How to Save A Life

Chapter 14

Her mouth dropped open. "Explain, please."

Trey had only had sex with one woman in the last six years. He'd been with Lisa six years, married five years, faithful that whole time. He'd felt safe. Until he remembered that, although he'd been faithful, his wife hadn't.

That memory slammed into him like a punch to the gut.

He turned away from Marli and ran his hands though his hair in agony and frustration. "Goddamn it."

She sat up on the bed, pulling the T-shirt down. Waited. "Trey, we just had sex. You need to tell me what that meant."

"I... It's probably okay," he managed to choke out. "God, Marli, I never meant to put you at risk. I was thinking about pregnancy, not about...STDs. I know my own history, but...someone cheated on me. I just realized... God, I am so sorry."

"Oh." The unspoken questions hovered in the air between them.

Travis, you sonofabitch, you'd better have been practicing safe sex or I will kick your ass so hard...

He sighed. He went over to Marli and lifted her up off the bed and into his arms. He looked her straight in the eye. "I promise you I'll get tested as soon as I can, and I'll let you know what the results are. If I've done anything to...I'll never forgive myself."

She nodded, actually amazingly calm considering. "I trust you, Trey," she said. "We'll just make sure we use a condom from now on. But Trey...who cheated on you?"

The soft compassion in her eyes wrenched at him. He turned away. "Never mind." He reached down and picked up the towel from the floor where he'd dropped it, feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.

After he'd talked to Special Agent Burrows, Trey snapped his phone shut. He rubbed his chin. "They found where he was staying, and he's gone. He's actually been there for three weeks." He shook his head. "Jesus, I don't know what the hell took them so long."

She smiled. "It wouldn't have taken you that long to find him."

He scowled. "Damn right. Anyway, they seem to think he's left town."

"That's good. Right?"

"Yeah. Except we don't know we're he's going now."

"He'll do it again. To someone else."

"Almost guaranteed," he replied thoughtfully. He opened his laptop and started going through files again.

"What're you doing?" She came to stand behind him.

"Just looking at things. Maybe something will give me an idea. Burrows thinks he may be going home to Brawley."

"What do you think?"

"It's possible. I'm going to check back with them later. They're checking some things out."

"What things?"

"His family." He sighed. "I went and talked to them months ago. Too bad I'm not still on the case; I think they'd open up to me if I talked to them." She watched his face and knew something was going on in his head. "Hey, maybe I'll take a little trip."

She stared at him, shaking her head slowly, her heart sinking. "To Brawley?"

"Yeah. And maybe El Paso."

"To see his sons?"

Trey looked up at her sharply. "How did you know he has sons?"

"He...um, he said that. That night. He was thinking of going to see them."

Dense silence filled the space between them for a moment. "You didn't tell the cops that."

She covered her eyes. "Oh, shit," she said on a moan. Her mind was all fuddled. "I don't think I remembered it until just now. When you said that." She looked at him again. "I didn't realize that was anything significant. Why is it important, Trey?"

Trey closed up his laptop and started throwing things into his suitcase. "He knows about them," he muttered.

She was confused. "What do you mean?" She trailed after him as he strode to the bathroom. "What you do you mean? He didn't know he had sons? I don't get it."

"His wife left him and never told him she was pregnant. Eleven years ago. She moved to El Paso to get away from his abuse, married again, raised the kids without them ever knowing about their father, or their father ever knowing about them. Until one day, her drunken mother spilled the beans to Barnes's mother. Just after he murdered Kathy Richards. Barnes called his mother after that and, for some reason, asked if she knew where Teresa had gone. When I went to see his mother, she'd just found out and she had no way to contact Sheldon, but I was pretty sure if she heard from him again, she'd tell him."

He turned to her his face hard, intent, bottles of shampoo and conditioner in his hands. "Is that all he said? What did he say that night?"

She thought back, her mind racing. She rubbed her forehead. "That's all he said. He acted like it was no big deal, like he was just going for a visit. He'd told Krista that he had two sons from a relationship a long time ago. Like it was all normal."

"He said he was going to see them?"

"Yes." She frowned, concentrated. "He said he was thinking about going to see them in Texas."

"Did he say El Paso? Did he know where they were?"

"Yes. Yes, I'm pretty sure he said El Paso. Or else when you said that, I wouldn't have immediately known that's what you were talking about."

He nodded and zipped up his bag.

"You're really leaving?" What about me? She was too proud to ask the pathetic, needy question. If Barnes had really left, she'd be okay. She'd go home.

He turned to her. "I wish I knew for sure he was gone," he said roughly. "I don't want anything to happen to you while I'm gone."

"I'll come with you." She was insane. Her business was disintegrating and here she was proposing to take off on a wild goose chase across the country.

"Marli, I can't let you get involved in this."

"You're just going to talk to his family, right? I won't get in the way." She blinked at him. "You know this is important to me. And I don't want to stay here alone."

He stared intently back at her. "Shit."

She hovered by him as he continued packing. "Are you going to fly there?"

"No."

"Why not? It's a long drive..."

"I don't have time to book flights and dick around in airports. And I don't have a bureau expense account any more. In fact, if they knew I was going there..."

"I can help drive, if you need a break. Can we go by my place to pick up a few things? I only grabbed enough clothes for one day yesterday. Or whenever that was. I'm all mixed up." She pushed a hand into her hair. God, she was babbling.

"Yeah. Let's go."

She was in.

