Page 93 of Reckoning

Yet another memory to take with him.

The minute she got into the car, she leaned over the console and kissed him.

Without saying a word, he drove out of the school yard, then east out of Star Ridge up to a lookout point on the far side of the mountain, and made love to her in the back seat of the car.

Briar felt his desperation when they started back down the mountain, but when she glanced at him and saw the tears on his cheeks, she fell apart.

“That was goodbye, wasn’t it?” she asked.

He nodded. “I’ll be gone in the morning while you’re still asleep. We will talk every night, but we won’t talk about each other to anyone else. This is killing me, but I’m doing this for the future us.”

“I know. I’m leaving before Christmas and Dad knows it. I’ll be living on campus. It’s required.”

“Dan Stennett called me this morning.” Then he told her about the little boy he saved from human trafficking asking his family to give the house to Tate. “It’s a shotgun house in the French Quarter. I haven’t seen it yet, but it will be mine, and that’s enough. I may have to travel to jobs now and then, but it will be my permanent housing, and I’ll never lose you. Don’t let your dad get to you. Every day you wake up, just focus on what’s next. I’ll know if you’re in trouble. I will take care of you.”

She made herself smile. “And now and then when I get to Tulane, maybe we will see each other in the shadows.”

He gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Yes, baby. In the shadows for now, working toward the bright light of day.”

When they arrived at her house, he pulled up into her driveway and started to get out. Briar stopped him with a touch.

“No, love. Don’t get out. It will just prolong the goodbye.”

The look that passed between them was somewhere between a promise and fresh tears, and then she was gone.

He watched her running up the sidewalk and into the house. She didn’t look back, but he knew she was crying. He glanced up in the rearview mirror as he was backing out of the driveway. There were tears on his face as well.

* * *

Tate’s sleep was fitful. He gave up before four a.m., showered and shaved, got dressed, and left his parents a note with his new address.

I can’t say goodbye. That feels too final, but fate put this in motion the day I was born. You are the best parents a kid could have. Drive safe. Be happy in your wonderful home. Plant that azalea. We’ll talk often. Call me anytime. I’m off to find the ones who are lost. Alive or dead, they deserve to come home.

He was gone before daylight, missing the early-morning broadcast giving him credit for finding an old man with dementia who’d gone missing in Oklahoma. It was a nine-hour drive straight south on I-55 to New Orleans, and he made it in a daze.

Newton Belacroix, the lawyer he was to meet, was waiting in his office when Tate arrived. Belacroix eyed Tate curiously. He knew his story. He knew the Stennetts swore by him. And he knew why.

When their business was done, Tate stood and shook hands, then didn’t turn loose. “Take a different route home this evening,” he said, then walked out.

A cold shiver ran up Belacroix’s back. The warning was still on his mind when he started home. He almost ignored it, then turned two blocks early and circled around the neighborhood to get to his home.

He was getting out of his house when he heard sirens, both police and ambulance, only a few blocks away. His heart skipped. What, exactly, did I miss? He picked up his briefcase and hurried up the steps. When he entered the house, his wife was on the phone, exclaiming to a friend about the horror of what had happened. She hung up as soon as she saw he was home and ran to meet him, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him fiercely.

“I’ve never been so happy to see you walk in the door,” she said.

Newton frowned. “What happened? What are all the sirens about?”

“There was a sniper on the roof of a house two blocks over, shooting at everyone who came down that street. Two people are dead, and four are wounded. By the time the police began arriving, he shouted something crazy, then killed himself.”

Shock rolled through him in waves. That boy’s warning likely saved my life. My God. My God.

Less than an hour after arriving in the city, Tate was already making his mark.

* * *

Less than a week later, the Bandy house in Star Ridge was empty. No one saw them leave, or commented after they’d gone.

For Lilith, it was like being set free, and in Abel’s mind, he was just going home.