Hidden Deception: A Shelby Nichols Adventure

by Colleen Helme

  Before I could stop myself, I opened the shower and took a whiff of the soap. There it was, that wonderful Ramos smell, and I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. It was tempting to steal the bar of soap, but I dutifully put it back and shut the door, a little ashamed that I’d practically swooned over it.

  I hurried out, then paused in front of the bedroom door. Did I dare peek inside? One little look wouldn’t hurt, right? I put my hand on the knob, but the thought of getting caught by Ramos while I looked into his bedroom nearly took my breath away. Still, when would I have another chance?

  I turned the knob and peeked in, finding a huge king-sized bed that hadn’t been made. The messy covers were thrown back on one side and kind of bunched on the other. Almost like someone was still sleeping underneath there.

  Yikes! I shut the door as softly as I could and let out my breath. That was the stupidest thing I’d ever done. I needed to leave. Now. I took a step toward the kitchen before it registered that I’d left the bathroom light on, so I retraced my steps and flipped it off.

  A low moan froze me in place, and my heart raced. What the freak? But it wasn’t coming from the bedroom. It sounded more like it came from the room I hadn’t looked in. What was going on in there? then it came again, only louder, and I high-tailed it out of there, rounding the corner to the kitchen.

  Before I reached the door, it opened, and Ramos stepped inside. Holy hell! I jerked to a stop, and he caught sight of me. Taking in my guilty shock, his gaze narrowed. “Babe. What’s going on?”

  “Oh… uh nothing. I thought… I mean, I came to get a diet soda, see?” I grabbed the can off the counter and held it up. “Jackie told me it was okay. It was, wasn’t it?”

  “Sure.”

  “Good.” I let out my breath. “Uh… I came to talk to Uncle Joey, but he was busy, so I thought I’d get a soda. Anyway… I guess I’d better see if he’s not busy anymore.”

  Ramos thought I looked guilty as hell about something. Had I been snooping around? Did I look in the back bedroom?

  “No. I didn’t,” I blurted. “I thought about it, but I didn’t do it, I promise.”

  “Then what’s got you so rattled?” he asked, calling my bluff. He folded his arms and leaned his large frame against the wall, totally blocking my way out.

  “Uh… well.” I swallowed and let out a breath, knowing I’d been caught, and there was no way out but to tell him the truth. “I may have heard a noise in there.” I glanced up at him and shrugged.

  He quickly surmised that I’d thought the noise had something to do with him, and his curiosity spiked. “What kind of a sound was it?”

  “A moan.”

  He burst out laughing, understanding how that could make me uncomfortable. “Come on. I’ll show you what’s in there.” He moved past me and turned down the hall. I followed more slowly, not sure I wanted to know. But if he wanted to show me, it couldn’t be too bad, right?

  He waited for me at the end of the hall, his mind blank and a smug smile on his face. Once I got there, he opened the door and flipped on a light.

  The room was full of exercise equipment, and a man with duct tape across his mouth sat strapped to a chair. He squinted against the bright light and moaned. I had no idea who he was, but that didn’t seem to matter to Ramos.

  “This is Bo. He’s not exactly cooperating, but now that you’re here, I’m sure we’ll make some progress.” Ramos glanced at me, thinking of Bo’s connection as a courier of sorts for the Russians when they were in town. “I usually pay him to talk, but he wasn’t cooperating, so now he gets to talk without getting paid.”

  “That wasn’t very smart of him,” I said, but I totally understood why he wouldn’t want to say anything if he worked for the Russian mob. “How come you brought him here instead of the basement?”

  Ramos frowned, thinking the basement already had… his gaze caught mine and his eyes narrowed. That wasn’t for me to know unless Manetto decided otherwise.

  “Oh! Right, got it.”

  Ramos shook his head and focused on Bo. “Are you ready to get out of here?”

  Bo vigorously nodded his head up and down. If he didn’t get back to his job, the Russians might think he’d talked, and that would be the end of him.

  “Good,” Ramos said, and reached over to rip the tape off his face. I shut my eyes, but still heard the awful sound, followed by a string of profanity. Of course, it was all in Bo’s mind, since he wouldn’t dare say any of that out loud where Ramos could hear it, and maybe smack him around for it.

