He was the killer.
Everything fell into place as Cynthia connected the facts. The detective had access to the security cameras, he was privy to everything and anything related to Brad’s murder in regard to alibis and opportunities given to friends and family, and he’d been able to manipulate the investigation with the simplest of fabrications.
“He had to go and fuck you, didn’t he? Langston never could keep his dick in his pants.” Detective Nielsen leaned forward so that their outward appearance was one of commiseration. The coldness in his dark eyes told her that he was most likely incapable of sympathy. “I’m going to need you to do exactly what I say without any trouble, Ms. Ellsworth.”
Cynthia was still grappling with the fact that the man before her wasn’t the detective she’d come to know over the past month. Honestly, a deep-seated fear had settled over her the instant he’d reached for his weapon.
The overwhelming need to escape had muddled her thoughts, but only temporarily until her anger surged forth and she wanted nothing more than to claw his eyes out for all that he’d put them through in his need for…
“Why?” Cynthia wasn’t just stalling for time. She truly wanted to understand why Detective Nielsen would have killed Brad and tried to sabotage those who were closest to her. “Why would you do this?”
“As I said, we’re going to stand up slowly before walking toward the stairwell.”
The stairwell.
Did the stairs have security cameras?
Cynthia forced herself to take a deep breath, trying to focus on only one thing at a time—surviving being first on the list. She still had her cell phone in her hand, but he was watching her too closely for her to try and dial out.
The hospital had video surveillance everywhere, especially in the elevators, so there was no way in hell he would get away with abducting her here in the hospital and taking her somewhere else to kill. She’d been recorded upon her arrival, and there was no doubt a camera was pointed their way right this moment, which was the reason he’d kept his firearm next to her body.
A part of her understood that he could easily get rid of that evidence, as he’d done so before. She couldn’t bring herself to accept that, though.
All she had to do was yell and struggle against his position and hopefully have her reaction recorded. Someone would see her dilemma, right? She didn’t want to die, but she sure as hell wouldn’t go down without leaving the evidence as to who was the guilty party.
“You need to remember something, Ms. Ellsworth. I have nothing to lose at this point. I’ll shoot you right here if I have to.” Nielsen leaned in a bit more, causing her to bend back slightly. She would never again think of him as someone with authority. “If you so much as act like something is wrong, I will make sure that you’re not the only one I take out before I leave here.”
Cynthia had no doubt he was telling her the truth. He was no longer the composed man who had taken lead in an investigation.
Nielsen had fooled them all.
“You could have gotten away with all of this had you not shown your hand here,” Cynthia pointed out, trying to steady her voice. She failed. “No one knows anything yet. You and I can come to an agree—”
“It’s too late for that, and you damn well know it.” The ding of the elevator caused Cynthia’s heart to race at the potential help that could save her, but she instantly changed her mind when he firmly pressed the barrel against her knee. “I will not hesitate to kill whoever comes out of that elevator if you make me.”
Cynthia had a choice to make, but she wasn’t willing to have someone else die because she panicked.
“You didn’t have to tip your hand with me. I didn’t know anything,” Cynthia revealed a bit desperately, catching sight of a couple stepping off the elevator. She couldn’t take the chance of them getting hurt. That didn’t mean she couldn’t cut some type of deal. “I still don’t know anything. You let me go, and I’ll pretend this never happened.”
Nielsen lifted one side of his mouth up in mockery before shaking his head at her foolish attempt to escape this hospital unscathed.
“You don’t expect me to believe that Langston asked for you the second he opened his eyes all because he wanted to apologize for lying to you?” Nielsen stood over her, holding his firearm alongside his pants so that it couldn’t be seen from the foyer. “He came clean with you, didn’t he? He told you the truth. He admitted to what Manon and Colbert did three years ago, and he confessed to what we were doing now.”
“I still don’t understand how you could be involved in this.”
Nielsen didn’t speak for what felt like an eternity, but Cynthia knew better. He was finally recognizing that she truly hadn’t known what was going on until just now. Only it was too late, because he’d already tipped his hand by threatening her with his firearm.
“Detective, we can both walk away from this.” Cynthia figured bargaining was her best chance to get out of this alive. She still wasn’t one hundred percent positive that he was the one who had killed Brad. “It’s clear that you’ve done something wrong, but I have no clue as to what that may be. So, we can—”
“Just stop it,” Nielsen directed, rubbing his forehead as if he, too, was trying to come up with a solution. “I didn’t want it to come to this. I truly didn’t, but there isn’t any way to go back. This was my mistake. I have no choice but to clean this mess up and move on.”
“Then tell me why you did it,” Cynthia asked quickly, hoping to buy some more time so she could figure out how she could get away without anyone else getting hurt. She gave a quick glance toward the elevator, noticing that the number above signified it had gone back down to the lobby. “I deserve to know, Detective.”
