by Vanessa Dare
Once again, I sat in a sterile interrogation room. It was chilly with the air conditioner vent above the table blowing directly on me. The room had a heavy pine scent, as if the linoleum floor had been recently washed. Once again, they left me to sit. Stew. Worry. Another can of soda sat in front of me so I kept my hands folded in my lap. They knew who I was. My FBI-issued ID was proof of that. That wasn’t needed in this town. They had enough old photos from when I disappeared to pull out.
Where was Grif? Was he with Elizabeth, shielding her from the media? Since her engagement photo with Todd was in the paper—that’s how I’d learned about it—she’d be hounded by reporters about her fiancé’s transgressions. Carrie was my lawyer, but she was in New York. Detective Roberts had wanted me for questioning, but that hadn’t happened. Yet.
An hour after I sat down, the door opened. Instead of the detectives, in walked Todd. I was surprised, not expecting him. I had a moment of panic, but took a few deep breaths; he was the source of all my nightmares. He looked remarkably the same as the last time I’d seen him in person, almost twelve years ago. He had all his hair, but he had small lines at the corners of his eyes. His clothes were immaculate, pressed khakis and a white dress shirt. Beneath the façade of perfection, he looked gaunt, his skin pale, his eyes bloodshot, the after effects of GHB. I didn’t feel sorry for him.
“Look who’s back. And right where I left you the last time.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
“From the pictures in the paper this morning, you don’t look like you did the last time I saw you. You should cut back on the sweets. That fat tire around your middle is an indicator of diabetes at your age,” I countered.
His fake smile slipped. “Well, you’re all grown up now.” He eyed me in a way that made me feel dirty.
“What are you doing here, Todd?”
“That’s my question for you.”
“So you’re the one who’s going to interrogate me? Instead of your friends on the force? This isn’t going to take forty-two days like last time, is it?”
He pulled out the chair across from me, the metal legs loud sliding across the floor, sat down. “This doesn’t involve the police. It’s between you and me.”
I tilted my head to toward the two-way mirror. “And everyone who’s watching?”
“We have some things to work through.” He tapped the tips of his manicured fingers on the table. “I’m not waiting another decade to have you resurface, fucking up my life.”
I had to laugh. “God, are you serious? I fucked up your life?”
Todd leaned forward on his forearms. “That little stunt you pulled last night, it’s not going to keep you from being charged with murder.”
“It didn’t stick the first time, it won’t stick now. But that’s not why I’m sitting here.”
“Why’d you come back? I mean, it’s not like I want you back.”
“I came back for Elizabeth.” It didn’t matter that he knew. He had all the power at the moment, but that didn’t mean I’d let him keep it. Just letting him think he had it was what was important right now.
His brows went up. “You, what, disappear for over a decade and you come back for a half-sister?”
“Don’t you think it’s a little sick, marrying another eighteen-year-old?”
Shrugging, he said, “She fits my requirements.”
“Is that a double-D cup like the woman in the newspaper photos or a billion dollar bank account?”
A muscle in his jaw jumped.
“Elizabeth won’t have you now, after the media spin that’s going to go out of control after last night.”
“You don’t know what kind of public relations spin I can put on this whole thing. Ex-wife, in hiding for twelve years, distraught that he’s moving on with her younger sister, pays a woman to drug and take pictures of him.”
This was like a game of chess. One person moves, the game shifts. A good player plans a move far in advance, considers all the possibilities of the opponent and adapts. He might be smart, but I had more on my side. I was a woman scorned. And, I had the life insurance policy details—and so did Jane Doe.
“You want money? Fine. What’s the price?” I leaned forward so our positions matched.
“For Elizabeth or for making you go away?”
I pretended to consider for a moment. “Elizabeth, but I’ll go away for free. Life is so much better without you in it.”
