Almost Beautiful, page 24
The woman flashed her identification at Travis. “I’m Agent Val Taber. This is Agent Joel Marks. Can we come inside and speak with you for a moment?”
I swallowed.
Travis turned to me, looking nervous. “Uh … sure. Come on in.”
I watched them sit on the sofa, while Travis sat on the love seat with me.
We held hands. All of my fears bubbled to the surface. What if they were there to arrest him and last night was our last night together? We were so tired, we both practically passed out. We didn’t cuddle much less anything else. More importantly, how could I stop it from happening?
Agent Taber smiled. “We’ve come to inform you, Mr. Maddox that we’ve concluded our investigation of the Keaton Hall fire, and there is insufficient evidence to pursue legal action.”
Travis and I met eyes, then he looked back at the agents.
“Uh … thanks?” he said.
I breathed out a laugh. “Sorry, this is just a little strange. We’re not sure how to react. We know we weren’t there, so this is ... validating, I suppose?”
Agent Taber managed a dry smile.
“You came all the way here to inform us?” I asked.
“No,” Agent Marks said, shifting in his seat. “The investigation of Adam Stockton is still ongoing. Are you aware of anyone else involved in this underground floating fight ring? Someone who sent out the texts or helped Adam with the money?”
Travis slowly shook his head.
I started to squeeze his hand, but the tiny movement garnered the attention of Agent Taber, so I relaxed.
“Anything you remember, or may have heard might be helpful,” Marks said.
“I’m sorry, I’ve got nothin’. But if I hear of anything I’ll let you know,” Travis said. He stood. “Anything else? Would you like a water or something?”
The agents stood, too.
“We have somewhere else to be. Congratulations, Mr. Maddox,” Taber said. “That’s pretty incredible luck that you just happened to elope the same night as a big fight.”
“Love’ll do that to ya,” Travis said, winking.
The agents saw themselves out, but I held my finger to my mouth, then looked to Toto. “Wanna go outside?” I asked him. He wagged his tiny tail, and I grabbed his leash, and then Travis’s hand.
We didn’t speak until we reached the street. Travis sighed as if he’d been holding his breath the whole time.
“Do you think they’re telling the truth?” I asked. “What if they don’t have evidence and they’re hoping to pick something up in our conversations at the apartment? They could be thinking we’ll get sloppy if we’re not under a microscope.”
“Which is exactly why I shouldn’t go to the vigil tonight.”
“Travis … something is up with you. I think it will help.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll go,” he said, frowning.
“What else is bothering you?”
He paused, and I could tell he was thinking carefully about his words. “They just asked me if Adam had a partner. If anyone sent out texts to help organize the fight.”
I blinked. “Shep? No. He wasn’t there and has a solid alibi. He’s good. If they can’t connect him to the fire, they have no case.”
Travis sighed and nodded. “I don’t think we have to be careful at the apartment anymore.”
“I disagree. We should wait until we know they’re completely done with investigating everyone.”
“You’re right.”
I smirked. “That is such a turn on, Mr. Maddox.”
Travis scooped me up and carried me back toward the apartment. We laughed and I nuzzled Travis’s neck while Toto happily trotted along.
“So, you’ll go tonight?” I asked.
“I need to pack, Pidge.”
“I’ll help you this afternoon and we’ll knock most of it out.”
“Okay. It’s going to be hard, but yeah, I’ll go.”
“Good, because I told America and Shepley we would. And Trent and Cami are coming, too. I think it would be good for all of us.”
Travis was packed, all but his toiletries.
We patted Toto’s head goodbye and locked the apartment door behind us. We were both fidgeting and nervous, not speaking much, unable to find a good song to listen to on the radio. Travis kept wiping the palms of his hands on his jeans.
I checked Instagram, seeing that photos from the vigil were already in my feed. My stomach sank. It wasn’t until then that I’d felt what Travis had earlier—we would have to remember that night, the fear, the desperation, the sadness and shock as they brought out lifeless bodies.
