“I want to know, and I have information for you, too, but I don’t feel like it’s safe over the phone. I’m not alone here.” His voice grows muffled. “I think it’s best if we meet in person. It has to be tonight.”
“Okay. Should we come to your office?” I ask.
“No.” His answer is immediate and he sounds like he’s thinking. “That won’t work either. We need to go somewhere we’ve never met before…”
“Okay…” I’m starting to worry about him. “Is everything o—”
“No, I’ll explain everything when we meet. Mason Park is our best option. Meet me in thirty minutes. Write down this number and call me when you get there.” His tone is brusque now, all soft edges gone, and my hand scrambles for a pen. I flip to an empty page in my notebook and jot it down.
When I finish I say, “Okay.”
“Be extra careful. And don’t be late.” Then I hear a beep and he’s gone.
“Hmm…” I say as I stare at the phone. Mr. Masters is sometimes gruff, often stubborn, but he never makes me feel unimportant. I feel a moment of stifling worry before I stuff the phone back in my pocket. When I turn away from the window, my face almost collides with Jordan’s head.
“What did he say?” Jordan leans back a bit to give me a little space.
“He said to meet him at Mason Park in half an hour.” I reach down for my keys. “That’s nearly thirty minutes from here anyway, so I guess we better get going.”
Jordan nods but I catch the slightest hint of hesitation and I raise my eyes.
“What?” I ask, starting the car, but not putting it in gear yet.
“Why Mason Park?” There is worry in his voice.
I catch on to his question immediately, but I don’t know the answer. “He said it was our best option. Isn’t that the park where Hillary’s body was found?”
“Yes.” His face is grim as I pull out from my space beneath the parking lot lights. It’s weird to think that we’re heading back to the place where the body of my father’s mistress was found.
Well, one of his mistresses, anyway.
Drawing one shaky breath, I grip the steering wheel tightly in both hands. “He was weird and it worries me. I guess we’ll have to ask him when we see him.”
*
Mason Park is massive. It sits on over one hundred acres in Houston’s East End. Right in the middle of it sits Brays Bayou. My daddy used to talk about bringing me here when he got out—back when he still talked about that like it was something that could happen.
It’s nearly ten-thirty by the time we get there, and the lights throughout the park seem like pinholes through a black paper, fighting hard but never able to push back the penetrating darkness. The trees hang thick and heavy around the bayou, and the branches cast shadows across the ground like webs of a giant spider just waiting to ensnare us.
I reach for my phone as soon as we’ve closed and locked my car. My hand dives into my pocket to retrieve the torn-out page of my notebook where I’d jotted down the number Mr. Masters gave me.
I’m not sure if it has to do with the way Mr. Masters ended our call earlier or just the bad vibe I’m feeling, but my tense body wants to finish this meeting and get out of here as quickly as possible. Dialing the number, I wait with my hand gripping the phone tighter than necessary as it rings in my ear.
Mr. Masters picks up after the fourth ring and his drawl is back and slow as ever.
“Good evening, Miss Riley.”
“We’re here. Is everything okay? This is a pretty creepy time and place to meet.” My voice strains and I fight with the same worry that has been plaguing me the whole way here. Daddy has been the one who has watched out for me from behind bars. Ben Masters is the man who has always been anywhere I might need the extra support, and I’ve never truly thanked him for it. As much as I want Daddy to survive, I must make sure Mr. Masters comes out of this unscathed, too.
One thing we know for sure, the murderer of Valynne Kemp is still out there. Whether they are a copycat or the original East End Killer, they’re dangerous. It’s unlikely that person would be happy with all the digging around that Mr. Masters has been doing lately.
“Trust me when I say that here and now is the only place I thought we could meet safely. Don’t worry, but be careful.” His voice takes on a decidedly softer tone that I don’t hear from him as often lately, but it calms me down. “I’ll tell you everything when you meet me.”
“Where should we go?”
“Come to the grove of trees between the soccer and baseball fields,” he whispers, softer now. “And Riley? You brought Mr. Vega with you as well, right?”
“Yes.” I lift my eyes to look for Jordan and find him standing behind me, leaning in close enough that he can hear everything.