I'll Be There Part 23

"If you want to keep her safe, that's exactly what you'll do. Of all people, you should understand the dangers." He shrugged into his coat. "Stay here. I'll deal with you later."

Cord bided his time, then when everyone returned to their business, left out the back way.

A crowd had gathered at the opposite end of Main Street. Afraid that the townspeople had found Jenny, Cord sprinted until he reached the group. He had visions of people mobbing her, happy or upset to find her alive after all, and asking all manner of questions. He did find her in the midst of a crowd of onlookers, dwarfed and thankfully concealed by his coat, crouching over a screaming toddler with bright red curls and a healthy supply of freckles.

"What's going on?" Cord asked someone.

Jenny turned at the sound of his voice, but didn't reveal her face from beneath the hood of his coat. A woman he recognized as the cas.h.i.+er from the hardware store said, "Little Sammie Houston came flying down the hill on his sled, got sideways, rolled half way down, then wandered over to the hardware store's parking lot, kinda like he was disoriented, and went and got his foot caught in a storm drain."

Jenny spoke softly into the boy's ear and smoothed his tousled curls with one hand while she loosened the laces on his sneaker with the other. Miraculously, the boy quieted and nodded his head in response. In the next instant, he wriggled his trapped foot out of his sneaker and displayed a dirty sock to his audience. With a big grin he declared, "Not stuck no more!"

Jenny spoke again into the boy's ear. He wiggled his toes and rotated his ankle demonstrating that everything was fine. She helped the little boy to his feet, and he immediately bent at the waist, pressing his face to the drain. He stood back up with a forlorn look on his face. "Shoe gone," he said, then burst into tears.

A thin, pale woman, who must have been the boy's mother, appeared at that point, grabbing the boy and hugging the breath out of him. A man joined them, lifted the boy and put his arm around the woman, holding her close. Cord grabbed Jenny's hand as she tried to fade into the background and hustled her into the alley behind the hardware store.

"What the h.e.l.l?"

"Sammie was stuck and screaming b.l.o.o.d.y murder. I was the only one around, so I went to help him."

"So you just thought you'd walk into an exposed parking lot, where anyone could recognize you, and lend a hand? Are you crazy?"

"I was careful to make sure no one saw my face."

"d.a.m.n it, Jenny. That was an unnecessary risk! And I won't even mention you climbing out of a second floor window. You must have come back inside to get my coat while I was waiting for you upstairs."

She started walking, probably intending to get away from him, but he grabbed her arm, stopping her progress. "Where do you think you're going?" Jenny tried to pull her arm out of his grip, but he didn't release her.

"Let me go."

Gritting his teeth, he pulled her, resisting, toward the sheriff's office just beyond the other end of the alley. "Wallace and Kennedy are out looking for you. You have an appointment at the sheriff's office, in case you forgot."

She dug in her heels and wrenched out of his grasp. "I'm not going!"

"Think about what you're saying, Jenny. After all that you've been through, you're going to let these guys get away with what they've done to your life and countless others? When they're released, they'll come after you even harder."

"Stop! I don't want to think about any of that. I'm sick of this controlling my life."

Jenny eased down the wall of the alley and sat in the snow with her head in her hands.

"Think of all the lives this crime ring will continue to ruin. They may even come back to Angel Ridge and finish what they started with your friend, Candi. You're endangering your life and the lives of anyone you come into contact with if you walk away."

She looked at him, a wild, tortured look in her eyes that shook his resolve.

"You should know. Who's after you? Who are you hiding from?"

"You know I can't discuss that."

She tried to stand, slipped on a patch of ice, caught herself and took a step towards him. "Right. You can know all the details of my situation, but I shouldn't expect to know anything about yours. I get it now-about twenty-four hours too late." She pulled her hood up. "I'll go to the police station, but I do not want to see you there."

"All right. I'll go back to Miss Estelee's and wait for you."

"No need."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm leaving tomorrow. No point in prolonging this, right?"

It felt like a knife had just pierced his heart, but in his gut, he knew she was right.

"Plus, you wouldn't want to endanger me or yourself further, would you?"

Her voice was cold, emotionless. What he felt at the thought of never seeing her again was far from emotionless. He wasn't ready to lose her.

He pulled her close and held on as she struggled. "Jenny, please. I don't want things to end like this-don't want you to leave angry with me."

When she stopped struggling, he pushed her hood back and touched her face. Her eyes had changed. The woman who had shaved him, who he'd made love to this morning, was already gone.

"It doesn't matter what we want. Choices are no longer part of our lives. This is the end."

"We have today," he said softly, wanting to kiss her, but unsure of how she'd respond.

"I'll be going over the evidence with attorneys all afternoon, and then mentally preparing to leave and enter the program."

He took a step back. "Right, you have enough without adding us to the mix."

"There is no *us'." She looked at him as if he were nothing, then added, "I don't even know your name."

Jenny somehow managed to turn and walk away without looking back, even though everything in her screamed against it. At the end of the alley, she hesitated, her resolve wavering. A woman rushed by. If Jenny hadn't skidded to a stop, they would have collided.

