by G. K. Parks
“The breach was seamless. The person who did it knew exactly what to do. Maybe you had one of your experts do it for you?”
Cross slammed the mug down. “I wasn’t there. I’m not responsible. My people are not responsible.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I trust the people who work for me.”
“Fine,” Jablonsky said, “but you know plenty of shady individuals. You could have paid an outsider, just so you wouldn’t be implicated.”
“You’re a moron if you think that.”
“So give me access to your phone records and financial statements.”
“Get a fucking warrant.” His fists clenched, and he blew out a breath. “Let me talk to her.” Mark didn’t respond, so Cross tried another approach. “Either I speak to her now, or I’ll speak to her as soon as I’m released. You have no evidence. How long do you think you’ll be able to keep me before my attorneys cite you for abuse of power?”
Mark took a seat and stared at Cross. “You’ve been speaking a lot to Don Klassi lately.”
“He’s a client. Alex’s client.”
“Probably goes back to your obsession with James Martin.” Mark continued to stare. “The two of you spoke often over the course of this week, at least a dozen times. What were you discussing?”
Lucien’s expression soured. He was fed up. “His case.”
“That included details about the scammer, right?”
“If it was relevant.”
Mark nodded. “And you knew Noah had been abducted from the gallery at the same time Parker was.”
“I gave you the footage.”
“Right. Did you share that information with Klassi?”
“Do you think he’s involved?” Lucien asked.
“Anything’s possible.” Mark snorted. “Were you working together?”
Lucien neatly folded his hands. “This conversation is over. I am invoking my right to legal counsel.”
Hoping to avoid Mark getting into trouble, I left the observation room and opened the door to interrogation. Mark glared at me. Get out, he mouthed, but I entered anyway.
Cross sat up straight and offered the empty chair across from him. “Turn off the recording equipment.”
“There is no privilege here. She’s not your lawyer,” Mark snarled. “Hell, she shouldn’t even be here. Whatever you say to her is staying on the record. So make it quick. I do have better things to do.”
Cross snorted and tuned out Mark. “Miss Parker, I told you that I didn’t require your trust or loyalty, but I need it now.” He swallowed. “I didn’t do this, Alex. You know that. Call off the dogs. You’re wasting time and resources. He designed it this way. He wants you to be confused. It’ll buy him time to figure out his next move. He’s smart enough to know he should move on, but I don’t believe he’s done. There’s more at play here. I just don’t know what it is.”
“Who is he?” I asked.
Cross shrugged. “I don’t know. But I can tell you, whoever he is, he isn’t in this room.”
“What about Noah? Why did you meet with him? Did you make an exchange?”
“You were right about me. I am a micromanaging prick. That’s why I met with him behind your back. You wanted autonomy, but I had to see for myself what was what. I gave Noah fifty thousand dollars,” Cross said, “half of what I promised during our internet exchange. Amir ran the trace. When you transferred the five grand to Noah, it went into the same account. It never branched. It wasn’t withdrawn. It just sat there. I had the transactions run, along with an account history. There was never ten million. Klassi never transferred that much to Noah. It was a lie.”
“What about other accounts? Noah must have more than one.”
“Check the notes I gave you. Klassi is using my firm for something insidious. I don’t know what. I was trying to determine that when Jablonsky decided to arrest the wrong man.” Cross leaned back in the chair. “Do you believe me, Alex?”
I sat there, unsure what to think. Cross admitted he could have done it or had someone else do it for him. He’d gone behind my back before. He manipulated and controlled people.
“It doesn’t matter what she thinks,” Jablonsky said. “It’s my case. My call. Since you denied my request for access to your financial history and phone records, you can wait in a holding cell until the warrant comes through.”
“I’ll be out a lot sooner than that,” Cross warned. Another agent came in to escort him from the room. “Parker, find out what’s going on.”
The door closed, and Mark blew out a breath. “Lucien’s right. The man who attacked you and abducted you isn’t in this room.”
