A Deeper Fear (Lucy Kincaid #17.5) - Allison Brennan Page 0,2

who had orchestrated the whole thing. He wouldn’t talk about how he felt when he learned that one of his oldest friends, Colton Thayer, had helped Paxton set him up. He only vaguely mentioned what happened between him and Paxton. Instead he gave details about the prison break to the authorities, about how they traveled, about Paxton killing Jimmy Hunt. A lot of detail—almost as if to downplay what actually happened to Sean.

The only thing he’d said was, “I escaped at one point—late Saturday night. Early Sunday morning, maybe. That’s when they locked me in the cage. Colton wanted to kill me, I know that, but he didn’t.” He claimed he didn’t know why or what they’d had planned for him. Colton Thayer wasn’t talking or even trying to negotiate a plea deal.

Sean also claimed he didn’t know Paxton’s motive, or why he hadn’t killed Sean, though he’d had ample opportunity. He vaguely mentioned revenge, since Sean had been largely responsible for Paxton losing his US Senate seat after Sean helped uncover Paxton’s devious plan to poison prisoners. But he’d never sounded convincing, at least to Lucy.

Lucy hated that she thought Sean was lying. Maybe to spare her . . . she had an idea of why Paxton had gone after Sean. She’d even told Sean what Paxton shared with her, some foolish nonsense about Sean putting her in danger, which was asinine. But there had to have been something else that had deeply affected Sean, and she couldn’t figure it out. The senator loved to talk, especially when he felt he was morally justified. She of all people knew that. He would enjoy explaining his motives to Sean. Why wouldn’t Sean tell her?

She tried to dismiss her anxiety and enjoy the meet and greet, but her mood must have been off-putting because she’d been standing in the corner nursing a glass of wine for the last thirty minutes and no one had approached her. She recognized a few people in the ballroom—mostly from the Sacramento field office, where her sister-in-law Megan served as a supervisory special agent.

Over four hundred were registered for the conference in total, and half that number were socializing here tonight. Lucy would have preferred a much smaller group. Sean was the social butterfly, but he wanted to catch up with his brother, which she thought was a great idea. But she realized she missed Sean’s natural gregariousness, his way of making everything fun.

Megan was halfway across the ballroom talking to her boss Dean Hooper, one of the three ASACs of the Sacramento office. Lucy knew Dean well—they’d even recently worked on a case together—but she didn’t want to intrude. As if Megan could tell, she waved at Lucy and motioned for her to approach.

Reluctantly Lucy put a smile on her face and walked over. “Great news,” Megan said, “Dean and Sonia are coming to the barbecue on Saturday.”

Megan and Jack were having a party of close friends and family the day before Sean and Lucy left.

“I haven’t seen Sonia since Sean and I got married,” Lucy said.

“She’s looking forward to it,” Dean said. “We both are. Is Sean here?”

“He’s visiting Duke and Molly tonight,” Lucy said, referring to Duke’s two-year-old daughter.

“Probably didn’t want to be around all these cops,” Dean said. “I wanted to run something by him, cybersecurity-related. Might have a great consulting assignment for him if he’s game. I’ll catch up with him on Saturday at the party.”

Lucy didn’t know what to say. Dean had hit the nail on the head, and she felt so stupid that she hadn’t realized why Sean hadn’t wanted to come to the conference in the first place. It was a law enforcement conference. He’d been arrested for a murder he didn’t commit, broken out of prison by a criminal gang, considered an escaped convict, chased by the police, his name and image spread across the news. It didn’t matter that he was completely cleared of all charges; Sean had always had a simmering distrust of authority, and the events last month didn’t help.

She needed to talk to him, tell him she understood. Why hadn’t she thought of it before? Was she so blind to her husband’s fears?

Fortunately, her sudden silence wasn’t noticed, because several people from the Sacramento FBI office had come up to talk to Megan and Dean. Lucy politely excused herself and found the appetizers, two large tables in the center of the ballroom. She put together a plate and was nibbling when she saw