Murdered? She felt the blood draining from her face, and in spite of the heat, a chill crept into her bones.
Tyler's penetrating gaze never left hers. “You're the last person alive who testified in the trial.”
“And you think I'm next?”
Tyler stood and touched her shoulder.
She pulled away. “Don't touch me.”
“I want to help you.”
“Help me? How? By lying to me? Seducing me?” She paced to the opposite of the deck. How could he use her like that? She wanted to blame him for everything, but hadn't she kept secrets, too? This was her fault. She'd let herself be used again.
In a low controlled voice she said, “If you'd told me the truth, Tiffany wouldn't be lying in a cage fighting for her life.” She approached and pushed her hands against his chest.
He took a staggering step backwards. “We need to talk, not throw accusations around.”
“Talk? About your lies? About how you deceived me and everyone else who befriended you?”
She took a deep breath. She knew she wasn't being fair. An overwhelming sense of doom surrounded her. She sank into one of the chairs and dropped her face into her hands. She would not cry. She was as much to blame as Tyler. She hadn't told him the truth either. And she knew Max had sent her the scarf. “You think he's here? In Foxfire?”
“Yes.”
“What makes you so sure you can catch him?” she asked quietly.
“It's my job.”
She blew out a breath. Her stomach felt like she'd just gotten over a bad episode of food poisoning.”
Tyler went inside and brought out the pot of coffee. “Will you tell me what you can about Max?”
She straightened and looked into his eyes. Why not? Maybe it would help him to find the bastard. What did it matter if he looked at her with contempt when she finished?
She took a deep breath and began to tell her story.
“I met him when I was working as a cocktail waitress. He's the type who could charm a snake without using a flute.” She shrugged. “So, when he asked me to have dinner with him, I accepted. I didn't have a clue about his illegal activities then.”
She tried to read Tyler's face to see if he believed her. It shouldn't matter, but it did. “After that it seemed he showed up every night I worked. We began spending lots of time together. For my birthday, he gave me a diamond and sapphire necklace. Needless to say I was impressed with his wealth. He could give me all the things I'd never had. Security, someone to take care of me for a change.”
Tyler didn't say a word. He just sat back in the chair, crossed his ankles and sipped coffee.
“We became...close.” She couldn't bring herself to say she'd slept with him. “It wasn't long before I began to suspect he was into drugs. Call it intuition or stupidity. I knew he and Manny Bonino were friends, and Manny was always one step ahead of the law. They arrested him for drug trafficking several times, but his attorney always got him off.”
Tyler kept his gaze fixed securely on hers. He sipped his coffee, making no comment.
“I tried to break it off with him. Told him I didn't want to see him anymore. I even offered to give him back the necklace. He wouldn't let me go. He kept calling and dropping by the club. One night, he was waiting in the shadows outside my apartment when I got home. I didn't see him until I opened the door, and he slammed inside with Manny.”
Grace took a drink of lukewarm coffee. “I was scared. I knew I could handle one of them, but not two. Manny had a knife and he held it to my throat. Max just laughed. I tried to fight, but Max put a cloth over my mouth and I passed out. When I woke up, I was a prisoner in his brothel.”
She searched Tyler's face for his reaction, but saw nothing that told his feelings. She continued.
“I know it sounds like a trumped up story, but it's the truth. When I woke up, I was locked in a bedroom. I tried to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. I think it might have been glued shut or something. I even tried to break it, but the only thing that broke was the lamp. No one even came to investigate. Later that night a young girl opened the door. I told her I'd been brought there under force.”
Grace held out her cup for fresh coffee. Tyler poured it without saying a word.
“She didn't seem surprised. She said Max wanted to talk to me.” Grace met Tyler's penetrating gaze. “That girl couldn't have been a day over sixteen. She led me to a room at the end of a long hall and left me alone with Max. When I looked into his eyes, I wondered how I ever saw anything charming about him. I hated him. He was arrogant and so sure he had me trapped. But I turned the tables on him, used his ego to my advantage.”
Did Tyler understand what she meant? Their gazes locked. Why didn't he say something? Anything? She swallowed hard. The truth was, she'd let Max use her that night. She'd been a willing partner, though she'd kept her mind above the act.
“When he was...preoccupied, I stabbed him with a letter opener I'd taken off the desk. Then I hit him with the brass lamp and called 9-1-1. The rest is history. The cops gave me immunity for testifying against him.”
She stared into his eyes. “Now you know the whole story. You know who I am, what I am. What more do you want to know?”
He reached for her hand. “Thanks for telling me.” She didn't see disgust clouding his eyes. He smiled at her, his thumb caressing the back of her hand. “It doesn't change how I feel about you, but it does make a few things clearer.”
“What things?”
“Why Max is so determined to find you.”
She drew her hand away. “Do you think he stabbed Tiffany?”
“That's what Jake believes.”
“Jake?”
“Jake Scott. He's head of a department in the Drug Enforcement Agency.”
“That's who you work for, the DEA?”
He nodded. “Temporarily.” He refilled his cup. “Natalie introduced us. She was Jake's sister...and my wife.”
