The 6:20 Man

Devine looked around the room. “Is . . . have you heard from Michelle Montgomery?”

“She’s left the country.”

Devine nodded, looking and feeling disappointed. “Okay.”

“She didn’t really have a choice.”

Devine glanced back at him. “What?”

“She wanted to visit you here many times, but that would not have been a good thing, so I put the kibosh on that. We arranged for a safe place for her to live abroad.”

Campbell pulled an envelope from his pocket. “But she asked me to give you this.”

Devine took the envelope. Without another word, Campbell left.

Devine slowly opened the envelope and slipped a single page and two photos out. He glanced down the paper and began to read:

Dear Travis, what a ride! I’ve never been more scared and more excited in my life. Not sure what that says about me, but just being honest. I guess the general has told you what happened. I didn’t want to leave you, but he didn’t give me a choice. I can say I will miss you, and I will. But I’m convinced we will see each other again. And while the general won’t like it, you can reach me at this phone number.

Devine eyed the international phone number with the country code for Italy.

He read the rest of the letter.

I won’t call you because I don’t want to put pressure on you. But you can call me. I’m so sorry about what happened to you. I never would have guessed that that sweet-looking girl who founded a dating service to help people find love would have been so screwed up. I hope you recover quickly. Even though I couldn’t visit you in the hospital, I was thinking about you, all the time. And remember, while we both have baggage, it can’t last forever. And even if it does, life must go on. And I don’t think you or I need a dating service to find the person just right for us.

I’ll Always Love You,

Michelle

P.S. The man in that photo is a keeper. The one of me is so you won’t forget.

Devine next looked at the photos. The one of him was the same photo she’d taken on the rooftop of her building: the troubled man with baggage. The one of her did not have her in a bikini but, rather, jeans and a T-shirt. With the loveliest smile he had ever seen.

He reluctantly set her picture aside and stared at the ceiling.

He had never suspected Jill Tapshaw. He had trusted her and then nearly been killed by her.

He had not trusted Helen Speers, and she had been the one to save his life.

He had suspected Will Valentine of wrongdoing, and the man had done nothing but be his friend and help him. And his payment for that had been the loss of his life.

During an earlier visit, Campbell had told him that Valentine’s family back in Russia had been taken away by the state. The infant Valentine had been left alone and then whisked out of the country by family friends.

But with Michelle Montgomery, in the end, he had trusted her. And that trust had been amply rewarded.

So maybe my instincts aren’t all bad. But one out of four isn’t going to cut it while working for Campbell.

He turned to the window and lay there, staring at the rising sun of a new day.