The police escort that had been leading them had dropped back when Jack made the turn onto Evergreen; it now pulled in beside him, the siren no longer blaring but the bubble lights still doing their work.

  Rachel once again found herself turning back to face Reed. “Is this the spot?”

  He said nothing.

  “Where did you bury her?”

  He continued to remain silent but something like the beginning of a frown appeared at the corners of his mouth. In the fragmented lights from the patrol car behind them, he looked like a demon.

  “Don’t waste your time with him,” Jack said. “It’s a small site. We’ll find it.”

  With one final sneer at Reed, Rachel got out of the car. She estimated the site to be about seventy-five feet long and fifty feet wide…relatively small compared to the other three sites they’d visited during their time in Alexandria. Almost all of it was touched in some way by either the headlights from their car or the headlights and flashing lights of the patrol car.

  Two cops got out of the car and hurried over to them. “What can we do to help?” one of them, a younger man with a stocky build, asked.

  “Just look for freshly churned up ground. He’s still filthy with dirt, so the hole was dug and covered back up very recently.”

  “And if you see anything you think might be it, start digging.”

  It then occurred to Rachel that the only equipment on the site were two work trucks and a small concrete mixer. There was no excavator…nothing to dig with. But she figured they could worry about that problem when it arrived. If Hunt was sending a few more teams over to assist, surely they’d think to bring something to dig with.

  Both the officers had flashlights, and the younger one handed his to Jack so both teams would have an additional light source. In a slow but methodical march, the four of them split off into teams of two and started looking for areas within the clear and leveled land where the dirt looked softer and recently churned up.

  After just a minute or so of this, the sound of approaching engines could be heard at the end of the street and, soon after, two pairs of headlights. Rachel turned her attention briefly to their car, where Avery Reed was still locked inside, the approaching headlights outlining him perfectly through the windows. Jack moved along beside her, scanning the ground with the flashlight.

  Rachel returned her full attention to the search as well. Moments later, the two other cars pulled in and three other officers got out. One of them went to the trunk of his car, popped it open, and removed several shovels. It was a far cry from an excavator, but they’d do. She supposed if they had more time and these two sites hadn’t been so last minute, they could have all prepared better.

  At the same moment these three new officers came rushing over, one more car came speeding down Evergreen Avenue. Rachel turned to watch them quickly approach but just as she turned her head, she heard Jack’s voice less than ten feet away.

  “Right here!” he called out. “I’ve got something!”

  Every ounce of Rachel’s attention went to him, as did the attention of everyone else. There was a mad dash in his direction as Jack dropped to his knees and started digging at the dirt. It was a section that sat almost in the center of the piece of land, and far to the right, near one of the privacy screens. As a number of flashlights came over and beamed down on the ground, she saw that he was right. The softness and loose nature of the dirt was unmistakable. As she further studied the immediate area, she could also see where some dirt had been scattered around in what was supposed to be a casual manner—probably a way to get rid of the fill dirt that couldn’t fit back into the hole because of the coffin.

  Right away, two officers began digging at the soil with shovels. A third and a fourth came over to help as well and Jack yanked a shovel out of their hands. It wasn’t necessarily rude, but they were all beyond the point of niceties and manners.

  Rachel realized that for now, four shovels was all they had. So she could only stand by with three other officers while Jack and the other three dug frantically. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen Jack so focused and determined. He was digging at the dirt as if his life depended on it. At some point, he’s shucked off his jacket and was digging in just the white button-down beneath. And even though the moment was tense and a woman’s life was on the line, watching Jack work like that brought one quick and powerful thought to her mind.

  My God, I’m falling hard for that man…

  Roughly two minutes later, another patrol car arrived. The two officers were carrying yet another shovel and when Rachel tried taking it from the older African American officer, he shook his head. “I’ve got it, agent.”

  “No, please…” she said.

  He handed it over reluctantly and Rachel started to dig with the others. There were almost too many of them at work, their blades often clanging together as dirt went flying out of the hole. Rachel glanced up for just a moment, noting that one of the two officers that had just arrived had opted to stand guard by their car where Avery Reed still sat. She hoped he was beginning to worry, to really agonize over things as they dug into his hole.

  And in that wondering, someone hit something hard. Everyone stopped for a split second and then went right back to work, faster now. Within seconds, there were more thumping noises as the shovels struck something firm. And just a few breaths after that, a rustic-looking wood was revealed.

  It took just another three minutes before the entire top of the coffin was revealed.

  “We just need to clear the edges of the lid,” Rachel yelled out over the commotion. “God, please tell me we have crowbars!”

  “Right here, ma’am,” said the first young cop that had arrived on the scene. He came rushing over with three crowbars in his hand.

  As more of the edges along the lid were revealed, a few of the shovel-wielders stepped out to make room for the crowbars. To Jack, not taking part seemed to not be an option. He reached out for one and within the space of just a few moments, he’d traded his shovel for a crowbar.

