Save Me (6 page)

“I forgot about them until Tucker asked if I was sure Penny missed his funeral.”

Ryley lifts the lid, and I have to fight my instincts to yank the box away from her to look at the contents myself. Ryley pulls out four stacks of photos, each one tied in navy blue ribbon. It only takes her a second to grab the stack she’s looking for. Everything she’s doing is painstaking slow and hidden from my view. Evan isn’t watching either as his eyes are focused on the wall in front of him. It’s fucking morbid to see pictures from your own funeral, and if I didn’t know any better I’d think I’m having an out of body experience.

“Years ago I’d say these are the images from your funeral. I don’t remember Penny or Claire being there, but I don’t remember much from those first few days. She’s not in the pictures here.” She hands me the stack and I take them without breaking eye contact with her. I don’t want to see what’s on them because the heartbreak of knowing my wife wasn’t at my funeral is a lot to bear. I should look because there may be a clue in one of the photos. Not that I’d know what I’m looking for.

“Who took my flag?” I ask as I thumb through each picture. I have very little family, having been raised by my grandmother. I got word while deployed that she had died and that Penny had followed her wishes for cremation. Sitting here now I don’t even know if that’s true or not.

“I don’t know,” Ryley says, shaking her head. “I don’t remember. I’m sorry, Tucker.” She sets her hand on my wrist and gives it a squeeze.

I nod, letting her know it’s okay even though she realizes none of this is far from being all right. I’m not sure any of us will ever feel normal again, or feel like we don’t have to watch our backs.

“Do you know anything about my grandmother?” I ask, hoping that Ryley may know something.

“What do you mean?” she asks.

“While we were deployed, Penny …
Frannie
wrote, well typed a letter saying that she had died. Knowing what we know about the lies, I guess I’m wondering if that’s even true.”

“I don’t. Frannie really never discussed you or Justin, once we buried you guys. After a while we stopped talking about you all together. It was too hard.”

Evan stands and starts pacing. His hands are pulling at the ends of his hair and he’s muttering to himself. There’s something on his mind, but he’s not ready to tell us about it yet. I’ve seen this from him before.

“Evan?” Ryley says his name only for him to hold up his hand. When he finally drops it, it’s a pissed off Evan Archer staring back at me.

“What?” I question, eager to know what he’s thinking.

“We have to find Frannie.”

“Isn’t she dead?” It’s more of a statement than fact. I think we’re all hoping she’s alive, but we don’t know.

He shakes his head. “I don’t believe she is and she has all the answers. She knows where Penny and Claire are.”

I stand slowly as I match his posture.

“Frannie sent you pictures of Claire. Hell, she sent you report cards with teacher’s comments. She’s either a fucking whiz on the computer with age progression, has some really deep ties, or knows where your wife is and is able to get pictures of Claire. I give Frannie a lot of credit, but she assumed the lives of so many people, writing out comments about Claire and not repeating herself would be almost impossible.”

As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Frannie is the key, which ties everything together. But if the Feds haven’t found her, how will I? My resources are that of a gnat.

“Babe, did Frannie ever take vacations while we were gone?” Evan asks Ryley, who is now standing right along with us.

“Yes, although I don’t know if they’re vacations. But every couple of weeks she’d disappear, it was odd.”

“How so?” I ask.

“Well, it was like this … each day she’d come over for coffee or be there when I’d have a doctor’s appointment. Every couple of nights we’d have dinner, go to the movie, or do game night with Nate and Cara when they were still together. And then she’d say things like she’s going to visit her sister and niece, but when you went to her house there were never any pictures of anyone besides her and River. I know not everyone is like me and has pictures of their family everywhere, but I found it odd. And her sister never came to visit either, especially after River’s funeral.”

“That’s because she was probably visiting Penny and Claire,” Evan blurts out before I can get the words out of my mouth.

“I’m thinking the same thing, and if that’s the case, how do we find Frannie?” I ask, ready to do whatever I have to.

“I don’t think it’s a question of finding her, but drawing her out. I have a feeling she’s close by. The sociopath part of her wants to know what we’re doing. She had control over everyone’s lives for so long that she won’t be able to let go.” Evan seems so sure that it’s hard for me to doubt him.

“What are you suggesting?”

“You keep looking for Penny and Claire with your private investigator. I’m going to get someone who resembles Penny to make appearances in town and hope Frannie slips up.”

“Okay, say you’re right. What if you do that and she has Penny and Claire someplace and moves them? Or worse, hurts them?”

Evan’s face falls at my question and I don’t know if the thought of Frannie hurting Penny and Claire crossed his mind, but it should’ve—she hurt Ryley and her mom.

