Critical Doubt Read online

  "I get that. When you come back to your childhood home, people tend to see you as you were, not as you are."

  "Does that ever happen to you?"

  "I rarely go home. Shall we take a walk? We might as well search along this part of the river. It's where the car was found."

  "Sure," she said, falling into step with him.

  They were farther downstream than he'd gone yesterday, and as they wound their way along the shoreline, they had to weave through tall, thick trees. While the sun was out, there were dark shadows in this part of the woods, and it was quite cold. It was also quiet, only the sound of the river accompanying their walk. He didn't know where the other search parties were, but for the moment, they were completely alone.

  They walked in silence for about twenty minutes. Then they ran into a couple coming from the opposite direction. The woman had medium-length, straight blonde hair while the man had dark hair and a thick beard. They appeared to be in their late twenties. The woman stopped abruptly when she saw them, a surprised, unhappy expression crossing her face.

  "Savannah, you're still in town," the woman said. "I thought you'd be long gone by now."

  "My plans changed."

  He could hear the cool tone in Savannah's voice. Whoever this woman was, she wasn't a friend.

  "Is this your boyfriend?" the woman continued.

  "No. This is Ryker Stone. He served with Paul and Todd. My cousin, Josie Burkett and her boyfriend Dale Howard," Savannah said, clearly struggling to be polite.

  "Hello," he said shortly, not really wanting to get into the middle of whatever this was.

  "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Stone," Josie said, her gaze assessing and curious. "I'm sorry about your friends. Dale and I have been out here all morning, looking for Todd. We still can't believe what's happened. We were late getting to the funeral. When we arrived, everyone was down by the river. It was shocking."

  He nodded, not really caring what she had to say. He just wanted them to move along so Savannah could stop looking like she wanted to hit someone hard, and he suspected that someone was Josie. She had a similar look to Savannah with her blonde hair, but her eyes were a boring brown, and her features weren't nearly as pretty.

  "Well, we're heading back now," Josie said, when the silence between the four of them went on too long. "You can keep going, but the river becomes inaccessible in a half mile."

  "We'll just walk a little farther," Savannah said.

  "Whatever." Josie paused. "Dad said if I saw you to tell you to come by and get some ribs. He has a barbecue truck now in Ridgeview. He parks it by the square. For whatever reason, he seems to actually miss you. He's been having a hard time the last few months, so you should stop by."

  "Why is he having a difficult time?"

  "Because he quit the law to barbecue, and Mom is less than thrilled. She went to visit her friend, Constance, in Atlanta, and I don't think she's coming back any time soon, or ever. Things aren't good between Mom and Dad. They might even get a divorce."

  "I'm sorry to hear that. I can't believe your father actually got a food truck. It was always his dream. He finally did it."

  "He doesn't make much money, but he likes it. Of course, he had to change jobs before my wedding. You did hear Dale and I are getting married, didn't you? You talk to Abby, right? We're friends now."

  "She told me. Congratulations." Savannah turned to Dale. "How have you been, Dale? Are you still working at the bar?"

  "Always," Dale said. "My dad retired last year. It's my second home, but I enjoy it. Everyone in town comes through there at least once a week."

  “Did Todd come into the bar?" Ryker asked.

  "All the time and usually with Paul, who was drinking way too much."

  "What about Todd's drinking?" he asked.

  "Sometimes he'd get a buzz on when he was with Paul, but I never noticed him out of control. He was in bad shape on Saturday night, though. He was reeling from Paul's death, and he'd just come back from seeing Abby and Tyler. He had more than a few drinks that night."

  "Was Todd with anyone else that night?"

  "No. A few people tried to talk to him, express their condolences, but he was on the phone a lot, texting every other second to someone. He seemed to want to be alone with his drinks and his phone."

  "We should go," Josie interrupted, clearly not interested in continuing a conversation that didn't involve her.

  "Nice to meet you," Dale said, giving him a nod.

  "You, too."

  As Josie and Dale moved away, Ryker gave Savannah a thoughtful look. "You and your cousin don't get along."

  "Nothing gets by you."

  "Why doesn't she like you?"

  "Because she's a bitch."

  He smiled. "I can't argue with that, since I don't know her, but what's between you?"

  "A lot of things. When I first moved in with my aunt and uncle, Josie was thrilled. She was two years younger than me, and she was excited to have someone who could be an older sister to her. But she quickly realized that with me around, she was going to have to share. Things got worse when her mom decided that I should join them on the beauty pageant circuit. That was their thing. They'd been entering pageants since Josie was five. It wasn't something I wanted to do, but if I wanted to fit in with my new family, I had to do it. It worked for a while. We did become closer. We had a lot of car trips together, but then I started winning, and Josie didn't like that. Suddenly, her mother was completely fixated on me. My aunt saw my successes as her successes. When Josie came up short, she lost her mom's attention."

  "That must have been rough on Josie."

  "I have some sympathy, but she was so hateful to me that it was difficult to feel that sorry for her. She even tried to sabotage me a few times. Anyway, after I won Miss Georgia, and came in third in Miss USA, I quit and went to college, where I joined ROTC."

  "From beauty queen to soldier, not the most common path."