“Twenty million.” He didn’t bat an eyelash. Didn’t have any qualms just swapping Elizabeth for cold, hard cash. She was worth more. Hundreds of millions, maybe a billion if the market held, but last night’s fiasco had tarnished him. He’d put some spin on it to save himself, but only if he let Elizabeth go. The media wouldn’t give up on them if they married. The speculation, the questions behind a marriage based on infidelity. With a call girl.
To go for only twenty million meant he was desperate. This money wasn’t for my father. This was a side deal just for Todd. He could live easily on this arrangement for the rest of his life. “Done.” I stood. “What about your crooked friends on the force?” I turned my gaze to the two-way mirror where I knew the cops who were loyal to Todd stood watching. “And Judge Nicholson, DA Saunders, Officer Reiman who initially arrested me.” I started ticking off those who had a hand in my forty-two day stay in county jail. These weren’t names I would forget.
Still glancing at the mirror, I continued. “There was that pretty ADA, what was her name, Todd? Melissa, something? Let me guess, the others might have been in bed with you to get me convicted, but ADA Melissa was literally in your bed.” I turned back to Todd. “Isn’t she running for mayor?”
Todd paled a little beneath his fake tan. “I’m not legally responsible for any of their involvement.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you admit they were involved.”
“I’m not saying shit.” Todd’s eyes narrowed and he leaned even closer to me. “The twenty million, it’s a payout, for those months we were married. Alimony. Yeah, alimony.”
“I assume there’s at least one civil servant watching our little discussion that wasn’t involved twelve years ago. Probably taking notes right about now. I’d use the twenty million to pay them off to keep quiet too.” I shrugged again, as if what happened to Todd and the corrupt cops, lawyers and judges didn’t mean anything to me.
“Wire the money, then you’re gone.” He thumbed the air like a hitchhiker. “For good. My PI will keep tabs on you. If you so much as think about coming here again, think about me, he’ll know and I’ll have the murder charges stick.”
Empty threats. Little did he know he’d be seeing murder charges in his own future. “Whatever. You’re so vain, Todd. As if I’d ever think about you. Besides, that list I just gave, they’re going to roll on you. Elections are coming up. They’ll do damage control and take you down. Besides, the hit man you hired alone could put you behind bars.”
He stood as well, the metal table all that separated us, his eyes narrowed. This was the man who’d destroyed my life. This was the man who’d made me scared of everything. This was the man who made me realize what love really was, because compared to the sham, miserable marriage I had with him, Grif was everything. Everything.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked, looking at me as if I’d lost my mind. “Don’t accuse me of crap I didn’t do.”
Oh, please. “What, buy off city employees? Or do you mean the hit man? If he’d really killed me, you would’ve gone down for murder. It was a stupid move. This,” I waved my hand around the small room, “this is more your style. Using your friends on the force to protect you from one woman.”
He tossed the chair out of his way, came around to stand directly in front of me. I tilted my head back to keep my eyes on his, refusing to retreat. “I admitted to wanting Elizabeth for her money. Hell, the next guy that hears her name will do the same. I’ll even take your millions and admit I’m in it all just for the money. The judge is dead. The ot
hers,” it was his turn to shrug, “they've taken money from others besides me. They’ll go down all on their own. But don’t, for one second, think I’d be stupid enough to put a hit out on you. Talk about vain.” He backed up. “My people will call you. Have the cash ready.”
He turned, opened the door. There stood Grif, blocking his exit.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Grif
“I want to kill you,” I growled.
Lawton’s eyes got as round as saucers as he looked up at me. I was several inches taller and a foot wider. He retreated as I stepped into the room. The guy really was a pussy. “Who the fuck are you?”
I continued as if he hadn’t talked. “Inside a police station isn’t the best place to do it, so consider yourself lucky.”
“Oh yeah, why’s that?” he asked, all false bravado and hot air.
“Because all I’m going to do to you is this.” Before he even had a chance to blink, I clocked him. He went down, out cold, blood dripping from his nose. Yup, total pussy. I wanted to do more, to cool the raging anger I had in me.
