Richard felt her coming. He thought she was shouting, but the voice when it registered in his ears was his own. He was calling her name over and over and over. “April, oh April." And then a final "April.”
Sweat poured from both of them. Richard collapsed against her, his slick, liquid body pushing her into the mattress with strength that was nearly expired. He was weak from his arms to his knees. His legs slid to the sheet, but we remained joined with her in the most intimate way. Gasping and gulping air he knew he was in trouble.
She might look and act like a company CEO, cool and professional in the board room. She might present that face to the newspapers and reporters, but to this man she was fire; hot, blistering, consuming, electrifying, and passionately torrid.
And she brought out the beast in him.
Chapter 8
Now was her chance. Richard was asleep. April slipped out from under his heavy arm and rolled off the side of the bed. She kept everything quiet, grabbing her dress and slipping into it.
The fabric seemed to scream in the quiet room. Checking Richard, he remained unmoved. The sheet only covered part of him. In the half light of the moon streaming in the window, he was the perfect lover. April had to turn away to keep from climbing back into bed with him and waking him with a slow burn of her need.
Holding her breath, she waited thirty agonizing seconds. Seeing that he wasn't moving, she went to the side of the fireplace. A third of the way up was a concealed access panel. It opened by pressing three bricks in a particular order. Inside was an unlocked safe. When the Eden Paradise House was only a house, Helen Eden and Lionel Paradise used this room as their master suite. After it was sold and converted to a guest house, the suite was redesigned, making it smaller and allowing for more paying guests.
The safe was forgotten or never disclosed on the real estate papers. Darcy had never mentioned it when she was the owner. But April's father discovered it. April wondered now how that had come about. She never had the chance to ask him, but it seemed a Godsend seven years ago when she needed a hiding place for what she thought was a birthday present for herself. The wooden chest had her name printed on a gold plate. When she opened it, she found a diamond bracelet, but the box was too tall to only contain a bracelet. Knowing her father would probably give her another surprise, she pulled the velvet fabric and her breath strangled her. Three plates that looked like U.S. currency lay below the bracelet.
Closing the box, she left the bracelet and the plates behind and they'd been there since. Now she had to get them. Taking light steps, she moved away from the bed and pressed the three bricks in the right order, then reversed the order. The panel clicked and the door opened an inch.
April checked Richard. He lay still and remained asleep. Reaching inside, she pulled the chest out. Closing the panel, she tiptoed across the room, picking up her cell phone and key.
Getting to her room, she placed the case on her bed and opened it. The diamond bracelet lay on the velvet backing. April picked it up. Then pulling the fabric aside, she screamed, jumping back as if a snake was about to strike.
The plates were gone.
The bottom of the box was bare, only the wooden insides looked back at her. But laying on her bed was a typed piece of paper that read, Richard Steele is a Treasury Agent. That, more then the missing currency plates, made April's blood run cold.
***
"Looking for these?"
The voice came from her doorway. Unlike Richard's door, April's didn't close without pulling it firmly over the jamb. Richard stood there, barefoot and wearing only his pants. He was holding the missing currency plates, like a sacrificial offering. April felt the blood drain for her body. Coldness poured into her veins, followed immediately by a flash of heat that threatened to burn her in the spot where she stood.
"You're a treasury agent," she accused.
"And you Ms. April Quinn Echoes. A counterfeiter?"
"What? No!"
"The situation looks like that. The box had your name on it. The plates were inside, along with $10,000.00 in phony money and the bracelet. You knew where the box was and if your prints weren't on it, they are now."
"Richard, let me explain."
He took a step into the room. "Go ahead and make it good, because my inclination is not to believe you."
"I didn't use those plates or any counterfeit money."
"And why should I believe that?" he asked.
"Because it's the truth," a voice behind Richard said.
Richard whipped around and April's gaze shifted to the voice at the door. Tanner Farland stepped inside, pointing a gun at them. He pushed the door closed behind him. April noticed that it did not totally engage the lock.
"You," April said.
Richard's glanced between the two of them.
"I met him at the entrance tonight. We bumped into each other." She looked at the short man. "I suppose that wasn't an accident."
"It wasn't," Tanner admitted. Then looking at Richard, he said, "Meeting you in that restaurant wasn't coincidental either."
"I didn't think so. After a while things didn't seem to fall in place," Richard said.
"I'd been tailing you for some time. When I saw you get in the car, I followed you. If anyone could find those plates, it would be you. And she," He indicated April. "She was getting close to you."
"She has nothing to do with the plates," Richard defended.
"I thought my father had used them," April explained. "I found them in the box with what appeared to be a birthday present. He gave me a lot of money for the business. If he was involved in counterfeiting, who would believe I didn't know about it?"
Tanner smiled. "That's exactly what they are going to believe. I'll make sure of it." April both saw and heard the maliciousness in his voice.
