No, Lee realized, it wasn’t jealousy. It was longing. He would like to be able to pull Erin to him so easily, so comfortably, without worrying about her rejecting him, without worrying about what might happen afterward when he let her go, without putting his own heart at risk. He would like to have his best friend and partner back, too. Seeing Tom hold Erin for that brief moment only served to remind him of all the things he’d let slip away in the past few months. All the things that might never be the same again. Because if the leg never healed, what would the future hold for him? He swallowed hard against the thought and cleared his throat.
“Come on in,” Tom invited with a sweep of his arm. Ushering them into his corner office, one that Lee guessed went with his promotion, Tom continued with his questions. “So how are you both? Everything holding up all right?” His words were weighted with apprehension. Lee thought it was probably because Tom already knew all about their troubles. He closed the door to his office. “Can I offer you some coffee or something?”
“No, thanks,” Lee replied for both of them. He didn’t answer Tom’s first questions. He wasn’t quite ready to tell Tom everything that was happening to Erin. He was still trying to get used to being in Tom’s new office. Still observing the man before him, the one who had been his best friend ever since their training together. That would never change, but Lee felt he had to take his time here. He wanted to see just how much Tom knew before he started telling Erin’s story. “How are you doing, Tom?” Lee asked, more out of courtesy than curiosity before they got started.
Tom gave them a wide grin. “Just fine today.” He looked from Lee to Erin. “Torry told me a little while ago that I’m going to be a father.”
Tom’s words caught Lee off guard. So that had been the “something important” Torry had told Tom. Lee fought down a wave of regret that spoke of broken dreams and lost hopes. He couldn’t afford to think about kids right now. Every time he had in the past, they’d always had sparkling green eyes like Erin.
“That’s great. Congratulations,” Lee forced out.
Erin’s echoed congratulations sounded more heartfelt than Lee’s, and he could sense her smiling without having to look at her.
“Yeah, isn’t that something else?” Tom remarked, fairly beaming. “After years of trying, it finally happens when we decide to give up.”
“I’m trying to picture you as a dad,” Lee lied.
“So can you?” Tom asked.
“No.” Lee grinned, starting to feel at ease.
“Oh, well, I’m sure you didn’t come here to listen to the news about me. Tell me what’s going on with you.” Tom looked knowingly at Erin.
Erin and Lee each took a seat in front of the large desk near the windows. Lee gave the office one last glance, trying to put out of his mind everything Tom had accomplished. He was moving up in the department, he had a happy marriage and now he was starting a family. It was even harder to put out of his mind what he himself could have accomplished if he’d never been shot, if Erin hadn’t left him.
If he had never let her leave....
The eight months since the shooting had flown by incredibly quickly. But at the same time, Lee felt he’d somehow lost much more than a mere eight months.
How did Tom and Torry make it when he and Erin couldn’t?
He looked at Tom, only to find his friend watching him closely. “What do you think, Lee?” Tom asked quietly, looking around his office and weighing Lee’s reaction.
“Great office,” Lee replied. “Are you going to share it with me when I come back?”
“When are you coming back?” Tom asked pointedly.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready. I’m only here for Erin right now.”
“That’s what I figured,” Tom said.
Still, Lee saw something in his friend’s eyes, something that told him Tom was thinking more than he was saying. “What are you up to, Tommy boy.”
“I was just thinking I wouldn’t let you out of this office until I have your official say-so that you’re coming back. We need you back, Lee. Just as much as I think you need to be back.”
“What makes you so sure about that?” Lee couldn’t help but ask.
“The only way you’re ever going to get over your fear of falling off the horse is to get right back on, and you’ve wasted too much time already waiting to do that.”
Lee didn’t take a chance on opening his mouth again. Tom was just too close to home with his assertion. Lee couldn’t help but admit to himself that yes, he was terrified to come back. He’d let his guard down and gotten himself shot. He could have gotten the witness killed, too. And he was terrified of it happening a second time.
