Dangerous To Love

by Toni Anderson, Barbara Freethy, Dee Davis, Leslie A. Kelly, Cynthia Eden, J. Kenner, Meli Raine, Gwen Hernandez, Pamela Clare, Rachel Grant

  Wyatt could hardly blame him for climbing the bureaucratic ladder faster than him, since he hadn’t tried to climb it at all. He just wanted to do a job that made a difference. As long as Flynn had the same goal he did, he was on board.

  “What do you have for me?” Wyatt asked.

  “We found the man you ran into at Noelle Price’s apartment yesterday.” Flynn held out a photo. “Unfortunately, we can’t question him.”

  He sat down across from Flynn and took the picture from his hand. The man who had pulled a gun on Avery was on the ground, dead from a single bullet to the head—execution style. “He pissed off his boss. Do we have an ID?”

  “Anton Bogdan. Thirty-two years old. Came to the US from the Ukraine fifteen years ago with his family. Father and uncle are roofers. He works part-time for them and lives in El Segundo. He has a record of assault, theft, DUI, etc. but no major felonies. He runs with a Russian gang, led by this guy, Stash Ivanov.” Flynn pulled out another photo, this one of a square, stocky man, dressed in an ill-fitting suit. “Stash runs a private investment firm. He moves money around for rich people.”

  He nodded, knowing that whatever break that they got in whatever case they were working almost always led back to whoever was moving the money around. “What do these guys have to do with Noelle Price?” He set the photos down on the table. “Any evidence either one was at the Santa Monica Pier Friday night?”

  “No. We haven’t found them on any security footage, but we’re still going through the video obtained from cameras on the pier and adjacent streets. Medical examiner didn’t find any DNA on her body, so nothing to go on there. But if the Russians are involved…it’s doubtful they’re working with China. So, Ms. Price’s murder could be unrelated to the death of Jia Lin.”

  “Or both China and Russia are in play. Someone wants to steal or sabotage Nova Star’s new satellite defense system technology.”

  “Joanna is working Nova Star from an official bureau position, but we need you to put more pressure on Jonathan Tremaine. With the launch Tuesday, we’re running out of time.”

  “I know. I’m going to do that tonight. I’m going to make sure I’m at Brett Caldwell’s birthday party. All the Tremaines will be there. I’ll pull Jonathan aside and show him the photos I have of him and Noelle together. I’ll tell him his father asked me to follow him after what happened with Jia Lin in San Francisco. Hopefully, if he thinks my intent is to protect him from being fingered in Noelle’s death, he’ll be more forthcoming. At any rate, I will handle the Tremaines, but what I need your help on is Noelle’s boyfriend, Carter Hayes. I only had time to run a cursory check on him before Noelle was killed, since she’d only been on my radar for a few days.”

  “We’re already on it.”

  The apartment buzzer went off, and he glanced at the security monitors in the room, one showing the front door, the other positioned behind the building. He was surprised to see Bree’s pretty face at the front door. “What’s Bree doing here?”

  “She’s joining the team.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since I decided we need more help, and Joanna is wasting Bree’s talents, having her run data checks like she’s fresh out of Quantico. She’s better than that, but Joanna doesn’t like having competition.”

  “Whereas you don’t see anyone as competition.”

  Flynn raised a questioning brow. “You have a problem, Tanner? I thought you and Bree were tight.”

  “We are tight, and I don’t have a problem. I just didn’t think she was a big fan of yours.”

  “We both want to get the job done.” Flynn buzzed Bree in. “I heard she’s living with some dude now.”

  “Yes, and she’s happy. Don’t screw with that.”

  “Wouldn’t go down that road again,” Flynn said. “She already shot me down once.”

  A moment later, Bree walked in the door, her smile brightening when she saw Wyatt. “I didn’t expect to see you here, Wyatt.”

  “Likewise. You’re joining the team?”

  “Didn’t want you to have all the fun.”

  “Bree is going to the media event at Nova Star tomorrow. She’ll interview whichever Tremaines make themselves available to the press,” Flynn said. “The reporter who was going to do the interview got reassigned. Her editor owed me a favor.”

  He was constantly amazed at how many cards Flynn seemed able to call in when he needed them. “Sounds good.”

  “Joanna had me dive into Noelle’s financials,” Bree said. “There was a cash deposit of $5000 made last Thursday.”

  “The night after she met with Jonathan and the day before she was killed,” he muttered. “It’s not a lot of money, though.”

  “But a significant anomaly in her bank account which ran close to zero quite often.”

  “She was allegedly supporting her mother.”

  “She did send Kari Price money on a regular basis. But we didn’t see any other unrecognizable deposits besides that one.”

  “Okay. Thanks.” He stood up. “I need to get back to Avery before she gets suspicious. I’ll be in touch.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Avery felt like a new person after her shower and much more prepared to take on the day. After changing clothes, she repacked her suitcase just in case they had to make another quick exit, and checked her watch a few times, wondering why it would take Wyatt an hour to pick up coffee and bagels.

