A Secret Uncovered

by Edward Kendrick

  “And killing me, too, probably,” Theo said.

  “Let’s not find out if we can help it.”

  “I have an idea,” Kane said, tapping his fingers together. “Before you protest, hear me out. Give me the list of names and I’ll have the police in each of the cities or towns where they live put an officer on them, without their knowing. Then, you do something that will allow our perp access the list on your computer, without it looking like a set-up. Does your list include pictures of the women?”

  “Yes, for all but two of them,” Ric replied.

  “Good. If one of them is of the Lilliana he’s looking for, he’ll go directly for her. If not, and he thinks it could be one of the two without photos, he’ll check both of them out.”

  Ric leaned back on his hands, looking at Theo. “What do you think? If I’m right, one of them is your birth mother. If something happens and he gets to her before he can be stopped, you’ll never know why she put you up for adoption, or who your birth father is, if she knows.”

  “Meaning if he wasn’t a one-night stand.” Theo thought about everything and then made a decision. “Before you do that, let’s try something else. We’ll make it clear I’m the guy who hired you to find her.”

  “No way in hell!” Ric exclaimed.

  “It could work, if we set it up right. He comes after me, in a controlled situation, and we stop him.” He held up his hand to keep the Ric and the detective from interrupting. “There has to be a reason the bastard wants to find Lilliana. We’ve talked about that, Ric. The logical conclusion is that it has to do with me. Either I’m an heir to a fortune they don’t want me to get my hands on, or I’m her son by incest and if she admits it I might try to blackmail her father or brother.”

  Kane’s terse reply was, “I’ll think about your suggestion. You—” he looked hard at Theo, “—will not do anything until I have. If I and my superiors agree it’s worth a try, and can come up with a feasible plan, then we’ll talk.”

  Theo resisted smiling. From what Kane said, the detective was already on board with the idea. All he needed was approval from the higher-ups. “Changing the subject—”

  “You’d better,” Ric muttered under his breath.

  Ignoring him, Theo asked, “How was the bastard able to attack Ethan to begin with? Why didn’t Ethan or Ms. Lane know he was there and do something? Did he sneak in the back door?”

  Kane replied, “According to Ms. Lane, when I interviewed her, the back and side doors should have been locked. They were when one of the CSI team checked them.”

  “So was the front door, when I got there, but it was after closing,” Ric said. “Ms. Lane was already gone.”

  “That still begs the question of how the man got to Ethan,” Theo pointed out.

  “From what Ms. Lane told me,” Kane replied, “a man came in around four-thirty, asking if it would be possible to talk to one of the investigators since he didn’t have an appointment. She told him to wait and she’d ask Mr. Moore. When she got back to the waiting room the man wasn’t there. She says she didn’t really think anything about it because there are times when a potential client gets cold feet and changes their mind.”

  “True,” Ric agreed, frowning. “Does she remember what he looked like?”

  Kane took out his notepad. “Blue shirt, black slacks. Dark hair with gray at the temples, a small mustache, and dark-rimmed glasses.”

  “Meaning if it was him, he’s probably blond, clean-shaven, and doesn’t need glasses,” Ric replied, getting a nod from Kane. “If I were him, I’d have taken advantage of Ms. Lane’s going into Ethan’s office to step into the washroom or the closet along the hallway to the back door. Then, once the agency was closed for the day and she’d left, I’d do what I came for.”

  “He would have been out of luck if she’d used the intercom to talk to Ethan,” Theo said.

  Ric gave him a wry look. “We’re a two-man agency. She can transfer calls but we don’t have an intercom. If she needs to talk to one of us, she comes into our office.”

  “Right. Now that I think about it, I remember her doing that the first time I was there.”

  “Our people collected fingerprints and trace evidence from both those places,” Kane said, getting back on topic. “As well as from Mr. Moore’s office. Unfortunately, it won’t do much good until we catch the guy and can tie him to them.”

  Theo frowned. “Even fingerprints? I mean, isn’t there some government something that keeps track of them?”

