by Terra Wolf
“You look like you hardly slept,” the captain said to me as he opened his hand toward the empty seat.
“Something like that,” I mumbled again. I watched as Logan raised an eyebrow at me, but no one spoke. The captain stood at the head of the table, making a steeple with his fingers beneath his chin. “So what do y'all think about this? I want ideas, people. I'm tired of waiting.” His voice was stern and our heads snapped up. We knew what to think. We certainly had our theories, but what Natasha had told me last night didn't solidify any of them. We were still completely in the dark. This case was making me crazy. I thought a body would solve our problem, as sick as that sounded. But instead, it had just made things more complicated.
“We think that there's some truth to this internal investigation that they’re hosting. Some of their associates were certainly taking money off the top. But we already knew that from our previous calculations. We don't know where it's going, or why.”
The captain nodded. “Do you think that whoever this is will strike again? Or do we think this truly was just someone who got laid off yesterday?”
I chewed on that thought for a moment before speaking. “I don't think this was just some disgruntled ex-employee. I think someone from the top is taking out people who knew about these accounts. I think there's a list. I don't think this will be the end.”
A couple of the guys assessed me from across the table, judgment in their eyes. Shane finally spoke. “What makes you say that? Your interview with the witness?”
The captain raised an eyebrow at me. “You interviewed the witness privately? Who gave you authorization to do that?”
Internally, I rolled my eyes. I was a sergeant at my precinct, so I hardly answered to anyone. But even though his own guys had given me the direction that he still wanted clarification, it was exhausting. Luckily, Logan piped up. “I told him what to do, captain. I thought the girl knew more than she was letting on, and it looks like I was right.”
I nodded. “She thinks that one of her associates, the girl that she shares an office with, may know some more. Lydia Santiago? Does that ring any bells? I don't remember seeing the name on any of the paperwork. So she must not be that high up.”
I saw Marco slink down in his seat, and the captain turned his steely gaze upon him. “What did you tell your sister about this case?”
My eyes widened. “Sister? Lydia Santiago is your sister?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I just told her I thought it would be a good idea if she started looking for a new job. I didn't tell her anything she couldn’t figure out on her own.”
The captain slammed his hand down on the table. “You are a detective in the Portland Police Department, and you told your sister that something was going down there. I know your family, Marco, your sister looked into it. There's no way that she couldn't have done that. And if she found out anything, and this really is a killer who won't stop until everyone who knows what's really going on is dead, then your sister is in danger. Go call her and send a uniform to her house to pick her up. I want to know everything that she found out.”
Marco's head was dipped down dejectedly as he exited the room. I couldn't imagine being in his position right now: fearing for your sister's life because of information that you gave her? He must've felt sick to his stomach. I know I did.
“And this witness, Natasha Bradford, did she trust you?”
More than they would ever know. “I think so.”
“Good. Go pick her up too. Because anything that Lydia found out and told her puts her in danger as well. We’re going to have to set up a sting, with these two girls out as bait. We have to figure out who's doing this, and how deep it all goes within the company.”
My tiger growled underneath the surface. I was going to be forced to put Natasha into harm's way, and it was my big mouth and the fact that she trusted me that caused that. How was I supposed to keep her safe when my job was putting her at such great risk?
This new relationship was going to be a lot harder than I thought. And it had barely started.
8
Natasha
I woke up as the sun was streaming in through my lightweight curtains, casting long shadows on my bed. I extended my arm out over the sheets, feeling the silky fabric beneath my fingertips, but that was all that was there. Giovanni was gone. I wasn't even sure if he had been there to begin with, or if I had just made up some ridiculous fantasy in my head. The fantasy almost seemed more likely. Beautiful men like that just didn’t pay attention to girls like me.
As I sat up, I realized the headache from drinking too much meant that it wasn’t just a dream. It was very real, and my body ached in all the right places as if to prove last night’s validity. It told me that he really had stayed the night, that I really slept with someone I barely knew.
It wasn’t like me at all.
But somehow, I felt like it made sense; for some reason, the two of us together felt right. Like he had been missing my whole life. My body agreed. And I couldn’t wait to do it again.
I was about to roll back over—I wasn't someone who got up early on the weekends—when I heard a knock at my door. I pulled my robe off the back of my chair and wrapped it around my body. The knock was firm and grew louder as I shuffled down the hallway toward the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to see Giovanni standing there in fresh clothes, looking concerned. I pushed open the screen door and let him in. “What's going on?”
He brushed past me. “We need to talk.”
I nodded. “I guess we do,” I said as I pulled the robe tighter around me. Suddenly I didn't feel comfortable around him; he seemed so much more business oriented than he had last night. Maybe something had changed the case. Maybe they had found the real murderer.
He looked me up and down, but his eyes remained cold. “I want to talk about us too, but I can't think about that right now. There are more serious matters to discuss.”