"What are you doing, Tanner?" Richard asked. "You know you can't get away with this."
"Oh, but I can. I've watched money change hands for years and none of it helped me or my family. Now I'm taking the lead and the money."
"So, you had those plates created?" Richard asked.
"I have a friend, or I had a friend, who was a good artist. He made the plates."
"What happened to your friend?" April asked.
"He met with a tragic accident."
April gasped, her hand raising to her throat.
"Don't worry, I had nothing to do with that one."
"Which one did you have something to do with?" Richard asked.
April could see the animal in Richard. His body was in strike mode, but he was holding back and she knew it was because she was in the room. Tanner had a gun and he was biding his time until. . .what, she didn't know.
"Sorry, Miss, but your dad got in the way. I tried to find out where the plates were, but he was too stubborn to tell me."
"So you had him killed?" she said, her voice breaking on the last word.
"I was following him, hoping for one more chance to make him to see reason."
"Reason," she spat. "How reasonable is it to destroy the economy of your own country?"
"My country," he shouted. "What's it ever done for me? I've given it my life's blood, saved it billions of dollars and I have barely enough to make ends meet. But these will help." He indicated the plates. "Put them on the table."
"Tanner, there are other ways." Richard laid the plates on the table.
"I've tried them and I'm not going to run down everything again. Anything you can come up with I've tried. So let's cut all the discussion and get to the bottom line."
"You're that kind of person," April said.
He looked at her as if she meant nothing to him.
"You killed my father, didn't you?"
"Not exactly," he said. "He was driving."
"But you did something to the car?"
"I didn't touch the car. It was a chase down the road. I was doing the chasing."
"The report only stated the tire tracks came from one car."
Tanner smiled. "
Of course they did. I told you we have a timeshare here. That's not the complete truth. The timeshare belongs to a friend of mine who's incapacitated, so they let us use it. Consequently, I know this area."
"So what really happened?" April asked. Her voice was tight. She wasn't sure she really wanted to know, but decided not knowing would be worse. "Did you run him off the road?"
He shook his head. "He was driving fast and I was behind him. I turned off, went down a trail he knew nothing about. He thought I was gone, and slowed his speed to a normal level, exactly as I knew he would do. A mile down the road, I came out ahead of him. I set there without lights. I saw him coming. When he got to a certain place, I flashed my high beams and he did exactly what I expected."
"He swerved," Richard finished for him.
"Right into the trees. The car burst into flames, the fire consuming every thing. A one car accident."
April swallowed hard, forcing down the emotions that loomed inside her.
Tanner turned his gaze to Richard. "Your old man was easier. He was older and less able to handle a car. A bullet to the gas tank is hard to hit from a moving vehicle. But I was a marine once and military training is accurate to a fault."
"You caused his accident?" Richard question.
"He'd met with Echoes. They both left and I knew Echoes had agreed to give up the plates. I couldn't let that happen."
"So you got rid of my father and then went after April's." Richard summed up the incident in a few words.
April could see the anger growing in Richard. It matched that inside of her.
"You killed two men," she squeezed out through clinched teeth.
Tanner looked at her, keeping the gun trained on them. The smile on his face irked her.
"And you liked killing them," April cried. "In a fire." She had something in her hand and she threw it at Tanner. In one movement, Richard pushed her down and kicked the gun out of Tanner's hand. Richard and Tanner scuffled for it, but April got to it first, kicking it out of reach.
Then the door burst inward and in walked a man April had never seen before. He was followed by several men in police uniforms, all with guns drawn. Tanner was visibly shaken as two cops grabbed him from behind, pulling him away from Richard and pinning his arms behind him.
"We have enough, the stranger said, looking at Richard.
"You set me up," Tanner accused as he was being handcuffed.
April let out a breath and collapsed on a chair near the bed.
"We've been investigating you for years," the man said. "We heard everything you said." He looked at the uniformed men and said, "Take him away."
"Who are you?" April asked. "And how did you know to come here?"
"Meet Agent Sawyer Jackson," Richard introduced. "He's my backup."
"You're a treasury agent, too?"
Jackson nodded.
"We're going to need you for some questions," he said. "But that can wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll take these for safe keeping."
He picked up the plates, careful to keep them inside the velvet fabric.
"The fake money is in my room," Richard said. "I'll get it in a moment."
Soon everyone left her room except Richard.
"You're Richard Steele's son." April stated. Suddenly everything fell into place.
"I'm sorry," he began.
April raised her hand to stop him. "Please go," she said.
"I want to–"
"Just go," she insisted.
He left the room and she pushed it totally closed, locking it and making sure it was inaccessible to anyone else. The day had been harrowing. And her night would be long and wakeful. Richard Steele was a treasury agent, like his father. The only reason he was at the guest house was to investigate her father. He was looking for the plates. Her arrival must have felt like discovering a diamond in a mud puddle.