  “IAFIS,” Kane replied. “The problem is, if he hasn’t been arrested, hasn’t purchased a firearm, or been through an employment background check, or wasn’t a member of the military or law enforcement, or any other agency that requires fingerprints, he won’t be in there.”

  Theo looked at his fingertips. “I had mine taken for my driver’s license. Would they be in there?”

  “Yep,” Kane replied.

  “Then shouldn’t his be?”

  “Only four states require prints for licenses,” Kane told him. “Unless he got his in one of them, he’ll be free and clear in that respect. We will run all those we found, of course, once we eliminate Mr. Moore’s, Ric’s, Ms. Lane’s, and yours.”

  “And anyone else’s who are our client’s, I hope,” Ric said.

  “We’ll work backward on that,” Kane replied. “When we have names, one of my people will come by to show you the list and you can let him know which people are clients and which aren’t.”

  “That’ll take forever,” Theo said. “And who knows if he left any prints. He’s probably smart enough not to. He could have worn latex gloves.”

  “Unfortunately, I have to agree,” Kane replied. “It doesn’t mean we won’t run what we found.”

  “So, now what?” Theo asked. “We sit and wait for your superiors to give the okay for me to do something so he’ll target me, detective?”

  “I hope you will,” Kane replied. “Going off halfcocked might end up with you dead and us no closer to stopping him.”

  “That won’t happen,” Ric said. “First off, Theo, I’m not letting you out of my sight until we come up with a viable plan that works. ‘We’ meaning us and the police.”

  “Then we’d better get moving on it,” Theo replied, feeling frustrated that they weren’t already.

  “Not until we’ve gotten some sleep,” Ric said pointedly. “We need working minds.”

  “I’m not sure I can sleep. I’ll spend the whole night wondering if the footsteps I hear in the hall or the car pulling into the parking lot is him.”

  “Then it’s a good thing I’ll be there to make certain it isn’t,” Ric replied.

  “Excuse me?”

  “Did you not hear what I said? I’m not letting you out of my sight until this is over.”

  “If he is watching the hospital or your car, like you said he might, and sees us leaving together, he’s going to know he’s found me,” Theo said. Not an idea that made him happy, even though he had to admit he liked the idea of Ric acting as his bodyguard twenty-four-seven.

  “Where did you park, Theo?” Kane asked.

  “In the parking garage right across the street, on the second level, in the back.”

  “I presume you know his car, Ric, so you leave first and make certain you’re not being followed,” Kane said. “Given what you do, I’m sure you can manage that. Call him when you get to his car.”

  “Got it,” Ric replied as he got up. Before leaving the room, he surprised Theo by giving him a hug. “This will work.”

  “I know,” Theo said, praying he was right.

  As soon as Ric was gone, Kane asked with a bit of a smile, “You’re more than just his client, I take it?”

  “We’re working on it,” Theo admitted with a brief smile of his own.

  “Take it from someone who’s been around for a while. What you’re feeling could be due to the circumstances and nothing more. Danger can intensify emotions.”

  “I know. It’s why
we’re not jumping into things feet first, to use an over worn cliché.”

  “Good. I’ve only known the two of you for a couple of hours, but I like what I’ve seen. I’d hate for either of you get hurt.”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Theo replied, cracking a grin. “I’ll take it under advisement.”

  Kane chuckled, and then they went silent as they waited for Ric’s call. It came ten minutes later, with his saying he’d made it to Theo’s car without anyone tagging along behind him. Theo took that as his clue to leave. He thanked Kane for being supportive.

  “No problem. It’s what I’m paid to do,” Kane replied. “I’ll get in touch with you and Ric in the morning, once I’ve talked with my supervisors. If they agree, then we’ll set up a meeting so we can work out a plan to draw out Mr. Moore’s attacker.”

  With that, Theo took off. When he was outside, he took several deep breaths, trying unsuccessfully not to tense up, crossed the street, and entered the parking garage. He only relaxed when he and Ric were in his car. Ric opted for the back seat, lying on the floor, “Just in case,” as he put it.

