Tides of Deception (Samantha Rite Mystery Series Book 3)

by Hope Callaghan

  “Well, I really appreciate it and I’m going to make it up to you somehow!” Sam was sincere.

  Gabby cut in. “Oh Sam, you already have. When you introduced me to Donovan! He’s just wonderful.” She sighed dreamily.

  Sam was curious on Gabby’s take. “So it’s getting serious?”

  Gabby paused. Which was unusual. “Yeah, I think so. But please don’t mention it to anyone…”

  Sam reassured her. “I won’t tell a soul. And I think it’s wonderful. You two seem made for each other.”

  “Yeah. He never would’ve been my first choice but now that we’re gettin’ to know each other, it’s like it was meant to be!”

  Sam glanced at her watch. She needed to get back to work. Before hanging up, Gabby reassured Sam one more time that she couldn’t wait for her to get to Florida and not worry about imposing.

  Sam shook her head after she hung up. Gabby was teaching her a thing or two, too. How to give people a chance and not make hasty judgments.

  Chapter 2

  Lee stared down at the phone still in his hand. He didn’t want to worry Sam but he had to admit he was a little surprised someone had taken Michel out. These people were a little more serious than even he realized.

  “Well, well, well, who do we have here?”

  Lee’s head jerked in the direction of the voice. Standing in his office doorway was Jennifer Addison. After all these years.

  Lee’s eyes narrowed for a fleeting second before he casually folded his hands in his lap and leaned back in his chair to study her. She was still smokin’ hot. The years had been kind to her. Her long, honey-blonde locks were pulled back in a loose ponytail. She was dressed in street clothes. Skinny jeans, a tight tank top that didn’t do her justice and casual beach sandals. The only jewelry she had on was a pair of large, gold hoop earrings.

  Lee’s eyes drifted back to her face. Her sultry brown eyes narrowed as they honed in on him.

  “Hello, Jennifer.”

  Jennifer, or “Jen”, as she liked to be called, took that as an invitation. She took a couple steps closer to Lee.

  “Rumor had it you were transferring down here.”

  “Yep. Been here a couple weeks now.”

  Jen deliberately leaned forward, placing both hands on the chair in front of her. Lee now had a front and center view of her well-toned and voluptuous upper half.

  “Maybe we can have lunch soon. Catch up after all these years.”

  Over his dead body. Lee stood. “Yeah. We should do that.”

  It was obvious the brief conversation was over. At least for Lee it was.

  Jen wasn’t giving up that easy. “You look great. I almost forgot how really gorgeous you are.”

  Lee wasn’t going there. Not with her. “Thanks. I don’t mean to cut you off, but I need to get down to Donovan’s office right away.”

  Jen’s eyebrows raised. “I understand. I have to get going myself. I’m working undercover – prostitution ring.” She sighed melodramatically. “My favorite.”

  Lee made his way over to Donovan’s office, just down the hall. He glanced through the large glass partition before knocking. Donovan motioned him in and towards an empty chair. Lee sat heavily. “Guess who I just ran into?”

  “Jen. Yeah, she was in my office a couple days ago, asking about you.”

  Donovan got up and closed his office door. “She still has a thing for you. Big time.”

  That was the last thing Lee wanted to hear. Lee and Jennifer had a serious relationship years ago when they worked together in Houston. Apparently, it was more serious for Lee than Jennifer. After dating for almost a year, Lee was sure she was “the one.” So sure that he bought her an engagement ring.

  It seemed like yesterday. Lee had been on assignment in Hong Kong for several long days. He couldn’t wait for it to end so he could get home to Jen. He had secretly planned a romantic weekend getaway to Mexico only days after he got back home. It was there he planned to pop the question.

  But that never happened. Thank God. He no more than landed on American soil when Jen called and asked if she could meet him right away. Lee was exhausted from the almost 20 hour flight, not to mention jet lag. But Jen sounded almost distraught on the phone. He drove right from the airport to the meeting place, not even taking the time to shower or change.

