by Brynna Curry
“How long ago?”
The breath he took shuddered out again when he spoke. “A year to the day before I met you. Sam called a few minutes ago. He thought I’d want to know forensics matched the bullet from my shoulder with the one that killed Sissy. We are looking at a cop killer, but why did he go after you? It was meant for you. I know it was. I just don’t know why.”
She went to him, gently put her arms around him. “If you’re trying to warn me away, forget it. I’m here for you, and I will be until you don’t need me anymore.”
“Whatever else happens I want to thank you for bringing me back out of the dark. I don’t want you taking a cab this late, Liv. Call Ryan, or have your shadows give you a lift.”
“I’ll be fine.” She touched his cheek at his worried look. “Don’t fret over me. Ten minutes from now I’ll be safe in my own bed.”
“You’d be safer in mine.” He smiled wickedly. “I could keep both eyes on you, among other things, and neither of us would worry.”
“I’ll call when I get there, and you’ll see me in the morning.” As soon as she had her back to him, he twirled her around one handed and trapped her against the door before she could slip out.
“Stay. I’ll still see you in the morning.” Her breath caught when he nuzzled the curve of her neck. That really was not playing fair.
“No. I want to, but I can’t, Jack, not yet.” She had to make sure her heart was tethered nice and tight first or she would lose it altogether. She was waiting for something he wasn’t ready to give. “I won’t take a tumble with a man I met only a couple of weeks ago.”
“I could talk you into it. We’d know each other real well soon enough.”
She had no doubt.
“Oh, aye, you could if I let you.”
He gave defeated sigh, and made her laugh.
“Just one question, Liv. Why?”
She kissed his cheek.
“It wouldn’t mean anything, just fun and games. That’s all well and good, but it has to matter to both of us, and it wouldn’t. I’ll call you when I get there.”
A short fifteen minutes later, Liv waved to her shadows and unlocked the door. She flipped open the little cellphone she kept in her purse.
“Hi, I made it. You can rest easy.”
He growled into the receiver, “Yeah, I’m gonna curse you for every minute of sleep I miss tonight.”
She laughed back at him. “Stirred up, are you now? Well, maybe you’ll tell me some of the more inventive dreams tomorrow. Goodnight.”
“Night, Liv.” And he hung up the phone, so he could start work on those curses.
She saw the study light was on and wondered why Ryan would still be up so late. It was very near to midnight. Curiosity was just part of her make up. She didn’t see it as a flaw even when it got her into trouble. Liv stopped just short of the door. He was talking to someone, but she couldn’t hear whom. It never occurred to her there was a reason that eavesdropping was rude.
“I told you everything there is to know. They’ve not been as free with their information.” She heard him pause. “They ordered a hit on my sister. She could have been killed. Her friend nearly was.”
Liv slumped in a heap on the floor. She had known it was she that was the target, but who wanted her dead? Not Ryan? Surely, Lord save us, not her own blood? She heard the phone being replaced on its cradle, before his shadow fell across her.
“Are you okay, Liv?”
Liv didn’t answer.
“How much did you hear?”
She turned to look at him. Did she really know this man at all? He was her brother, but what tangle had he gotten into that could get her killed?
“They wanted to kill me. It doesn’t have anything to do with Jack. It wasn’t you. Never say it was you who tried to have me killed!” The shock of it echoed in her voice as well as the words. “God, what kind of trouble are you in, Ryan?”
He picked her up and helped into a chair.
“Liv, I’m in deep trouble, with some very bad people. I didn’t mean to get any of you dragged into this.”
“Tell me why?” Her heart was shaking with fury, disbelief, and sorrow.
“I went digging where I shouldn’t have and found discrepancies in some of the firm’s long-term accounts. If I hadn’t been paying attention and had extra time on my hands, I wouldn’t have even picked up on it. I reported it to my superiors. They said it would be checked into. I should have realized it hadn’t gone unnoticed by them. I had stumbled on their money laundering accounts. The threats came first, hang up calls, and one night I got in the car to drive home, and woke up tied in a room. I made a deal with one of the men involved. They’ve been stealing museum pieces, diamonds, and replacing them with copies. When they’re smuggled into the country I pick them up and hold on to them until I’m told otherwise.”
“Why? If you were in trouble, why didn’t you come to us for help?”
“I didn’t want you involved, so I had to agree to be part of it. They were going to kill me, Liv. It seems like such a weak threat now. It makes me sick in a way I can’t explain to help them. What else could I do? Then finally one night I had enough. Who cared if they killed me? I couldn’t live with what I was doing anymore.
“I called the police on what I thought was a safe line. They put the call through to a detective working on the case. She told me she’d get me out, but I’d have to do an old fashioned double cross on them. That’s what she called it. So I did. I relayed information back and forth. She told me they were close to busting the ring. I could get immunity for my involvement, if I kept working for them. The organization found out what I was doing. They killed her, Liv.”
Jack’s wife, Liv thought.
“They knew what I had been doing. They set it up to look like a drug killing, but I knew. It was as good as if they signed my name in her blood. That phone call I made signed her death warrant. I’m responsible, Liv. The FBI pulling me this way, the other that way, I’ve run both sides so long, I don’t know which I’m on anymore.”