Still, if Lee didn’t know better, he’d think Tom was doing this on purpose to force some sort of reaction or response from him, perhaps get him to admit his fear. Well, he wasn’t about to give Tom what he wanted. As evenly as he could, he looked at Tom and replied, “We’re here to talk about Erin. So why don’t we get down to business. We can discuss my bright future some other time.”
“What are you going to do if you don’t come back? Spend all your time arguing with your therapist?” Tom asked.
The words seemed to hang in the air for a long moment.
“What’ve you been doing? Keeping tabs on me?” Lee challenged, doing his best to keep his voice even. He didn’t give Tom the chance to reply. “I said we’ll talk about my future later, all right?” He let the words out through gritted teeth.
“If you insist,” Tom said slowly, just slowly enough to let Lee know he wasn’t about to drop the subject. Then after a moment, he turned his attention to Erin. “I understand you’ve had some problems, Erin.”
Lee let out a heated chuckle. “That’s putting it rather lightly, Tom. Why don’t you tell me what else Kaffel told you?”
“It really bothers you that he called me, doesn’t it?” Tom asked.
“No, it bothers me that if he would call you, no telling who else he might call. It makes it a bit harder to keep Erin safe.”
Erin said nothing, letting Tom answer the questions, letting the conversation go on between Tom and Lee. It surprised Lee that she wasn’t asking her own questions, but he supposed she was still experiencing a certain amount of confusion and it was probably easier for her to sit back and watch the two of them try to get a handle on things.
“Here’s what I know,” Tom began, getting right to the point. “And I didn’t get this just from Kaffel. The FBI has been investigating Forest Burke for some time now. I think they even planned to question you, Erin, once you tried to gather information on him. And especially after it came across the wire that you were nearly run down in the parking garage. They wanted to know why you were interested in him. They even investigated your report of witnessing a murder. When I learned Erin was the eyewitness, I almost called you, Lee. Then Kaffel calls me about a break-in at Jackson Flemming’s house. Both your names were in the police report. That’s how I knew she was with you. Lee, I was just about to call you when you beat me to the punch.”
“Why is the FBI investigating Burke to begin with?” Lee asked.
“There’s been a series of art thefts,” Tom replied.
“From museums?” Lee queried. “Yesterday, I thought I heard something on the radio about some stolen artworks, but I was at therapy and wasn’t really listening to it.” He’d been trying to shut out his therapist and he must have shut out everything else, too.
“No. Private collectors. There was a major theft in New York two days ago,” Tom explained. “A painting worth over a million dollars called The Cornucopia was stolen out of the home of a man named Benjamin Montgomery.”
“A million dollars?” Lee repeated. “What kind of security did this Benjamin Montgomery have?”
“Enough to protect it. Whoever’s responsible is doing a good job of it, throwing red herrings all over the place, creating diversions and cracking security systems like you wouldn’t believe,” Tom said.
“And the FBI thinks Burke is behind these?” Erin asked, speaking for the first time.
“The FBI has discovered that at least one piece of recovered art changed hands through one of Burke’s auctions. And Burke certainly has the means and the connections to deal with the art. But the Bureau has no proof, no positive leads that connect Burke himself with the crimes. And whoever did take these artworks has hidden them well. There’s no trace of them anywhere.”
For a moment no one spoke.
“We got a print off Erin’s desk. Have they matched it with anyone?” Lee asked.
“As a matter of fact, I contacted an Officer Ollin on that myself. Ollin’s team was able to match that print to a man by the name of Jimmy Doreli. Ever heard of him?”
Both Erin and Lee said they hadn’t.
“Ollin faxed all the information he had, including this picture. It seems our man here has been arrested for—would you believe?—tax evasion.”
He handed the copy of the mug shot to Lee first, who looked at it long enough to memorize the man’s features. Then Lee passed it to Erin.
“This is him! This looks like the man who I saw grab Jenkins,” Erin exclaimed.
Total silence followed her words.