  When he got to the restaurant, Jen was already there waiting for him. One look at her anxious expression and Lee knew something was very wrong.

  Instead of getting up when she saw him, Jen nervously motioned for him to sit beside her.

  He wearily settled into the chair and looked over at the woman he loved. It was good to be home. Surely whatever was bothering her could be resolved. He didn’t need her all stressed out. Not now that he was home and had the special engagement trip planned.

  Jen attempted a smile but it just wasn’t going to happen. She quickly gave up. No sense in prolonging this. She took a deep breath and jumped right in.

  “I’m ending our relationship.”

  Lee’s heart stopped. I must have heard her wrong.

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand…”

  Jen looked into Lee’s tired, confused face. This was rough.

  “I-I don’t know how this happened, but I’ve fallen in love with someone else.”

  There was the bombshell. Out in the open.

  Jen was almost relieved once the words were out. She’d agonized for days, wondering how on earth she was going to break this to Lee.

  Lee was dumbstruck. He sat there speechless, his bewildered brain refusing to accept what Jen just said.

  Without thinking, he grabbed the glass of ice water in front of him and took a large swallow. He carefully set the glass back down on the table, his mind still not registering her confession.

  He shook his head, as if to clear it. “I don’t know what to say other than I had no idea…”

  Jen was relieved that he had finally started to speak. “I didn’t plan on it to happen. It just did.” She swallowed hard. “I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

  Instead of replying, Lee flagged the waiter over. “I’ll have a beer.” He paused. “I take that back. I’ll have a Scotch on the rocks. Make it a double.”

  After the waiter left, he leaned back in the chair as he turned to his now ex-girlfriend.

  “Anyone I know?”

  Jen hesitated. Lee was not going to like this. Not one bit.

  She swallowed nervously. “David Fleming.”

  Lee felt his blood pressure rise as anguish turned to rage. It could have been anyone – anyone in the whole world but it just had to be that lowlife!

  Lee and David had been adversaries ever since Lee caught David calling Jennifer after hours, off duty. She always insisted she had never shown him any encouragement but apparently, that was nothing but a flat out lie.

  The waiter was back with Lee’s drink. Lee opened his wallet and handed him a ten. “Perfect timing.”

  He picked up the Scotch, took two long swallows and set the empty glass back down on the table.

  Jen sat watching Lee nervously. She knew him well enough to know he was angry. Really angry.

  Lee studied the beautiful woman across the table. He was looking at her in a brand new light. A very unflattering one.

  Maybe she’s done me a favor. That was one way to look at it. In Lee’s mind, there was nothing left to say.

  He abruptly got to his feet. He looked down at Jennifer, his expression unfathomable. “Thank you.”

  Jen looked up at Lee, her eyebrows raised. Why on earth would he be thanking her?

  “It looks like you’ve just done me a favor so thank you.”

  With that, he turned on his heel and walked out of the restaurant.

  Lee drove directly from the restaurant to his office. There was one more thing to do before he could go home and get some much needed rest.

  Lee’s supervisor, Alan, shook his head in confusion. “So are you sure you want to put
in this request for an immediate transfer? What about Jennifer?”

  The look on Lee’s face turned dark and ominous. So that was it.

  There was no sense in trying to talk Lee out of this. Alan grabbed the pen from his desk and signed off on the request. Lee would be transferring to the Atlanta branch immediately.

  Lee stopped by what was now his old office and boxed up what meager personal belongings he had accumulated over the years. He slowly picked up the picture of Jennifer and him. They were on the beach in Malibu, a beautiful sun setting behind them. They looked so happy. Tramp. He dropped the picture in the trash can, grabbed his box of stuff and walked out, never looking back.

  Over the years, Lee would hear her name briefly mentioned here or there. He knew that she and David were together for a couple years before eventually splitting up.