Her brother was an informant, a snitch, and a criminal.
“What was her name, Ryan?” Would he even remember? She hoped he would, and in that, show remorse.
Ryan looked her dead in the eyes. His face was sheened with a mask of cold ice.
“Jack Roarke’s wife, Serena. His wife is dead because she tried to help me.”
She shook her head in defense. Jack had told her the story, but Ryan was part of it? She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. “I have to get out of here.” Liv grabbed up her bag and phone, wrenching away when he tried to stop her.
“You can’t, Liv. It’s too dangerous. They could be waiting for you to do something like this.”
“Mary, mother of Christ, why the devil did you badger me to come here if you knew I’d be in danger? Did you fancy seeing my head blown to pieces? I’m going. I can’t stay here right now.” She flew out the door, with him calling after her. She made it a block on steam alone, before she punched in Jack’s number. He had a right to know, even if it would hurt him.
“Jack, come and get me. I’ll be at the coffee shop down the corner from the book store.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer.
Liv paid for the caffeine disguised as coffee and got into his waiting car.
“What in the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“Just drive. We need to talk where we can’t be traced or bugged. Can you manage that?” She snapped the words at him. She wasn’t angry with him, but for the yelling. Ryan was her current target. She was ready to bite nails, only a blind man or a fool would cross a woman with her kind of power right now, but she hadn’t really told him that yet.
“Home, then.”
She said nothing else. Just stalked into the kitchen, slung her purse on the kitchen counter, and plopped down at the little breakfast table. “I’ve some things to get in the open. So you’ll just have to indulge me while I clear th
e air.”
“Should I sit down for this, Liv?” She watched him shove his hands into the pockets of his worn out jeans. He had taken off the sling.
“Your house, Jack, your chair. Do what you will.” Liv decided to go straight for the punch. “Did you know Ryan had been involved in the case you were working on when your wife died?” If he did, he had lied about knowing Ryan and any number of other things. The question was accusing and over sweetly asked.
“What? No. Tell me what happened, Liv.”
No coolness, only shock. He wasn’t lying. That was fortunate for him. She wouldn’t tolerate a liar. “He’s been working as an informant. He’s part of that old case, and in neck deep. My neck, if you want to get technical. Someone put a hit out on me, to get a message across. Ryan went to the police for help around a year ago. They put him in touch with your wife.” Liv just let that burrow through the shock, and felt a little guilty when he sort of melted down into the closest chair.
“Tell me what you know, Olivia.”
She watched as his eyes went cold with distance. Each gesture was a calculated movement designed to intimidate or coax depending on what was needed. It would have been fascinating how easily he had changed, if she hadn’t been so angry. She gauged her ground and continued.
“They knew what he was doing all along. They killed her as a warning. My brother is the reason your wife is dead. God, this sounds like one of your bad soap opera programs.”
“Who told you this?” Jack shouted, his eyes blazing with fury undirected. Cop indifference gone now, here was raw emotion, dangerous, deadly. Like a moth to flame, he both frightened and drew her at the same time. A moment before she’d held all the cards, now she’d be lucky to escape unscathed.
“Ryan, right before I called you. I walked in on a conversation I shouldn’t have overheard. He’s said he had no choice and that he didn’t know about their plan to kill her. How could my brother be involved in something like this? I’m trying to understand it, but I can’t.”
“You think you need to understand? We never kept secrets from each other, never. She would have told me if she had another informant. Did he order the hit?”
“Ryan is a good man.” Shaking her head, she took his arm, her heart taking the silent punch as he roughly shook her away. “He is. Whatever wrong he’s done, he would never intentionally hurt another person.” Liv followed him out of the kitchen and through the den.
“Stay here, and out of sight until I get back. I don’t want to have to worry about you right now.” Jack walked toward the garage door.
“I see, guilty by association is it? Where are you going? Pounding on each other isn’t going to help anybody. Jack!”
When Jack looked back at her, his eyes were no longer hot with temper. They held the cold fire that a wise man knows means murder. She shuddered and involuntarily took a step back. Jack had a target now.
“He had information he kept from the police, Olivia, on an open murder investigation of a police officer. I’m going to get my damn badge back. Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone. I don’t have time for it or you.” He slammed the door.
Only seconds later, she heard his car roar down the drive.
You’re a right bloody bastard, Jack Roarke. She almost said so aloud. Well, you’ve done it now. Gone and fallen in love, and turned him on you all at the same time. Well, it happens, but you’ve still your pride. Take the heart you’ve yet to offer and go home. Save it for someone who isn’t crazy and grieving. Ryan’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. You can’t, no matter what he’s done he’s family. Besides, would you rather run from bullets or blow up over the ocean? Flying drug itself back up her list of things to fear. Those people might resort to bombing the plane. Then you’d be responsible for everyone else it killed. She would stay, safer for trouble to go on under her nose than behind her back.