I started to brew a pot of coffee. “I got that impression.”
“Your business partner, Lydia? She knows a lot more that she was letting on. I need to know everything that she told you.”
I grabbed a mug out of the cabinet and turned around to look at him. “Lydia? She knows hardly anything. I told you I would ask her, so why is this so urgent?”
“Because you didn't tell me that her brother is on the force. You also failed to mention that the reason that she knew anything was going on was because of our investigation. And apparently, she's a snoop when she wants to be. Family problem, I guess.”
“Because of her brother, I get it. Yeah they’re both kind of stealthy. But Lydia is the sweetest girl I know, and if she got someone to tell her something, she would've gone straight to the police. She's honest to a fault.”
“Is she? Because if she looked into things, it doesn't really seem like she told you.”
I shook my head, “I didn't really ask her much. Just if she knew anything, and she was reluctant to tell me about Marco. She just didn't want to freak me out. That was before the whole thing with Mr. Boston. I just don't think she thought that it was as serious as it is. I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to her this morning, and I haven't told her about any of this yet.”
“That will come out soon enough. They’re bringing her into the station too.”
“Too? As in also? You’re taking me in?” My pulse quickened and I could feel the blood surging through my veins. I was frozen with fear. I had never been to a police station before.
He nodded but looked frustrated. “We have to find out everything the two of you know. If someone’s targeting your company, one of you could be next.”
“So you think someone’s coming after me? They think that I know something?”
He nodded. “So what do you really know, Natasha? I don't think you’re totally innocent in all of this.”
That was a bold statement to make. It stung. I was stunned. He suddenly reminded me why I didn't date. But the truth was, I did know more than I was l
etting on. I knew one of the clients that was going to be suing the organization, because he was one of mine. “Fine. One of my clients mentioned that he was potentially getting involved in a lawsuit. I didn't know it was against us. He never seemed unhappy with our services. He just said that some friends were getting one of the lawyers involved in a business deal and that he was considering it. He said until he was sure what was going on, he was going to put our services on hold. But he's like seventy five, so he didn't push Mr. Boston downstairs.”
“What's his name?”
“Devon, Devon Hillshire. But his son mostly runs his company at this point, I think.”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Hank? Hank Wilshire is the son of your client?”
I nodded. “Yeah, why?”
“He’s cited in the investigation. He’s possibly mismanaging his father's money. So this whole lawsuit could be a sham if he’s spearheading it, just another way for him to get access to his father's funds.”
“Meaning that no one in my company is actually the problem? This is an outside job?” Things were getting stranger and stranger. How had my little problem turned into this?
He nodded. “That makes sense. They do business in Seattle as well. They own a bunch of cafés, right? I think they sell mostly cupcakes and hot chocolate, and they cater to your demographic.”
“Yes, that’s the place.”
“Then yes, I think that this is entirely an outside job. I can't believe you didn't say before. Do you think that if we arranged a meeting, you could meet up with this client? We need to try to catch them in the act.”
“I could do that. But does Devon even know? I mean, he trusts his son completely. Do you think he has the same information that you do?”
He shook his head. “I don't know. What else do you know about them?”
I chewed on my lower lip for a moment. There had been a couple times that Devon and his son had paid me off the books and asked me to do some further investing for them outside of the company. I had never told anyone before. It was when my sister had gotten into some legal trouble and we needed the extra money. She had a scary ex-boyfriend that we had to stop with a restraining order. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time, and it was outside of the company so I wasn't legally bound to tell them. I had hidden it from everyone else ever since. Including Lydia. I knew that she would never do anything like that—she was so by the book—but I knew I needed to come clean. Suddenly this had become pertinent information in this case. I couldn't hide it any longer. “I did some work for them. Some investments last year; it wasn't big money. They did it off the books. I know it was wrong, but I really needed the money, and it was such a small sum that I didn't think it was a big deal.”
“Does anyone else know about this?”
I sighed heavily. “No. I haven't even told Lydia.”
“Did you use your credentials?”
I nodded. “That's not how they got the information, right? I mean, did Hank steal my information in order to skim money from his dad? That would be insane!”
“People do crazy things for money. Does he have a will?”
I nodded. “I think so. I don’t manage that side of his money, but I met with his lawyer a few times. I assume he has a will.”
“Maybe that's our smoking gun. If the son isn't in the will, that would give him motive to steal money from his father. Get it all before he dies.”
The coffee pot beeped, letting me know that it was ready, and I poured it into my cup. I had single-handedly helped a potential murderer steal money from his father. I had started this entire mess. It was my fault. Now I had to fix it.
“Let me finish my cup of coffee, but I'll get ready to go. Whatever you need me to do, I'm on board. I don’t want to be the reason that my company goes down. I get that this is all my fault.”