  "Well, I don't like to be common."

  He smiled. "I don't think anyone could accuse you of that. It doesn't sound like you've kept in touch with your cousin or her family."

  "I do email and text with my uncle, although I guess it's been a while. I had no idea he'd quit his job and opened a food truck, but he does make fantastic ribs." She paused. "You're probably thinking that since the chief, my dad and my cousin don't like me, that the problem is me, and not them. Right?"

  "You do seem to generate some strong emotion," he admitted. "But it seems like they each have a different reason for disliking you, so I'm keeping an open mind."

  "Well, you don't have to do that. You can think whatever you want."

  "I know, and I don't need your permission to do that."

  "True. Do you want to keep walking? The shoreline will be impassable soon."

  "We might as well go back. Your cousin and boyfriend already covered this area."

  As they reversed direction, she said, "What's your family like? We've been talking a lot about me. Tell me something about Ryker Stone. Was your dad in the service?"

  "No. He's the chief financial officer for a venture capital firm that was started by his father. The Stone family business is all about money. But my mother's side is all about service. Her father, my grandfather, went to West Point, and after hearing all his stories, I wanted to go, too."

  "Was your mom in the military?"

  "No, she was a teacher and then a stay-at-home mom. She spent a lot of time taking care of my sister and me."

  "You have a sister?"

  "I do. She's married now, with a kid."

  "Where does everyone live?"

  "My sister and her family are in Connecticut, and my parents are in New York City."

  "Do you see them often?"

  "I haven't seen anyone since my last surgery seven months ago. They were hovering for a while when I first got back, but I finally got rid of them."

  She gave him a speculative look. "Because they were too loud for you?"

  "Yes
. They were loud. They had a lot of opinions. And I didn't want to hear any of them. I also didn't need them to worry about me."

  "Did they know about the problems you were having with the bells?"

  "They didn't need to know."

  "Your former team members didn't need to know, either. Is that why you stayed away from them, too?"

  "We were all dealing with our own problems. They didn't need to carry mine."

  "Does anyone help you carry your problems?"

  "Like a doctor?"

  "Or a friend?" she countered.

  "No one can help me, Savannah. I have to solve this on my own."

  "What if you can't do it by yourself?"

  "I have to. The bells are in my head, no one else's. It's my deal. And I'm beginning to be sorry I told you."

  "Well, don't worry, I'm not going to offer to help you."

  He was both relieved and a little surprised. "Why not?"

  "Because it would be a waste of time. You pushed your family and friends away; I don't think you'll listen to me. But you should, because I'm very smart."

  He liked the confident smile that curved her lips. "I have no doubt about that, but I have to handle this my way."

  "I have a feeling you only ever handle things your way," she said dryly.

  "It's worked so far."

  "Has it?"

  Thankfully, he didn't have to answer that question since they'd reached the spot where Todd's car had been pulled out of the river. The vehicle was gone now. So were the police. "They got the car out of here fast," he commented.

  "I'm sure they want to preserve whatever evidence might be inside. I don't like Chief Tanner, but I'm confident he'll examine the car carefully. However, I'm not confident he'll find anything, unless the brakes were tampered with, or there's clear evidence of a mechanical failure."

  "I agree."

  "There might be a clue on Todd's phone," she suggested. "According to Dale, he was on it a lot Saturday night. Maybe whoever he was talking to could tell us about his state of mind, what their conversation was about."

  "I'm sure he had his phone on him when he went into the river."

  "His text history could be on his computer. Did you notice a computer in the house?"

  "I didn't pay attention. There might have been one there."

  "We should check it out, maybe go through the house more thoroughly, see if we can find anything that would be helpful."

  "We can do that." He was happy to have a plan, even if it seemed a bit pointless. "But if Todd drove into the river on impulse, or if it was truly an accident, then there won't be any clues. The only scenario that might leave a trail would be if Todd had planned to take his own life, and that isn't something I want to consider."

  "Well, we can do nothing. Just wait and hope that Todd is found alive."

  He didn't like that idea, either. "I'm not good at waiting."

  "Neither am I," she said, as they got into the car.

  "Let's go back to Todd's house and look for a computer or any other clue that might be helpful."

  She pulled away from the curb, and for a few minutes, there was nothing but silence. He felt an odd need to break the quiet, which was very unusual. But as he glanced at her beautiful profile, he found himself becoming increasingly more curious about her.

  She turned her gaze to meet his, raising a questioning brow. "Something on your mind?"

  "You."

  "What do you want to know?"

  He wanted to know everything. But what was the point of that? In fact, why had he even told her he was thinking about her? He couldn't get involved with her. As soon as Todd was found, he'd be on his way back to the bay, to his boat, and to his very solitary life.

  "It doesn't sound like you want to know anything," she said, when he remained silent.

  "I want to know a lot, but it doesn't seem like a good idea. I'll be leaving soon, so will you."

  "Our paths probably won't cross again," she agreed. "But we can still talk now. What's on your mind?"

  He really should not say what was on his mind, but somehow the words came out of his mouth. "When I remember you and our night together, three things stand out. How I couldn't catch my breath when I was with you. How easily you smiled and laughed. And how perfectly we fit together."