“Lucien’s going to bury you,” I said.
“Well, at least he didn’t bury you.” Mark sighed. “What do you think? He admitted he’s an asshole. He could be involved. He could have hired the unsub.”
I watched the red light blink out on the camera. “By his own admission, he could have pulled it off, but it doesn’t feel right. He’s lobbing softballs. He could have shut down the interrogation the moment you stepped inside, but he didn’t. He’s cooperating, trying to help.”
“That’s cooperation?” There was too much bad blood between the two. “He could be doing it to screw with your head.”
I thought for a moment. Memories of other cases came to mind. Cross saved my life. He tried to protect me. To do a complete one-eighty was unlikely. “Lucien’s right. This is about Don.”
“I’ll figure it out. In the meantime, you should go home. There’s nothing else you can do here,” Mark insisted. “Check those notes he mentioned and get back to me.”
“Yep.”
Thirty-four
“Where’s my fucking money?” Don Klassi screeched in my ear. I pulled the phone away and hit the speaker button, hoping to avoid hearing loss. “Lucien phoned last week and said you were close to tracking my stolen money. He said you made contact with Noah, that you were going to trace everything back to his account. When Cross called again, he said he was taking over my case and promised to have information by the end of the week. I’ve been calling him all day, but he won’t return my calls. His secretary won’t tell me where he is, just that he’s out. I want answers. I hired you, not Cross. Have you forgotten our arrangement? I held up my end. I’m waiting for you to hold up yours. I want to know what’s going on.”
Martin, who was in the kitchen, glared daggers at the phone. He opened his mouth, but I held up my hand to keep him quiet. He looked like he was about to rip Don a new one.
“There’s been a snag,” I said.
“What kind of snag?”
I silently communicated the question to Martin. I had to be sure. He nodded, and I prepared for another shrieking onslaught.
“Oh, I don’t know, Don. The kind that would indicate you never gave ten million dollars to Noah Ryder.”
He went eerily quiet. “Are you trying to rip me off? Is that what Noah told you? You know I transferred money to him in exchange for coin. I showed you my bank account and the coin I received. You know I gave him money.”
“Yeah, in exchange for worthless cryptocurrency. I’m not saying he didn’t screw you. He’s a con artist, that’s his job. But stop pretending this is bigger than it really is. You showed me what you gave him and what you received in return. That was it. $100,000. There were no other transfers. We checked. You never gave him ten million.”
“Are you calling me a liar? Is this how you conduct business? I hired you to recover the coin he failed to provide, and now you’re telling me there is no money. Either you’re hiding it, or you’re too incompetent to find it. I’ll sue Cross Security.”
“You do that.” I expected him to hang up, but he didn’t.
“Come on, I need it. I don’t have time for this. At least give me what you recovered. It’s mine. You can’t keep it.”
“I haven’t recovered anything.”
“You bitch.”
Martin bristled, stabbing the
contents of the slow cooker. I put my hand over his, afraid he might burst out of the apartment in a homicidal rage and slaughter Don Klassi with the meat fork.
Don continued yammering. “The USBs with the verified coin amounted to over a hundred thousand dollars. You can’t deny that. You can’t say that money didn’t exist or that I didn’t give it to Noah. If that damn drive he gave me with the ten million wasn’t corrupted, you’d be singing a different tune.” He blew out an agitated breath. “Since you’re telling me the coin is worthless, get me the cash. Cross said he located Noah’s account. So reverse the transfers. Give me whatever was in his account.”
“It’s not that simple. Maybe we should get the authorities involved. They might be able to clear this up faster,” I reminded him.
“I held up my end. I sold my shares of MT. You have to follow through, or,” he struggled to come up with a decent threat, “I’ll expose you and James.”
“Too late, but thanks for playing.”
Don was becoming increasingly belligerent. “Just get me what you can as soon as you can.” He hung up, and I turned off the speakerphone.