Liv waited for half an hour thinking he’d drive around and cool off then come back. He didn’t. She paced and cried. When she finally had to block it out and dwell on something else or go crazy, she went into his office. She found a copy of The Devil’s Due there and sat down to read. After all, she didn’t think he could get angrier with her than he already was.
A fresh burst of tears swamped her when she saw he’d signed it for his wife. His first book. The first copy. She read the inscription. “For you, Serena, though I’ll never be able to return all you’ve given me in our life together, you’ll live in my heart forever. So will my love for you.” It broke her heart into pieces. He’d always belong to Serena. Never yours, Liv, Jack will never be yours and you’ll never be able to love another. If she didn’t set it aside, she’d never be able to get through the mess she’d gotten herself into. So to clear her mind, if for only a few minutes, she turned the page and read, throwing herself into the horror of Jack’s imagination.
Chapter 10
Jack had his badge back. Sam hadn’t been happy when he’d woken him up and demanded it be returned. Even now it was burning in his pocket just by being there. He had to bank down the urge to toss it out the window. He didn’t want it. Wanted or not, it was a necessary evil, and he was going to put it to good use.
Jack drove around for what seemed like forever just trying to cool off his temper. What else had she kept from him? They’d always been able to tell each other anything. Had she been involved in something illegal? No, he wouldn’t think it. It had been easy between them, comfortable. Loving Sissy had required no effort. It was just the way things were. Now Liv was a different story. He could tell she’d be a lot of work, for the man who fell in love with her, for any man. When he pulled up to Ryan’s house, all the lights were burning. Ryan was pacing in front of the study windows. The door was unlocked. Without even bothering with a cursory knock, Jack walked on in. It was one o’clock in the morning.
“I had a feeling she’d go to you. Funny, isn’t it? I’ve never known Liv to get in over her head so fast, but a word from you and she’s being led around by the nose like a puppy.”
Jack snatched him up by the collar. Ryan had a good six inches on him in height, but he didn’t care. He locked down the urge to punch him. Oh, but he really, really wanted to. If he didn’t have that damn badge, he could have.
“Don’t speak of your sister that way. What’s between me and Liv isn’t any of your business. You let her out of your sight, knowing there is a contract out on her. How would you feel if she were dead? What if I hadn’t been there that night? Or tonight? What would you have done?” He tossed him into the elegant leather chair with such force it almost toppled over with Ryan’s weight. “It would have been your fault.” The fierce need to protect and something stronger flashed into him, and with that, the regret. What if those had been the last words he had told her? They could get to her while he was gone. “I want to know everything. You better talk fast.” The man had put his own sister in front of a rifle, so to speak, just by bringing her here. The rage flew all over him.
“I’m sorry about your wife.”
This time Jack didn’t bother to buckle down the temper, and he let his fist fly into Ryan’s mouth.
“Don’t talk to me about Serena. I don’t want condolences, especially from you. Talk, or I’m dragging your ass down to the station.”
Ryan wiped the blood from his mouth. “Ah, so it’s Detective Roarke, back from the ether. I’ve put up with enough, mainly because Liv is so taken with you. That was the last free one you’ll get from me. On what charge? I’m working with the FBI. As long as I’m their snitch, I’ve nothing to worry about.”
“How about withholding information on the open homicide of a police officer? That’s more than enough to warrant the trip. You think they are going to bother to save your hide after a charge like that? We all tend to get a little more personal when it’s one of ours that has been killed. There’s always another snitch, for the right price.” A well-aimed dart intended to knife Ryan, and would have if it were possible.
“They know all
of that already and more. I have immunity, Detective. If you’re surprised at what I know, you and Agent Spiller should have a chat. You don’t know anything.” He got up and poured a drink. “Want one?” He waved the snifter at Jack, who snarled in return.
“No, I don’t drink without a reason. You’re stalling and I’m not a patient man.”
“If you’ve a mind to spend any length of time with my sister, you had better learn to have patience. I’m sure Liv told what she overheard as well as what I told her. I met with Serena a lot over the few months that I knew her. I didn’t get into this by choice. She wanted to help me, and understood. She was in trouble, too. They knew about her being a cop. She told me her cover had been undermined.”
“You’re a lying bastard, Corrigan. She couldn’t have. Cap would have pulled her.” She’d never said a thing about that to him. Nothing. How many more secrets?
“Just because you love someone doesn’t mean you know them. Sometimes it blinds you so that you can’t see what you’re looking at.
“She made it work for her. She played the dirty cop. Not only did she help lift the jewels, but kept her part of the payment as well. Fortunately for you, they thought you were her ignorant dupe of a partner. She kept you safe that way, you see. Very noble of her by my way of thinking. You’d be six feet down if they had thought otherwise. She played both ends and got burned.”
Jack actually heard something snap and break inside him. He couldn’t stop it and didn’t want to. “I don’t believe you. You’re trying to tell me she lifted the diamonds and never said a word to me about it. She wouldn’t have known the first thing about being a thief.”
Before he could stop, Jack realized his hands were around Ryan’s throat, and they were waiting to kill. “Who was she taking orders from? I want a name. Who was she stealing for?”
“Christophe LeFleur. It’s all I know. I really am sorry, Jack.”
