had been surprised—he’d never imagined Murray Cho as a thief.
“She can’t be back,” he cried. “Murray could come back. He thinks she’s gone, and if she surprises him—”
“There you go again, making a surefire mountain out of a piece of ground where there might be a molehill one day. Slow down, son. Let things happen as they will. Just be ready when they do.” Boudreau assessed him. “Meanwhile, how come you think she’s not safe? You left her alone when you worked on the rigs.”
He thought of Sandy, waiting for him week after week, never having a full-time husband, and he never having a full-time wife. Now she was less than a mile away.
He wanted to run to her and grab her up and kiss her until they both were panting with desire. He wanted to see how much her tiny baby bump had grown. And he wanted to put his hands on it and feel the child they had created, the child he already thought of as his son.
But he was afraid. Not only did he not want to show his face, he didn’t want to chance her telling someone—her best friend, or his.
“I had no choice. Besides, I didn’t know they were going to kill me. If they find out I’m alive, what’s to stop them from doing it right this time?”
“Who’s them? That captain’s dead. Everybody’s gone from the oil rig now.”
“Come on, Boudreau. The captain was never the man in charge. The boss is still out there. He’s some big muckety-muck in the company that owned the oil rig, Lee Drilling. And that man knows I can potentially identify him.”
“Yeah?” Boudreau said. “Who is he?”
“I said potentially. I don’t know who he is. The first time I heard the captain talking about a plan to smuggle illegal weapons into the US and give them out to kids on the streets, it was a complete accident. I realized I was listening to terrorists, and that was only one side of the conversation. I put together a program to capture and save every conversation that took place on that satellite phone.”
“And that captain never said a name?”
“I don’t know. I never had a chance to listen to all the recordings. Too afraid I’d get caught. I stored them on a flash drive, hoping I could get it to Homeland Security. They can use voice recognition technology to identify the man, and that will implicate him in the smuggling operation.
“Something went wrong with my program and the captain caught me fooling with his satellite phone. He kicked me out of his office and never said anything, but I know that’s why they tried to have me killed.”
“So where’s that flash drive? You for sure didn’t have nothing on you when I fished you out of the Gulf.”
“That’s just it. I hid it in the house the last time I was home. My plan was to get it to Homeland Security on my next week off. But I never got that week off. Now I don’t know if Murray found it when he got the laptop.”
“That’s why you don’t want Sandy back here.”
Tristan nodded grimly. “I’d like to get Homeland Security to put a guard on her, but to do that, I’d have to let them know I’m alive. And as soon as they hear from me, they’ll pull me in to DC for debriefing. Oh, they’d honor my request to guard her, but I can’t be sure she’s safe if I’m not the one protecting her. I mean look at how many good soldiers who have the protection of the government have been killed. How many innocent civilians.”
“I get you wanting to protect her yourself, but, son, you ain’t capable right now.”
Tristan pinched the bridge of his nose. “So what are you saying? That my only choice is to notify Homeland Security? I’d be signing her death warrant. Somebody as high up as the captain’s boss would know as soon as I surfaced. He’d have plenty of time to kidnap her before Homeland Security could react. She might end up being tortured for information she doesn’t even have. And I wouldn’t be here to rescue her.”
* * *
SANDY FELT AS THOUGH she hadn’t slept at all and therefore the little bean had been restless, too. She hadn’t been able to shut her brain off. Every time she’d go to sleep, her dreams had been filled with images of Tristan sinking into the cold, dark water as hungry sharks circled around him. It was like a slideshow that wouldn’t stop. Click—murdered. Click—murdered. Click—murdered.
Then she would wake up with her heart racing and tears wetting her cheeks and pillow.
Finally, around seven o’clock, she got up and bathed and dressed and headed into the kitchen. For a second, she stared at the coffeepot in longing. But she’d sworn off coffee for the pregnancy, not wanting to have a baby who was hooked on caffeine.
She yawned. “You have no idea how much I would enjoy a cup of coffee this morning. And there might be some decaf in the freezer. But my tummy has let me know in no uncertain terms that it likes grape juice and only grape juice.” She patted her belly. “So grape juice it is, right?”
As she sat at the kitchen table and drank the juice, she looked at her phone, recalling Maddy’s warning from the night before. She wanted to blow off the Homeland Security agent who had become her friend, but she knew Maddy would bug her until she called the sheriff. If she refused, Maddy would call him herself.
“No choice but to do it,” she muttered as she got up and went into the nursery. It was the only place in or out of the house where she could get a reliable cell signal. She dialed the sheriff’s office.
“Baylor,” she said when Sheriff Baylor Nehigh answered. “It’s Sandy.”
“Well, hello. I didn’t know you were back in town,” he said. “How’re you doing? How’s the baby?”
“Fine. We’re fine,” she said. “The baby’s fine. Baylor—”
“Now how far along are you? I’m trying to remember.”
Sandy closed her eyes and prayed for patience. If she couldn’t get her question in, Baylor would be off on Tristan’s death and she’d have to listen to his theories for at least twenty minutes before she could get another word in edgewise.
“Five and a half months, Baylor. I think someone got into the house while I was gone. My laptop computer is gone.”
“Now, what? You say a computer is missing? Well, now, we can’t be responsible for that. You’d have to talk to the crime scene unit, although my guess is that oil rig captain took it when he broke in to kidnap Agent Tierney,” he said. “If it was him you’ll never get any money for it.”
“Baylor! That’s not why I’m calling. The laptop went missing while I was gone. I thought if you or the crime lab had it then I don’t need to worry that someone got into my house while I was away.”
“I’ll be glad to check on that for you, but do understand, my budget is too small to replace your laptop.”
“I’m not asking you to. I’ll buy a new one.” She paused. “You don’t want to take fingerprints or anything, do you?”
“I can send my deputy out there when he gets back. It’ll probably be after dark. He’s gone to Houma
