“That it?” Doc asked.
“Yeah,” JD answered morosely.
“A slim lead, but we’re not getting any good ones. I’m not ready to send someone in to get an invitation to one of the back rooms. Busting the club for prostitution or drugs, either of which is very likely going on, will dry up any chance we have of getting on the inside. Our focus is not sex or drugs—we’ll leave that to Vice later. We need to find the money trail and trace it back up the trafficking pipeline. That’s job one for us, people.” Doc shot a glare at JD. “And no more cowboy vigilante action. You know better.” His eyes locked on JD’s.
JD didn’t look away, though he knew Doc was right. He was just so damn tired of the bad guys getting away with so much.
Doc leaned back in his chair. “Anybody else got something to report?”
“Yeah,” replied Holly Patterson, DEA agent. “Lofton’s formed an interesting new pattern. Every day for the last week, he’s gone shopping—”
“Holy crap,” quipped Mack. “The guy’s obviously gone off the deep end. Shopping? Every day?” He gave an exaggerated shudder.
Holly sighed. She was also new to VICTAF, though she was an experienced agent. “Then he pays a visit to the same place.”
“Where?” asked Bob.
“This expensive hotel off South Congress, an old mansion that was turned into what they call a boutique hotel.”
“Boutique?” hooted Bo. “What the hell does that mean?”
Vince glanced at JD. JD stared right back. Only one place met that description, and they both knew the owner. Had helped get it ready to open as a favor to a mutual friend.
“If you’d ever stayed anywhere but a no-tell motel, you’d know that means a place catering to a special clientele,” JD explained. “And, no, I don’t mean anything dirty.” He looked at Holly. “Hotel Serenity, right?”
“Right. Is there a problem there? Should we be investigating?”
“No. Absolutely not.” Vince was frowning.
JD could read his mind. No way would Sophie Carlisle allow something illegal to go on at her beloved hotel—and she would know. Nothing escaped her notice. Hotel Serenity was her dream, and she was fierce in her love for it.
“How can you be sure?”
JD spoke up first. “A friend of ours owns it. It’s strictly aboveboard, and it’s too small for anyone to be using it as any sort of front. She keeps her finger on every aspect.”
“Sophie is family,” Vince said. “And the MacAllisters are all straight arrows.”
“MacAllisters?” Doc asked. “Jesse’s family?”
JD nodded. “His brother Cade and Sophie are a couple.”
“Jesse Montalvo,” Doc explained for the benefit of the newer task-force members. “Former FBI. He and his wife Delilah were both on VICTAF. Delilah rotated out a few years ago. Jesse retired before that.”
“How come?” asked Bo. “I mean, if it’s any of my business.”
“Because now he’s making more money than this whole group put together,” Vince said. “He’s one hell of an artist, and he’s getting famous.”
“MacAllister…” Holly looked up. “Zane?”
“Bingo,” replied Bob. “Jesse is the older half brother of Cade and Zane.”
“Wow.” Holly wasn’t that easy to impress, but clearly she was now.
“Yeah, there’s no way anything illegal is going on there,” mused JD, echoing his thoughts. But Lofton’s new-found love for the place was the best lead they had, and it could be just the angle he’d been searching for. “We need to find out why Lofton is visiting every day.”
“There’s something else,” Holly said. “No guests coming in or out the entire week we’ve been watching him.”
“No guests?” Vince shook his head. “That can’t be right. Sophie opened last September, and she’s booked solid months ahead. It’s the place to stay in Austin now. Big hit with the entertainment crowd.”
Holly shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. There have been a few food deliveries and some workers coming and going, but otherwise…nada.”
“What kind of shopping?” JD asked.
“Women’s clothing, books, gourmet food. Chocolate, the expensive stuff.”
A woman, JD thought. Jackpot.
“So he’s got a woman in there? Why wouldn’t she be staying at that big-ass place of his out in the hills?” Mack asked.
“Maybe he’s wooing her.”
