Fifth Regret (Heaven Sent Book 5) Read online

  He picked up the pen. “What’s your number?”

  She read off her digits to him and he wrote them on the notepad.

  “How long will it take you to get me the laptop and all his notes?” he asked.

  “Not long. Hour to hour and a half maybe.”

  “Good. I’ll start on the paperwork to release him.” Deon rose from his seat. “I look forward to seeing you soon and again later.”

  She stood and held her purse under her arm. “I’ll be back for sure. I can’t imagine what you found, but I need to know. He’s always been a good man. He doesn’t belong in prison.”

  “Some people are good at hiding their crimes.”

  The comment fitted him, not Andrew.

  Deon gestured for her to go. With a deep breath, she turned her back to him and headed back the way she’d come in. Excitement flooded her and she fought to hide her smile. She’d managed to free Andrew and get his charges dismissed. All she had to do was bring Andrew’s laptop back and show up at 1:30 in the morning at a bar to meet Deon. Little did the demon know she was fully aware what he intended to do. With luck, the demon wouldn’t live to see the next sunrise. Emily couldn’t wait to see her lover again and share her plan with him.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The stench of the prison cell nauseated Andrew. To his left, a man dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt had bad body odor and reeked of liquor. An older man with gray hair and wrinkled skin sat on Andrew’s other side on the bench. His soiled clothes stunk of urine and crap. His stained fingers matched his yellow teeth. Several men across from him appeared as rugged as the guys sitting beside him. Andrew couldn’t move to another spot since there were none, and the floor was even more disgusting with live bugs and human fecal matter in the far corners.

  He bobbed his knee to help release some of his anxiety. The wait to get out was driving him mad. He’d been told his bond hearing was at five and he’d get a chance to talk to a public defender a few minutes before. He’d hoped he could get out sooner so he could warn Emily about the demon. Hell, he’d hoped to get his one call, but every time he asked, nobody returned with an answer. Andrew suspected Deon had a role in denying him a call.

  His biggest concern was for Emily. He wondered if she’d contacted the station to find him. Had the demon tried to talk to her, threaten her? Although she knew how Deon treated women, Andrew still worried about her. Would she show up at his hearting to bail him out? He suspected she would and prayed Deon wouldn’t be around to see her.

  Keys rattled from down the hall. The chatter of men drew closer. Two uniformed police officers stopped in front of the barred cell.

  “Reynolds,” the shorter man said as he unlocked the door.

  Andrew shot up. “I’m Spencer Reynolds.”

  “You’re free to go,” the short cop said.

  Andrew stepped out of the prison cell. “I’m free?”

  “The charges have been dropped,” the tall one said as the other relocked the door. “I’ll take you to get your belongings.”

  Andrew followed the officer, excited and stunned by the news. He wanted to ask who had dropped the charges and why, but didn’t want to raise anyone’s concern. He had his freedom back and now he could return to Emily. He’d try to get the answers later.

  The cop took Andrew past another door and down a hall. The air quality had improved, but the new odor reminded him of a sweaty locker room. The officer stopped near a counter where a uniformed woman sat on the opposite side.

  “Tell her your name and she’ll take care of you,” the tall officer said before he walked away.

  “Spencer Reynolds,” he said to the officer.

  “Just a minute.” She stared at her monitor while she typed on the keyboard. “Harold, I need the contents for six seventy-nine.”

  “Got it,” said a skinny man with brown hair sitting at a desk near a room in the back. He disappeared into the room.

  Andrew stuffed his hands into his pockets while he waited. After the time he’d spent in lockup, he had a strong desire to take a shower and scrub himself from all the filth and odors. But first he had to see Emily and warn her about Deon.

  Harold returned with a clear plastic bag in his hand. He handed it to the woman at the counter. She pushed it toward Andrew along with a piece of paper she’d snatched from the nearby printer.

  “Sign this, then you’re free to go. Take the stairs up to the main floor to reach the exit,” she said.

  Andrew tore open the bag to claim his wallet and car keys. He almost complained about his phone missing, but he remembered Deon had thrown it at him and it had hit the wall. Then Andrew had stomped on it.

  He scribbled on the document before handing it back to the officer. “Thanks.”

  He dropped his belongings into his pockets as he headed up the stairs. On the main floor, he passed an older black man in a gray uniform sitting on a stool. He held a book in his hand. Seeing Andrew, he gave a nod. To the left, Andrew spotted a door leading outside. Bright light shined through the glass and into the building.

  On his way to the exit, he realized he’d been arrested at Walmart. He suspected his car hadn’t been towed since nobody had told him such, which meant his means of transportation sat on a lot miles away.

  He stopped in the hall. How was he supposed to get to his vehicle? He didn’t have a phone, so he couldn’t call Emily for a ride. Even if he had a cell, he wouldn’t want her near the station. He wanted her to stay far away from Deon. His best option was to call a cab.

  “Excuse me,” Andrew said, walking back toward the guard on the stool. “Do you know where I could go to have a taxi called for me?”

  The man lowered his book. “Go out the exit, take a right, and walk around to the front of the building. Go in the main entrance and ask the officer at the desk to call for you.”