  Wandering over to the window, she looked out at the water again, hoping it would calm her, but a feeling of uneasiness ran down her spine, making her nerves tingle uncomfortably. In the brief time she’d known Wyatt, she’d come to count on him. It was crazy how fast she’d gone from not trusting him to literally putting her life in his hands. She’d told him last night that there was an incredible pull between them, an unexpected and inexplicable connection, and it was just as strong now as it had been yesterday.

  As the minutes passed, she grew more worried, not just for herself, but also for him. While Wyatt acted as if all the danger was about her, that wasn’t true. He’d been at Noelle’s apartment. Heck, he’d been in the funhouse, too, a fact which still didn’t quite make sense to her. He’d told her he was there to meet a friend, but that was before they’d gotten to know each other, before he’d told her that Noelle had met Jonathan earlier that week and that Wyatt had been following at least one of them. Maybe he’d been following Noelle on Friday night. In fact, that seemed to be the best explanation. He’d clearly lied to her about his presence on the pier, although that was before they’d gotten to know each other. He had also stated quite clearly that he was taking orders from Hamilton Tremaine, and there were some things he couldn’t disclose; perhaps that was one of them.

  But they were too deep in this to have secrets between them.

  She’d ask him to explain when he got back. Trust had to work both ways.

  Her phone buzzed, and she walked over to pick it up from the nightstand. The call was from Kimberly Walton, head of media relations at Nova Star. They worked closely together when it came to public events, and the upcoming week was going to be full of those events. In all the craziness surrounding Noelle’s death, she’d almost forgotten just how much needed to be done tomorrow.

  “Hi, Kim,” she said.

  “Avery, I’m so very sorry,” Kim said. “I’ve been thinking about you since I heard the terrible news about Noelle. I kept picking up the phone to call you yesterday, but I just didn’t know what to say. This is such a horrible situation.”

  “It really is,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

  “Noelle was a great girl. We had drinks together on Thursday. I was thinking then that we could be really good friends.”

  “I didn’t know you had drinks,” she said, thinking Noelle had been out every night last week with various people. “Or that you even knew each other,” she added.

  “Noelle was assigned to our department for a few days last month. We bonded over press releases and broch
ures. She was really helpful. I had her running all over the building, trying to get statements from our key leaders. You know how difficult it is to get Kyle and Jonathan Tremaine to stand still long enough to give us more than a soundbite.”

  “Was Noelle able to get anything from either of them?” Maybe this explained why Noelle had met with Jonathan a few days ago. It might have been completely innocent. She could have tracked him down, trying to get a quote from him.

  “She did, thank goodness, so we’re all set. But here I am talking about work when poor Noelle…”

  Her hand tightened on the phone. “I know. It’s surreal.”

  “Are you going to take some time off, Avery? It would be completely understandable. I just need to know what should be taken off your plate, so nothing falls through the cracks.”

  “Right.” She hadn’t given one thought to her job the last twenty-four hours, which was odd, since most days her life was consumed with work.

  “You were going to edit the show for the press tomorrow morning. You said you wanted to combine two of your videos to make it more pertinent to the launch, so that they would have more educational information to base their upcoming articles on.”

  “I did most of that on Friday. I just have to finish the last piece. I’ll do that today. I was planning to come in anyway.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe we don’t need it.”

  “No, it’s important. I’ll take care of it, Kim.”

  “Is there anything I can do for you? A lot of people are asking where they can send flowers or donations, or if there will be a service. I’m not sure what to tell them.”

  “I’m not sure, either,” she murmured, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders.

  “How’s Carter doing?”

  “Do you know Carter, too?”

  “Not really, just what Noelle told me about him.”

  “What did she tell you about him?”

  “Well, not a lot. I commented that he’s kind of quiet, and she said I’d probably be surprised at how ambitious he is. She said he wasn’t going to be a junior lawyer for long. I got the feeling she liked his drive. I don’t know him well enough to reach out, but I hope he’s okay.”

  “He’s hanging in there.” She paused, as she heard the door open behind her. Her tension eased when she saw Wyatt. “I need to go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  “Thanks, Avery. Call if I can help in any way.”

  “I will.” She put down the phone and got to her feet as Wyatt deposited two coffees on the table as well as a large brown paper bag. “You were gone a long time.”

  “I stood in line at the first place and then their coffee machine broke right when I was about to order. So, I had to go somewhere else. Good news, though—the second place had more food items. I got bagels and cream cheese as well as some breakfast sandwiches and fruit.

  She sat down at the table and unwrapped a croissant filled with scrambled eggs, ham and cheese. “This looks good. I’ll start here.”

  He took the seat across from her. “Who was on the phone?”

  “Kim Walton. She’s director of media relations. She reminded me that I need to finish a few things before tomorrow’s press tour, which includes a show that I’m putting together.”

  “Can’t someone else take care of that?”

  “It’s my job, and it’s almost done. I just need to add one piece. I have to go by the office at some point today.”

  He nodded agreeably. “We can make that happen. I actually want to check in at the office, too. We were already amping up our security for this week, but we need to double it now.”

  “That seems like a good idea.” She took another bite of her croissant. As she swallowed, she added, “Kim told me that Noelle has been helping out in her department, that she’d tasked Noelle with the job of getting quotes from all the top people at the company to be used in this week’s press materials.” As Wyatt’s gaze met hers, she continued. “I think that’s why Noelle met with Jonathan last week. I don’t think they were having an affair. It was business.”