  “Let’s start over,” Ramos began. “Did you know about the deal with the diamonds that went south?”

  “Yeah,” he answered, glaring at Ramos. “Word is Manetto double-crossed Yuri.”

  “Who’s spreading that lie? You?” Ramos’ voice turned menacing, and even I got a little scared.

  “No man, I had nothing to do with that. It was one of his crew.” Ramos loomed over him, and he shrank into his chair. “The guard… I think his name is Anton. He and the other one… uh… Dmitry were talking about it. That’s all I know.”

  “Are they staying at the usual place?” Ramos was thinking about the section of the city where a large number of Russian immigrants had settled. Yuri owned a hotel there where all kinds of things went down. His group was small, so it wasn’t a threat to Manetto, and Ramos wanted to keep it that way.

  “Yeah. You can’t touch them there, you know that, right?” Bo didn’t have a problem telling Ramos that part, since it was common knowledge.

  “Yes I can,” Ramos objected. “And I will if I have to. Yuri may have some leverage in this city, but it’s nothing compared to what Manetto’s got, so pick your sides carefully.”

  “Hey. I’m on your side… always.” He was thinking that Yuri paid well, but other than that, he wanted to stay out of it.

  “Good. So what’s Yuri up to?”

  “All I know is he was only supposed to be here for a couple of days, then suddenly, everything changed. Now he’s calling in some favors for guns and stuff, but nothing’s official yet. I think he’s waiting for something.”

  “Did he bring any women with him?” I asked. “Or is there someone here that he’s been seeing?”

  Bo raised his brows. “He has plenty of women, but I can’t say there’s anyone special.”

  “What about the two guards?” I prodded. “Is someone hanging out with them?”

  He shrugged, thinking there were always women who liked the money Yuri and his crew threw around. Although, come to think of it, that blond girl had been hanging around with Anton a lot. Maybe they were together?

  “Is there someone who’s spending a lot of time with Anton?” I asked.

  His eyes widened. “I was just thinking about that. Yeah, there is. She’s blond, but I don’t know her name.” He studied me closer. “In fact, her hair looks a lot like yours.”

  “Is she Russian?”

  “I don’t know, but I’ve never seen her hanging out with them before. From what I’ve observed, she stays away from Yuri. I doubt he even knows about her.”

  “But she’s with Anton?”

  “Yeah, I think so.”

  She had to be the one who’d taken the money and killed Zack. She was in on the whole thing with Anton. Dmitry must be the one who saw her drive off. That’s where he got the blond hair part, and thought it was me. So that meant he wasn’t in on it.

  Ramos touched my shoulder, and our gazes met. He was thinking the same thing about the blond as I was. I sent him a nod, then he silently asked me if there was anything else I needed from Bo. This time I shook my head, and he turned to Bo.

  “Okay. We’re done here.” He flipped a switchblade open and cut him loose. “Next time, remember where your loyalty lies. And if word gets back to me that you spoke of this to anyone, you’re as good as dead. You know that, right?”

  Bo swallowed and nodded, cursing the fates that Ramos had caught him. He should have just told him everything in the first plac
e. But if the Russians ever found out… that was enough reason not to tell a single soul about this little meeting. Between the Russians and Ramos, he could end up dead either way. Maybe it was time to move somewhere else and start over.

  I thought that was a pretty good idea, so I smiled and nodded at him as he left. His brows puckered together in confusion, but before he could say a word, Ramos escorted him out of the apartment, telling him to take the stairs all the way down, and then take the street exit from the parking lot. I trailed behind them, stopping at Jackie’s desk, and watched them continue to the staircase.

  “Did you get your diet soda?” Jackie asked me, wondering what else I’d been doing in there.

  “Oh… yes, I did,” I said, flushing with guilt. “Thanks. Um… can Uncle Joey talk yet?”

  “He sure can. In fact, he’s waiting for you. Why don’t you go on back?” I picked up that she’d told him about my photos, and he wasn’t too happy about that. He’d also wondered how the Russians had found me.