  “Thank you,” Andrew said before he headed for the exit.

  Andrew stepped out into a sauna. Fresh air filled his longs while the bright sun forced him to squint for a few seconds. He followed the old man’s instructions and walked around the building. Sweat formed on his back, neck, and forehead before he reached the station’s main doors. He couldn’t wait to destroy the demon and get the hell away from the heat and humidity.

  The cool air soothed his damp flesh after Andrew entered the building. Several men and woman wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts waited in the large room with plenty of chairs still vacant. A uniformed woman with dark hair sat behind the counter overlooking the area. Andrew stopped in front of her.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  “I don’t have a phone and I was just released from lock up. There was an older gentleman sitting near the staircase and he suggested I come here. Would you mind calling for a cab for me?”

  “No problem.” She lifted the receiver to her phone.

  “Thank you.”

  Andrew waited inside for ten minutes before the taxi arrived. The ride to his sedan took another fifteen minutes. He spent an equal amount of time to drive to the hotel, but he couldn’t have been more excited when he parked in front of the room. He left the supplies in the trunk, having decided to get them after he’d spoken to Emily.

  He stepped inside the room and came to a halt near the dresser. The bed had been made, all the bags were gone, and the table had been cleared. Even his laptop was gone. A notepad and phone lay on the table. Heart gaining beats, Andrew opened one drawer after another on his way to the table. All the clothes had been removed, even his.

  The note on the pad of paper had Emily’s writing. Call me.

  The phone was the old one she’d used before Matt had given them new ones. He found her alias, Carrie, listed in the directory and tapped the button to dial her number. While the phone rang, he checked out the bathroom. It too had been cleaned and all the contents cleared out.

  “Hello?” she answered.

  He closed his eyes briefly, enjoying the sound of her voice. “It’s me. Where are you? Are you
okay?”

  “Thank God it’s you. I’m fine. I had to switch hotels. I’ll explain more when you get here. I’m at Springhill Suites at River Ranch, room 329. Park in the front and walk in through the main entrance. But before you get here, drive around and keep checking your mirrors to make sure he’s not following you.”

  Andrew didn’t need to ask who she was referring to. “I’m leaving now. Are you sure you’re safe?”

  “I’m fine,” she said firmly. “I’ll explain everything when you get here. Now be careful.”

  “I’ll see you soon.”

  “Please do. I miss you.”

  With a sigh of relief, he slid the phone into his pocket. Hearing her voice put him in a much better mood and eased some of his worry about her. He suspected something had frightened her to change hotels. He was curious to learn what had spooked her. He ripped the note from the pad and took it with him on his way out.

  After Andrew studied the map on the phone, he drove around the city for several minutes. The mall wasn’t far from the new hotel, so he circled it a few times while he checked his mirrors. From the shopping center, he steered down the road in the direction of the hotel. He passed it and pulled into a gas station with a convenience store a few blocks away. Inside, he grabbed some snacks while he monitored the traffic. For extra caution, he left the station and returned to the mall for another lap around it. Still not finding any police in the area, he decided to head to the hotel.

  Andrew parked in a front spot per Emily’s instructions. He gathered the bags from the trunk, leaving the water and juice for another trip. Hands full, he headed into the main entrance.

  The wide lobby had a socializing area with several chairs and a sofa. A large television hung from one of the walls. Two women stood behind the counter of the check in desk. He gave a nod to them as he passed by, heading to the pair of elevators at the end of the hall. Using his knuckle, he hit the call button.

  The ride to the third level didn’t take long. Andrew’s excitement grew when he stepped onto the floor. His day had been exhausting and frustrating. All he wanted to do was spend the rest of the night making love to Emily after he showered. He located the room at the end of the hall and tapped on the door with the back of his hand.

  “It’s me,” he said.

  The door swung open and Emily stepped aside. “Finally,” she said.

  He passed her and paused in the living area. A bar with three stools separated the room from a small kitchen. An open door past the kitchen led to the bedroom. Andrew headed for the counter while Emily secured the locks.

  “This place is much nicer than the other one,” he said as he set the bags down.

  She strode toward him with downcast eyes. “I was so worried about you.”

  He caught up to her and wrapped his arms around her as she pressed her body to his. “You have no idea how worried I was for you. I was so scared that demon would do something while I was in lock up.”

  “I wouldn’t let that happen. And if he’d tried to follow me, I would’ve lost him.”

  He took her face into his hands and molded his mouth to hers. Their tongues met and a firestorm of passion ignited. Blood rushed south of his navel. He loved her so much. He starved for her as if they’d been apart for days.

  She put her hand on his chest and pried her lips from him. “We need to talk.”

  Anxiety began to rise within him. The four words were never good ones. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong. I have a plan in place for you to destroy the demon.”

  His brows came together as he narrowed his gaze at her. “What kind of plan? Did you talk to him?”

  “I went to the station looking for you. I figured I would be safe talking to him in a public setting.”

  Andrew clenched his jaw while he raked a hand over his head. “He’s pure evil. You have to stay away from him.”

  “I know he’s twisted in the worst sense of the word. He gives me the creeps.”

  “So you talked to him?”