  His transfer to Atlanta was one of the best things he ever did. It was not long after that he met his wife Annie at a friend’s party. They had a whirlwind courtship and married less than six months later. Annie was his soul mate. Lee was certain they would be together forever. Until she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. By the time the doctors figured out what was wrong with her, the cancer was in its late stages. Annie died an agonizing death and Lee was heartbroken.

  He’d pretty much given up on marriage and finding someone that was right for him. Until Sam came along.

  “So did you mention Samantha to Jen?”

  Lee shook his head. “She’ll find out soon enough.” He grinned. “Man, Sam has a fierce jealous streak in her. Hopefully, Jen will keep her distance. If she knows what’s good for her!”

  Donovan chuckled. “Sounds like Jen won’t be a problem…”

  Lee changed the subject. He almost forgot why he’d come here in the first place, other than to get away from Jennifer.

  “Michel Dubois is dead.”

  A look of surprise crossed Donovan’s face. “No kidding?”

  Lee briefly relayed what Sam had told him.

  Donovan drummed his fingers on the desktop as he looked thoughtfully over at Lee. He swiveled around in his chair and grabbed his cell off the bookcase behind him.

  He scrolled through the phone until he found the number he’d been looking for. The person on the other end picked up right away. He didn’t waste any time and got right to the point. “We just heard that Michel Dubois was murdered and found floating in the Grand River up there.”

  Donovan sat listening for several minutes. His only reply was a couple “uh-huhs” and “really.” Lee wished he’d put the call on speaker.

  Finally, he thanked the person on the other end. Just before he hung up he added, “Call me as soon as you find anything else out.”

  He set the phone back down on the desk and leaned back in the chair. “It was a professional hit. The autopsy’s almost done. No prints, no clues, nothing.”

  Lee dropped his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. “We need to be careful. By now they know they can’t get the map back but I can guarantee they’ll be looking for the treasure.”

  He continued. “If they got Michel’s phone, they have a copy of the map now, too.”

  Lee suddenly thought of something. He pulled his cell phone from his front pocket and dialed a number. “Hey, I need you to check on a couple people that were arrested not too long ago on attempted kidnapping and resisting arrest.”

  He looked over at Donovan. “Yeah, the names are Beth and Tom McGraw.”

  Lee paused. “Ok, call me back at this extension when you find out.”

  Donovan shifted in his chair as he ran a tense hand through his cropped hair. “Hopefully they’re still alive.”

  Ten minutes later, Lee’s phone rang. He jumped up and quickly closed the office door just before he put the call on speaker.

  “What’d you find out?”

  The unidentified caller spoke in a hushed voice. “Yeah, they bonded out a few days ago. They were supposed to appear in court yesterday but never showed.”

  The caller continued. “There’s a warrant out for their arrest. When the officers went to their house, it was locked up tight. They’ve been by there a couple times. Looks like they just disappeared.”

  Lee leaned back in his chair. “Ok, thanks. Give me a call if you hear anything else.”

  Donovan rubbed his hand over his forehead. “We should get a search warrant and make a run by there…”

  Lee nodded. “I was just about to say the same thing.” He stood up. “Can you take care of that?”

  Back in his own office, Lee tried focusing on the drug traffickers they were about to take down. His brows furrowed. One more thing to have to deal with. Soon he’d be undercover, working on the other side of the state. With any luck, the search warrant would come through today.

  Lee was just wrapping things up when he heard a light tap on his door. He looked up to see Donovan standing in the doorway, waving a paper in his right hand. “Got it!”

  Lee grabbed his phone and shoved it in his front pocket. He flung his jacket over his shoulder and headed for the door. “Let’s go!”

  Twenty minutes later, they parked in front of Beth and Tom’s plain, brick home. They got out of the car and glanced around, looking for signs of life.

  There was no one in sight as they made their way up the front steps and rang the bell. They stood quietly listening to nothing but silence.

  Lee knocked hard on the wooden door. Nothing. There was one more thing to do before letting themselves in. They made their way around back and peered in through the slider. The kitchen was clean and tidy.

