Raine nodded. “Then you have your answer, Stella, and I have mine. I don’t need to do a background check on him.”
“I actually don’t want you to do one. I wasn’t asking you to do one, I just wondered why you hadn’t.”
“Because he’s a dangerous man and I’m not going to tangle with him. I also think he more than deserves to start a new life, which he’s done here.”
Stella took a sip of hot chocolate. “Did you do a background check on me?” She kept her voice low, sounding calm, but her heart beat so fast and her chest hurt to the point she was afraid she knew what those having heart attacks felt like.
Raine sighed and nodded, not looking away from her. “I’m sorry. It’s a hazard that goes with my job. I actually have to do background checks on people I hang out with. I’ve known you a lot of years, Stella. I’ve never said anything to you or anyone else. I can keep secrets and I’ve kept yours.”
“Even from our friends?” Stella gestured toward the tents.
Raine frowned at her. “Of course. It isn’t anyone’s business. If you choose to tell someone, that’s for you to decide, not me, not anyone else.”
Stella wasn’t certain she knew how to feel about Raine knowing who she really was, or the fact that her father was a serial killer. She felt color sweep into her face and was grateful the evening had darkened and she was sitting far enough away from the firepit that the flames weren’t throwing light on her face. Raine had always accepted her, and she’d shown intense loyalty to her, but just knowing she knew who she really was, with her ugly past, was disconcerting.
This was how it always started in the past, one person knowing and then her life turning upside down. The whispers. The looks. A media circus. That was so unfair to put on Raine. She’d known for years and never said a word to even their closest friends.
Raine cleared her throat. “I don’t know for certain what kind of work Sam did. I don’t like to speculate, but let’s say Denver is right about him and he’s one of these ghosts, for lack of a better word.” She pressed her lips together and again looked around and even glanced in the air as if a drone might be hovering.
Stella sat up straighter, all thoughts of anyone finding out about her past gone. If Raine was that nervous, there had to be a reason. Raine didn’t get nervous, unless she was climbing at certain heights and she had a panic attack or swore like a sailor.
“Men in that line of work don’t usually live long, not because they aren’t good at what they do but because they are. They make enemies. They’re sent all over the world to take out major targets and, as such, have information that can never be revealed to the public. They’re trained in methods of interrogation and killing and they’re truly like the ghosts Denver called them. If they’re sent after you, they don’t stop.”
Stella held herself very still. “Shouldn’t Sam be telling me these things? Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes, if he’s one of these people, and I don’t know that he is. But someone tried to kill him this morning in a very strange way. He was fishing, Stella, and they put on scuba gear and swam in very cold water and would have made it look like an accident. A man who has done the kinds of things he’s done for his country has made enemies, Stella. Those enemies wouldn’t stop looking for him. They can find ways to put alerts on his files so if someone like me did a background check on him, it might give him away. If they found him, they would send an assassin to finish him. If he is what Denver thinks, he might have a target on his back, and if you’re in a relationship with him, that makes you potentially vulnerable as well.”
Raine put her hands out in front of her, spreading her fingers wide. “I’m not trying to scare you away from him, because I don’t really know anything about him, but maybe you should straight up ask him, Stella. He could just be a veteran who has gone through a difficult time and wants to be left alone.”
“Would this assassin kill others, making the kills look like accidents in order to cover up what they did?” Sam hadn’t in any way indicated to Stella that he thought the killer might have specifically targeted him. And how could he have? Sam wasn’t supposed to have been there. But Raine kept looking at the sky. Did that mean some agency had the ability to watch them? Could they find Sam that way? Stella held her breath.