soon as they were inside their motel room.

Melissa told herself that it was a good thing, since Hailey needed her rest. They’d been on the move for the past two days, making the trip from South Carolina up to Wisconsin. The moment they’d arrived in Milwaukee, Melissa had called the hospital, only to discover her father had taken a turn for the worse. She’d headed straight over, despite the fact that Hailey had been travel-weary from the long car ride.

She’d been happy to see that her father was still conscious, that he’d smiled at her and seemed so happy at meeting his granddaughter in person for the first time. Oh, sure, they’d been using Skype to keep in touch, but it wasn’t the same.

Within five minutes of leaving the hospital, she’d noticed the tail. Two men in a dark car, keeping pace behind her. She’d tried to lose them, taking a turn into the mall parking lot and quickly parking the car to dart into the building.

Where Nate had recognized her, despite the fact that it had been twelve years and she’d changed her hair color. Unable to master the art of wearing tinted contacts, she hadn’t been able to do much more to change her appearance.

She was so completely lost in her thoughts that she didn’t hear Nate return until he slammed the trunk, the noise making her startle.

He opened the passenger-side door closest to Hailey. “I have your suitcase. Can you carry Hailey?”

“Of course,” she said, pasting a smile on her face.

“I wanna walk,” Hailey said in an abrupt flash of independence.

“Okay, that’s fine,” Melissa assured her. She disconnected the lap strap, allowing Hailey to climb down from the seat onto the slush-covered parking lot. She edged around the seat to follow Hailey, disconcerted when her daughter skipped alongside Nate.

“We stayed in lotsa hotels on the way here, right, Mommy?” Hailey said, her previous sleepiness seeming to have vanished. “Do they have the kids’ channel here?”

“I’m sure they do,” Nate assured her, holding the door open for them so they could precede him into the building. “Our rooms are on the second floor,” he said, leading the way up the stairs. “We’re in 210 and 212.”

Melissa nodded, moving slowly enough to match Hailey’s small steps climbing the stairs. As they made their way down the hall, she watched the numbers outside the doors until they arrived at the correct ones. Nate didn’t hand her a key, though. He simply unlocked a door and held it open for her.

“Thanks,” she murmured, glancing around the room to locate the connecting door.

Nate set her suitcase down on the bed and then placed the key card on the dresser. “I’d appreciate it if you’d keep the connecting door between our rooms unlocked,” he said as he crossed over to it and opened it.

“I understand,” she said evasively, unwilling to make a promise she might not be able to keep.

“Movie, Mommy! Check and see if there’s a children’s movie that I can watch.”

Since Hailey didn’t look sleepy anymore, Melissa obliged by picking up the remote and flipping through the channels until she found the one Hailey wanted.

Nate left, presumably to go to his own room. A few minutes later, he opened his side of the connecting door.

“It’s time we talked,” he said in a low voice. “Hailey will be fine here, watching her show. We’ll leave the connecting doors open in case she needs something.”

Melissa wanted to protest, but of course there wasn’t a rationale for putting this discussion off any longer.

As she followed him into his room, she tried to figure out how much she could safely tell him. He needed just enough information to understand the level of danger.

Including a good reason to let her go.

Full of apprehension, she dropped into a seat next to the small round table tucked in the corner of his room. Her heart was beating too fast, and she took several deep breaths in order to bring her pulse down.

“Who were those men following you?” Nate asked, his tone soft but firm.

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “I’ve never seen either of them before in my life.”

Nate’s mouth thinned as if he wasn’t sure he believed her. “Okay, then why were they following you?”

“I don’t know that, either,” she said. When his face tightened in anger, she knew she’d have to tell him something. “Listen, Nate, you need to understand, all of this started a long time ago.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “I’m listening.”

She licked her suddenly dry lips. “You remember how I waitressed at the restaurant back in high school, right?”

Nate nodded. “At El Matador, which is still there, believe it or not.”

Still in Brookmont, the elite suburb of Milwaukee that she and Nate had once called home.

The thought of the upscale restaurant being there all these years later was not reassuring. Did it continue to be a meeting point for the upper echelon of Brookmont? Or had they moved their little clique somewhere different after that fateful night?

“Melissa, what happened back then? What caused you to move away and change your name?” Nate asked.

“Something terrible occurred the night after graduation,” she said.

Nate nodded slowly. “Go on,” he encouraged her.

She couldn’t for the life of her find the words to explain in a way that didn’t give away the entire truth. The silence stretched painfully long between them.

“I heard about the drugs that were found in your room,” Nate finally said. “I didn’t want to believe that you were an addict, but your father admitted that he sent you to rehab.”

She snapped her head up to stare at Nate. “You believed that?” she asked in an agonized whisper. “Even though we spent every free moment we could together, you still believed that?”

“You weren’t here to tell me otherwise,” Nate said, accusation lacing his tone. “What was I supposed to think? You disappeared and I never heard from you again, not one letter in response to all the ones I sent you.”