  A flush of red warmed her cheeks. "It was pretty perfect, probably because it was only a night. We didn't deal with each other in the light of day. We didn't get to know our flaws, our weaknesses, or our bad habits. We didn't have time to annoy each other or get bored."

  "I doubt you would ever be boring, Savannah."

  "You probably wouldn't be, either."

  "Oh, I wouldn't say that. I've become quite boring in the past year. It's the only way I can stay sane."

  "The bells don't ring when you're alone?"

  "Not as often, but they're never completely gone." He paused. "But we were talking about you."

  "Were we? I thought you had decided you didn't really want to know anything more about me."

  "You said that you saw a photo of me about two years ago. Did you ever think about looking me up?"

  "Not really. I was afraid that seeing each other again would ruin a beautiful memory. I also had no idea if you were involved with anyone." She took a breath. "Were you involved with someone when you got hurt?"

  "I was seeing someone last year, but she disappeared pretty quickly when she realized I wasn't myself anymore."

  "Sounds like she wasn't worth keeping."

  "What about you? Is there a man in your life?"

  "I've dated a few guys over the past year, but I work a lot and I've made my career my priority. Once I decided to take a path that was completely my own, I wanted to make sure I succeeded, so I put all my energy into being the best FBI agent I could be."

  "Is the job what you thought?"

  "It's actually better than I thought. No case is the same as the last. I enjoy being part of a team. I formed friendships from my first day at Quantico that have sustained me ever since then. I'm now on a special task force run by one of my former classmates, and it's great. We always have each other's back, and we have the latitude to do what we need to do to get the job done."

  "If you've found a way to sidestep bureaucracy, I'm impressed."

  "That's all because of Flynn, my boss. He's a brilliant guy, and he brought down some very bad people, making quite a name for himself. His methods are unorthodox, but his results can't be denied, so he was put in charge of his own task force, and we are all reaping the rewards of that."

  "I'm glad you found a career that suits you."

  "I got some great experience working in Army Intelligence, so it wasn't a bad interim step for me." She turned down Todd's street and pulled into the short driveway in front of the garage.

  As he got out of the car, he looked around. The street was as quiet as it had been earlier. He wondered if whoever had come by in the night had returned, but when they reached the front door, it was still locked. That was a good sign.

  When he stepped into the living room, he saw the broken vase and shattered glass in front of the grandfather clock. Everything looked exactly as it had when they had left.

  "I should probably clean that up," he muttered.

  Savannah followed him into the kitchen as he went in search of a broom.

  He hadn't paid much attention to the kitchen the night before, but now something felt off. He glanced toward the side door. The dead bolt was not on. And the blinds on the window next to the door seemed askew. Had someone come into the house?

  Savannah paused by the kitchen table. "Todd has a lot of bills from the Emery Care Center in Jacksonville."

  "That's probably where his mom is," he said, barely paying attention to her words. His gut was churning. Something was wrong.

  "Some of them say past due. Was Todd having financial problems?"

  "I don't know. He has a job with a private security firm. But I have no idea what his mother's care might cost."
>
  As he moved through the kitchen, toward the adjacent laundry room, he heard an odd sound—a tick, tick, tick. There was no clock on the wall or anywhere in view. Was his brain throwing out some new sound to torture him?

  He pushed open the laundry room door, and the sound got louder. It seemed to be coming from behind the dryer.

  Every instinct he had told him to run.

  He moved back into the kitchen. "Get out," he told Savannah.

  "What?" she asked in surprise.

  "Get out," he yelled again. He grabbed her arm and shoved her through the kitchen door leading into the side yard. They were two steps away from the house when an explosion lifted them up and flung them across the grass in a fiery blast of heat and sound.

  Chapter Eight

  Savannah felt an enormous weight on her back. Her ears were ringing, her eyes were watering, her body felt like it was on fire. Was she on fire? Smoke filled her nose and lungs as she tried to breathe. She could hear an enormous wave of sound coming from behind her.

  As she moved, the weight rolled off her and she stared at Ryker's very still body in shock and horror. She crawled toward him as pieces of plaster and wood fell off her. She could still feel the heat, but the fire was consuming the house, and while she'd probably been hit by some burning embers, she was not on fire.

  "Ryker," she yelled, her own voice reverberating in her head as her ears painfully adapted to more sound. When he didn't move, she pressed her fingers to the side of his neck, overwhelmingly relieved when she felt a faint pulse.

  "Ryker." She put her hands on his arms, giving him a little shake. Then she leaned forward and put her mouth next to his ear. "Wake up." She prayed that he wasn't slipping away, but his breath barely moved his chest, and there was blood on his shirt. "Please," she begged, feeling a rush of fear as she stared at his face.

  His hair was almost white from the specks of plaster and there were small cuts across his cheeks. Every day seemed to bring him more pain, more injury, and her heart ached for him. It wasn't until just this second that she let herself admit how much she liked him—how much she'd always liked him. She'd told him that she'd moved on and left their night in the past, but that hadn't been true. She'd dreamed about him. She'd imagined meeting him again. She'd relived the time they'd spent together so many times.