Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

that she’d been—had completely forgotten about the email regarding a package.

Then she’d gotten the shocking news that Sarah had been killed. In a grief-stricken daze, Tori had packed a few belongings and left as quickly as possible. She’d been in a hurry to get to California, so she’d just grabbed the stash of mail she’d yet to go through after her stakeout and crammed it into her briefcase. Whatever didn’t fit, she’d put in her luggage to go through later or never.

Tori set her laptop aside and shoved her face into her hands.

I let you down, Sarah!

She shoved from the cushy chair and grabbed her briefcase. She dumped the contents out on the kitchen table and rifled through the envelopes of bills and a few padded mailers, but found nothing at all from Sarah. Next, she moved to the bedroom. She’d hung up her clothes in Sarah’s closet next to Sarah’s things after the break-in—a pang shot through her—but left the stash of mail in her suitcase.

She dumped the contents of her luggage on the bed and skimmed through more mail—almost all of it junk.

Again she found nothing from Sarah. If Sarah had mailed Tori a package it should be in the stash she brought. She’d left nothing of importance behind in her apartment in South Carolina.

So...whoever had broken into Sarah’s home could have found the envelope and taken it. It seemed they had been searching for something, given they had taken nothing else that she could see. The only reason Tori could think that someone would go to that much trouble for the package was because it could contain incriminating information. What Sarah had mailed to Tori could hold the details over which she’d been murdered.

And now, whoever had taken it could believe that Tori knew why Sarah had been killed, and it was only a matter of time before she connected the dots to the killer. And only a matter of time before Tori met the same fate as Sarah.

To survive, she would have to beat them at their game before the clock ran out.

The next morning Tori woke up to bright sunshine breaking through the cracks in the mini blinds. Maybe the rain was finally gone and wouldn’t return for a while. She stretched and breathed a sigh of relief.

Well, what do you know? I survived the night.

She’d been so exhausted and distraught she was surprised her mind had allowed her to sleep without nightmares, but her body’s need for rest had overruled everything else.

Still, her mind remained foggy this morning. If she could have slept another hour or two she would have, but she needed to get busy. Grabbing a cup of coffee from the single-cup coffee maker, she guzzled it before she bothered to get dressed.

She thought about the package she was supposed to have received from Sarah. Was it small or large? What? She didn’t know. Sarah hadn’t left her any details.

One thing she did know—she’d have to tell Ryan about the package.

She crunched on a breakfast bar and stared at her cell phone. She noticed that she’d received a call during the night but the caller had left no voice mail.

She recognized the number. It belonged to Dee James.

Tori had better fully wake up, and fast. Had she brought trouble to him by going to his address? Did he have any idea that the café’s explosion was because someone had tried to kill her? That had all happened right across from his apartment complex. He could know about the explosion but still not know the cause or that she’d been there at all.

Or...he could have been the one to try to kill her. She hoped not. Tori cleared her throat and focused her thoughts, then pressed his number to return the call.

He answered on the first ring. “Hello.”

“It’s me. Tori Peterson.” As if he didn’t know the number he’d tried to call.

Per usual he was quiet for a second or two before responding. “I’d given up on you calling me back.”

Dee hadn’t left a message but obviously assumed that she would recognize his number and eagerly return the call. Maybe he was spooked and didn’t want to leave messages.

She responded in kind and made him wait for her reply. Then she said, “You called me in the middle of the night. Sorry, but I just now saw the missed call.”

“I’ll get right to the point.” He responded without waiting. “I’ve been thinking.”

Tori’s heart jumped. “So you remembered something that could help me find out who killed Sarah?”

“Yes,” he said. “I think we should talk, after all.”

“I’m glad you decided to talk, but we’re talking right now. What can you tell me?”

“No, I mean...in person.”

Okay. “Name the time and place.”

“No cops,” he said.

“No cops,” she repeated and grabbed a pen and a pad. He didn’t know she was FBI? Sarah hadn’t shared that detail? “Where and when do you want to meet?”

He gave her the address. He was staying at a motel just outside of Shady Creek, toward Redding. She decided she wouldn’t mention that she knew where he lived and had been on her way to meet him when she’d been attacked. She suspected she knew why he didn’t want to meet at his apartment. He was running and scared. Someone could be after him, too.

“I can be there in two hours,” she said.

“I’m not going to wait for you that long. Make it one.”

What was with this guy? “Okay. I’ll be there.”

She ended the call and scrambled to shower and get dressed quickly. Now to get out of here without tipping Ryan off. The guy had said no cops. Ryan had given Tori time to make contact and now that she’d made it, Ryan would also want information out of him. Though Ryan had insisted he needed to come with her to meet Dee James, the guy wasn’t going to talk with Ryan there. Tori needed answers.

She peeked out the window. The deputy Ryan had stationed outside her house was still there.