“How’s she doing?”

“She’s doing really well. Her energy levels have increased and she seems . . .” she trails off for a second, “happier.”

“Do you ever talk to her about you and Cal? How miserable you were? The things he did to you?” I try to hide the anger in my voice, but I know I fail miserably. If her mother knows, she’s just as bad as that prick in my book.

She lets out a deep sigh. “Yes and no. I’ve tried in the past to talk to her about how I wasn’t happy. She always brushed it off. Does she know he hits me or that he—” She stops abruptly. My hands pause against her lower back waiting for her to finish her thought. “No, she doesn’t know the details of the monster I’m married to.”

“You were going to say something and stopped. What were you going to say?”

“I was going to say that she doesn’t know he cheats on me.” The whole sentence comes out choppy, like she’s making it up as she speaks. My eyebrow arches in suspicion.

“Why wouldn’t you just say that then?”

“Because I’m sick of dwelling on the past. There’s things that can’t be changed no matter how much I wish they could and I’m tired of thinking about it,” she says angrily. Her whole body tenses again and I fight to hold my tongue. The detective in me wants to push the issue and get answers, but the guy that loves her and wants to keep her from feeling pain wants to let it go. For now, the sap in me wins.

“Have you hung out with Catherine lately?” I feel bad that I’m about to use her to get information, but I’ll do whatever it takes at this point.

“Actually no,” she says in a calmer voice. I’m relieved she seems to have let her anger go. “I haven’t seen her in about two months or so. It’s definitely been since before my little episode on stage that day with Cal. A part of me thinks she’s embarrassed since people were speculating that I was crazy and not fit to be the next First Lady and she didn’t want to associate with me. God forbid her name be tarnished.” She sighs. “Oh well, I think it’s for the best. I didn’t really like her that much anyway. I was only friends with her because of Cal.”

Bingo.

That’s just the opening I need. “Why would Cal want you to be friends with her?” My hands travel gradually up her spine, massaging along the way until I reach her neck.

“His family’s company provides the steel for her husband’s shipping company. It just looks good to be friendly and helps keep the contracts. Although I never understood why it was me that had to kiss Catherine’s ass. I always felt like it should’ve been the other way around given the favors Cal was constantly doing for Henry.”

“What favors?” I ask coolly.

“I don’t know the specifics. I just overheard Cal on the phone one day talking about getting the votes so I think he might have sponsored a piece of legislation that helped him in some way.”

“How do you know that had anything to do with Henry?”

“Because he had just gotten off the phone with him prior to that and seemed on edge and agitated. I assumed one had to do with the other.”

That might be the connection we were looking for.

True to Turner’s word, the next morning I find an extra glock sitting in the glove compartment. I put it in the waistband of my jeans before getting out of the car and heading back to the room. Elizabeth is sitting on the bed watching television when I come back in. “I wanted to talk to you about something,” I start.

“Sure,” she says, turning toward me. “What is it?”

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately after the cabin incident, and I think it would be a good idea if you had something to protect yourself.” Her head tilts to the side in confusion until I pull out the gun, causing her eyes to widen.

“I-I don’t think I can do that, Alex.” Her voice is timid, showing how nervous this makes her.

“Yes, you can. It’s really easy and I’ll be here to walk you through it. By the time we’re done, you’ll know this thing forward and backward, okay?”

She swallows hard before nodding. Sitting on the bed with her, I go over the different parts of the gun before talking about safety.

“Just remember, this gun is always loaded. Even if it’s not, treat it like it is and the chances of an accident go way down.” She nods her understanding again.

The last thing I teach her is proper technique; how to hold it, how to line up the sights, what to do if it jams, and how to fire it. She looks slightly overwhelmed by all the information I just threw at her, but that’s okay. She just needs to be comfortable enough to pick it up if the worst-case scenario happens.

“Got it?”

A glazed look crosses over her face and it almost makes me laugh. “Yeah,” she says, unsure.

“Perfect. Let’s go find a secluded place to fire off a couple rounds so you know what it feels like when it goes off.” At first she’s hesitant, but she eventually gets up and follows me out the door.

Living out in the middle of nowhere has its advantages. We find a nice spot not far away and spend the next hour or so target practicing. Thank God for Turner and his foresight because he left me a whole bunch of ammo along with the gun. I guess he figured she’d need to squeeze off a few too.

It’s not long before Elizabeth relaxes a little and actually looks comfortable. Watching her raise the glock, aim, and fire is like the biggest wet dream. She looks hot as fuck right now and doesn’t have a damn clue.

“Okay, I think you’ve got the hang of it. I have to say that I’m pretty impressed, sweetheart. You’re a natural.” I wink before leaning down and giving her a kiss. I had lined up some empty soda cans and she ended up hitting them all.

“You remember that,” she says with a feisty smile on her face. Damn what I wouldn’t love to do with that mouth right now.

TWO DAYS LATER and we’re about to pack up the few things we have in the room and find another hotel. After that close call at the cabin, we both agreed not to take any chances. I updated Turner on the information I got out of Elizabeth about Cal and his connection to Henry yesterday. He’s got someone combing through his voting record right now. I know whatever we find is going to be the concrete evidence needed to put these fuckers away.

“Alex,” she says catching my attention. “Do you mind if I use your phone to call my mom? It’s Monday and she’ll worry if she doesn’t hear from me.”

“Yeah, just be careful what you say to her.” I hand her the phone and she dials her mom’s number.

“Hi, Mom, how are you feeling?” she asks after a few seconds. It goes quiet and when I look back up at her, she’s as white as a ghost.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, concern clear in my voice. Her mouth opens slightly but she just shakes her head.

“What! No, I left him, Mom, but you and Dad can’t tell Cal you talked to me. Do you understand?” She pauses while her mother talks and I strain to hear what she’s saying, but I can’t. “How can you say that? You have no idea what kind of monster I was married to, mother. He did things to me I would never dream of telling you.” Her tone takes on a hard edge and I can feel the resentment radiating off of her. “I only stayed married to him because it made you happy and it’s what paid your medical bills. I couldn’t leave him and let that disease kill you, so I died a little inside every day instead. But I’m taking my life back and I will not go back to that son of a bitch,” she seethes as her face turns red with anger. “Look, I’ve got to go. Please don’t say anything to Cal if he calls you again. I love you too.” She hangs up and tosses the phone on the bed.

“What happened?”

“Cal called my mother and said that I’d been kidnapped. He filed a missing person’s report on me yesterday.”