Shoe Strings

keep him in the States so he wouldn’t have to go back.   He said he’d likely be killed if he
returned.”
    “And did you agree to work with him?”
    “No, not at first.”   She laid her hands flat on the table, leaned forward as if speaking to a
girlfriend.   Agent Fielder had no
reaction.   “I thought he was
lying.   He always liked having me
under his thumb.   My company has
gotten some press recently and I really thought maybe it bothered him that I’d
made something out of myself without him.”
    “So you complained to Mr. Bloodworth?”
    “Yes and I suggested he ask his friend whether he’d heard
anything about the consulate closing.”   She looked at Jesse, raised her palms.   “I didn’t know he’d heard back from his
friend until earlier today.”
    Agent Fielder flipped through several pages of the file and
pushed a legal-sized document across the table toward Angelita.   “How did you get from thinking he was
lying to receiving this legal contract giving him power to purchase and ship
your textiles?”
    “How did you get this?”
    “What prompted him to send the contract, Ms. Barros?”
    She sighed and sat back in her chair.   Jesse wanted desperately to reach out to
her, she looked so deflated, but he thought the contact would elicit more
questions from Agent Fielder.   “He
made more threats; my business partner, anyone I cared about.”   Her eyes cut to Jesse’s as she jerked a
shoulder and sat up.   “I couldn’t
take the chance.”
    “You were afraid for Sophie?”   Jesse asked.  
    She nodded and in her eyes he saw everything he needed.   “For everyone,” she said.   She’d been scared, not for herself, but
for her friends and, from the look on her face, he now knew for him.
    Agent Fielder pulled the contract back across the table,
placed it in the file and closed it.   “You haven’t signed the contract, have you, Ms. Barros?”
    “No.”
    “You’re one lucky lady.”   He stood and picked up the file as if to
leave.   Jesse didn’t know if he was
going to arrest them or throw them out.   “He was brought in this afternoon.   One of his sources, a guy we picked up a few months ago, started
talking.   We’ve got enough evidence
to keep your father behind bars until he’s…late seventies, I’d imagine.”
    Angelita looked pale with shock.   “He’s been arrested?”
    Agent Fielder nodded and held out a hand for Jesse to shake
as he stood and helped Angelita to her feet.   “I appreciate your coming in.   We’d have had to bring you in for
questioning anyway and this saves us a step.   I’ll need you both to sign a transcript
before you leave.”
    “We’re not in trouble?” she asked as they reached the door
and Agent Fielder swung it open.  
    “No, ma’am, you’re free to go.”
    ***
    Lita sat in the passenger seat, numb, exhausted,
confused.   Her father was in jail,
Jesse was driving her home, and her company’s future was hers and Sophie’s to
decide.   “I’ve got to call
Sophie.”   She reached for her purse
on the floorboard.
    “It’s almost midnight.”   Jesse pointed to the clock on the dash.   “Maybe you should wait until morning.”
    “You’re right.   She’s pregnant and, with the first trimester fatigue, I’d imagine she’s
been asleep for hours.”   She looked
over at him, driving her SUV as comfortably as he drove his decades old Scout,
all rumpled, sexy, and…what?   She
wanted him to be hers, wanted it so bad she could taste it on her tongue, but
now that she was out of danger and he’d ridden to her rescue, would he mount up
in the morning and head back to Sequoyah Falls?   Of course he would.   He had a son and a business to take care
of, not to mention the fact that they’d never discussed any sort of
relationship between them.   It was
crazy.   Her father sat in jail and
she couldn’t give a damn, but the thought of Jesse heading out of town left her
terrified.   As much as she’d always
avoided relationships with men, she couldn’t imagine not seeing him again, not
being a part of his life.  
    “You okay?”   He
brushed his hand over her knee and the intimacy of the moment, the familiarity
they’d come to share had her throat closing.  
    “Yeah.   I’m a
little overwhelmed by everything, but yeah, I’m fine.”
    He pulled her car to a stop in the parking garage and turned
off the ignition.   “Do you want me
to walk you up?”
    “You’re not