“Wife?” He was married? Hurt gnawed deep in her chest.
“I worked for Jake to pay my way through school. Dad was a small town vet, and when Mom developed cancer it took all their savings to pay the medical bills. After I graduated, I went to work with dad, but I still worked undercover assignments for Jake, too. Then Natalie and I got married.”
“And you quit working for your...wife's brother?”
“No.”
Grace ran a finger around the rim of her mug. “You worked for your dad and the agency at the same time?”
“Yes. I was part of the team assigned to dig into Max's businesses.” Tyler leaned forward, capturing her gaze. “After Max's arrest, I wanted to make sure he was convicted. I attended the trial.”
“Were you there when I testified?”
“Yes.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You're telling me you worked with the authorities and you let Max get away?” Was that guilt she read crossing his face?
He intertwined his fingers and dropped his hands between his knees before replying. “Natalie called my cell phone right after we received the announcement that the jury had reached a verdict. She asked me to come home because she had something important to tell me that she couldn't share over the phone.” He swallowed and his Adam's Apple bounced. “I told her I couldn't come home until after the trial closed.” He tipped his head back and took a deep breath.
Grace watched emotions chase across his features. “What does that have to do with Max's escape?”
He ran his fingers through his hair. “Natalie decided not to wait. She arrived at the courtroom when the jury foreman read the verdict. The whole place erupted in chaos. That's when Max made his escape. Before they could handcuff him, he grabbed a woman and used her as a shield.”
Grace knew what he was going to say. She wanted to stop him, ease the pain radiating from his eyes.
“It was only after they found her body that I learned the woman was Natalie.”
“My God.” She reached out to him, placing a hand
on his arm.
“She was pregnant. That's the news she wanted to share.”
She wasn't sure what she felt. Sympathy certainly. Yet something nibbled at her heart. “I'm sorry, Tyler.” He'd been in love with another woman. Had planned on having a family. He'd lost his dream, too, but not of his own doing. His dream had been snatched away by a horrid senseless murder. Grace had murdered her own dream by the choices she'd made. Still, her heart ached for his loss.
He pulled his arm from under her grip. “Max headed the biggest drug and prostitution ring in Columbus. We had him and he got away. He disappeared and we weren't able to track him until three months ago. A body was found in an alley on the near East side. A woman. She'd been shot in the forehead. The police added it to a long line of prostitution and drug-related murders...until another body was pulled out of the Scioto river, another woman. Same caliber gun. Both of them had testified against Max.”
Grace said, “He told me he'd get even for my betrayal. I didn't know he'd come after anyone but me. I ran away. I stayed in Missouri for a while until I had enough money to make a new start. Then I came here.”
“We searched for you and Ted Powell since you were the last two people alive who'd testified at Max's trial. So, when your picture appeared in the paper—”
Grace leaned forward. “My picture? What do you mean?”
“You and Connor Thomas.”
“But that was local news.”
“Ever hear of the internet?”
“That's how you found me?” How could that be? She'd never even given a thought to having her picture in the paper. Her heart dove toward her stomach. “Then that's how Max found me, too.”
“And that's why I came to Foxfire. I'd been talking about leaving the agency and going back into veterinarian practice. After Natalie...I felt so guilty for letting her down that I focused all my time on catching Max. But I was getting burned out. There'd been no sign of Max, and I was sick of spending all my time dealing with the dregs of the world. And I was sick of Ohio and all the memories I couldn't shake.”
Tyler tipped his head back against the chair. “Night and day all I could think about was Max. He stole my life. I wanted it back. So I told Jake I was going to move away and start over. He begged me to take one last assignment, and he made it irresistible with the idea of opening my own clinic, so I decided this would be as good a place as any to start over.”
“Did you hire me because of Max?” She lifted her chin and met his gaze full-on.
Tyler jumped to his feet. He raked a hand through his hair. “No.”
“But you're using me as bait, right?”
“God, no, Grace. How can you think that?”
“How can I not? But, I don't blame you,” she said.
He knelt in front of her. “I swear the last thing I want to do is hurt you.”
She stared into his eyes. “It's too late.”
“I'm not going to use you to get Max.”
“It doesn't matter if you do or not.”
“It matters to me.” His gaze held her in place.
She slowly shook her head. “How can you expect me to believe you?”
He touched her cheek with the barest brush of his fingers. “Grace, I came here expecting to find a woman with a heart of steel and a ruthless mind. But that's not what I found. I found a woman with a heart of gold and a compassionate soul.”
Soft shivers raced through her body and pooled in her abdomen.
He said, “This isn't about catching Max anymore.”
“What is it about?”
“I wish I knew.”
“Stop looking for things that don't exist. I'm tarnished, Tyler. I'm to blame, not Max. I made the decision to believe in him, he didn't force me to care. I closed my eyes to the truth around me because I wanted what he had to offer. Don't you see what kind of woman that makes me?”
“Stop putting yourself down. I don't care what happened in your past. I care about you. The real you.”
Even as her heart swelled with hope, she denounced herself for being a fool.
“You don't know the real me.”
“I know you make me feel things I have no right to feel.”