  Donovan put his hand on the door handle and gave it a little tug. It wasn’t locked and the slider door easily slid open.

  “Special Agent Donovan of the CIA. Anyone home?”

  Silence. With that, they stepped inside the dining room. Their trained eyes noted nothing was out of place. The air was stagnant. By the looks of it, the house had been vacant for several days. Like maybe the owners were on vacation.

  Lee walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the stack of mail sitting in a small pile off to the side. He quickly thumbed through it and moments later set it back down. Nothing here.

  He started to walk away when he noticed a trash can tucked neatly under the kitchen countertop. He pulled the can out, lifted the lid and peered inside. The putrid smell of rotting meat was overwhelming. He held his breath as he reached in and plucked out some papers lying on top. He flipped the papers over one-by-one and quickly tossed them back in the smelly bin. Suddenly he stopped.

  There in the middle of the pile was an opened envelope, the contents missing. The outside is what caught his attention. The address on the front was written in sloppy, careless penmanship, addressed to Tom and Beth McGraw. There was no return address but the postmark was Mexico. Lee folded the stained, empty envelope and carefully tucked it inside his pants pocket.

  After a quick search of the rest of the house, the two of them walked back out the way they’d come in. Through the rear slider.

  Donovan looked at Lee as he pulled the slider door shut. “So what do you think the story is?”

  Lee shook his head. “At first, I thought maybe they’re just trying to avoid jail time but after finding the envelope,” he patted his pocket, “I’m not so sure anymore.”

  Chapter 3

  Sam spent her last day at the Anderson Insurance Group meeting with other agents and transferring her clients to them. It was a bittersweet day. She loved her job and the friends that she’d made over the years. Every time she thought about moving 1200 miles away from everything she’d ever known, she started to panic. What the heck am I doing?

  The day eventually dragged to an end. Sam said her final, tearful good-byes to her close friends of many years. She swallowed a large lump in her throat and blinked away the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks as she walked out the front door one final time as an employee. She pulled the door firmly shut behind her and looked up at the clear, blue skie
s as she took a deep breath. This was harder than she imagined it would be.

  She slowly made her way down the sidewalk and into the parking garage. When she reached her car, she clicked the opener and eased the door open. She quickly tossed her purse onto the passenger seat and was just about to slide in behind the wheel when she heard a familiar voice say her name.

  “Hi Sam.”

  Sam swung around to face the voice. Standing in front of her was her ex-husband, Anthony. His hands were shoved in his front pockets and he looked more than a little uncomfortable.

  She swallowed hard and managed a weak smile. “Hello Anthony.”

  There was a long, awkward silence. He looked down at his feet, as if searching for the right words. “I know you’re leaving in a few days… I just thought maybe …” His voice trailed off.

  He tried again. “Brianna told me you thought it was a good idea that she go ahead and have dinner with me last night.”

  Sam nodded.

  Anthony looked directly in Sam’s eyes as he took a step closer to the car. Up close, Sam noticed his face was drawn. He looked tired. “Thank you for that.”

  Sam shook her head. “No need to thank me. God doesn’t want me to be unforgiving. Same goes for Brianna.” She added graciously, “but, you’re welcome.”

  She tilted her head and looked directly at him, something she would not have been able to do even six months ago. “Listen, Anthony, everything happens for a reason. Even our divorce. Sometimes it takes a while to figure out why. Finally, the pieces of my life are coming back together.”

  “And I’m happy. Really happy,” she continued. “And I hope you are too.” She was more than a little surprised that she truly meant that.

  Anthony smiled hesitantly. “Thanks, Sam. I appreciate that. You’re a better person than me.”

  Sam shook her head. “No. Not better. Just forgiven.”

  He pivoted away, as if to go. Without warning, he turned back one last time as he studied his ex-wife for a moment. “Good luck Sam. I hope you have a wonderful life in Florida. You deserve it.”

  With that, he turned on his heel and slowly walked out of the parking garage, his hollow footsteps echoing on the hard concrete.