“Look, we can speculate all day, but it appears either of you could check it out pretty easily,” he said to JD and Vince. “So who’s going to find out what the deal is?”
“Not that easy, Doc,” said Vince. “Sophie has a lot of guests who come specifically for the privacy she rigorously maintains. She’s fired people with loose lips.”
“He’s right,” JD added. “It’s a religion with her. Guests count on that.”
“So you seriously can’t ask her? Or won’t?”
“She’s family, Doc,” Vince repeated. “I mean, if I hear something…”
“But we won’t,” JD said, though his mind was already spinning through the possible angles.
Doc’s expression made clear that he was unhappy. JD knew, however, that Doc held the same healthy respect for the MacAllister family that JD did. “Eyes sharp,” Doc ordered Holly. “If you need more help, you speak up. Someone’s got to come out of there at some point, whoever it is Lofton is visiting. We’ll respect the hotel’s privacy as long as we can, but if you get the faintest whiff that there’s something illegal going on there or that those visits are more than chasing tail, we have to act.” He stared at Vince and JD in turn. “I understand how you feel, but…”
JD nodded. “I know. But Sophie’s a good woman, Doc, and she’s had a tough road. I’d bet everything I own that nothing illegal is going on inside Hotel Serenity.”
“Then how do you explain Lofton visiting every damn day?”
“I don’t know. But I will.” JD frowned. The problem was how without breaking Sophie’s cherished confidentiality. He thought of everything Sophie had been through. Then he thought of Candy and her sister.
No contest. And an excellent place to start was at the youngest MacAllister’s birthday party Saturday night, to which he was already invited. He didn’t like doing it, but if Sophie had any answers… If he could explain to Sophie, she would be sympathetic, but he couldn’t. Whether he liked being in this position couldn’t matter, not when women were dying.
Doc didn’t seem happy, but he changed the topic. “So do we have any answers from Treasury?” he asked Bob, since money laundering fell in the U.S. Treasury’s purview. Money laundering was only one of the suspicions they had of Avery Lofton, but it was an angle they were vigorously pursuing.
JD tried to focus on Bob’s answer, but in the back of his mind, he was strategizing how to approach Sophie and Lofton’s mysterious guest… .
CHAPTER THREE
“YOU ARE POSITIVE YOU’RE all right with this?” Sophie asked Violet a couple of days later. “I can cancel the party, or we could move it. Jenna would understand.”
“Cancel your best friend’s birthday party? I don’t think so! Certainly not on my account.”
“I wish you’d change your mind and attend. I promise everyone would respect your privacy. It’s only family, and they’re accustomed to dealing with the complications of Zane’s fame. They, of all people, understand the price of what you do.”
“But I’d be an interloper,” Violet pointed out, even though she desperately wanted to say yes. Avery’s daily visits weren’t doing it for her anymore, and she had to face facts: she was a sociable person, accustomed to a great deal of human interaction every day and her haven was beginning to feel like a cage.
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“You know Zane and Roan. Plus, the MacAllisters have a loose definition of family. JD will be here, for example.” At Violet’s lifted eyebrows, Sophie explained. “JD Cameron used to work with Jesse, and he still works with Vince. He’s always invited to family events.”
“Jesse is…Cade’s older brother.”
“Half brother,” Sophie clarified. “Not that any of them differentiate. They share the same mother. Grace was widowed with two boys, Diego and Jesse, when she met Hal MacAllister.”
“Zane’s dad. And Cade’s.”
“And Jenna’s.”
At Sophie’s nod, Violet cast back to see if she could recall others in the family. “But Vince is…?”
“No blood relation, but the eldest brother, Diego, is married to Caroline, whose sister Chloe is married to Vince.” She smiled. “Your head spinning yet?”
“Pretty much.” Violet rubbed her temple. “Okay, go ahead. So this JD person…”
“Vince and JD are both police detectives. Jesse was an FBI agent, and his wife Delilah came from the Austin Police Department, just like Vince and JD.”