My most vivid memory after Travis and I escaped was of dozens of people calling out names—names that would never get answered to. Names that would be forever memorialized on funeral service handouts and headstones, and now could be found carved into each side the stone obelisk that served as the new Keaton Memorial.
Hundreds were gathered around the remains of Keaton. Where black and ash used to cover the ground, lush green sod had been laid, and tulips of every color crowded the base of the memorial. A dozen iron benches faced the stone, and we all stared at the bouquets of flowers, teddy bears, framed photos, and ribbons already laid at the monument’s iron foundation. In delicate font, the iron was inscribed.
Keaton Hall Memorial
March 20, 2009
LET THOSE WHO COME AFTER SEE TO IT
THAT THEIR NAMES ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
Travis wanted to crawl out of his skin the moment we arrived, panicked energy radiated off him.
This wasn’t something he could fix or fight. Like the rest of us, he just had to live with it.
Someone near the front began passing out candles, and just as the sunset painted clouds began to darken, one by one, wicks began to glow. A few girls began singing.
I heard there was a secret chord, that David played, and it pleased the Lord …
We all sang along, amid sniffles and tears, Hallelujah.
Travis’s jaw worked beneath his skin, and he pulled his lips to the side in an attempt to not cry.
I wrapped my arms around his waist, and he rested his cheek on top of my hair.
“Hey,” a man said from behind us, putting his hand on Travis’s shoulder.
“Adam,” Travis said, looking around.
“I know, I shouldn’t be here.”
“You should both be here,” I said. “Everyone deserves to heal.” I hugged him, and he squeezed me tight.
Once the song was over, people began hugging and chatting. Travis, Shepley, and Trenton embraced, holding one another for a long time. America hooked her arm in mine, and I took Cami’s hand. And then, something we didn’t expect happened.
“Travis?”
The girl’s red, puffy eyes looked up at my husband, a ghost of a smile on her face.
I could see Travis bracing for the worst. “Yeah?”
“My name is Brittni.” She glanced back at the obelisk. “I was there that night. I tripped and fell. Got turned around. It was so smoky I couldn’t find the exit. Everyone was running over me, knocking me down every time I tried to get up, but you saw me, got me to my feet and pointed me to Adam,” she said, looking at him. “And you got me out. You saved my life. Thank you both so much.”
“Hi,” another girl said. “You don’t know me, but you’re the guy who helped me out of the exit.”
“I did?” Adam asked, touching his chest.
She nodded. “I’m Amy. Can I hug you?”
“Yeah,” Adam said, a bit bewildered.
One by one, more people came, both men and women, to hug Adam and Travis and thank them for directing them out and saving their lives.
With each embrace, I saw the guilt that had weighed on Travis for the last year get a little lighter. When a line formed, tears began to spill over Travis’s cheeks, and then Adam’s. More people had something to say to Adam because Travis eventually left to find me, but it was heartening to witness Adam find comfort, too.
Back at the apartment, Travis came out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist, water still dripping down his arms and chest. He fell to his back on the bed, emotionally exhausted.
I was already showered and in my PJs, waiting for him to join me.
I leaned down to kiss his forehead. “I knew it would be good for you to go, but I never expected that.”
“Me, either. To be honest, Pidge, I was in survival mode. I don’t remember all those people. I was on autopilot.”
“Well, your autopilot is a hero, too.”
“Not a hero,” he said, his brows pulling in. “Not even close. If it wasn’t for me, those people wouldn’t have even been there.”
“That’s true. If you weren’t so entertaining to watch, they wouldn’t have been there to see it. If they hadn’t wanted to pay, Adam wouldn’t have kept organizing them. If we hadn’t gotten busted the fight before, Adam wouldn’t have used the lanterns. If it wasn’t the final fight of the year, it wouldn’t have been so packed. If they had other, better things to do, they would’ve been somewhere else.
