Set Me Free (10 page)

I turned to Zach, wrapping my arms around myself with a shaky nod. "It doesn't feel like it anymore though."

"I understand." He went to reach for me, but I backed away. If he touched me now I'd give into my tears and then I'd never stop crying. "Let's get this over with."

"The others are already down in the kitchen." Zach's brown eyes were filling with anguish. I shook my head and walked past him, pulling myself together as I descended the stairs.

Walking through the dining room, I came to a stop at the basement door. I couldn't help myself. I pulled it open and stepped behind it, crouching down and peering through the crack. I saw Alex standing in the middle of the kitchen, his hands on his hips, turning a slow circle as he soaked it all in. His body morphed to that of my dad. His intense blue eyes always caught everything. I could never lie to him, never hide my disappointment or joy. He knew everything about me. And now he was gone.

My lips scrunched into a wobbly line as Alex then morphed into William Tenner. The man who destroyed me. He stood over my dead parents with a sadistic grin that morphed to annoyance. His huffing irritation that my dad had died, the way he'd kicked Dad's limp body and then shouted my name.
Lucy! You can't hide from me!
It burnt my brain, making me want to shatter.

"Lucy? Are you okay?"

I jerked at Zach's soft words, but pushed the door open, stepping back out into the hallway. He was pale with worry. I tried to ease his nerves by giving him a smiling nod, but it was probably more like a grimacing head jerk.

Wise enough to stay silent, he just reached for my hand and gently tugged me into the kitchen.

"Anything?" he asked the others. Elliot was on his hands and knees, checking under cupboards for marks or dents.

Alex was standing back in the corner, studying angles, trying to play out what I'd told him. He moved to the right and I shook my head.

"No, he came from here." I stepped across the room and wrapped my fingers lightly around Alex's throat, pushing him back, until he hit the cupboards. "Then he shot Dad." I pointed my hand to the floor as I let go of Alex and stepped into the kitchen. I slammed my sneaker onto the tiles, pretending to crunch Dad's hand. With an eerie detachment I ran through the rest of the scene.

"What have you got on me?" I said in a deep voice, caught in a trance.

"What do you mean?" Alex spun to face me. "Did Tenner say that?"

I froze, my eyes wide as I fell back against the kitchen counter, gripping the edge until my fingers hurt.

"I remember," I whispered.

"Remember what? Which part?" Alex went to step into my space, but Zach blocked him, giving me room to think.

"My dad, he was..." I licked my lips. "He was an analyst for the FBI. He had found out some stuff about this guy. Tenner. Tenner was his boss, right? That's what they were talking about! When I was eavesdropping." I pointed to the basement door. "Mom said he was a criminal and it was Dad's duty to expose him. And then he showed up and he shot Mom and asked Dad what he had on him." My voice grew fast as the words spilled out of me. "Dad wouldn't say at first so he went to shoot Mom again and then he said something about bribery or...um...something to do with money...and gangs, maybe?" I rubbed my forehead. "He wanted all the information Dad had on him, but Dad said it wasn't in the house. So the guy shot Mom. He—Dad told him, but he shot Mom anyway!" I pointed to the cupboards at my feet. "Dad was screaming her name." Tears overran my ramblings, cutting my story short. "He—he—was just—he just—shot her!"

"And then he went after you." Alex spoke quietly.

I nodded, covering my mouth as a sob tried to wrench itself free. My legs buckled and I slumped to the floor.

Zach rushed to my side, crouching down and running his hand over my knee.

"Your dad was a brave man, Lucy. He was going to expose Tenner."

"Tenner threatened him, saying he'd find me and Dad lost it, he went after him and tried to fight. He died to save me." My face bunched as I pressed my fingers into my eyes.

"Like I said, a very brave man," Alex whispered, but then only waited a beat before asking. "I wonder what he had on Tenner?"

I shook my head. "What does it matter anyway, Tenner would have cleared out my dad's office at work. Whatever Dad did have on him is probably destroyed now." I swiped my finger under my nose. "We can't get this guy."

With a heavy sigh, Alex sat down on the other side of me and squeezed my leg. "Well, I'm not giving up. Even if there's nothing here, there's got to be something, somewhere. The guy is not perfect. He will have slipped up. Yes, this house looks like it's been wiped clean, but this is only our first stop."

"Our first stop? Where else are we supposed to go? He would have gotten rid of anything useful to us." I kneaded my forehead with my knuckles.

"But what if he didn't. What if he just boxed away the evidence and let the case go cold. He's got the power to do that kinda thing. More cases would have come along and gotten in the way of this one. The trail died out and everything would have been filed away. Surely there's something, somewhere."

I scratched the top of my head, feeling weary. "So what if there is? What can that evidence prove anyway? His report matches the scene...the scene he created."

"Evidence can be looked at and twisted around to tell the story you want it to. If we had that evidence, we could give it a different angle. We only need a fragment, remember? Just enough to start the FBI Internal Affairs asking questions."

"Where would that evidence even be?" I sighed.

"Probably boxed up in an evidence locker." Zach scratched the top of his head.

"Yeah, the evidence locker at the FBI." Elliot scoffed, plopping onto the floor in front of me. "There's no way we'll ever be able to get to it."