  Rachel, having only been digging for about two minutes, wormed her way out of the hole as Jack and two officer worked at the edges of the lid. One of the officers managed to pry up the bottom right corner right away, the wood popping up with a satisfying noise. Jack also had success along the left edge. For a moment, the entire site went quiet, the only sound coming from the creaking wood being pried up and the grunts from the men at work.

  The top came loose before Jack or the other two men were fully aware. One of the officers slid the crowbar into the gap between the side and the lid and just like that, the top shifted. Taking a triangulated look at one another, the three men worked together to lift the lid and toss it to the side. It thumped to the ground with a noise that sounded louder than it really was in the deafening quiet of the moment.

  Everyone looked down into the shallow hole. A woman—presumably Emily Draven—was lying in the box. Her eyes were closed and she looked pale. Before jumping to her first conclusion (she’s dead…we’re too late, and she’s dead), Rachel slid back down into the hole. She placed the pointer and middle finger of her right hand to the woman’s neck, just beneath her jaw. Rachel closed her eyes, waiting, hoping…

  “A pulse,” she said after a few seconds. “She’s alive.”

  A few celebratory noises sounded out from the rim of the hole. One of the officers was already on his phone, calling in the information. Another one, the older African American man that had begrudgingly handed his shovel to Rachel, came rushing to her side.

  “There’s already an ambulance out and waiting for the call. Every precaution you can think of was called in on this.”

  Rachel nodded, but she kept her fingers to the woman’s pulse. As silly as it seemed, she feared that removing her hand meant Emily Draven would die. Plus, it seemed almost heartless to leave this poor woman alone after she’d been placed into a box and then into a shallow hole in the ground. Even if she had no idea that’s what was happening, Rachel thought it the decent thing to do.

  Jack looked down at her and then, slowly and with a great deal of care, he also made his way back into the hole. He stood beside Rachel, looking down at the prone face of Emily Draven. When he subtly reached out and took Rachel’s hand, she let him. She even squeezed it and was hopeful enough to think that the flicker of pulse she felt beneath her fingers at the same moment Jack squeezed back was a good sign.

  ***

  In the forty minutes that passed between discovering Emily Draven’s body and watching the ambulance leave with Emily in the back, Avery Reed had not made a single peep from the back of the bureau sedan. Even now, as police cruisers started rolling out, he remained still and patient in the back of the car.

  Currently, a few of the forensics team members were having a heated argument with Chief Hunt over near the hole where the wooden box still remained, now free of its contents. Apparently, the forensics unit was steamed that the body had been removed so quickly and that the site had been so terribly defiled. Hunt was arguing that ignoring such measures had resulted in saving a woman’s life. Rachel strongly agreed with Hunt.

  And it was with the knowledge that Emily Draven was going to make it that Rachel walked back to the car. She got into the passenger seat while Jack finished speaking to a local detective just outside the car.

  “You found her,” Reed said. His voice was dry and unenthusiastic.

  “We did. And she’s going to live. So it seems you put all of this effort into your work for nothing.”

  “No. Not nothing…”

  “Then for what?”

  “My legacy. And to show my mother that I…”

  “What about your mother?” Rachel asked.

  But Reed shook his head. There was something like sadness on his face, but it was muddied. Still, it was the most emotion he’d shown since she and Jack had greeted him in his kitchen.

  Jack got back into the car and when he did, Rachel realized how lonely she’d felt, sitting in the car by herself with Reed. She got the sense that he wasn’t all there mentally—and it apparently had something to do with his mother.

  “So how did you choose them?” Jack asked as he started the car. He cast a quick glance into the rearview mirror, his eyes sinking into Reed.

  “Ah, but they chose me, didn’t they? Came right to me.”

  “No they didn’t. You were in Emily Draven’s house. You went to her.”

  “Before that,” Reed snapped, the anger showing through a bit more now. “Mingling with them at parties and galas, on golf courses and ribbon-cutting ceremonies for new buildings and offices. And then…and then…”

  Rachel and Jack exchanged a look of exasperation. They weren’t going to get any answers out of Reed—none that made sense, anyway. She almost pitied Hunt and whatever detective or other agent ended up running with the case post-arrest. She got the feeling that Avery Reed was going to be a handful.

  “Can I ask where we’re going?” Reed asked a few minutes into the drive away from the old car wash site.

  “I imagine you’ll be spending a good chunk of your near future in either an interrogation room or a holding cell,” Jack said.

  “Oh.” There was curiosity in his tone and something a bit like disappointment. “Interesting.”

  “Why’s that so interesting?” Jack asked. Rachel could hear the grating annoyance in his tone.

  “Because you’re acting as if this is over.”

  “Oh, it’s over…” Jack said. But he seemed to catch Reed’s meaning at the last moment.

  In the back of the car, Reed chuckled a bit and rested his head back against the seat. “For me, sure. Maybe,” he said. “But what about for the others that are still buried out there? The ones no one has found yet.”