“It’s not all because of you, Natasha. This is because someone thought he could get away with doing something very wrong. Unfortunately, you got roped into it.”
He made me sound naïve and innocent. But I wasn’t. I made this mess and it was entirely my fault.
Shit.
9
Giovanni
“So essentially what you're telling me is that we need to set up a meet?”
I nodded in response. I had just filled the captain and the rest of the team in on everything that Natasha had told me. They were questioning Lydia in another room. I was desperate to know what they were finding out with her. Did she really know any more than Natasha? Or was this all really tied back to her?
“I’m really sorry! I mean, I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal. I thought that no one got hurt… That it would be okay in the end. I never realized it was going to be like this. I promise.” Natasha was pleading with the captain again, because she was so embarrassed that her indiscretion had caused such a large problem. I felt terrible for her. I just wanted to reach out and touch her, to let her know that it would all be okay in the end. Explain to her that she was the victim just as much as she was a criminal. She couldn't have known that he would've taken this opportunity to exploit her, that he would make all this happen in the end. She had been working with this client for a few years. Of course she didn't think it would turn out this way. She thought she was just doing him a favor, and she didn't mean any harm. I felt sorry for her.
“We know that, but in the end, if it wasn't you, it would've been someone else. This isn’t your fault,” I told her.
“But it is! I'm the one who started this all. I should've said no! None of this would've happened if I had stopped it from beginning.”
The captain leaned down on the table in the interrogation room. It was dark in here, dingy almost. It made me miss home. Our rooms, while still dark, had a more official feel about them. This place was just dank.
“You're giving us an opportunity here, Natasha. Giovanni is right. If it wasn't you, it would've just been someone else. At least now we have a handle on it. It's better than we’ve had in weeks. After such little information, anything that we can take from your situation is a win. And as we've already discussed, you’ll receive full immunity. No one will come after you about the investments.”
She ran her fingers through her blonde hair, twirling strands at the end. I could tell that she was uncomfortable. “If this is how we fix this problem, I'm all for it. I don't want anyone else to get hurt.”
There was a knock at the door and Marco walked in. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but they're done with Lydia. She didn't know much. The only thing that she could figure out before we brought her in is that it had something to do with a client on your list.” He nodded to Natasha. “She doesn’t know anything else, not even about your boss. She’s clean.”
“Fine, send her home. And tell her she doesn’t go back to work until this is resolved. We’ll keep a uniform at her house just in case.”
Marco nodded to the captain and left the room.
“All right,” the captain said. “Let's get everybody in the conference room. I want this set up the right way. We need to make it believable. Are you ready for this?” He directed his question at Natasha.
I saw her swallow, clearly uncomfortable with the situation, but knowing that she couldn't say no. “As I'll ever be.”
He nodded to her and walked out the door. I began to follow him, but she grabbed my hand. “When all this is over, will I ever see you again?”
I looked into her pleading eyes, but I knew that I couldn't say no. “When all this is over, we’ll start over. I'll make sure of it.”
“I really didn't mean to screw up. I need you to understand that. I never do things like this, make mistakes.” There was honesty in her eyes, I could see it. She was imploring me to understand her side. She wanted us to go somewhere, and she thought she ruined it.
But she didn’t.
Every second that went by, my tiger wanted her more.
She was mine.
I knew it.
It
didn’t matter what she did in her past; moving forward, it would only be us.
I gave her a small smile. “I know. Trust me, I know.” I squeezed her hand as she stood and followed me out of the room. I didn't let go. I didn't want to.
10
Natasha
I sat in the conference room, staring at the phone that was cradled my hands. Shakily, I pressed his number and then the speakerphone symbol. Everyone was watching me. I had to convince Hank to meet me at his office. They said to offer him some additional investments off the books.
I had no idea if he would go for it. It had been nearly a year since I had done those previous investments for him. What if he didn't buy into it? What if he figured me out? Or worse. How the hell had I gotten myself into such a mess? One time I don't follow the rules and people die? Clearly I was being punished for something.
The next time my sister needed a favor, she could go to our mom. I couldn't handle any more drama in my life.
The phone rang several times, and I lifted my eyes up to meet Giovanni's. He had gotten so cold since this whole thing began. He had gone from the immediate lust in my house to seeming like we hardly knew each other. But this was his job, and I knew he had to keep his professional distance here. Just like we probably should've done at my house. That was my fault too. Maybe I wasn't as controlled and calculated as I thought I was. Maybe Giovanni had been wrong about me after all.
My eyes snapped back down to the phone as I heard Hank answer. “Hello? Natasha, is that you?”
I took a deep breath and then went over the script in my mind that the captain and I had come up with. Giovanni had stayed by my side the entire time, coaching me. And now, he sat down at the table across from me, nodding at me and encouraging me to continue the conversation.