“But Jesse is an artist now.” Violet seized on the one fact she was sure of. She’d seen Jesse’s stunning oil paintings and intended to own some of his work herself, once she’d bought a new house with no memories of ex-husbands in it.
“He is. So are you straight on everyone?”
Violet opened her mouth to say yes, then promptly stopped. “Not hardly.”
Sophie laughed. “Welcome to my world. It took months. I won’t confuse you further by naming all the little kids. You’ll love meeting them, though.”
“I do like children.”
“Me, too.” Sophie had a faraway look in her eyes.
“You okay?”
Sophie snapped immediately to hostess attention. “Of course.” She lifted her eyebrows. “So you’ll come to Jenna’s party tonight?”
Violet had to laugh at her friend’s relentlessness. “Apparently I will.”
And found herself almost ridiculously excited at the prospect.
* * *
JD EMERGED FROM HIS TRUCK, gift bag in hand, resolved to find answers to the mystery of Sophie’s guest during Jenna’s party tonight.
It wouldn’t be easy, he thought, given Sophie’s mania for protecting her clientele. And he didn’t like being less than aboveboard with these people he so genuinely admired and thought of as the next thing to family.
But there were lives at stake.
He’d take it slow, he decided, see what developed. Kick back with a bunch of really nice people and have a good time. Tease Jenna as his honorary little sister, enjoy the hell out of her dad, Hal, who reminded JD of his own father, play with the little kids. He nodded approval at the hotel’s security guard, who was rigorous in his duties, and looked around as he entered the grounds, amazed at all Sophie had accomplished since he was last here. He headed for the lights sprinkling the trees and found his spirits lifting as he heard conversation and laughter and music.
And then the answer to the mystery fell right into his lap.
Holy crap.
JD blinked once, twice. Shook his head to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
Only one guest, he recalled.
Pretty much the ultimate one, short of maybe the president.
“What, Pretty Boy is speechless?” teased a familiar voice.
JD turned to see Delilah Butler Montalvo sauntering his way, her red-haired daughter Addie on her hip. Delilah was a knockout—too bad she’d met The Sphinx, as Jesse had been known in his FBI days, first and had never had eyes for anyone else. “You look great,” he said to her.
“You look gobsmacked.”
“That is seriously Violet James?”
Delilah glanced over to where the most famous actress of their time was laughing as she tossed washers with Hal MacAllister while Zane kibitzed. “Well, she’s not too serious at the moment, but…yep, really her.”
JD whistled softly. “I assumed it was cameras or makeup that made her that beautiful.”
“Wait ’til you see her up close. She’s prettier than you, Romeo. Imagine that.”
“Cut it out. You know I hate that.” He mock-glared at her before he spoke to Addie. “Tell her, princess. Men can’t be pretty.”
Addie granted him a smile that was going to be giving Jesse heart attacks in a few years. “I think you’re pretty.”
He threw up his hands. “And here I thought I could count on you.” He grinned and kissed Addie’s cheek. “Traitor.”
Addie giggled.
Delilah set her down. “Why don’t you go see Grandpa, sweetheart? He’s right over there.”
Addie’s eyes lit as she spotted Hal. He was everyone’s dream grandfather. “Okay. Bye, Mommy. Bye, Uncle Pretty!”
JD had to laugh. “You are so in trouble with that one.”
“Don’t I know it?” Delilah studied him, and JD tensed. “You look beat. Bad case?”
She would understand, if anyone would. She’d experienced one of the worst herself when she’d posed as bait for a serial killer. “Bad enough. Drug and human trafficking with the trail winding right through Austin,” he explained.
“Nasty business. Man, if it weren’t for the kids, I would so want to be in on stopping them.” She was still in law enforcement, but she worked as an investigator for the district attorney’s office now, a job with actual office hours that afforded her more time with her children. And little exposure to danger, which no doubt eased Jesse’s mind. Jesse had never avoided danger himself when on the job, but when it came to his family, he was all protector, just like the rest of the men in the Montalvo/MacAllister family.