“You make it sound like I wanted this to happen.” Nielsen rested a hand on the arm of the chair, leaning in close. She didn’t pull away this time, not willing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her physical fear. “You’ve got to understand. Manon, Colbert, and Langston basically promised me a fortune by investing in Langston’s tech company. I was in over my head, caring for my mother and taking care of my entire family. Do you know how hard that is to do on a detective’s salary? I pulled everything out of my retirement fund. I gambled it all on this one thing. It was supposed to be a sure thing. We were going to manipulate the stock price into going higher, and then Langston was going to present at some conference to give the illusion that something big was coming. The stock would have jumped, we would have sold our shares for a huge profit, and we’d have been set for life.”
“What went wrong?” Cynthia barely got the words out, because it was clear she was running out of time. “Why kill Brad?”
“He needed to pull his money out early. The amount he’d invested…well, selling that amount of shares before the announcement would have tanked the price. All of our efforts would have been for nothing. One thing led to another, and…” Nielsen gripped her upper arm until she had no choice but to stand. There was no odor of alcohol or rancid sweat. He was completely in control, and he had every intention of killing her and dumping her body like trash. “I’m done talking. I did what I had to do, and I plan on cleaning up the mess that was left behind.”
They’d made all of this too easy for the detective. Marilyn, the other employees, and even Cynthia had kept Nielsen up-to-date practically twenty-four-seven with bits of information so that he’d always be one step ahead of all of them. It didn’t help that Phil had been in the trenches, picking up crumbs of intel to pass on to the mastermind behind it all.
Before Nielsen could guide her toward the stairwell, his words resounded in her head.
“Clean up the mess?” Cynthia instinctively tried to pull away, but Nielsen tightened his grip. He’d even managed to pull her closer, but that didn’t stop her from verbally asking him to confirm her suspicions. “You set up Grace to take the fall for Brad’s murder. When that failed, you tried to set up her stepbrother because of their past. And you killed Kurt, becaus
e he was about to come clean about everything, wasn’t he?”
“As I said, I’m done talking. And I’ll give you a friendly reminder that I have nothing left to lose and everything to gain if this is handled right.” Nielsen hid his firearm with the left side of his jacket, ensuring that she was also on his left side. One pull of the trigger and… “If you so much as give a sideways look to anyone in this hospital, there will be nothing stopping me from taking them out, too. What happens in the next few minutes rests on your shoulders. Are you willing to risk innocent lives of others just to save your own?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Mr. Nicollet, I’m going to have to ask you to stay right where you are,” Detective Mancini stated for the second time in the past thirty seconds. Gareth didn’t give a shit what the man was demanding, because there was no way in hell he was remaining in the lobby of the hospital when Cynthia’s life was in danger. “This is an ongoing investigation, and we don’t want to tip our hand and endanger anyone unnecessarily.”
“You and I both know that Cynthia is right outside of the ICU with Nielsen. You might be willing to leverage her life to get a conviction on a dirty cop, but I sure as hell am not.” Gareth had never experienced such desperation as he did now, knowing full well that all access points to the ICU were currently blocked by police officers working with Internal Affairs. “Let me—”
“Look,” Detective Mancini finally said with a bit of understanding. Unfortunately, he hadn’t changed his mind in regard to how he was going to play out the current situation. “I know how frustrating this is, but you need to let us do our jobs. You’re more than likely to get Cynthia killed than you are to save her.”
“Mancini, the elevators are clear.”
The detective lifted a hand of acknowledgement to the on-scene Tactical Response Commander, keeping his focus on Gareth. Everything had spiraled out of control when he’d received a call on the way to the hospital from Smith, confirming that there was something going down with Cynthia in the mix. He’d gotten word from his father, but that was good enough for Gareth to corroborate his suspicions—Cynthia’s life was in danger due to walking right into the middle of this mess.
Smith had the five-minute drive to explain that Mancini had been brought in from the State Police Special Investigation Division to assist with a review of one Fred Nielsen months ago. How all that came about, Gareth didn’t understand and honestly didn’t care. It became increasingly obvious with every passing minute that Mancini wanted to bring Nielsen in alive—as was his duty.
Gareth had already heard part of the plan when he’d made it through the hospital doors, right before another officer in tactical gear had blocked his access to the elevators. Law enforcement clearly expected Nielsen to take Cynthia to the roof of the building, possibly throwing her off the ledge, and making it seem as if she were too distraught to live after the death of her ex-lover.
At this point, Gareth didn’t give a shit if the man lived or died. Let a sniper put one in the man’s ear and be done with it.
“Detective Mancini, they’re on the move,” an officer said, gesturing for the police presence to vacate the immediate area. “Nielsen is bringing her down in the elevator now.”
It was evident that Mancini hadn’t believed Nielsen would parade Cynthia through the lobby, so something must have changed his mind—or someone.
“Detective, you realize the moment he sees you or the other officers that he’ll take Cynthia as a hostage.” Gareth was doing his best not to lose his shit, but he’d never quite been placed in this type of situation. The small box that held Cynthia’s engagement ring practically burned a hole through his jacket. “Let me come between them and delay them from leaving the hospital.”
“Three more floors, sir.”
Mancini had to make a quick decision, and he finally opted for the only one available that didn’t have Cynthia leaving the safety net that currently surrounded the building.