  Several minutes later, Theo had parked in the lot behind his building. He got out of the car then moved quickly to the back entrance. Unlocking the door, he entered, waited for Ric to join him, and they went up to his apartment.

  Chapter 8

  It was approaching midnight, and the brother was not in a good mood as he kept an eye on the car belonging to the other man who worked at Moore Investigations, which was parked in one of the hospital lots.

  Earlier in the evening, he had watched from his vantage point on the roof of a building across from the agency as the EMTs rolled out a man on a stretcher, put him into an ambulance, and drove away. So he saw the man he presumed was Ric Baron when he took off seconds later, following the ambulance, and made note of what the guy drove. He knew the man he’d wounded, if not killed, was Moore because the woman in the agency’s front office had mentioned him by name when she’d gone to see if he was available to talk to a new client. Too bad for him she thought I’d left when she got back. Closets are so handy at times.

  When he arrived at the hospital, he checked the lots close to the emergency room, finally locating Baron’s car parked in one half a block away. He found a spot at the far end of the lot and settled in to wait for Baron to return.

  Not that I’ll do anything to him, other than follow him home. That way I’ll know where to find him if he continues his search for Lily. Maybe he’ll take my warning seriously, with Moore out of the picture. If he doesn’t…

  The brother smiled at his reflection in the rearview mirror. “Dealing with him will be fun. I won’t kill him. Not until I get him to tell me where to find Lily’s brat.”

  He spent some time imagining all the things he could do to make that happen. Then his mood soured as he realized it was getting late and Baron still hadn’t come back for his car.

  What the hell’s keeping you? Waiting to see if Moore survives? Watching over him like a good employee? He sneered at that thought, although he knew it was a possibility.

  Eventually, the brother gave up waiting and returned to his hotel. Come morning, he’d go back to tracking any searches for Lily, hoping that Baron was smart enough at what he did to finally pinpoint her—and her location. If attacking his boss doesn’t stop him, that is. I guess time will tell. Either way, if I keep an eye on him, he could lead me to her bastard. When he does, one problem solved. The only one that really counts. Eliminate him and I won’t have to worry about where Lily went.

  * * * *

  “I’ll sleep on the sofa,” Ric told Theo, moments after they entered Theo’s apartment. “It looks long enough, barely.”

  “No. You can have the bed. I’ve slept on the sofa often enough I’m used to it. Besides which, I’m shorter than you,” Theo replied.

  “By an inch. What happens? You fall asleep watching television?”

  Theo nodded, flicking his fingers toward the short hallway and what Ric presumed was the door to the bedroom. “Go. I’ll be fine. The bathroom’s there.” He pointed. “I’ll get you a towel and washcloth.” He opened the only other door along the hallway to reveal a set of shelves filled with everything from linens to plastic containers to a row of VCR tapes.

  “Do you have a VCR?” Ric asked when Theo handed him what he’d need to wash up.

  “No,” Theo admitted with a shrug. “But I hate getting rid of the tapes. They were my dad’s. We used to watch them when I was a kid.”

  “Makes sense to me, I guess.” Deciding not to argue about the sleeping arrangements, Ric started into the bathroom and then stopped, asking, “Do you have a pair of sweatpants I can use?”

  “Sure.” Theo disappeared into the bedroom and returned to give him an obviously well-worn pair.

  After thanking him, Ric closed the bathroom door, made quick work of stripping off the clothes he was wearing, and stepped into the shower. The hot water eased the tightness in his shoulders that he hadn’t realized was there. Not too surprising, though, considering everything that happened tonight. When he finished and dried off, he put on the sweats and finger-brushed his teeth.

  Then he went back into the living room, intending to tell Theo goodnight. He found him curled up on the sofa with a blanket over him, apparently asleep. Impulsively, he knelt to take advantage of it to study his face. He looks like an angel in repose. The stress lines are gone for the first time since I met him.

  “Are you memorizing me?” Theo asked, looking at Ric through half-closed eyes.

  Ric smiled. “I think I know what you look like. After all, I’ve known you for a whole seven days, and seen you for most of them.” He stood, and then sat on the edge of the sofa when Theo moved to give him room.

