“See the cardboard box on the top shelf,” Jamie replied.
“Yeah.”
“There’s a sweatshirt inside. Check the front pocket for a flash drive.”
They heard rustling, then silence before Zander came back on the line. “Got it.”
“Good,” Adam said. “Give it to Jay and tell him to call me once he has it loaded.”
“Roger that.” Zander disconnected, and silence filled the cab while they waited.
Her eyes closing, fatigue engulfed her, and she coasted, her chest rising and falling with every breath Jamie took. His lungs filled hers with air, his heat warmed her blood, and his scent calmed her nerves.
Behind her closed lids, a bright light pulsed, Jamie’s body rhythms triggering her Synesthesia. Ice blue in the center, flaming to fiery orange at the edges. His notes. Beautiful. Vibrant. Perfect. A side of him she was happy no one else could see.
Selfish? Maybe. She didn’t care. His song belonged to her.
“So about your mother,” he said, pulling her back into consciousness before she could check out completely.
“What about her?” she mumbled.
“Do you think she knew?”
“That Marla intended to kidnap me?”
“Yeah.”
“No.” She shook her head, her cheek rubbing against the soft shirt covering his pec. “As long as there was an offer of money on the table, she wouldn’t have asked too many probing questions.”
“Did she know you frequented Buffalo Dave’s?”
“I doubt it. Even If I had mentioned it to her, she never would have remembered.”
“Then how did the Wagners know to stake out the bar?” Chase asked.
“Oh, ah…I lied to John about having a boyfriend.” She wiggled in Jamie’s lap, and his arms tightened. “I thought it would make him back off.” She shrugged a shoulder. “It didn’t.”
“Mason Walker,” Jamie said. “He was your fake boyfriend?”
“Yeah.”
The phone rang, and Adam answered. “What do we have?”
“Everything,” Jay replied. “Two sets of Brucellosis test results. Sales contracts. Shipping information. Names and addresses of slaughterhouses in Helena and Butte. Plant schedules. Employee sick leave records. Death certificates.”
“Certificates?” Adam questioned.
“Yeah. A sixty-six-year-old male with a pacemaker from the Butte facility. And a twenty-eight-year-old pregnant female from the Helena facility.”
“Cause of death?” Jamie asked.
“Endocarditis is listed on both certificates.”
Summer’s heart squeezed tight, and she hurt for both families. Such senseless deaths. Loss of life that could have been prevented if not for the greed of a select few. Her eyes started to water, and she had to work at swallowing the lump in her throat.
No surprise John hadn’t mentioned the pregnant woman’s death. He was all about self-preservation at the expense of others, and with the JTT holding him at gunpoint, he’d only be thinking about himself.
“Vet names on the Brucellosis tests?” Adam asked.