“You and I both know that she’s dead if Nielsen gets her through those doors.”
“And you’re liable to join her six feet under if you blow this, hero.”
Mancini quickly gave the hand gesture for those officers in view to take cover and blend into the background. He wasn’t an ordinary detective with limited experience in field situations. From their earlier conversation, the man had been SID for fifteen years. His assignment to the local PD with Internal Affairs hadn’t been his first, and his unit was known to do what was necessary to weed out the corruption within the ranks. Bottom line was that they closed cases.
Gareth had expected Mancini to drop back, but he remained steadfast as they both continued to walk toward the elevator bank.
“Follow my lead,” Mancini directed under his breath, finally delivering on the promise that he was a man who knew what the hell he was doing. He had to be one hell of an actor, though. He could have easily made it in Hollywood. “And don’t do anything stupid that could cost us our lives.”
Gareth honestly didn’t care about anything other than getting Cynthia away from Nielsen. How could a man throw away his integrity for money? Not only had he thrown away his honor, but he’d killed a man in cold blood for greed. Had he been so desperate that he didn’t care about taking another man’s life?
Nielsen’s level of desperation was the motivating reason that Gareth needed to get Cynthia to safety before the man cracked.
“…so he confessed five minutes ago,” Detective Mancini said as the doors slowly slid open to reveal a somewhat confident Nielsen holding Cynthia a little too close for comfort. “Can you imagine that? The guilt must have—”
Mancini broke off as he feigned surprise at finding Nielsen and Cynthia in the elevator. It took every ounce of mental fortitude for Gareth not to reach out and tear her away from Nielsen’s side.
“Nielsen, perfect timing.” Mancini held up his hands with what appeared to be a genuine smile of satisfaction. “Phil Colbert walked into the station ten minutes ago with his lawyer in tow. He actually said that he would confess to the murder of Brad Manon if the prosecutor would give him a plea. Can you believe that shit? I got your message that Langston was awake, so we’ll need to talk with him about his involvement in this whole stock manipulation thing. I’ll admit, I don’t know shit about investments.”
“K-Kurt’s dead,” Cynthia managed to say, clutching her phone and her purse against her stomach. Her gaze swung between Gareth and Detective Mancini, obviously believing they had no idea that Nielsen was holding her at gunpoint. Her palpable overwhelming terror had his heart pumping to the point of chest pain. “He didn’t make it.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Mancini shook his head as if he were commiserating with her. “I doubt Langston’s death will affect the outcome on this case, considering Colbert is willing to confess to everything. What a shame, though. I’m sure we’ll contact you for a statement at some point, as well as everyone at Manon Investments. Detective Nielsen and I will be heading back to the station, but you—”
“Fuck!” Nielsen pulled up his firearm so fast that Cynthia didn’t have time to react. Neither did Mancini. “Fuck! This wasn’t supposed to go down like this, Rich. How the fuck did you know?”
Gareth had been fighting his own instincts this entire time not to do something foolish that could get Cynthia killed, but the situation had just escalated to light speed. Mancini had responded in kind, drawing his weapon and basically initiating a standoff.
There was only one problem.
The elevator doors were about to slide together, cutting off Gareth’s ability to reach for Cynthia.
He couldn’t allow that to happen.
How the hell had Nielsen been tipped off?
“Nobody move,” Mancini instructed, though Gareth was pretty sure he was giving the directive to his subordinates. Wait. Someone had mentioned that the police were controlling the elevators. “Fred, it’s over. You and I both know that I can’t let you walk out of here with her. It’s not going to
happen.”
Gareth had learned a lot in his years running the family’s multiple foundations. One very valuable lesson was to allow the experts to do their job. He wasn’t a doctor, so he didn’t give anyone medical advice. He wasn’t a lawyer, which meant he referred all legal matters to the professionals. A police officer? He sure as hell wasn’t even remotely qualified—which meant he had no choice but to trust in Mancini.
Gareth caught Cynthia’s gaze to somehow try and reassure her that everything was going to be fine. It was then that he realized how calm and composed Cynthia actually was in this scenario.
That scared the hell out of him more than any firearm.
She always did like to take matters into her hands and lead the bull, but this was different.
Her life was on the line.
His life.
She was his everything.
She wouldn’t do something to—
Everything happened at once. Cynthia lifted her right leg and slammed the back of her high heel down onto Nielsen’s shoe with all her might, while shifting to the side and bringing her elbow up at the same time to smash it into the underside of his nose. Nielsen might have been expecting Mancini or even Gareth himself to make a foolish move, but Cynthia had outsmarted all of them.
She rushed forward, straight into Gareth’s waiting arms at the precise time a shot rang out. The explosive reverberation echoed in the sterile foyer of the hospital, though neither he nor Cynthia had seen who pulled the trigger on their weapon—he’d immediately shielded her from harm by engulfing her in his embrace while turning his body away so that his back was toward the standoff.
“Cuff him. Read him his rights, then get a damned doctor down here now!”
Opportunity (Office Roulette, Book Three) Page 13