  Wyatt’s gaze gave little away. She couldn’t tell if he was convinced or thought she was crazy.

  “What do you think?” she asked when he remained silent.

  “It’s something to consider. Maybe you can ask Jonathan and Kyle about it tonight.”

  “That’s true. They’ll both be at my father’s party.”

  “I’d like to be there, too.”

  She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

  “Where you go, I go—remember?”

  “I’ll be safe at my father’s house in Calabasas. He lives in a gated community. It’s very safe.”

  “I’d still like to go. Hamilton asked me to stay close to you, and I’d like to meet your father.”

  “And I would like you not to meet my father.”

  “Why? Do you think I’m going to embarrass you?”

  “I think my father will ask questions about why you’re with me, who you are, what you are to me. I don’t need that right now, Wyatt.”

  “Just tell him I’m your bodyguard. He’ll appreciate that someone is watching out for you.”

  She let out a sigh. “Is it really that important?”

  “It is, Avery.”

  She sensed there was more behind his desire to come to dinner than to just watch out for her. “It’s not just me you want to get close to, is it?”

  “I wouldn’t mind having a conversation with Jonathan. Even if Noelle’s conversation with Jonathan was completely innocent, it could factor into the FBI investigation. They’ll be going through her life—every detail, every phone call, everyone she spoke to. Jonathan needs to know that his meeting with her could come up and put both him and Nova Star in an awkward situation.”

  “That’s true. You’re very persuasive, Wyatt.”

  “Does that mean you’re taking me to dinner?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Now that we have that out of the way, I want to ask you for another favor.”

  “What’s that?” she asked warily.

  “I want you to call Carter Hayes and set up a meeting. Tell him you need to talk about funeral arrangements. See if we can meet him at his place. If Noelle spent time there, maybe whatever she was trying to protect is there.”

  Her pulse quickened. “You’re right. She just said apartment. She didn’t say her apartment. I just assumed it was hers that she was referring to. Carter might be in danger, too.”

  “It’s possible.”

  “I’ll call him. I just hope he’ll agree to see us. Yesterday, he couldn’t get away from us fast enough.”

  * * *

  While Avery spoke to Carter on the phone, Wyatt considered telling her that the man who had pulled a gun on her yesterday was dead, but then he’d have to explain where he got the information, which would lead him down a path he didn’t want to go. She couldn’t do anything with the information; so, for the moment, he would keep it to himself.

  Listening to Avery’s side of the conversation, it was apparent that Noelle’s boyfriend was not too thrilled with the idea of getting together with them, but when she told him that he might be in danger, he agreed to hear her out.

  Wyatt didn’t know what he thought about Carter Hayes, but he definitely needed more information. Hopefully, Flynn would come up with something on his background as well.

  “Carter said to come by in a half hour,” Avery said. “I think he’s afraid I’m going to hit him up for money, but I told him quite frankly we needed a conversation about much more than that. However, I don’t know what we’re going to learn from him.”

  “We’ll find out.”

  She sat back in her chair. “Wyatt, we need to talk about a few things.”

  His senses went on high alert at those words. There was a very serious expression in her brown eyes now, and he could almost feel the fire at his feet. “What do you want to discuss?”

  “The
funhouse on Friday night. You told me yesterday that it was a coincidence you were there, that you went to meet a friend. That wasn’t true, was it?”

  “No,” he admitted, happy that her first question was one he might be able to get past with a little truth-telling and an apology.

  “Why did you lie to me?”

  “Because I didn’t trust you then. You were the person kneeling next to Noelle when her body was found.”

  Her eyes widened. “You thought I had killed her?”

  “I wasn’t sure what to think, especially when I found you at her apartment.”

  “So, why were you there?”

  “I was following Noelle.”

  “Because she’d met with Jonathan?”

  “Yes.”

  She frowned, her smart brain computing what he’d told her, and obviously things weren’t adding up. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  That was a loaded question. There was so much he wasn’t telling her he didn’t know where to start. But he could see the glint of determination in her eyes. She was much more clear-headed today, and she wanted some answers. He would have to give her something.

  “Nova Star has a security leak, Avery. Hamilton has tasked me with finding the mole. Noelle’s unusual meeting with Jonathan sparked my interest.”

  “You think Noelle was leaking information?” she asked slowly. “But how is that possible? She didn’t have access to anything. She didn’t work in engineering or any of the labs.”

  “She might have been working with someone else. She could have been the middleman.”

  “Someone like Jonathan Tremaine?”

  “Or someone else. That’s why I followed her to the pier. I saw Noelle go into the funhouse alone, while you waited outside. It seemed to be taking a long time, and I could see you were getting nervous, too. After you entered, I went in, too. I saw you in the mirror, but I did not see Noelle. I was almost out when I heard screams and I was held by the exit. You know the rest.”

  Her face paled, his words obviously taking her back to that horrible night. “When you saw me in the funhouse, did you think I might be the leak?”

  “I actually didn’t think that until I saw you at her apartment the next day.”