“You miss it.”
“Occasionally. The juice, the gamble…” Delilah sighed. “But you can’t have it all, at least not at the same time. My family’s the main thing, you know?” At his nod, she narrowed her eyes. “But you are developing the thousand-yard stare, my man. You need to tell Doc you’re done.”
She might be right, but he wasn’t ready to pack it in, not while this case was open. He’d stood over the bodies of victims whose only mistake had been wanting a better life. They deserved justice. Anyway, what the hell else did he know how to do? “I’m fine,” he protested. “Just need some progress in the case.”
“It’ll come.” She squeezed his arm then looked outward. “Amazing, isn’t it, how beautifully this place came together?”
“Sophie’s amazing, that’s for sure. Cade made any headway on getting her to marry him yet?”
“They’re taking it slow.” She shook her head. “Which is just crazy. When you know, you know.”
“I don’t really believe in that meant-to-be stuff, but I have to say, this family can sure make you reconsider.” Both Cade and Sophie had gone through a lot before their paths had crossed, but they were a walking advertisement for the hand of fate. “So there goes the last MacAllister, down for the count.”
“Except Jenna,” she reminded him.
“Jenna’s too young to get married.”
“She’s turning thirty today, I’ll remind you.” Her eyebrows rose. “How about you, Lover Boy? Any sweet thing caught your eye?”
“All of them.” When she smacked his arm playfully, he chuckled. “I’m still young,” he teased, “unlike some of you, old married lady.”
She didn’t rise to the bait, even though she was barely older than him. “Well, for that, sonny, this old lady is not going to introduce you to America’s Sweetheart. You’re on your own.” She tossed her mane of flame-red hair. “Me, I’m going to see if I can trap my husband behind one of these trees.” With a saucy grin, she sauntered away.
JD watched her go with a smile. In
stead of approaching the stranger in their midst, however, he veered off to the right, making a path toward his favorite girl, who stood with her back to him. He neared and bent over her shoulder. “Someone’s making time with your man. Now’s our opportunity to run away to South America.”
Grace MacAllister, family matriarch, whirled. “JD! I’m so glad to see you!” She grasped his cheeks much as his own mother would and made him feel about ten years old when she put the slow mother-eye in motion and gave him the once-over. “What’s wrong? Are you eating well? Sleeping enough? You’re working too hard, aren’t you? Do I need to call Doc?”
JD noted the amusement on the faces of the three sons standing with her. Every one of them understood her mama-bear nature. The entire family save Jenna towered over her, but she was the clear queen of the castle, the benevolent dictator who ruled with both unfettered love and an iron will.
“You sure know how to ruin a good proposal,” he complained. “Here I am, inviting you to an exciting life of scandal and sin, and you completely blow me off. I’m wounded, Grace.”
“Oh, pooh. You’re shameless, is what you are. But since I’ve already chatted with my boys—”
“Chatted,” Cade objected. “Interrogated, is more like it. You should get Doc to hire her, JD. The rest of you could sit around and play cards while Mom solved your caseload. Meanwhile, we’d be off the hook.” He grinned at his mother, who rolled her eyes.
“There’s an idea.” JD acknowledged Cade with a nod. “Haven’t gotten a ring on Sophie’s finger yet?”
Cade shrugged. “Working on it.” But he didn’t look all that perturbed. He’d been at death’s door less than a year ago, and JD knew he wasn’t the only one who felt Cade deserved every bit of happiness he could get. Same went for Sophie.
JD glanced at the others, Jesse and Diego. “All of you dads now. And husbands. Wow.”
“Your turn,” Grace noted. “You’re not getting any younger, JD.”
He ignored the smirks and turned his attention to her. “If I can’t have you, Grace…” A gusty sigh and a dramatic clasp of his chest. “I’m a broken man.”
On His Honor Page 4