She pushed past him. “That's only lust,” she said. “It'll go away. Trust me.”
“That's the biggest problem of all. I do trust you, Grace. And that scares the hell out of me.”
An ache settled in Grace's heart. He'd lost his wife and child. He'd been hurt by Max even more than she had.
“When were you planning on telling me?”
“This morning.”
She smirked.
“It's the truth. I swear. Last night I wanted to tell you, especially after seeing your reaction to the scarf—”
She turned away and he pulled her back to face him. “Tell me about the scarf, Grace.”
She shook her head. “It's nothing.”
“It's something. Tell me.”
Grace took a deep breath. “Yesterday I found an envelope in my mailbox. The scarf was inside with a message from Max.”
His eyes widened. “What message?”
She shrugged. “Just a note to let me know he'd found me.”
“Where is it?”
“I threw everything away. Max must have pulled the scarf out of the trash and put it around Tiffany's neck as a warning to me.”
“What did the note say?”
“Not much. I was so shocked I can't remember exactly what he wrote.”
“I need to see it.”
“All right.” She took a deep breath. “Look, I'll help you find Max. Whatever it takes. I just want my life back.”
Tyler touched her cheek. “I won't let you put yourself in danger.”
“I'm already in danger. And it won't stop until Max is caught.” She smiled. “I'm not worth worrying about. Let's go check on Tiffany, then we can get the note. And I want to talk to Brad, too.”
Tyler nodded. “All right.”
“Tyler, Max is the one who left the roses, not Adam.”
He squeezed her shoulders. “We'll get him.”
They went to the clinic and Grace touched Tiffany's silky fur. “Is she still under the sedative?”
“I gave her another shot last night while you were sleeping, but she'll wake up soon.”
Grace wanted nothing more than to lean against his chest and forget her doubts, her fears, her pain, but she couldn't allow herself to trust him—not yet.
“When?” she asked.
“In an hour or so, but we'll have to keep her confined for a few days.”
He placed a finger beneath her chin, forcing her to look into his eyes. “Grace, she's going to be fine.”
She nodded. She couldn't speak over the lump in her throat. She really needed Brad now. He'd always been the first person she turned to whenever anything good or bad occurred in her life. She pulled away.
“Let's go. I really need to see Brad.” She spun to face him. “Does he know?” she asked.
His forehead scrunched into a puzzled frown. “About Tiffany?”
“No, about you being a...” She waved her hands. “Whatever you are.”
He touched her face, the look in his eyes softening. “You say that like I've grown scales or pointed teeth.”
She swatted his hand. “You deceived me. You deceived all of us.” She pulled away, wiping a hand across her forehead and pushing her hair away from her face. “I even let you kiss me and...God, how could I have been so stupid?”
She wasn't being fair, but she couldn't allow Tyler to have any illusions about them. Not while a threat of Max existed. She couldn't bear the thought of Max hurting Tyler. The last piece of her shattered heart mended as she realized she had fallen in love with him.
“I wasn't pretending.” He stared at her, his eyes so intense they smoldered like emerald fire. “I wanted to kiss you, Grace.”
He took her hand and led her out the door.
Chapter Ten
Max rubbed the area
on his face that, thanks to a skilled plastic surgeon, no longer sported a long jagged scar. The surgeon had also restructured his nose, removing the hook he'd always hated. Why not? He'd never had a problem getting women, but the scar on his face would have marked him forever—a constant reminder of what that bitch had done.
He'd taken care of the others, the imbeciles who thought they'd beaten him by testifying against him. He'd shown them, hadn't he? He'd escaped right under their noses. Max didn't lose, nor did he forget. They thought they'd beaten him by freezing the assets in his accounts. The idiots didn't realize they were up against a genius. He'd spent the past three years on his fortress island that no one could penetrate. He'd tossed around the idea of taking Grace there, using her until he broke her spirit, but he came up with a better plan. He'd found he liked killing with a knife even better than using a gun.
Everything was falling into place. These back-country bumpkins were tripping over their own feet trying to catch the Knoxville Knifer. He wanted to laugh aloud at their ignorance. No one could recognize Max with his new face, not even Grace. She'd come nose to nose with him outside the D.A.'s office and hadn't blinked an eye.
Footsteps sounded on the path. He fell back, deeper into cover of the trees. The old man hurried past Max's hiding place and disappeared around a bend. He supposed Grace's friends were gathering round to pay respects to the dead dog. Pity that. He really liked dogs, but he needed to get Grace's attention.
He had that now. Yes indeed. He felt a grin lift the corners of his mouth. Time was on his side, and it was quickly running out for Grace.
****
“There's Brad now.” Grace ran to him.
“Grace! Are you all right?” His lined face gave voice to his worry. He opened his arms and she stepped into his comforting embrace.
“Not really,” she said, her words muffled against his chest.
“What's wrong, honey?” he murmured.
“Tiffany's hurt.” She felt his muscles tighten. “Somebody stabbed her.”
“What?”
Brad stepped back and looked at Tyler. “Is she...?” His words trailed off.
“She'll be good as new in a few days,” Tyler answered.
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