“Okay, so my James Bond technique needs some work, but we have to find Frannie and hand her over. And we need to find Penny and Claire, although I do believe that Frannie will lead us to Penny.”

“Why?” I question.

“Because our lives are nothing but a conspiracy and if we don’t think outside the box, we’ll never figure it all out,” Ryley says, stone-faced.

At night is when I feel the most alone. It’s the quiet calm that scares me. In my dreams I’m often running through bare hallways chasing the sound of Claire’s voice as she yells for help, only to find Tacito Renato with a bullet in the middle of his forehead, holding my daughter at knifepoint. Each time I try to step toward her, the floor gives way and I’m falling into a black pit of nothing.

The dream feels like its only minutes long, but it’s been hours since I’ve closed my eyes. And when I wake, I’m tired as shit and still hearing her voice. Every nine-year-old girl I see looks like Claire, even when she doesn’t. For days I sat outside her school on the off chance that Penny was still in town, ready to accept the fact that she wanted a divorce. I waited for my little girl to come down the stairs once the bell rang, hoping she’d see me and remember that I’m her daddy. Each day I was let down. And the next day I’d go to the next school and then the next, searching for my daughter.

I know Renato is dead. Archer killed him. It was the most beautiful shot I’ve ever seen him take. We had been searching for Abigail Chesley, and once we found her we stumbled upon Renato’s camp after finding a pile of little girl clothes not five to six hundred yards away. What we saw made us sick to our stomachs and before any of us could react, Archer leveled his rifle and put a bullet between his eyes. We had never heard of this guy until Abigail said his name, and from that point forward a shit storm ensued.

River was the one to radio it in, and we were told we could go home—only the extract didn’t come for us, only Abigail. We were ordered to find all the players in this sex ring we uncovered.

We weren’t supposed to kill Renato, which we learned after we finally came home. I think that triggered our downfall. Maybe the powers that be were thinking we’d kill ourselves, each other, or die before they brought us home and started asking questions. All I know is we were the ones who were supposed to end up dead. That seemed to be the story our families were told so why keep us alive? The risks far outweigh the rewards. Whoever is behind all this, whether its Senator Lawson, Admiral Ingram, or General Chesley, they’re keeping a dark secret that will destroy someone in power, a secret which frees the four of us—Archer, River, Rask, and myself—from this purgatory we’re living in.

I want all the answers given to me on a silver-fucking platter with my name engraved in gold. I deserve that at least. I’ve served my country. I’ve fought in wars protecting its freedom. It’s bullshit that the people who run the country I love so much are willing to shit on my team and me.

Going to bed angry is never my intention, and I find myself pacing the room I’m staying in. Evan and Ryley have opened their home and resources to me, helping me to find my family. Even the room I’m temporarily calling mine has pictures of Penny and Claire, giving me peace. I pray every second that they’re alive and waiting for me to come and rescue them.

The one person who can shed some light on all of this is Vice President Christina Charlotte, except she’s dead and no one is putting the pieces together. We were sent to retrieve her daughter, who Lawson had kidnapped, but Christina was killed before we came home. If that doesn’t reek of a cover-up I don’t know what does. General Chesley should be on our side. We saved his granddaughter, and brought her home to his son. Instead, he’s lurking on the base across the way from Archer’s house, coming in under the cover of darkness thinking no one will know. Maybe he’s the key to unraveling the mystery.

Tomorrow begins a new day, a new search.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING out here?” Evan’s voice is quiet against the night air. It’s different in Seattle than it is in Coronado; the air seems thinner. Maybe it’s because Washington doesn’t hold life-shattering memories for me.

“Watching.”

He sits down next to me, and pulls a second set of binoculars out from a bin by my chair. I don’t bother looking in there to see what else he has, but I imagine he’s fully equipped to spy on Canada from here.

“How far is the beach from here?” I ask, wondering why he didn’t buy property with beach access.

“It’s a block or so. The rocks thin out quickly once you get around the bend over there. Ryley and EJ walk there almost every day. She can show you in the morning if you’re needing to get your fins wet.”

I laugh at his joke even if it’s not that funny. Being in the Navy we have plenty of opportunities to be in the water. The water is our friend, and when you’re trained like us, it’s easy to hide in.

Evan’s access to the ocean from his house is negated by a massive rock formation. It’s as if whoever cleaned the rocks away from the beach piled them here. The rocks are jagged and undoubtedly make climbing up to this house difficult. He’s chosen the best spot to watch the Navy and protect his family at the same time.

“How’s Nate?”