Murder Deja Vu

this, I’d better follow through. Knowing Minette, he’ll be on the phone to Klugh as soon as he hangs up from me. I wonder if he has another hit man on his payroll.”
    “I wouldn’t be surprised. Now you watch your back, ya hear?”
    “Thanks for all this, Wright.”
    “You can handle it.”
    “Yes, I can, but I like to have the facts before I go off half-cocked.”
    “My man can’t wait. Every police force in the eastern United States is looking for him. We gotta shake things up.”
    “So you leave me with a mess and off you go. Where to?”
    “Catching a flight home. Then I’m going to find me a killer, if Reece doesn’t get him first. You can have him when we’re finished, along with the one you’ll bag down here.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Brotherly Love

    New England

    R eece had been driving an hour, trying hard not to think about the danger he’d put Dana in. Every last shred of common sense had told him not to bring her with him, yet the thought of leaving her behind seemed incomprehensible at the time. Frank would keep her safe. If the authorities found her, Reece would swear he forced her to be his hostage.
    Was his life preordained to be an almost life, where he reached a point of almost achieving or almost attaining those things he’d worked so hard for, only to lose them in the final stretch? Still, no matter what a mess the third phase of his life was at this moment, he selfishly blessed the fact that Dana was in it.
    Forcing her from his mind, he took note of the things that mattered. The gas gauge registered full, the road atlas Frank mentioned sat on the passenger seat, phone numbers scrawled on the inside cover. It had been a long time since he’d been home—he stopped at the word. Portland wasn’t his home any more. He grew up there, but his heart belonged elsewhere.
    He brushed off the bitterness that surfaced whenever he thought of Thom Daughtry. He’d seen Carl, spoken to him often, but even thinking of his brother reminded him of another life, one that ceased to exist when he went to prison. Reece would visit for one thing only. To clear himself of a murder that would otherwise haunt him for his remaining days. Now that he could see what might lie ahead, he wanted more than physical freedom. He wanted to be free.
    A steely determination drove him, coupled with a sense of dread at what waited after the two-hour drive up the northern coast of Massachusetts through a slice of New Hampshire to Portland.
    Had his father died?
    If he hadn’t, would Reece find the nerve to face his demons? He knew the stuff he was made of. Prison cut away all the extraneous delusions he’d fostered about himself and left a core truth. In that black and white world, you either survived or you didn’t. Freedom was turning out to be far more dangerous.
    No doubt the Portland police would be waiting for their prodigal son’s return. He needed to talk to Carl face-to-face, but not where the police would expect him. That eliminated the family estate and Daughtry Custom Homes.
    He’d call Carl rather than make an unannounced appearance. His brother wouldn’t turn him in. Or maybe he would. Who knew anyone’s motivations? Everyone had a dark side. In his youth, Reece never thought people were inherently evil, but prison taught him how wrong he’d been.
    He pulled into a rest stop near Portsmouth and called the business, hoping the police weren’t monitoring Carl’s calls. When he heard his brother’s voice he almost slammed down the receiver. It took him a moment to gather his courage to speak. “Carl?”
    “Reece. Where are you?”
    “Near Portland. Is it safe?”
    “Probably not. A cruiser checks the house occasionally. Here too, I think.”
    “Are your phones tapped?”
    “No, I don’t think so. No one asked permission.”
    Reece snickered to himself. How naïve. Like the police tracking a suspected murderer would ask permission to tap a phone. “Where is it safe?”
    “I thought I might hear from you. There’s a dog park where the old landfill used to be near the intersection of Ocean and Presumpscot. Can you be there in an hour?”
    “Make sure you’re not followed.” Reece returned to the car for the last leg of the journey. He hadn’t seen Carl in a couple of years. A chasm had grown between them, and it made him sad. They had been close before that night. Brothers in every sense of the word.
    It wasn’t Carl’s fault. He was waiting at the prison to celebrate Reece’s