I’d had to fucking stand with all the other officers, a public defender and Lawton’s asshole lawyer in the tiny viewing room and watch Anna and Lawton discuss Elizabeth as if she were a car. Anna had let Lawton talk smack about her, let him have the upper hand. This whole fucked up questioning hadn’t been about the police wanting to talk a decade-old death, it had been about fucking Todd. He’d needed the police to corral a woman into talking with him. Total. Fucking. Pussy.
I knew what she was doing and why she sat there, taunted the man, then let him have what he wanted. Or at least let him think he was getting everything he wanted. It was only a matter of time before Jane Doe got enough hard evidence to print a piece about Lawton’s life insurance policy on his brother. At that point, Anna wouldn’t have to say a word. Jane Doe would get the DA to look into his actions and a grand jury would find enough to bring him to trial. If he got off, which was highly likely, he’d be ruined.
If I had my way, and if Anders followed through, Lawton would only make it to a holding cell in the county jail before he got what was coming.
I stared down at Lawton, breathing hard.
“You got to have all the fun,” Anna pouted.
I looked up, met her dark gaze, grinned. “Yeah, I did. That felt damn good.” I held my hand out for her. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
She took my hand and stepped over Lawton, not before kicking him in the crotch on the way. “Whoops, I slipped.”
Roberts and Hosanski shouldered their way into the room, looked down at Lawton, hands on hips. I didn’t wait for them to comment, not only because I didn’t give a shit what they’d say, but I wanted Anna out of the building. Now. “You have nothing on her. The next time Lawton needs to deal with a woman, I recommend staying out of it. He’s bad fucking news. Stick with him and your careers are over. Like McDonalds? That’s where you’ll be working by the end of the month if you don’t get your noses out of this shit. Sounds like it’s a good thing that judge—Saunders is dead, otherwise he’d be disbarred, arrested and put in jail with the men he put away. He’d wished he were dead about five minutes behind bars.”
Both men shifted uncomfortably. They were young, too young to have been around twelve years ago, most likely playing junior varsity football at the time.
“If you have anything else for Miss Edwards, or the other Miss Edwards, talk to their lawyer.”
I didn’t let go of Anna's hand until we were out of the building and in the back of a taxi.
“You came for me,” she said, looking up at me as if surprised.
My brows shot up. “I never left you. As soon as you walked out that door with the detectives, I grabbed a taxi to the station. Anders stayed with Elizabeth in the suite.” I had to touch her, to know she was all right, so I ran my knuckles down her soft cheek “It took me an hour to clear the front desk; I needed Peters to vouch for me and talk to the captain before they’d let me stand in that small room and watch you and Lawton.” I grimaced at the sight of the two of them squaring off. I couldn’t do anything to protect her from the bastard, to stand with her as she battled her biggest fear, her worst enemy.
I pulled her into me and kissed her. Just the feel of her in my arms soothed the animal inside me. Those detectives took my woman and I had to get her back. I couldn’t strike another officer, clearly on the way to turning bad, but luckily I had a chance to deck Lawton. Fuck, that felt good.
“You heard our conversation then?” She placed her palm against my jaw.
“Every word.”
“I don't think Todd called Anders to have me killed.”
“You don’t think he was lying just to cover his ass?” I wouldn't put it past the asshole. I paid the driver and walked through the hotel lobby. Besides being a misogynistic sociopath, the guy was a total sleaze.
Anna thought for a moment, bit her lip as we waited for the elevator to take us up to our suite. “It’s been so long, I didn’t know what he’d be like. He was exactly the same. He had to get his friends to bring me in. He was only worried about himself. About the money.”
“He came up with the plot to kill his brother. That says devious to me.”
“He’s gotten away with it. All these years and he’s still free. No one’s even considering him, at least until Jane Doe pulls it all together. It was the perfect crime. Why mess with it? Why would he want to go to jail now?”
“Desperation?”
We took the elevator to our floor.
Anna shook her head as we walked down the hall. “No. He didn’t do it. I’m sure of it.”
I pulled the keycard from his pocket. “Then who?”