“Are you sure?” Lee finally asked.
“I’m positive.”
Tom picked up his phone and dialed, speaking quickly. “I need an APB put out on one Jimmy Doreli. He’s wanted in connection with a murder.” Tom didn’t add that there still wasn’t a body. He merely went on to give Doreli’s description off the sheet he was holding. “If he’s out there, we’ll find him,” Tom said to Erin when he’d put down the receiver.
“What we need to know now is if he’s connected to Burke,” Lee said.
“Well, let’s see what we get.” Tom turned to the computer on the corner of his desk.
Lee watched him. Inside, he felt the excitement of the job returning. It was like a rush of heat flowing through him. It felt good to be doing something helpful, something important. It wasn’t quite the same as sitting in a safe house watching out the windows, but it was important nonetheless. That feeling of importance had drawn him into police training to begin with.
He felt the warmth of Erin’s gaze. Turning toward her, he found her watching him with awareness sparkling in the depth of her bright green eyes.
God, she knew, he realized. She knew just what he was thinking, what he was feeling. After being apart for eight long months, how could she possibly read him so well?
Lee couldn’t begin to answer that question. He might as well stick to the vital matter at hand, like how to keep Erin safe. He deliberately looked away and watched Tom.
“Nothing here yet,” Tom muttered, punching more computer keys. “Let’s try something else.”
Again, Lee could feel Erin watching him. The tiny hairs on the back of his neck stood up, and he grew warm, suddenly needing to take off his leather jacket.
“You know, it’s really good to see you two again,” Tom said, his eyes on the computer screen. “After this is all over, maybe we could get together, the two of you and Torry and me. We could have dinner or take in a movie, celebrate our upcoming parenthood. It would be just like old times. What do you say?”
“I don’t think so,” Lee answered, not even wanting to think about the old times anymore. He felt badly out of shape and didn’t care to be reminded of how things used to be.
“That-would be fine,” Erin said at the same time.
Lee couldn’t help but look her way. Their gazes clashed like steel, seeming to send sparks into the air around them. Lee suddenly felt as though he was burning up. They were challenging each other now in a fiery confrontation that both of them were facing head-on. He couldn’t run away from it. He could see she was going to defy him. He just knew it.
So it came as no surprise when she did. “We’ll see, Tom,” she said. “But I think that sounds like a great idea. We’d love to see Torry.”
Well, it wasn’t quite an act of defiance, but it was close enough for Lee. He would have loved to grab her just then and shake some sense into her. They couldn’t go out together. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t.
He would have loved to jump over the desk and shake some sense into Tom for even making the suggestion.
But he let it go for now, needing to put his own problems aside until this was over. He forced himself to remember his first priority—to keep Erin safe. After that, he could limp away and leave the past behind. Looking up, he found Tom staring at him strangely.
“Find anything, Tom?” he asked, trying to get down to business and forget about going out all together—just like the old days. He’d worked too hard getting past those good old days.
Tom looked at the computer screen. “Maybe I just did,” he said slowly.
“What?” Lee and Erin spoke out at the same time. Lee threw her another heated glance. Then Tom had both their attention.
“According to Doreli’s record, he’s been arrested for tax evasion, as I said. But his bail was paid by none other than Forest Burke.”
Lee sat back in his chair and let out a heavy sigh. Knowing for certain who was behind all of this somehow made it easier to face. Looking at Erin, he noticed she was taking the information with a sense of relief, too. At least he thought she was until she reached out and took his hand again.
Her touch was cold. He gave her hand a squeeze in an effort to warm her. It didn’t help much, but he didn’t let her go.
“What do I do, Tom?” she asked.
Lee could hear the way she was fighting to keep her voice strong.
“We’re going to start with some police protection,” Tom replied. “I may have put out an APB on Doreli, but that doesn’t guarantee he’ll be caught any time soon.”
“Do you think she’s safe with me?” Lee asked. He meant safe at his place as opposed to a safe house or perhaps a hotel.