"Excuse me," she said.

That voice. Jenny turned to her without thinking, and the two women's eyes locked. "Frannie," she breathed.

Jenny's sister wobbled on her feet and crumpled to the ground.

Chapter 19.

"What happened?"

Cord was at her side. Jenny had taken Frannie into her arms and was rocking her gently as she pushed her dark hair back from her beautiful, pale face. "It's my sister. My sister." She still couldn't believe it.

"Jenny, go. I'll stay with her."

"I'm not leaving her like this!"

"You have to. She can't come to and see you."

"She's already seen me! That's why she pa.s.sed out." What if she wasn't okay? Jenny patted her sister's cheek. She had to be all right.

"I can convince her she didn't see what she thought she did. Go."

"Jenny..." Frannie moaned as she clutched Jenny's coat. "Is it really you?"

"Go," Cord urged, but Jenny hugged her sister close.

"It is you." She frowned. "I don't understand. You're not supposed to be here."

Cord muttered an expletive. "We need to get you both off the street before you draw another crowd." He stood. "Help me get her up."

"Frannie, can you walk?"

Her sister nodded. Cord, or whatever his name was, took her sister's arm and helped her stand. When he offered Jenny his hand, she ignored it and stood on her own. She took Frannie's arm and said, "Let's go." She pulled up her hood, and together, they walked quickly to the rear of the sheriff's office.

Cord stopped her just inside the door. "Jenny, we need to talk."

"I can't do this now."

"When?"

Ignoring the question, she propelled her sister forward into an empty room off the back hallway. "Why don't you go discreetly tell someone I'm here?" she said from the doorway.

He looked at Frannie then back at her. "She shouldn't be here."

"Get Grady and tell Kennedy I'm here. I'll deal with my sister."

Cord stepped in close, too close. Her heart skidded and before she could find her resolve, he slid a hand to the back of her neck and kissed her-a gentle, but firm slide across her mouth that fanned the flames of the fire burning between them, reminding her that the feelings between them wouldn't disappear easily or quickly.

"Later," he promised and was gone, leaving her to grab the doorframe for support.

"Okay, we'll talk about him later. For now, I need you to explain. How can this be? When they told us you'd gone into witness protection, we were told you would never be able to return to Angel Ridge."

She turned and looked at Frannie, her little sister she thought she'd never see again. Three steps and they were in each other's arms. "I'll answer all your questions, but give me a second. I've missed you so much." She put her at arm's length and looked at her. "How are you? You look like you've lost weight."

"This hasn't been easy, Jenny, and I'm mad as h.e.l.l knowing that you're alive but we can't be together."

"I know. I've missed you, too. Losing you has been the hardest thing." Tears filled her eyes. "It's just too much. I need you, Fran. When we had nothing else, we always had each other."

Tears spilled down Frannie's cheeks and she squeezed Jenny's hands. "I know."

"None of this makes any sense, Jenny. Why are you here? It can't be safe."

"I know. Listen, I'm not sure how much I can say. I don't want to make things worse for you."

"Worse?"

Jenny shook her head. "I know it makes no sense, but you need to know that your being here with me right now is not a good thing. It isn't safe for you or anyone to be near me."

"They're supposed to be keeping you safe. That's why you went into the program, and yet you're out wandering the streets in Angel Ridge alone. I don't get it."

She looked away, but knew her sister would read her like she always had. "All I can say is that things haven't gone as they should."

"Jenny," Grady came into the room without knocking, "this is a witch's cauldron if ever I've seen one." He paused when he saw Frannie in the room. "Ms. Thompson, you're the last person I expected to find here."

"Sorry to disappoint," Frannie said, clearly angry now. She stood, arms crossed, and faced Grady.

Jay Kennedy came into the room, but pulled up short. "Who's this?" he asked Jenny.

"My sister."

"What have you told her?"

"Nothing."

"Good."

"Excuse me," Frannie said, "but if you think I'm going to leave this room without a full explanation as to what's going on here, you are sadly mistaken."

"You'll do as you're told," Jay said softly.

"And who are you?"

The tall, blond man stepped forward, hand extended. "Jay Kennedy, special agent-in-charge, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation."

Frannie ignored the proffered hand. "That says a lot. From all I've seen, no one seems to be in charge of this circus."

"I couldn't agree more," Cord said as he walked in, taking up much of the remaining s.p.a.ce and all of the room's oxygen as far as Jenny was concerned. Frannie noticed the change in her immediately.

"Honey, are you all right? All of you men need to step back! Give her room to breathe."

"I'm all right, Frannie."

"All the color just drained from your face."

"Why don't we all take a breath," Grady suggested. "Let's sit and talk, noting that we are all going to act like professionals," he warned.

Everyone took a seat around the small table except for Cord, who stood in the corner of the room, ever near the door, a dark expression on his face.

Frannie spoke first. "Who would like to tell me what is going on here?"

"It is indeed unfortunate that you happened onto your sister, Ms. Thompson," Jay said to Frannie.