by G. K. Parks
I snorted. Considering the circumstances, he had a lot of faith in me. I wasn’t even that confident myself. “Then why?”
“I need the peace of mind.”
“You have to go to work.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement because I knew he’d do all he could to move things around and work from home, but he needed to go to the office. He needed some semblance of normalcy. This was hitting him hard; so hard, in fact, that I was more concerned about how he was handling it than I was. He wasn’t eating or sleeping, which I’d been doing almost religiously since he found me. “Remember what you told me years ago? You can’t let the bastard win, so you don’t let him dictate the terms of your life. Despite this little hiccup, you have a company to run.”
“Yeah, okay.” He moved to get out of bed, and I gripped him tighter.
“It’s the middle of the night. I know you have some crazy workaholic tendencies, but it can wait until morning. I need to get some sleep, doctor’s orders, but I can only do that if you’re beside me.”
“Then we’ll talk about this in the morning.”
I pressed a kiss to his chest. “Yes, we will.”
Twenty-eight
“It’s nice to see you up and around,” Jablonsky said, nodding at the couch in his office. “Where’s your shadow?”
“At work.”
He swiveled his chair around to face me. “I didn’t expect that.”
“Neither did he, but it’s important he goes through the motions. You know how he gets.”
“Go easy on him. And go easy on yourself. We will hunt this shithead down. It’s just a matter of time.”
“You didn’t find anything, did you?”
“We found plenty. Just not him.” Mark blew out a breath and gulped down some coffee. He only landed a couple of hours ago, and from the dark bags beneath his eyes, it was obvious he hadn’t slept in days. “We found some prints in the cabin, but they aren’t in the system. I’ve never seen anyone this careful or lucky. Are you sure you never spotted any identifying marks?”
I thought about every interaction. “None. He was always covered head to toe. Even the ski mask he wore covered his mouth. He barely spoke. Almost as if he feared I’d recognize his voice.”
Mark thought for a moment. “You must know who he is. Just take a minute to think about it.”
I’d done nothing but think about it since the attack in the alley. If I knew who the bastard was, I couldn’t place him. “He’s familiar with evidence collection and the way I’d react in volatile situations. He could be on the job.”
“That would explain how he’s managed to stay one step ahead and give us the slip.” Jablonsky scribbled a note. “Marty spoke to him several times.” Mark reached for the phone and requested copies of the recorded conversations to review again. “I’ll see what I can find, but I probably will have to talk to Martin again.”
“I’m sure he’ll make himself available.”
Mark kept his thoughts to himself. “How are you feeling?”
“We should probably move on. Next question.”
He picked up the phone and barked at one of the agents to bring a bottle of water to his office. He knew I could only stomach clear liquids. When it arrived, he twisted off the cap and placed it on the edge of his desk, nearest to me. As I settled back with my beverage, we went over the statements I made. This was now an FBI matter. The local field offices were conducting a nationwide manhunt for the psycho who abducted me. So far, they had no leads.
“We searched the shed and bomb shelter. There was no sign of him. He must have realized he was being followed and got spooked. He rabbited. Drove down that dirt path and pulled onto a service road. From there, he could have gone anywhere. We’re searching DOT cams in the vicinity, but it’s unlikely we’ll get a hit. We issued a BOLO on the vehicle and a statement asking the public for help.”
“Surely, someone will spot the car. It stands out like a sore thumb.”
Mark leaned back in his chair. “You miss being an agent, don’t you?”
“Right now, I miss solid food.” I gave him a hard look. “What about the property records?”
Mark steepled his fingers together and pointed them at me. “That’s where we run into problems.” He glanced around, probably realizing he wasn’t supposed to be telling me these things. But his loyalty to me ran deeper than his loyalty to the job. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but we became family. Blood was thicker than water. Thoughts of the last time I saw Noah went through my head, and I cringed. “You sure you’re okay?”
“Fine. The property records,” I nudged.
He pulled a sheet of paper out of the blue file on top of his desk and held it out to me. “Property belongs to a Gideon Steinman. The cabin, the shed, and the car all belong to the octogenarian who’s been living in a nursing home for the last six years.”
I rubbed my temples. “Dammit.”
“We’re running down the usual suspects, checking with family and friends. Whoever decided to use Steinman’s car and cabin must have known the man. Maybe a grandson or nephew. Hell, even a home health aide or caretaker.” He chewed on his thumbnail. “Anything you remember might be of use.”
“I don’t know.” I thought about everything I knew, afraid my memory was skewed on account of the unsub being the bogeyman of my nightmares. “Do you think our unsub could have an accomplice? Gideon or one of his caretakers could have given someone else a run of the property and keys to the car.”
“Like I said, I’m looking into it.”
“Noah sublet his apartment and rented the office under a fictitious name. Maybe he was working with the unsub. They had a falling out, and I got caught in the middle. It would explain why the unsub attacked me and also showed up outside Noah’s apartment. Assuming they were on the outs, the unsub wouldn’t have warned the con man about me, and when he found us together, it was kismet.”