Martin shredded the rest of the brisket, probably wishing it was Don he was tearing to pieces. “He’s desperate.”
“You caught on to that too?”
He smirked. “Based on his upside-down finances, I’d say he owes someone money.”
“A lot of money.” I glanced at the whiteboard Martin had covered in Klassi’s financial statements. “Any idea who?”
“No, but I bet that’s the real reason he wanted to unload the MT stock so quickly. It would have been suspicious had you not insisted upon it since he just received his seat on the board.” He finished with the meat and placed it in a glass container. “Let me take a look at Cross’s notes, and I’ll see if I can make heads or tails out of what’s going on.”
I already read through them twice before contacting Don. They weren’t the smoking gun Lucien indicated they would be. I maneuvered around the counter and took Martin’s face in my hands. “Later. Right now, you need some sleep. You’re running on fumes. And since you’re only working half days, you don’t have an excuse not to take a nap.”
“I’m fine.”
He was just as stubborn as I was. “I know you’re Superman, but I’m not. It’s the middle of the afternoon, but I’m achy and sore. I can’t sleep on the couch again, and I can’t sleep without you. Is there anything I can do to convince you to lie down with me for a few hours?”
“I know what you’re doing.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “You hate it when I’m clingy.”
“Yeah, but you love it when I am.”
“Does Jabber really believe Cross is responsible?”
“He fits the profile, but I don’t think either of us believes it. He just doesn’t want to take any chances.”
Martin thought for a moment. “Does Don have an alibi?”
“Yes, but Lucien believes he’s involved. The one thing we know is the psychopath has an axe to grind with Noah and me. And so far, we only know of two people we have in common, Lucien Cross and Don Klassi.”
“Why isn’t Don in custody?” Martin asked, climbing into bed beside me.
“Klassi has no criminal record and an alibi. Mark can’t touch him, but Heathcliff’s working on it.”
“What can the detective do?”
“I’m not sure.” An uneasiness wormed its way through my gut. Klassi was committed to his lie, assuming it was a lie. Of course, that would mean Noah, the professional liar, had told the truth about the ten million. That was even less likely. This was a mess.
Both Cross and Martin insisted Klassi never had enough capital to lose ten million. Sure, it was possible he had foreign accounts and hidden assets we didn’t know about, but in the last five years, Don never earned anywhere near that amount. An inheritance or insurance payout would have been flagged by the IRS. And his investments didn’t generate much of anything. Most of what he earned went back into the company.
I could only see two possible explanations. Klassi never had the money and wanted to scam the scammer, which was my initial thought. Or Klassi borrowed a substantial amount from someone questionable, and the loan came due. There was a third man.
Martin jerked. He thrashed for a moment, but before I could wake him, he rolled closer and settled beside me. He wrapped an arm around me, and I bit back the hiss as I carefully slipped my arm beneath his to cushion my ribs. He tangled one of his legs with mine and let his head loll onto my pillow. No wonder he hadn’t slept in days. It was the only way he could be sure to keep his distance. Asleep, he always gravitated toward me.
Since there was no way I could slip out of bed and search for the third man, I leaned against him, putting a little more space between his arm and my ribs, and tried to sleep. My phone buzzed, but it wasn’t loud enough to wake him. I watched the display light up and the device jitter in place. From this angle, I couldn’t see who was calling, and I didn’t really care. It stopped, and I closed my eyes.
Gasping, I awoke. My heart was racing. My eyes darted back and forth, but I had no idea what had spooked me. The usual nightmares hadn’t surfaced, at least not to any panic-inducing degree.
“Alex?” Martin was still wrapped around me. “I’m here. I’m right here. What is it?”
“Nothing. I’m okay. Go back to sleep.” I fought the urge to curl into a quivering ball.
He tried to pull away, but I grabbed his hand and linked my fingers with his. “I’m hurting you. I shouldn’t have fallen asleep.”