When they got to her place, it felt like years since she'd been there. She missed her beautiful condo and all her stuff and especially her cameras. Trey followed her into the bedroom and when she threw open the closet door, he said, "Jesus Christ."

She glanced over her shoulder at him as she started pulling things off hangers. "What?"

He gaped at her overflowing closet. "Do you think you have enough clothes?"

She laughed. "No. I could never have enough clothes. Or shoes."

She stripped down, right in front of him, knowing he was watching, and put on fresh underwear, lacy red panties and a matching bra. She wriggled into a clean pair of jeans, shrugged into a snug tank top and pushed her feet into boots. She grabbed a tiny cardigan and thrust her arms into it, then started throwing some other things into her duffel bag.

"Okay," she said breathlessly. "I'm ready."

They were cruising on the freeway heading south toward San Diego, the sun glinting off the Pacific Ocean to their right. Marli lounged back in her seat. Other than the small knot of anxiety in her stomach that jumped every time she thought about what they were actually doing, they could have been on a vacation, or a weekend trip, a happy couple just getting away for a few days. She could pretend, but every time she looked at Trey's serious, forbidding expression she was reminded they weren't happy, and they certainly weren't a couple, despite the intensely intimate moments they'd shared.

"Maybe we should swing into San Diego for a couple of hours so you can see your family," she suggested, biting the inside of her cheek as she waited for him to blow.

He glanced at her, frowned, but admirably kept his cool. "Marli."

"What? I know you want to reconcile with them."

He just shook his head and concentrated on his driving.

"You're so cold," she said, trying again to push his buttons.

"Marli, not now."

"Well, when? We slept together, Trey. Doesn't that give me some rights to know a little bit about you?"

"Don't go getting any ideas about us," he bit out, not looking at her. "Yeah, we slept together, but I'm not looking for any kind of relationship. My life is fucked up enough right now."

Well, she'd gotten a response. Not exactly what she'd hoped for. Disappointment flooded over her, even though she'd known, in her head, that they had no future together. She pressed a hand to her chest and rubbed a little where her heart ached, and turned her head to look out the side window.

Trey's cell phone rang and he quickly answered it. After a brief conversation, he tossed it back onto the dash.

"Burrows?"

"Yeah. I didn't tell him where we were. He'd be pissed. Especially if he knew you were with me." He shot her a sideways glance.

"What did he want?"

"Last night Barnes stopped at the Honky Tonk Bar and Grill."

"Huh? How could he have? He was busy shooting at us."

"It was late. Two A.M. The place was almost closing, but he found someone to give him a ride home."

"No," she whispered, putting her hands over her mouth as she stared at him.

He shook his head. "He just took her car. Surprising, actually. Anyway, it does look like he's headed this way."

"Are...is the FBI officially chasing him?"

"They told me they're 'on it.' I'm going to call Bill again next time we stop and see what he knows. Or what he'll tell me."

She could hear the anger and frustration in his voice at not being in the loop on this whole thing.

"Trey, you won't get in trouble for doing this, will you?"

He was silent, but she saw his hands grip the wheel tighter. "If it all goes south, then hell, yeah. I'll be in deep shit. I may be anyway." He shrugged.

"Then why are you doing this?" He'd been away from his job for over six months, she knew. Why all of a sudden was he suddenly risking his career over this?

Could it be because of her? A faint hope grew deep within her that maybe he did care for her, more than he was willing to admit. What else could it be? After he'd rescued her that night, there was no reason he'd had to get involved. He could have just let the cops handle it and continued on his way up to San Francisco.

Of course, he was pretty serious about his career, and maybe he felt some kind of duty to finish off what he'd started. To stop a cold-blooded killer before more lives were lost. He was that kind of guy, and she loved it about him.

Oh, here we go again. She sighed inwardly. Thoughts of love and relationships had no place in her head, especially where Trey was concerned. He'd made that quite clear. She was going to get her heart stomped on, if she made it through this alive.

There was another pleasant thought.

"I don't know," he said.

"Huh?" She'd completely forgotten that she'd asked a question.

"I don't know why I'm doing this," he said, sounding almost disgusted with himself. And the tension in his big arms and hands as he gripped the steering wheel clearly said, Don't go there.

Don't go there. Don't go anywhere. Don't go anywhere near anything personal or emotional. She chewed on her bottom lip, pondering the mystery that was Trey. She knew so little about him, yet what she did know was huge. He was protective, dependable and trustworthy. He was honest and committed to doing the right thing. He hated to screw up. He was serious, but he did have a sense of humor. He was fantastic in bed. She grew warm just thinking about that. Even as a lover, he was generous, taking pleasure in giving pleasure, and boy, did he know how to give pleasure. Her nipples tingled and that low-down warm glow started between her legs again, so she forced her mind away from erotic daydreams.

She stared out the window, oblivious to the passing miles as the car sped along, thoughts racing through her mind just as quickly as the car was flying.

Trey was so closed off emotionally. He was complicated, no doubt about that. Something was causing him so much pain. She hurt for him and ached to be able to comfort him.

Someone had cheated on him. That much she knew now. It must have hurt him a lot, which meant he must have loved her a lot. Maybe, still did. A knife twisted inside her. Damn.

Her head leaned back, she stared out the window, images of last night running through her mind, wildly sexy thoughts about Trey doing carnal, erotic things to her. After a while, he glanced over at her.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked. "You look so intense."

"I was thinking about sex."

Trey choked. "Jesus, Marli."

"What? You asked."

He was smiling as he looked straight ahead out the front window.