And April had played right into his hands. She'd fallen for him. She'd slept with him, had the best sex of her life. And now she knew it was just a job. He wanted to clear his father's name and he wanted to solve Richard Steele Sr.'s final case. April was incidental to his goal.
To think, tonight she almost told him she was in love with him. That would have been the joke to end all jokes. April raised her head and straightened her shoulders. She turned off the light and took a seat in the rocking chair that stood close to the window. The air conditioner unit sounded in the room. She closed her eyes and tried to think of nothing.
She knew that wasn't going to work. Richard was in her brain and her heart. There he would have to stay. She'd push him to the back of her mind and never let him out.
All she had to do was figure out how to get her mind and heart to cooperate.
***
Richard didn't sleep that night and he knew April didn't either. While the rooms had thick walls, he could feel her tension. It was like his. He was in love with her, but he'd violated her trust the same as she'd done to his. They needed to talk. She needed to be ready to listen.
At breakfast, she didn't show and she didn't leave the building. Richard remained close enough to the door to see if she left the building or got into her car. Ordering her a meal and taking a full pot of coffee, he walked up the stairs and knocked on her door. She didn't make a sound inside.
"April, I know you're in there and I'm not leaving until I talk to you. If you want me to wake up this entire building, I'm willing to do that."
Still, he heard nothing. Richard's comment was out of character for him. He was covert in most of his actions. But where April was concerned, he'd do anything to get her attention.
Softly he heard the lock click and the door open an inch.
"I brought you something to eat. And I'm going to talk to you." He stated it as a conclusion, brooking no argument. Using his free hand, he pushed the door and her back and entered.
She was still wearing the sun dress she'd slipped into when she got out of his bed the day before. Her undergarments and shoes were still in his room. Putting the tray down on the table where the counterfeit plates had been, he poured her a cup of coffee and noticed her bed had not been slept in. April's hair was disheveled, both from the night and from their lovemaking.
Pouring himself coffee, he turned to her. "Please sit down and let me explain."
She hesitated a long moment, before crossing the room and sitting on the bed. She pulled her feet up and hugged the cup to her lips. She looked like a little girl. Richard pulled his chair close to her and sat.
"My father was a treasury agent."
"What is your real name?" she asked, stopping him.
"Fair question," he said. "Carter Richard Steele, Jr. My father was Carter Richard Steele, Sr."
"Well Carter Richard Steele, your job is done now. You can check out and return to wherever you live or wherever the treasury department is sending you next. I can answer the police questions."
"I didn't come here in an official capacity," he said.
"Then why are you here? You've got the plates. Do you want the bracelet, too? It must be part of the evidence."
"April, stop it." His voice was stronger than he wanted it to be.
She looked directly at him, her body going still.
"I love you," he said.
She didn't react. She only sat on the bed staring at him.
"I know you think I was only doing a job, but that's not true. Once I met you, I fell in love with you. I want you to be my wife."
"We don't," she started, but Richard interrupted her.
"We do. We love each other. I know how you feel. I know that you love me too. Your body told me everything last night."
She glared at him.
"You can try to deny it, but I know the truth. And I wasn't the only one hiding something. You were hiding the fact that you knew about the counterfeit plates and the money. You were in my room trying to find them when I caught you. I was sure you were involved and I didn't want to believe it. The woman I loved couldn't be a criminal. But I had
to know."
"How did you find out?"
"I asked Tanner to investigate you." She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up his hand to stop her. "When I got the report from Tanner, there was just too much information in it that he couldn't know. At least he couldn't find it out as fast as he reported it to me."
"What was that?"
"Let me ask you a question. How did you find out the guest house was going to be demolished?"
"I got a message from Darcy. She used to own the place and she still had friends here. One of the messages I got after returning from a meeting was from her, telling me the place would be closed at the end of the summer."
"Email message?"
"No, a phone call. My assistant took the call."
"Tanner told me you got an email and that it was sent from an IP address at the Wicksham Bank."
"I didn't even know Wicksham."
"I also realized what the clue was my father gave me before he died."
"What was that?" April asked.
"One word, fare."
"Fare?"
Richard nodded with a smile. "That's what I thought he said. Then I realized he was trying to say Farland. After that, I called Sawyer Jackson and asked a few discrete questions. Sawyer filled me in on Tanner and we agreed to the setup."
"You could have told me," she said.
"I couldn't. There was still a couple of pieces of information I needed cleared up."
"The plates and my father?"
He nodded and put his cup down. "And now I know. So, are you going to marry me?"
She thought for a moment, then put her cup on the bedside table and folded her arms. "I think I should have the right to investigate you first."
Counterfeit Treasure Page 8