  I thought that was a good question, but figured that they must have been following us last night, kind of like I’d thought at the time. Maybe I really did have premonitions. Too bad I didn’t say anything then. I knocked before opening Uncle Joey’s office door and stepped inside.

  “There you are,” Uncle Joey said. “Jackie told me about the photos. Let me take a look.”

  I pulled the manila envelope out of my purse and hurried around his desk. “These are of me and my kids from this morning.” I pulled the photos out and placed them in a single line across his desk. “Do I need to get my kids out of school and send them somewhere safe?”

  Uncle Joey let out a heavy breath, unbidden anger coursing over him like a storm. A string of cursing came from his mind, and he vowed he’d kill Yuri and all his men for this. How dare they threaten me and my kids? He wouldn’t stand for it. He’d kill them all. Those dirty…

  “Uh… I think whoever did this is pretty sure I have the money, and he didn’t plan on me showing these photos to you, because if I actually had the money, I wouldn’t do that, right?”

  He reined in his anger and nodded. “Probably not.”

  Just then, the door opened and Ramos stepped inside. “Jackie told me about the photos.” He glanced at the desk. “Is that them?”

  “Yes,” I answered.

  Ramos stepped behind the desk on the other side of Uncle Joey and looked them over. His eyes narrowed, and his reaction of pure loathing toward the Russian mob mirrored Uncle Joey’s. His gaze caught mine, as anger and a rush of protectiveness washed over him. Threatening me was bad enough, but he’d kill them all before he’d let them touch my kids.

  Whoa! That strong reaction dazed me a bit, and my eyes even got a little misty. I blinked away the tears and cleared my throat before I spoke. “Uh… I think Bo was onto something.”

  Uncle Joey glanced at me. “What’s this?”

  Ramos explained Bo’s presence in his weight room, and that I was there during his questioning. Then he told Uncle Joey everything Bo had said, including the stuff about the blond chick. “I think the guard, Anton, is in on it with the blond.” He turned his gaze to me. “Is that what you picked up?”

  “Yeah, and somehow they’ve convinced the other guard, Dmitry, that it was me in the getaway car.”

  “But they didn’t even know about you until we met them last night,” Uncle Joey said.

  “That’s true,” I agreed. “It was definitely their lucky break. I don’t think Dmitry had a clue who the driver of the car was until he saw me and my blond hair. The coincidence was too much for him to refute, so he must have told Yuri I had the money, and they took the pictures to intimidate me. They probably hoped I’d give them the money without telling you, thinking I’d double-crossed you. That way they’d get twice as much money.”

  “That makes sense,” Uncle Joey said. “But Yuri should have come to me with his suspicions and let me handle this instead of threatening you. It’s the way we do business, and he’s out of line.”

  “Maybe Yuri doesn’t know about any of this, and Dmitry and Anton are doing this on their own?” Wait. Did I just defend Yuri to Uncle Joey? “Not that I’m defending him, I’m just trying to look at all sides of the picture.”

  Uncle Joey nodded, still thinking how badly he wanted to kill them all. “The deadline for handing over the money is tomorrow night at midnight. Until then; everyone is safe, that includes you and your kids. So let’s figure out a plan of action that we can live with.” He could live with killing them all, but that was probably only as a last resort.

  Ramos was thinking he could live with killing them all too, but not before he figured out what the hell was going on. The diamonds were still missing. So what had Zack done with them? Even if the blond had taken the money, that left the diamonds unaccounted for.

  “Do you think Zack knew the mystery woman?” I asked. “Was she picking him up from the meeting? Or did she shoot him as she drove by and then take the money and high-tail it out of there?”

  “She obviously knew about the drop. Either from Zack or the guards, it doesn’t matter,” Ramos said. “I think she’s the key to this whole thing.”

  “You’re right,” Uncle Joey agreed. “It’s time we had a chat with her.” He was thinking that his friend in the basement could be persuaded to help with that, and it might not be as hard as it looked.

  “I’ll get the others, and we can set something up.” Ramos said. He turned to leave, catching my gaze and sending me a promise that he’d take care of this and I shouldn’t worry, especially about my kids. He wouldn’t let anything happen to them. I nodded, sending him a tremulous smile before he walked out the door.