"I don't know." Alex's blue eyes bore into me with a force that nearly knocked me over. "I'm sure there's certain people in this room who could figure out a way to get us in there."

My eyes bulged wide. "To an FBI evidence room? I can't do that."

His white teeth flashed as he tipped his head. "From what I understand of you Miss Multiplicity, you most definitely can."

Chapter 11

ZACH

They found a motel with Wifi and spent the evening researching everything they could about the FBI and where evidence for cold cases was stored. Thanks to Elliot's genius, they managed to find the FBI storage warehouse. It was located about ten miles south of where they were staying and according to Elliot's quick illegal search, the Tate evidence was stored there.

Zach couldn't believe their luck. The evidence was there! All they had to do now was get their hands on it.

"I think our best bet is to go in as agents...maybe from out of town? We need to imply that something has popped on the case and we've been sent to collect the evidence with the potential of re-opening the investigation. We want to be able to take the evidence off site so we can look at it properly, which means we'll need to sign for it." Lucy pinched her bottom lip as her eyes went glassy with thought.

"So, what do we need to make that happen?" Alex snaffled up his Chinese take out box and poked the chopsticks into his noodles. Zach drummed his knees with his fingers, too wired to even think about eating.

"We'll need a professional look, ID badges that will withstand scrutiny. Although we're no doubt dealing with a slightly bored employee who spends all day behind a desk. We don't need to worry about weapons. I doubt we'd be checked for that kind of stuff at a storage warehouse.

"Elliot can you pull up a satellite image of the warehouse? Let's see what kind of security they have around the perimeter."

Elliot went to work while Zach leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "So, who's going in then? How are you going to swing this?"

"We'll have to use a distraction technique so that no one looks at us too closely. So we need a guy and a girl to cover our bases." Lucy sounded so professional as she ran through the logistics. Zach couldn't help a touch of awe.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we don't know if it'll be a male or female employee at the desk. We need both genders to cover both bases, especially if we want to use a flirt tactic. If it's an older lady, we can play the mother card or if it's an older man, we can soften him up with stories from the past. I won't know until I get in there, but I'll know when I see them which way to swing it."

"There's no way you can pass for an agent. You're eighteen."

"It's okay, Zach. Dress me up and it'll work." She ran her fingers through her soft hair and twirled the ends. "People's eyesight adapts to what they expect to see. If I stroll in with Alex, dressed like a professional, the person behind the desk will immediately think I am a young agent, fresh out of training and Alex is my first partner, showing me the ropes. Now if we take too long or the person is naturally suspicious, then of course that impression starts to change, but we still have those first few seconds and as long as the words coming out of our mouths is confident, then we're in. Shorty always said, act as though you know what you're doing and you're supposed to be there. People will buy it."

"Yeah." Zach leaned back in his seat with a sigh. "Yeah, I forget how often you've done this before."

Lucy's eyes fluttered to the table top, a slight blush heating her cheeks. Zach felt a little bad for saying it or maybe it was the tone he used. It didn't take much for his awe to flicker to aversion. He felt like a tennis ball was being bounced from one side of his brain to the other. He didn't mean to make her feel guilty, but it was hard not to judge her deceitful past just a little. He was juxtaposed between admiring her ability to fool people and despising the fact she could do it so easily. What if she tried to lay one over on him? She'd done it once and there was nothing stopping her from doing it again. Would the doubt always niggle away at him?

Squeezing his eyes shut, he shook his head and was about to reach for her hand when Elliot spun his computer towards them. "Here you go. Satellite images of the warehouse."

They all leaned towards the screen, Alex moving to stand behind them. Lucy's blue gaze worked over the slightly blurry image. She took her time soaking it all in.

"So we'll need to drive in through that guard station." She pointed at the screen. "Our IDs will get one check there and then probably just one more on the inside as well." Sitting back, she chewed her lip. "That's not too bad, but those IDs are gonna need to be good. Elliot can you pull up a standard ID for me? Let's see what information's on there. We'll hopefully be fast enough that if they do call to verify anything, we'll have time to get out of there. Again, let's just hope and assume we're dealing with bored security who aren't overly phased about doing their job properly. We'll push a little persuasion if we have to as well." Lucy nodded, as if confirming that her plan would work. Letting out a breath, she lightly slapped the table and stood. "Okay, so tomorrow Alex and I need to go shopping. Zach and Elliot, you need to rent a car. Either of you got fake IDs on you?

Zach shook his head.

"Really, you've never been out drinking?"

He was a little embarrassed by her incredulous look, but held his chin high. Thankfully, Elliot took the heat from her expression by pulling out his wallet with a grin.

"Let me introduce you to Lester Henshaw." He held up the card with a smile.

Alex chuckled, shaking his head.

Lucy took it from his hand. "A driver's license." She tipped her head, impressed.

Elliot shrugged with a little blush. "I was just mucking around with some graphic stuff and thought I'd give it a go."

"Have you used it before?"

"Once. I bought a 6-pack and it passed easily enough."

Lucy hesitated, licking her lips before swallowing. "Don't let them look at it for too long. Remember, confident, short sentences that demand belief. You guys think you're up for it?"

Zach looked at Elliot before nodding at Lucy.

She snickered, dropping her head. "You're gonna have to do better than that."