“There were a dozen variables, Travis, and you controlled none of them. Those people, hugging you with tears in their eyes? They were there tonight because of you, too. Sometimes things come together perfectly for good, and sometimes for tragedy. It doesn’t mean you deserve all the blame.”
His brows furrowed. “I deserve some of it.”
“Everyone who was there deserves some of it. That’s my point.”
He sighed. “I have to get up early. We should get some rest.”
The sheets ruffled as we climbed beneath them and situated ourselves. I sat a little higher so Travis could lie against my chest and relax in my arms. Still, he was restless. Fidgeting.
“What is the itinerary for the conference?” I asked.
He stopped breathing long enough for me to sense subdued panic. “Uh, I’m not sure. After I get settled in the hotel room, I go downstairs and check in, and then I get some sort of schedule.”
“That’s … vague.”
“I’m just supposed to learn about the latest in equipment, technique, stuff like that. Total waste of time. But at least … Oh, I forgot to tell you. Becca is having some kind of issues with her pregnancy. Brandon isn’t going, so at least I won’t get arrested for battery in California.”
I shifted to look at him. “In what universe would Brandon not travel to be a decent human being?”
Travis didn’t want to meet my eyes. “I don’t know. Must be serious.”
I kissed my husband goodnight and then settled back against my pillow, squeezing him one last time before he drifted off. I ran my fingers over his buzzed hair, lost in thought. My husband was lying to me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Adonis
Travis
AFTER SECURITY CHECKS AT ALMOST every fucking door and floor, I finally stepped inside the office of Squad Five where—it was hard for me to wrap my mind around it, much less believe it—my big brother, Thomas, was boss. The office was full of busy people, typing, talking on the phone, rushing around with files in their hands.
I passed the first office, looking through the open door to see my brother’s date to my wedding in St. Thomas.
She stood and walked toward me with a smile.
“Liis? That’s a big office, do you run this place or does Tommy?”
She seemed irritated by something I’d said. “Well, make no mistake, no one runs this place but your brother. I’m the supervisor on this floor, yes. Come with me, his office is down the hall.”
I passed by a maze of cubicles separated by short walls covered in gray fabric. I got brief glances from the other agents, some pausing mid-sentence to stare at me.
“Ignore them,” Liis said. “It’s like the Real Housewives of San Diego on this floor. They love to gossip, and they know you’re the baby brother of the feared ASAC.”
“What’s an ASAC?”
“Your brother is the ASAC. Assistant Special Agent in Charge. Hello Constance,” Liis greeted the woman at a desk separate from the others, her white-blond curls falling just past her shoulders. She looked more like an Alabama debutante than an employee for the FBI.
“Agent Lindy,” she said with a southern twang.
Called it.
“Travis Maddox, this is Constance Ashley, the ASAC’s assistant. Don’t let the lashes fool you, there is a Ruger under her desk and she’s the best shot in Squad Five.”
Constance’s blue eyes brightened, and she batted the long, black lashes Lindy had just mentioned. “Why, thank you, Agent Lindy. I’ve been telling Maddox that for years.” She touched the earpiece in her ear and then nodded to us. “You can go in.”
Liis led me through a thick wooden door into Thomas’s corner office. Two walls were just windows, overlooking the Vista Sorrento Parkway, a vet clinic, and a self-storage yard. It wasn’t a great view, but probably the best in the building.
Thomas stood up and opened his arms wide. “There’s my baby brother.”
“Not the welcome anyone else gets, but okay,” Liis grumbled.
Thomas hugged me, and then noticed my unease. “Hey,” he said, meeting my eyes with his. “Hard part’s over. Those charges are behind you, and now you just have to be yourself. Have a seat.”
I took one chair that sat in front of his desk, Liis took the other. She looked calm and collected. I felt like I wanted to jump through the windows and run until I was back in my apartment with Abby.