  She nodded. “First he asked me if I was Carrie. I told him she was your sister and she flew into town to spend time with you, but she’d left already. He’d asked who I was, so I told him my name was Penny Reed.”

  “Penny Reed?”

  “It’s my new identity Troy gave me before he left. Anyway, I thought if I acted like some hopeless girlfriend willing to do anything to get her boyfriend out of jail, Deon might see an opportunity. And he did, but it took a little convincing. He asked me what you were doing in town and what you were working on. I told him I didn’t know and you let me travel with you as long as I don’t ask questions. The excuse was all I could think of at the time, which sounds unbelievable, but I didn’t want him to catch me in a lie. And I know he was trying to. He asked for the name of our hotel, so I gave it to him. He called right then and there to verify you had a room there. That’s why I changed hotels.”

  “Good thinking.”

  “Yeah, so after he believed I wasn’t lying, he agreed to drop the charges and set you free if I gave him your laptop. I don’t know why he was interested in it, but he asked for it and any notes you had.”

  “I told him I was a reporter investigating dirty cops. He probably thinks all my work is on the computer. And he knows about Carrie because the name appeared on my phone after he took it from me. After I told him I’d talked to a few women, he wanted the names of the people I’d spoken to. I refused to tell him, so he vowed to do bad things to you.”

  “Ah, now I get it. Well I ran to the hotel, threw everything into the bags, loaded the car with all our stuff, and then delivered the computer to him. Of course, I cleaned the memory and history so he wouldn’t find anything. I asked him to send me the paperwork showing the charges had been withdrawn and he did.”

  “That’s it? That’s all you had to do?” What Deon got in exchange for freeing Andrew seemed like nothing.

  “Not entirely. He said I have to meet him at one thirty at a bar. He said he had been doing research on you and built a case to hand over for federal charges. If I don’t show up, he’s going to file the paperwork in the morning and you will spend life in a federal prison.”

  “What?” The news stunned him. “What kind of charges?”

  She put her hand on his arm. “He’s bullshitting me to make sure I show up at the bar. There are no federal charges. There can’t be because Spencer Reynolds didn’t exist until Troy created him.”

  “Do you think Troy could have—”

  “No. I’d thought the same thing at first, but I really don’t think he’d bother.”

  Anger began to course through Andrew. The demon had tried to intimidate her. If she hadn’t known his evil ways and went to meet him, she would have ended up dead.

  “So he wants you to meet him in some bar. Did he say why?” Andrew asked.

  “He’ll give me the case he has on you. I told him you were a good man and your career would be ruined if you had to go to jail. Remember, he thinks I’m the girlfriend trying my best to save you from any criminal record, which isn’t a lie.”

  He would’ve smiled if he weren’t so concerned about this meeting. “Do you know what he plans to do?”

  “Of course I know he plans to kill me. I’m guessing he wants to get rid of me to piss you off or force you to leave.”

  His heartbeat remained strong along with unease. “You can’t go. I won’t let you—”

  “I never had any intentions of going without you. Let me finish before you criticize my plan.”

  He pressed his lips together and took a long breath. The fact the demon had seen Emily bothered him enough. He would’ve preferred the demon had never lay eyes on her. Now she had a plan to meet him again. The mere idea of it troubled Andrew.

  “No.” He shook his head. “He threatened to kill you while I was in jail. I don’t want you near him.”

  “Andrew, listen to me,” she pleaded.

  “Did you not hear what I said? He told me he wants to
hurt you before he kills you.”

  “I expect he does, but let me explain my plan. Please.”

  He inhaled a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “What is it?”

  “I’ll take Matt’s car and you can ride in the back or in the trunk. I’ll meet him at this bar and get whatever documents he has, if he even has any. I’ll leave and he’ll follow me.”

  Andrew crossed his arms. Her idea seemed decent. But he still found it difficult to believe Deon had released Andrew for a simple laptop and meeting. Deon had to know she’d tell him everything since they were lovers. What boyfriend would let his girlfriend meet a cop at a small town bar in the early morning hours?

  “I think your plan might work, but I think he suspects I will be with you.”

  Her brows crinkled. “Why do you say that?”

  “You told him you didn’t know what I was in town for, right?”

  “Right.”

  “There’s no way a cop would believe a girlfriend doesn’t know about her lover’s job. Not possible. If he believes I am working on a story about dirty cops and he’s one of them, then he probably wants to kill the sources and all evidence.”

  “Okay. It makes sense. I thought he just wanted to kill me to piss you off, but now it seems more reasonable he plans to get rid of both of us.”

  Andrew shook his head as he ambled away from her. “This demon is too damn diabolical and sneaky.”

  “Yeah, but we can still do this. You can still destroy him. He thinks you’re a reporter and I’m a tagalong girlfriend. He has no idea about you wanting to kill him. The surprise will be on him.”

  He turned to face her. “Say he follows you from the bar and I’m in the backseat, then what?”

  “I drive back toward Lafayette. I assume he will pull me over. You will have one of my guns, so you can shoot him. Then you destroy the demon. We’ll have to make sure to stay out of the range of his camera in his car. I wouldn’t think he’d have it on, but who knows.”