“No, you’re not. And don’t you dare say that. The only thing we’re good at is sleeping together. If we can’t do that right, we might as well give up now.”
He kissed my neck. “That’s not true. We’re great at other things.”
“Individually, yes. As a couple, not so much,” I teased.
Before he could list the things at which we excelled, my phone buzzed again. I wondered how many times it did that while we were passed out. I didn’t make a move for the offending device. A voice in my head warned against it.
“Aren’t you going to—”
“No,” I said quickly.
When it stopped ringing, I settled back against him, but his posture remained rigid. Before he could ask why I was avoiding the late night call, his phone rang.
“Shit. Shit. Shit,” I cursed. The world was about to come crashing down.
Martin freed himself from my grip and grabbed his phone. “It’s Heathcliff.”
I wasn’t expecting that. “Answer it.” I reached over and checked my missed calls. Three came in over the last seven hours, all from Heathcliff. At least we actually got some sleep, even if I didn’t feel particularly rested.
“Detective,” Martin said, “yes. That’s right.” He scrubbed his face. “Yeah, okay, I’ll make myself available. Just text a list of what you need.” He looked at me and pointed at the phone. “Alex? I’ll see.” He covered the mouthpiece. “He wants to talk to you.”
I took the phone. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Screening your calls?” Heathcliff asked.
“Try too tired to answer.” I watched Martin climb out of bed and stretch. His back and shoulders popped, and he dropped to the floor to do a few dozen sit-ups and push-ups. With the craziness of our lives, he’d been missing his workouts, not that he had the energy for such things. “Do you mind cutting to the chase?”
“Earlier this afternoon, I responded to a homicide.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Martin, huffing out reps as he bounced from leg to leg as he did his push-ups. “Who was killed?”
“Don Klassi. He took two bullets to the chest. Ballistics matched the weapon to the one used to kill Stuart Gifford. The cases are connected, like I told you.”
“Dammit. What do you know so far?”
“The doorman spotted an unfamiliar vehicle parked near the apartment building and remembered it had out of state plates. The man who got into the car was dre
ssed entirely in black. He didn’t see his face.”
“Did he get the plate number?”
“No.”
“That’s not much to go on.” I thought for a moment. “Who called it in?”
“Klassi.”
“He reported his own murder?”
“He has one of those virtual assistants. He instructed it to dial 911, probably as soon as the guy broke in. The operator heard the gunshots and sent a unit to investigate.”
I remembered the first time the phone rang. It was minutes after Don and I had spoken. Had the killer been there while we were on the phone? Was that why Don had been so desperate to get his money? Was that the reason he was killed?
“You’re sure it was a break-in?”
“The deadbolt on the front door was broken. Looks like someone bumped the lock. You know what I’m thinking?” Heathcliff asked.
“Martin was here all night,” I said, regretting the joke as soon as I said it.
Heathcliff snorted. “I think Don knew who took you, and since I brought him in for questioning, the killer feared Don would crack and spill the beans. He’s tying up loose ends.”
“Yeah, he planned to eliminate Noah and me at the cabin, but it didn’t happen.”
“He’ll try again.”
“I know.” I was resigned to this reality, even though I hoped it wasn’t true.
“Anyway, that’s not why I called Martin. Until two weeks ago, Klassi was on the board at MT. I’ll need additional information since we’re checking into everything. And I know you’ve done a lot of research on Don and the bastard in black. It looks like you’re interfering in another one of my cases.”
“I wish I wasn’t.”
“Get everything together and bring it to the precinct. I have some questions. And tell Cross to do the same. He hasn’t answered my calls either, and if he doesn’t comply, I’ll have to pay him a visit.”
“He’s not going to answer. Jablonsky arrested him this afternoon.” Of course, if the man who killed Klassi was the same man who took me, it looked like Lucien had yet another airtight alibi. “I think he owed someone money.”