Mark got up and took a seat beside me. “Good theory. I’ll do some more digging.” He remained quiet for a time, internally debating what to say. I knew it was best to wait him out. Eventually, he said, “The search team found Noah a couple hundred feet from the cabin. In the middle of the woods, the ground had been cleared. He was partially buried, lying beside a pile of freshly dug dirt. We found a second grave beside his. It was empty.”
“It was intended for me.”
“That would be my guess. At the drop, the unsub left GPS coordinates which led to a diner a few towns over. We suspected it was a hoax. The agents positioned nearby managed to track him despite the deserted area, and once he turned onto the gravel road, we used aerial images to determine the most likely location. But if we hadn’t,” Mark shrugged, “well, it wouldn’t have mattered. You already escaped.”
“I was only able to do that because he went to pick up the money.” It made sense now why he had hosed me down. He was cleaning up after himself, knowing he’d be leaving soon. Hell, the only reason he didn’t kill me before he left was on the off chance the money wasn’t in the bag. He might have needed to provide another proof of life before getting his payday. That was the only reason I survived.
“Yeah, well, after we found two graves, I thought there might be more. Cadaver dogs and those fancy scanners searched every inch of the woods. He’s done this before.”
“The mattress.” I recalled the stains. “He kept others inside that bomb shelter. The mattress he gave me to sleep on was stained.”
Jablonsky reached for another folder on his desk. It fell to the floor, revealing a stack of glossy crime scene photos. He bent down to pick up the items and held up a photo. “This mattress?” I nodded. “Yeah, the lab’s testing it. Preliminary results show blood from four different people.” He picked up the rest of the photos, stopping on a shot of the canned items. “You said he had meal replacement shakes and bottled water. He had no intention of letting you die before he was ready, but he wanted you weak.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t always follow the rules.”
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“I’m not complaining this time.” He closed the folder. “We’ll know more once the results come back from the lab.”
“You should check into missing persons reports and unsolved abduction cases,” I suggested.
“Already on it.”
I didn’t like what was going through my mind. “Noah could be in on it.” I had days to think about it, and I couldn’t shake a few glaringly obvious discrepancies. “He was dragged out of the cage several times and taken away. He came back bloody and beaten, but I never knew exactly what happened. Noah wouldn’t fight back, and he didn’t try to escape. The only time he tried to fight back was the last time I ever saw him. It was too little, too late. I tried to intervene by offering up the money, but I don’t even know if it made a difference.” I rubbed a hand over my chest, remembering the trunk, Noah’s words, and the kidnapper’s knowledge of my cover identity. “I need to check some things with Cross.”
“Go. I’ve sent teams to scout all of Noah’s known locations. We impounded the car he leased. But I was hoping to send a team back to the gallery to conduct a more thorough search. We rushed it the first time. As soon as Marty told me you were missing, he called Cross. I don’t know what he might have collected or destroyed before we got there, but I’d like to find out.”
“I’ll get him to play ball.”
Mark nodded. “Just in case you were wondering, I performed a quick check on Lucien and the rest of your coworkers. They look clean, but given the givens, we should assume the man who abducted you has some sort of law enforcement training or an obsession with police procedure. Cross knows a lot of people who fit that description.”
“Do you really think he’d do this to me?”
“I don’t know what to think. He wants Marty, and you already confronted him about that. Furthermore, I heard a little something about a seven-figure payday. If you’re not around, he wouldn’t have to split it with you. Until I’m positive his financials are clean, I’m keeping an eye on him, but if I honestly believed he was responsible, I wouldn’t let you near him.”
“Cross has money,” I pointed out. “Lots of it. He wouldn’t care about a quarter of a million. Plus, he was in the city. He helped search. It would have taken hours to make the trek back and forth.”
“Yeah, but what if there’s more than one unsub?” Mark offered a hand and helped me off the couch. “Just don’t go anywhere alone with him or anyone else, including your buddies at the police department.”
“Don’t worry. Martin has assigned me a team of babysitters.” I went to the door. “Call if there’s any news.”
“You do the same.”
Twenty-nine
I left Mark’s office and took a brief detour to see Dr. Weiler, one of the FBI shrinks. I hated psychobabble, but extreme times called for extreme measures. After getting a recommendation for one of the retired shrinks who specialized in PTSD and emotional trauma, I left the federal building.
Marcal and Bruiser were waiting out front. Bruiser stood like a statue beside the rear door. He didn’t move, but I knew he was watching everything. He opened the door when I approached. Normally, I’d have something to say about that, but for now, I was grateful to stretch out in the back of the town car and not worry about walking any further than was absolutely necessary.
“Ready to go home, Miss Parker?” Marcal asked. Martin wasn’t pleased I was venturing out and made that clear to his staff.
“We have one more stop to make. I need to speak to Cross.”
“Very well.”
“I’ll accompany you inside,” Bruiser said, catching my eye. He expected a protest, but I didn’t give him one.
The drive didn’t take long, and I stared pensively at the looming office building. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be. You can park in the garage.”