Tom’s answer caught him off guard. “Do you?”
“I just wanted to know if you feel my house is safe enough or if I should take her somewhere else,” Lee replied, unable to keep the edge out of his voice.
“Have you noticed anyone following you?” Tom asked.
“I’ve been careful,” Lee replied.
“Does anyone know she’s with you?” Tom asked next.
“Just Ollin and Kaffel. And you.”
“With police surveillance, I would think it’s probably safe enough. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have somewhere else in mind in case you have to leave,” Tom suggested.
“Fine,” Lee said shortly.
“I’ll see to it that a couple of men in an unmarked car are assigned to watch your house. I’ll also put a team at the end of your street. And unless you have any objections,” Tom added, “I’m going to keep in contact with Kaffel and let him know what’s going on so don’t be surprised if the FBI ends up watching, too.”
“Do you really think all this is necessary?” Lee asked. True, he wanted to do everything to keep Erin safe, but the fewer people who knew where she was, the better.
Tom nodded, his expression reassuring. “Yes, absolutely. It’s what we do, remember. It’s our job to protect witnesses, and right now, I’m calling the shots. Besides, I’d feel better. And you know as well as I do that I can do it this way or I can do it behind your back.”
Lee fought back a grin. Yes, the man before him hadn’t changed a bit. He was still a sly fox in a dark suit who played by whatever rules it took to win.
“Do what you want, then,” Lee returned.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Erin stood up suddenly. “Will you both excuse me for a moment?” Both men stood. “The ladies’ room is still where it used to be, right?” she asked Tom.
“Yes,” he replied, motioning. “Just down the hall past the elevators.”
A second later, she was gone.
Before Lee could say anything, Tom picked up his phone again and got a hold of Alex Kaffel at the
FBI to let him know what was going on.
“Kaffel said he would see what he could do about getting FBI surveillance, too, but he doesn’t want to take any men off Burke,” Tom explained once he’d hung up.
“That’s fine,” Lee replied. “I’d feel better working with our guys anyway.” The room was quiet for a long moment. “Those were some pretty sly moves,” he finally said. “Asking us to go out with you and Torry, offering me half your office in front of Erin.” His voice was even, only its huskiness revealing the touch of anger he was trying to hide.
Tom grinned. “For over six months, you’ve been capable of coming back to work, and all you’ve done is weasel your way out of talking to me, or at least having to hear what it was that I wanted to say to you when it came to the job. I knew if I said something in front of her, it wouldn’t be so easy for you to ignore me.”
Lee leaned back in his chair and relaxed for the first time. Of course it wasn’t easy. It was impossible. He nearly laughed, letting his lingering anger slip away, thinking he should have known Tom would try something like this.
“And yes, to answer your earlier question, I do keep tabs on you. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. In my opinion, you’re one of the best cops in this department—aside from myself, of course. I can’t help worrying about you, now can I?”
There was a lump in Lee’s throat and he couldn’t reply. Yes, Tom could be a sly fox in a tailored suit, but he was also painfully honest. God, how could Lee have forgotten that little detail about his best friend?
He shouldn’t have come back here, Lee realized. It was just another painful rung on the long ladder of memories Erin Flemming was forcing him to climb. It was just another reason to either strangle Erin or get her out of his life, whichever was easiest or came first.
“Listen,” Tom continued when Lee refused to say anything, “if you need me for anything—and I do mean anything at all—I’ll be here for you. You’ve always known that. I just wish I could do more now.”
“So much points to Burke, but all of it is circumstantial. And even if there was something strong enough to warrant an arrest, a sharp lawyer would make sure we couldn’t hold him for very long. After that, Burke would cover his tracks and be out of the country before you could say ‘Prussian blue paint.’ And then the FBI would be on our butts for screwing up their investigation.” He paused and rubbed his temple absently. It was the first sign that showed he was worried about all of this. “God, the thought makes me sick.”
Crime Of The Heart Page 7