  “You should be sleeping,” Theo murmured.

  “So should you,” Ric countered.

  “I was, almost.” Theo shivered. “As soon as I closed my eyes I saw you, lying dead on the floor of your office.”

  “I hope that wasn’t a premonition,” Ric said, resting his hand on Theo’s shoulder. “I don’t intend to let him get the jump on me, or you, so it wasn’t.”

  “What if he shows up at my work?” Theo asked with a worried frown.

  “Doubtful, because he doesn’t know who you are.”

  “He could, if he accessed Ethan’s computer after he stabbed him.”

  Ric shook his head. “He’d have to know the passwords, because from what I saw Ethan had shut everything down. There wasn’t time enough for him to figure them out, even if that was possible. We’re not stupid, Theo. Getting into either of our computers would take an act of Congress, as Ethan puts it.”

  “Or good hacking skills.” Theo sat up, and the blanket fell to his waist, revealing his slender torso.

  Ric admired it momentarily before replying, “Even if he was, he didn’t have time. According to what Detective Kane said, Ms. Lane told him she left right at five. I got there by five-fifteen at the latest. That means the bastard had maybe ten minutes to attack Ethan and get out of there. Fifteen if he heard me drive up and went out the back while I was coming around to the front door.”

  Theo blew out a relieved breath. “Okay, so for the moment it’s still safe for me to go to work.”

  “I’d say so, although you can’t until after we’ve talked to Kane, tomorrow.”

  “What will I tell Mom?”

  “Hmm. How about you ate something that gave you food poisoning and you feel like death warmed over.”

  “I guess that could work, if she doesn’t insist on checking on me to make sure I’ll live.”

  “Is she likely to?” Ric asked.

  Theo waggled a hand. “Fifty-fifty.” Then he grinned. “If I make it sound like that’s an excuse to stay home because I’ve got company…”

  Ric laughed. “That should work, if you can pull it off. After all, it’ll be the truth. I am company, and I’m not leaving until we get a call from Kane letting us know to meet him…wherever.�
��

  “Yeah.” Theo’s expression darkened. “Now we have to figure out how to put me in the bastard’s sights.”

  “Tomorrow. Right now, you’re going to lie down again and try to sleep. No, I take that back. You will sleep. I’ll be right here until you do.”

  “I’m not a baby,” Theo grumbled.

  Smirking, Ric said, “So I shouldn’t sing you a lullaby?”

  “Get real.” Theo laid down again, pulling up the blanket. “You should go to bed, too.”

  “Soon.” Ric gently rubbed Theo’s shoulder. “Close your eyes.”

  “In a minute.” Theo touched Ric’s face. “After you kiss me goodnight.”

  Ric did as he’d asked, keeping it chaste. Under different circumstances he would have taken it farther, but now was not the time or place. Theo must have realized that because he returned it as given.

  “When this is over,” Theo murmured when Ric pulled away.

  “We’ll see what happens, but not until then.” Ric smiled when Theo nodded, closing his eyes. Moments later he was asleep. “Then,” Ric whispered as he got up, “we’ll see if what we’re feeling is the real thing.”

  * * * *

  Detective Kane called Ric soon after nine Tuesday morning, asking, “Can the two of you be down here at ten?”

  “At the precinct? Sure. We’re just finishing breakfast.” Ric could picture Kane raising an eyebrow when he added, “I’m at Theo’s place.”

  “All right. I’ll see you then.”

  Ric relayed Kane’s message, at which point Theo said, “What about your car?”

  “It’s safe enough where it is for the time being. We’ll get it after our meeting.”

  “And hope the bastard isn’t watching it.”

  Ric nodded. “If anything, he’s probably staking out the agency at this point. Or sitting in his hotel room, glued to his laptop, hoping I’m on my computer narrowing my search down to the one Lilliana who could be your birth mother.”

  “If he’s watching the agency, he’ll know you’re not there.”

  “He can’t keep an eye on all three doors at the same time,” Ric replied as he picked up their empty plates, taking them to the sink to wash.