My brother was supposed to be an ad exec, but there he sat, in his federal suit and his federal tie, behind his huge federal desk. On the wall, awards I didn’t know he’d won. On his desk, photos with important people I didn’t know he knew.
“None of this is going to be easy, Tommy. Do you know how many fucking lies I had to tell my wife just to get here? How the hell am I going to pay my bills if I’m running around fetching intel for you?”
“Informants get paid. Well. And we’ve taken care of your back story for Abby. We’re rerouting any calls to your hotel or the convention center. We’ve created content if she Googles the convention.”
“How did you manage to get Brandon to go for it and have his wife fake a pregnancy complication to skip it?” I asked.
“The convention organizer, who happens to be our Agent Marks, stroked his ego and offered to sponsor him for the trip … and hookers.”
“And Becca? Don’t tell me you fed her bad food or something.”
Thomas gestured to Liis.
She nodded once and turned to me. “Becca is fine. Brandon met who he thought was a college freshman, got extremely drunk, allegedly roofied, and robbed. Becca was an excuse. He didn’t have an ID to fly.”
“Thank God,” I said, relaxing back into my chair.
“And,” Thomas said, “you’ll have an ongoing alibi until we wrap this thing up with Benny.”
“When will that be?” I asked.
“Trav, I have to be upfront here. We began this investigation two years ago, and it just keeps getting deeper.”
I shrugged. “What does that mean?”
“That means, be patient.” Liis said. “When we have all the evidence we need, we’ll make arrests. Your ties to Benny and Mick Abernathy will help us get there.”
“And how am I going to do that?”
Thomas shifted in his seat, and I knew I was going to hate whatever would come out of his mouth next.
“Benny offered you help to get out of prosecution for the fire, yes?”
“How did you know that?”
Thomas smiled. “We’re the FBI, Trav, we know everything. You’re going to accept his help. He’s going to get you off the hook you’re already free of and agree to have you fight for him.”
I sat forward. “No fuckin’ way, Tommy. I promised Pidge …”
“Things are different now.”
I sat back in my chair—hard—and crossed my arms. “You’re really going to make me break every promise I ever made her? With a smile on your face? Fuck you.” I looked at Liis. “And fuck you, too.”
“Hey,” Thomas said, bristling.
Liis raised her hand. “I don’t blame you, Travis. It’s a tough spot to be in. But this is the only way your brother could secure your immunity, and his plan is the quickest way to get you into Benny’s inner circle.”
Thomas leaned forward. “You accept your invitation, beat ass, slide into his security detail. You’ll have access to everything. This is going to work, and better than any of us could have hoped.” He was entirely too impressed with himself, and it was pissing me off.
Thomas’s landline beeped and he pushed a button.
Constance didn’t wait for him to answer. “Agents Marks, Taber, and Kostas, sir.”
“Send them in,” Thomas said. He spoke to her in a different tone than I’d ever heard. He didn’t use that tone with Liis, either. It was authoritative, distant. It was jarring.
Three agents walked in, two I recognized—the man and woman who’d come to tell me I was off the hook—and a giant of a man I didn’t.
My muscles had swelled since I started working at Iron E. This dude’s arms were two times bigger than mine.
He was built like Lou Ferrigno in his Hulk days, but looked like a Roman statue, with blond hair and ice blue eyes.
“Travis, you’ve met Marks and Taber. They’ll be your points of contact. Agent Kostas is taking over Iron E from Brandon.”
I shot Thomas a dubious look. “Brandon isn’t giving up that gym, Tommy.”
“Yeah, he will,” Marks said. “Kostas will help with your cover at home as well as serve as an extra eye on Abby while you’re in Vegas.”
I turned to look at Kostas, and then my brother. “You’re assigning this Greek God-looking dude to my wife? You’re out of your fucking mind.” I glanced back at him.
“Well, he is Greek,” Taber said with a wry smile.
“And Macedonian,” Kostas added.
“Fuck no.” I perched my elbow on the arm of the chair, touched my fingers to my lips and shook my head.