  “How many more?” Rachel asked.

  Reed smiled at her and shook his head.

  Rachel had no idea how to respond, and even Jack remained quiet. The car grew tense and for a moment, Rachel could feel the headache in the back of her head stomping across her mind and threatening to take over completely.

  “You tell us right now, damn you,” she hissed. “How many more? And where are they?”

  This time, Reed didn’t even respond with a smile. He closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and looked as if he might be asleep. Rachel looked forward, her head starting to ache, her stomach in knots. They’d arrested him and were bringing him in; they’d done their job. From here, whether or not there were more bodies, it would be the state PD and another branch of the FBI to investigate.

  But as for her and Jack, they were done with Avery Reed.

  And despite all of the unanswered questions, Rachel had to admit to herself that she was perfectly fine with it.

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  It was 6:07 in the morning when Rachel and Jack arrived back in Richmond. They were both terribly exhausted and in need of showers, but the adrenaline of the night was still racing through them both. About halfway through the drive, she’d made Jack switch with her behind the wheel, and he hadn’t argued. That went to show just how tired he was—something that made her wonder if they should have reconsidered spending one more night in Alexandria.

  But when the field office came into view, Rachel knew they’d made the right decision. She fully planned to grab a shower in one of the locker rooms off the small gym, report to Anderson, and then go home to sleep the day away. Well, not home…but the safehouse. She honestly didn’t care where she was, so long as she got to see Paige when she woke up.

  Rachel didn’t bother to deliver the car back to the lot where the other sedans were usually parked for agent use. Instead, she parked near the rear entrance, not wanting to have to answer questions about the case if anyone happened to have come in early and ran into them in the lobby or the main elevators.

  “Home sweet home, huh?” Jack grumbled from the passenger seat. He opened the door and got out right away, ambling in the direction of the rear entrance. He held the door open for her and they both walked straight ahead down the hallway and to a set of stairs that would take them to the locker room and showers.

  When they came to the intersection between the men’s and women’s locker room, Jack paused and said: “Are you bothering to go upstairs after you’re cleaned up?”

  “Maybe for a bit. I called Anderson while you were dozing and told him I wasn’t sure we could pull a full day.”

  “Dozing? I wasn’t dozing.”

  ‘Um, you most definitely were.”

  He smiled at her and headed down the corridor for his shower. She watched him go, noting the dirt and sweat stains all along his back. It brought back to mind how she’d been so enamored with him while watching him tear into the dirt with the shovel in order to rescue Emily Draven…how he’d help tear the lid off.

  She smirked tiredly to herself as she made her way through the locker room and to the showers. Maybe she needed to take a cold shower instead of the hot one she’d planned. She found the locker rooms empty, which was no surprise. Even the agents and recruits that came in early to use the gyms didn’t arrive quite this early. She figured it would be another half an hour or so before anyone else would be down here.

  She stood under the water for a moment before washing off, letting the steam work itself into her muscles. She thought of Avery Reed’s final statement to them, suggesting there might be more bodies buried. Though that aspect of the case would not come down to involvement from her and Jack, she had no idea how she was supposed to just let it go. She’d been forced to step away from ongoing investigations in the past when her part had been executed, but this felt almost like a defeat, in a way.

  As she neared the end of the shower, her thoughts then turned to Alex Lynch and her family. She wondered where he was in that moment and if he had maybe been discouraged to find out just how much protection the bureau was putting into keeping her and her family safe. Maybe he’d left the state, on to some other place to live out the rest of his days in quiet and solitude. It wasn’t an ending he deserved, but she was almost willing to accept it for him if it meant freedom for Paige and Grandma Tate.

  She wasn’t sure how long she’d stayed under the water…ten minutes, maybe. But when she stepped out, she did feel a bit reinvigorated. Maybe she’d head upstairs and start on the case reports after all.

  She dried off and got dressed in the change of clothes from the spare overnight bag she always kept in one of the lockers on the back side of the room. She’d only ever needed to use her backup outfit on two occasions but knowing it was there was a relief.

  She left the locker room and as she started down the corridor, she looked in the direction of the men’s locker room. She wondered if Jack was done yet. She wondered if she loitered long enough if she’d catch him coming out, clean and still slightly wet. She wondered if he’d object to her kissing him again. She wondered…well, she wondered a lot. And thoughts like that made her heart feel a little light, like she—

  The sound of a slamming door nearby tore her from these little daydreams. It had been very close, not in the locker room, but closer. He eyes turned to the walls along the corridor, to the men’s restroom door, situated almost exactly between her and the entrance to the men’s locker room. As her eyes landed on the door, she heard another sound…not as loud this time, but a dull and almost muted thump.

  She supposed it was possible that another agent was down here, maybe an overzealous rookie wanting to get that early morning workout in. But at the same time, she knew how tired Jack had been, how hard he’d been working, and how little sleep he’d gotten. Had he passed out? Had he passed out and fallen in the bathroom?