We pushed open the door and found out.
Anna
As Grif would say, holy fuck. “Hello, Father.” My voice came out stronger than I expected, especially since I hadn't seen the man since my eighteenth birthday and never imagined it happening again.
Grif’s hand tugged me so half my body was behind his. He slid his hand around to his back in an automatic reaction to grab his gun. It wasn't there.
My father stood with Elizabeth at his side, gun to her head. Anders was on the floor facedown, unconscious, with blood seeping from…somewhere. I couldn’t tell where he’d been shot. God, I hoped he wasn’t dead.
I wanted to go to him, to help him, but I couldn’t.
I wanted to scream for help, but it would do no good.
I wanted to freak out, but it wouldn’t help.
The only way I could help any of us now was to deal with my father. He wasn’t Dad. He’d never been a dad.
“Olivia, you look…older.” That voice. I remembered that voice. He was a handsome man, handsome in a way that millions of dollars could provide. Tanning beds, manicures, face lifts, a three–hundred-dollar haircut, bespoke suits. It did a good job hiding his gambling problems. I never would have known by looking at him that he was desperate for cash.
“You just look…old,” I replied. He did. I did quick math. He was in his early sixties now and he hadn’t aged gracefully. He seemed smaller. I hadn’t grown since the last time I’d seen him, so perhaps he was shrinking. Or, over the years, my mind had made him into something more than he really was.
Elizabeth stood tall, her shoulders back. She looked nervous, but remained calm. I met her blue eyes and her chin went up. We were in this together. The man holding the gun to her head meant nothing to her either.
“Who’s this? Your policeman friend?” A sheen of sweat coated his brow. His hand holding the gun to Elizabeth’s head shook slightly. The calm, powerful demeanor I remembered was gone. Somehow, my return had made him snap.
“Grif, let me introduce you to my father, Grayson Edwards.”
Grif didn’t say anything. Didn’t even blink.
My father laughed, the sound coming out a little hysterical. “Father,” he replied. “Right.”
He was losing his mind.
“Ti
e him up,” Father lifted his chin toward Grif.
I held out my hands, palms up. “With what? It’s not like I carry around a bunch of rope in my suitcase.”
“I have a tie or two in my luggage. Will that work, sir?” Grif's voice was flat, even. Calm.
I glanced at Grif, surprised he was offering something that would incapacitate himself.
Father’s eyes darted between us, indecision on his face. “Fine. But don’t do anything stupid. I shot that big guy, I have no issue about doing the same to Elizabeth. Olivia, you go. Grif,” he said it with such venom, “can stay right there.”
I believed him when he said he’d shoot Elizabeth, probably Grif after. I darted a glance at Anders. No change. I looked to my father whose gray eyes showed how agitated he was and nodded.
I left Grif’s side and went into our bedroom, dashed to his suitcase to look for something, anything, that I could use as a weapon. Flipping open the top, I grinned. Exhilaration washed through me at the sight of Grif’s sidearm.
Of course. He couldn’t take it into the police station; he’d have to leave it behind. I grabbed the cold steel, tucked it into the back waistband of my jeans, made sure my shirt covered it.
Remembering the ties as the ruse for me to get to the gun, I ransacked the clothes until I found two. Returning to the main room, I glanced at Grif. He just looked at me with that dark, brooding gaze, giving nothing away. I took a deep breath, slipped into that space in my mind where nothing could touch me. Where I was shielded from all emotion. If I was going to do this, I needed to take all feelings out of it. Pretend Grif was just another man, that Elizabeth wasn’t my only sister. My father was here threatening our lives for a reason and I had to find out what it was, as well as try to save us.
“Over there,” Father said with a tilt of his head. Grif walked slowly, deliberately, to the dining room chair. He sat and I moved to stand behind him.
“Make it tight,” my father growled.
I wasn’t a Boy Scout, but I tied it fairly snug, reassured by the quick squeeze of Grif's fingers around mine. He could free himself if he worked at it.
