Thomas nodded. “We’ll be seeing you again, soon.” Because they hadn’t come all the way to Alaska for some quick turnaround trip. They’d come to Alaska to get the proof they needed. Proof of the senator’s guilt. They weren’t leaving until they’d accomplished their mission.
Satisfied he’d made his point, Thomas exited behind Noelle. Paula watched them with wide, wary eyes. Thomas knew she’d overheard plenty of their conversation. If you’re smart, lady, you’ll get away from the senator, as fast as you can.
But Paula appeared to have frozen in place.
Thomas and Noelle didn’t speak again until they’d left the senator’s mansion. Once they were back inside their rented SUV, Thomas glanced at Noelle.
She was staring up at the senator’s home.
“Don’t keep me in suspense,” he drawled as he cranked the vehicle. A light dusting of snow had started to fall. “What did you think?”
She didn’t glance his way. “It’s too early to tell.”
He didn’t buy it. Noelle made her living by reading people. By looking past the bright, shiny surface they presented to the rest of the world. He pulled out of the winding drive and headed back toward the cabin in town that the EOD had rented for them.
They hadn’t bothered with getting a room in the local lodge—they’d needed more permanency.
They were planning to stay in Alaska for the long haul.
Until we can bury the senator.
“But I do know he was lying to us,” Noelle added.
Thomas wasn’t a profiler, and he knew that. The guy had barely been able to hold eye contact with him, and the senator had reacted far too strongly to their questions.
“So he’s our guy.” Thomas kept his hold steady on the steering wheel. He’d driven on snow-covered roads plenty of times. But those roads were sure different from the dirt roads of his youth.
“I think he could be. The man is controlling, dominating, and he’s—” Noelle hesitated. “I think there may be quite a few layers to the senator.”
“Yeah, well, your job is to peel away those layers, isn’t it? To find out what hides underneath.” That knowledge made him nervous. He didn’t want Noelle to ever see beneath the surface he presented. Thomas had told her before she shouldn’t profile him, but he’d caught her staring at him a few times, her eyes curious.
What does Noelle see when she looks at me? He knew what he saw when he looked into her eyes.
The thing I want most.
But when she stared at him, Thomas wondered if she just saw a killer.
Unfortunately, that was exactly what he was.
* * *
“THEY NEED TO VANISH,” Lawrence Duncan said as his fingers tightened around the phone he had pressed to his ear. “Hell, yes, I know the risks, and that’s why I’m telling you...they can’t make it out of this area.”
His heart was racing in his chest. It had been pounding too fast from the moment his study door had opened and FBI agent Noelle Evers had walked inside. He’d recognized her instantly, even after all those long years. “She’s a threat,” he said flatly. “One that should have been eliminated by now.”
Silence stretched on the phone line.
“Do it,” Lawrence snarled. “Or I will.” Even though he hated to get his hands dirty. But too much was at stake in this situation. They were already too exposed. And when Noelle put the pieces together—
I’ll lose everything.
He heard the rough rasp of breathing on the other end of the line. Lawrence waited, hoping to hear—
“They’ll die tonight.”
He smiled. “The snowfall is just going to get heavier. They’re on their way to their cabin now. That means they are heading your way.” He’d taken the liberty of acquiring all of his information earlier. His assistant, Paula, had a knack for discovering information. Even before the agents had entered his home, Lawrence had known where they’d be staying in town. “With weather like this, it will be ea
sy enough for them to have an accident.”