  Uncle Joey picked up the pictures and looked them over again, focusing on the last one. A crease formed between his eyebrows as it registered that I was with Dimples, my police detective friend at the precinct. What was going on? He glanced at me, expecting an answer, and hoping it was something he could stomach.

  “Oh… that,” I answered, like it was nothing. “He just asked for my help with a murder. A lawyer got wacked over the head and killed, probably by his secret partner, and we’re trying to figure out who that partner could be.”

  “Hmm.” Uncle Joey wondered if the murder victim could be someone he knew. “A lawyer did you say?”

  “Yeah. In fact, he used to work at Chris’ law firm, but he got fired about six months ago.” That certainly got Uncle Joey’s attention, and I tried to keep my poker face on. His eyes narrowed, and I wasn’t sure it was working, so I kept talking. “Yeah, so far, we think he was working off a list and collecting unpaid debts. You know, like a debt merchant? You ever heard of that sort of thing? I sure hadn’t.”

  Uncle Joey knew exactly what I was talking about. In fact, it was something he was quite familiar with. “What was his name?”

  “Uh… Lincoln Montgomery.” The name didn’t ring a bell with Uncle Joey, but he’d certainly look into it.

  Did that mean he wasn’t involved? “So you don’t know him?”

  “No,” he said.

  I let out a relieved breath, feeling a huge weight lift from my shoulders. “Yeah, I didn’t think you would. Anyway, we’re following up on some leads, and hopefully we’ll find out who killed him. In fact, just this morning we went to a place called Bella’s Bakery, and they had this brownie-type thing called a Dirty Johnny. It was amazing. Next time I go, I’ll be sure to get you one.”

  “Sure,” he said, thinking he could use a good brownie about now.

  “Great. So, should I go? Do you need me for anything else?”

  “No. You can go. If I need you for anything, I’ll call you. And try not to worry about it too much. I’ll take care of this.”

  “Okay,” I said, sending him a grateful smile. “Thanks. I’ll check back with you tomorrow. All right? You’ll let me know?”

  “Yes. Tomorrow this will all be cleared up.”

  “Okay, see you then.” I nodded and turned aw
ay, raising my shields so I wouldn’t hear any of the details about how he planned to do that, or what he thought his chances were of pulling it off. More than anything, I needed to put my trust in him and try not worry about it. Otherwise, I might just go a little crazy.

  I said goodbye to Jackie and headed to the elevators. Even if I hadn’t come about the police investigation, at least I could tell Dimples that Uncle Joey wasn’t involved, so that was a plus. That left talking to Chris about the case, but did I really want to go to his office now? Not much, especially if it meant I had to tell him about the trouble I was in with the Russian mob.

  In my state, I’d probably start to cry as soon as I told him about the photos. That would be bad. Then it hit me that I’d left the photos with Uncle Joey. Should I go back and get them? The elevator doors opened, and I didn’t even hesitate before stepping inside.

  Deep down, I didn’t want those photos. Without them, I could almost believe that it hadn’t happened. Besides, Uncle Joey was going to take care of it, and I didn’t need to worry. Everything would work out fine. I exited the elevators and hurried to my car, checking my watch. It was only one in the afternoon, even though it seemed later. Since it was Thursday, it was my turn to pick up Savannah from dance class in a few hours.

  I should probably head over to Chris’ office now and talk to him about Lincoln Montgomery, just to get it over with. It shouldn’t take too long, and I didn’t need to tell him about the trouble I was in with the Russian mob until tonight. If I didn’t talk about it, I wouldn’t fall apart. After that, I could go home, read a good book on my deck swing, and forget about my crazy, mixed-up life for a while.

  Another benefit to seeing Chris? I needed a hug. I hadn’t even seen him since yesterday, so stopping by for a few minutes would be totally worth it. That settled, I drove over to his building and found a parking space on the street. After paying the meter, I headed inside and pushed the button for the fourth floor. Warmth filled my heart as I remembered my visit to his office yesterday, and a slow smile spread over my face.