She blinked in surprise. “What letters?”

Nate’s gaze narrowed. “The letters I gave your father to send to you. He wouldn’t give me your address, but he agreed to send you my letters. I kept waiting and waiting to hear back from you, but I never did.”

Melissa’s entire body went numb, as if someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over her head. “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I’m so sorry.”

“For what?” Nate challenged her. “For leaving without saying goodbye? For not even trying to get in touch with me? I commuted to college my first year because I was afraid you wouldn’t find me when you came back. But you never did.”

The anguish in Nate’s voice lashed at her like a whip. It wasn’t her fault that she’d been forced to leave, but he’d been deeply hurt by her actions nonetheless. And why hadn’t her father passed along his letters? Had her father been afraid that Nate would come after her?

Looking at Nate now, she knew that was exactly what he would have done.

“Well?” he demanded in a harsh tone.

She glanced over her shoulder at the open connecting door between their rooms. “Not so loud, or Hailey will hear.”

Nate’s jaw tightened with anger, and she knew that there was no way of getting around the fact that he needed to hear a portion of her story.

“I was working at the restaurant the night after graduation. In fact, I was scheduled to close. It was pretty busy. The place was packed, but as the hour grew later, there were only a few tables left. A group at one table in particular lingered, so I was trying to get as much of the cleanup work done as possible.” She paused, shivering at the memory of what transpired that night.

“Go on,” Nate urged.

“I cleaned out the large coffeepots in the back room, and then I hauled some garbage out to the dumpsters. Usually the dishwasher does that, but he was busy, and I was anxious to leave.”

“To meet me,” Nate said in a quiet voice.

She bit her lip and nodded, remembering the plans they’d made long ago. “Yes, to meet you.”

“So what stopped you from coming?”

“I couldn’t lift the garbage bag, so I set it against the Dumpster and was about to go back inside when I heard raised voices. The Dumpster was located not far from the alley, so I went over to investigate. The yelling grew louder, and I should have left. To this day, I wish I had followed my instinct to run away.”

Nate’s expression grew grim. “What did you see?”

“Five men arguing. I recognized them from the restaurant. They were the ones who had been lingering at the table in my section. In fact, I’d waited on them. I was trying to figure out why they were hanging around when one of the men pulled out a knife and stabbed the guy across from him in the stomach. I was so surprised, I didn’t move. Even after he fell to the ground, blood pooling beneath him, I still didn’t really understand what had happened. Not until the man with the knife happened to glance in my direction.” Melissa drew in a harsh breath and forced herself to meet Nate’s gaze. “That’s when I knew that he’d recognized me.”

Nate stared at her in horror. “Are you saying you witnessed a murder?”

She nodded slowly. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. And I think it’s obvious that the man responsible is determined to silence me once and for all.”

THREE

Unbelievable. Nate stared at Melissa, stunned by her revelation. He’d imagined dozens of scenarios in the long months after she’d disappeared, but never anything remotely like what she’d just described.

Yet even knowing that she’d witnessed a murder didn’t explain everything. Why had she decided simply to disappear? Why hadn’t she called the police for help? Or talked to him about what she’d seen?

“And the drugs that were found in your bedroom?” he forced himself to ask.

“Planted, as a way to discredit me.” Melissa’s expression was full of hurt. “A ploy that worked, since you fell for it just like everyone else probably did.”

Nate couldn’t ignore the flash of guilt. Twelve years ago, he hadn’t wanted to believe the girl he’d loved had been a secret addict, but what else was he to think when her father had looked him straight in the eye and explained that she’d been sent to rehab? It wasn’t as if he’d had any other theory to explain what had happened.

“You really wrote me letters?” she asked, her tone hesitant.

He nodded slowly. “At least a dozen of them,” he admitted. “I didn’t realize your father hated me so much that he wouldn’t pass them along to you.”

Melissa frowned and shook her head. “It wasn’t like that, Nate. My father didn’t hate you. He was determined to keep me safe, that’s all. I’m sure he was afraid that if he gave me your letters, we’d find a way to get back together.”

Since that was true, at least on his part, he couldn’t argue. Besides, all of that was in the past. He needed to keep focused on the present. Although wrapping his mind around the idea that the men who’d followed Melissa had, in fact, intended to kill her wasn’t easy.

“Okay, tell me about these five men,” Nate said. “You mentioned at the mall that you couldn’t go to the police without risking your and Hailey’s lives, which makes me think one of them must be a cop.”

Melissa didn’t meet his gaze, and the way she twisted her fingers in her lap made him wonder if she was trying to find a way to avoid the truth.

“Listen, you have to tell me what you know,” Nate urged. “Otherwise I won’t have any choice but to call my boss and have you taken in for questioning.”

Her head jerked up, her stormy gaze clashing with his. “Don’t,” she said sharply. “Hailey will be the one to suffer if you do that.”

Nate wanted to yank out his hair in frustration. “Then cooperate with me. What do you know about the five men you saw twelve years ago?”