Marcal winked at me from the rear view mirror. “I’ll be waiting right here. Take your time.”
“Thank you.”
The lengthy elevator ride messed with my equilibrium, and I stumbled out of the elevator car on the thirtieth floor. Bruiser grasped my arm to steady me, and I gasped as his strong grip closed around my black bruises.
The receptionist stood. “Are you okay?”
“I’m great,” I said sarcastically. I wasn’t going up another two floors. “I need to see the boss.”
“Yes, Miss Parker, right away.” Wow, people were bending over backward for me. At least there were a few perks to nearly dying. “He’s on his way.” She stared at me uncertainly. “Would you be more comfortable in your office or one of the conference rooms?”
“Office.”
I went down the hall and pushed open my office door. Amazingly, Cross hadn’t hired someone to replace me yet. The intel I gathered remained pinned to the walls, and I dropped onto the couch and stared at it. Bruiser took an unobtrusive spot in the corner and waited.
A moment later, Cross quietly cleared his throat. “You should be in the hospital.”
“People die in hospitals. Would you like me to drop dead?”
“Not in the least.” He entered the room and nodded at Bruiser, as if this was a commonplace occurrence. “My medical team apprised me of your condition, Alex. Despite their report, you appear to be bouncing back.”
“Well, dehydration isn’t that hard to fix, assuming one has access to enough drinkable water.”
“And the rest?”
“Should stop hurting eventually.” I hated to ask. I didn’t have the energy for a fight, but I had my argument prepared. “I need a favor. I need you to give Jablonsky everything we’ve collected on Don Klassi’s case and complete access to the gallery and whatever you found there. I think it’d be best if the FBI takes over searching for Noah’s financial assets.”
“Have they located the grifter?”
“Yes.”
Lucien worked his jaw for a moment. “Not to discount the government’s fine work,” he said with a degree of venom and sarcasm I rarely heard, “but this is an area in which I excel. If you want to find out what’s really going on, you’ll tell them to let me stay the course.”
“Lucien,” I said, seeing a fire in his eyes, “is this about the ten million?”
Cross glanced at Bruiser. “This is confidential. Will you please wait outside?”
Bruiser looked at me, and I nodded. I saw the irritated look in the bodyguard’s eyes, but he did as I asked and stood outside, refusing to completely close the door.
“There is no ten million,” Cross said. “Klassi played us.”
“Are you positive? Maybe you just haven’t found it yet.”
“I haven’t found it because it doesn’t exist.” He reined in his snippiness. “Tell Jablonsky to send a request, and I’ll see that he gets what he wants. You want to give him Noah’s financials and Klassi’s case, that’s your call. Autonomy, right?” The word left a bitter taste in his mouth.
I thought for a moment. “Has anyone tried to hock the paintings or the engagement ring? It might lead to the asshole we’re hunting.”
“I already have people on it. Nothing has surfaced so far.” He looked at the notes hanging on the wall. “At the risk of overstepping and violating your autonomous status, I took the liberty of researching some of the details you failed to share with me. I’m not sure it’s important, but I did find several interesting pieces of information.” He went to my desk and picked up the phone. “Make copies and have them brought to Parker’s office.”
“What did you find?”
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with today. Take them home. Read them at your leisure, and let me know what you think.” He was practically throwing me out of my own office. His assistant brought the files down, and Lucien handed them to me.
“What are we doing about Don Klassi?” I asked.
“That’s up to you, but I’d be more than happy to confront the lying sack of shit. You aren’t in any condition to deal with more irritation, and you don’t have to.” He assessed me from head to
toe. “A dislocated rib hurts like hell, almost worse than a broken one. And that’s not even taking into account the bone bruises you sustained.” He studied my cheek. “Are they sure that’s not fractured?”
“Don’t you trust your people to do their jobs?”
He smirked. “I do.” Nodding down at the files, he said, “I’m interested to see what you think. In the meantime, I’ll assist the FBI in any way I can.” His face pinched together as if he’d been sucking on a lemon.
“Thanks.” I slid off the couch and headed for the door.
“And Alex, you were right.”
“About what?”
“James.”
Bruiser took the files from me as soon as I exited the office. “Are you ready to go home now?”
“Do I have a choice?”
He hid his amusement well. “Not really.”
“I guess I’ll go home then.”
On the drive back, I phoned Mark and told him Lucien was amenable to working together. In the time it took to leave the federal building and speak to Cross, the FBI had already made progress on the case. They located the red Pontiac, just not its driver.
“What about the car?” I repeated, cringing against the static.
“We found it abandoned on the side of the interstate. He didn’t even make an effort to conceal it. He wanted us to find it. He’s thumbing his nose at us. When I get my hands on this guy, he’s going to regret everything he’s ever done.”
“He wants you to stop looking. He thinks he’s clever.”
“Unfortunately, he is.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t matter. I’m going to find that motherfucker.” I licked my lips. “I have to. He’s done it before. If we don’t stop him, he’ll do it again. And I won’t let this happen to someone else.”
