Perilous Trust

by Barbara Freethy

  Her heart sank again. "What did my say?"

  "That he'd look into it; that's what he always said."

  "What about the other files?" Damon asked.

  Wyatt cleared his throat. "An Express Package Delivery truck was robbed last month. The trucking system is responsible for moving drugs and guns throughout the northeast, but someone hijacked that load. I gave Alan that lead, too. Apparently, he wasn't just keeping the information out of his office; he wasn't doing anything with it. He and his team weren't building a case against the Venturis. He was just throwing what I gave him in a box."

  "Maybe they were working on it," she suggested, unable to not defend her father. "There's a very thick file on the Venturi family. Perhaps my dad was putting it all together here, because he knew there was a mole at the FBI."

  Three pairs of eyes came to rest on her. She saw compassion in Damon's gaze, thoughtfulness in Bree's and complete skepticism in Wyatt's.

  "If he wasn't the mole, he would have warned me not to keep the meet that almost killed me," Wyatt said.

  "He might not have known about the meet if the information was intercepted. Look, I know it doesn't look good. I'm not stupid. But my dad is dead. He obviously didn't do everything someone wanted him to do."

  "Let's keep talking about what's here," Damon said. "We can get into the blame game later." He looked at Wyatt. "Why don't you tell us what else you know?"

  "I know a lot. The Venturis have their hand in everything. Extortion—that was the Scusa restaurant fire," he added, pointing to the other file. "Antonia Scusa didn't want to pay off the Venturis the way her late husband had been doing. Now her restaurant is no more. She's just lucky they didn't kill her. But they did take away the Scusa family business. They sent a message to anyone else who might be having doubts about paying for protection."

  "I can't believe people still do that," she muttered.

  "They do it a lot more than you would think," Wyatt returned. "But protection was a side game. The family's biggest money came from drugs, in particular opioids, as well as weapons. They laundered the illegal money in a variety of ways, through casinos, the real estate deals, and the basic bank drop where I and other hired hands would make cash deposits just under $10,000 at banks around town."

  "That's what you did for them?" she asked.

  "I also worked construction and gambled with Lorenzo until he ended up in the river. I occasionally drove a van, the contents of which I was not allowed to look at. Because I had a partner, I was never able to confirm the cargo I was transporting, but I was working on that. I've fed Alan a ton of information over the last year. This is barely a tenth of it."

  "There might be more on the flash drives," Damon said. "We found two in another box. But before we get to those. You told me everything changed recently, Wyatt. You mentioned something about a third party."

  "Yes, a few months ago, I heard that there was a turf war brewing. Stefan was interested in partnering with this new player instead of taking them out as the Venturi family usually did. Lorenzo was opposed to the idea of a partnership. As you know, he ended up dead."

  "Do you think his brother killed him?" she asked.

  "It's quite possible. Or the new player who saw him as an obstacle."

  "Did you tell my dad about the new player?"

  "I did," Wyatt replied. "He was concerned. Said he'd heard similar rumors." Wyatt paused. "I never thought Alan would burn me. I thought he was taking too long to build the case I was handing him on a silver platter, but until recently I didn't have reason to doubt his motivations."

  "What changed?" Damon asked.

  "There was desperation in Alan's eyes. He kept telling me to get more, that we didn't have enough to bring a case. That it had to be rock solid before he could move. But I think I misread his desperation. He was probably being blackmailed and he was trying to juggle me and the blackmailer. When I started pushing him too hard, he had to get rid of me. He either burned my cover or he sent someone to take me out, but one way or the other, I'm certain he was involved."

  She was shocked at his harsh, unyielding words. "There's no way my father would turn on a fellow agent. Maybe I can believe that he buried information to protect me, but to take someone else's life—an agent he was handling? No, he wouldn't do that."

  She could see doubt in Wyatt's eyes and Bree also didn't appear convinced. She turned to Damon. "You don't believe my dad would have tried to get Wyatt killed, do you?"

  "I don't want to, Sophie."

  "That's not an answer."

  "Look, we just don’t know," he said. "We have to work with what we have, and right now we don't have that piece of the puzzle."

  "Alan might have been killed because I survived," Wyatt said. "Because he didn't get the job done."

  She pressed a hand to her temple, her head suddenly pounding. Her dad's voice message rang through her head: "I thought I could stay out of the mud, but it turns out I'm covered in it." Did that confirm what Wyatt had just said?

  But she still didn't believe her father would let a fellow agent get killed.

  "I have another question," she said. "My dad is dead. So, he's done. Why isn't that the end of it? Why are they coming after me? What do they want?"

  "Maybe the cash," Bree put in.

  "And you're a loose end," Wyatt said. "The Venturis don't like loose ends. They don't know what you know. That makes you dangerous."

  It was hard to hear herself described that way, but she couldn't deny it.

  "Getting back to the new player," Damon said. "Do you have the feeling it's an already established group wanting to expand territory or a completely new organization?"

  "Already established. I heard Lorenzo and Stefan arguing one night. Stefan said something like: 'They can take us global. We own the East Coast. They own Eastern Europe. Together we will run the world.'"

  "Then it's an Eastern European operation," Damon said.

  Wyatt nodded. "That would be my guess, but it doesn't narrow it down much." He paused. "The last few days I've had time to do nothing but think. If Alan didn't order the hit on me, then someone else did, someone in the Bureau. If Alan was getting cold feet, and I'm not saying that's what happened," he added, his gaze directed at her, "but if it did, then the Venturis needed another mole. Someone they could leverage—perhaps the same way they leveraged Alan. One of Stefan's strengths is finding someone's weakness and using it. Alan's weak spot was his daughter."

  Damon frowned. "I don't know about that. Alan has always been a father. He's always had a family. It feels like whatever sent him down the wrong road was more complicated than threats against Sophie's life. He could have hired bodyguards for her. He could have sent her out of the country. He could have done any number of things to keep her safe. I think there's something else he was hiding, something that made him vulnerable." He glanced over at her. "Sorry, Sophie."

  She sighed. "You're all just trying to get to the truth. And that's where I want to get to as well. Vincent Rowland told me that my dad had financial problems. Maybe it goes back to that. Maybe he was gambling. I never knew him to be a gambler, but obviously I didn't know him as well as I thought I did. The gambling debts could have put him in the position of having to do some favors."

  "Let's move on from your dad," Bree said. "Alan is gone, but the hits on Sophie and Damon keep coming. Are the Venturis trying to get whatever info they thought Alan had on them? Or is someone from the FBI on the Venturi's payroll trying to destroy the evidence and cover their tracks? The Venturi organization will be harder to crack, because there are so many of them with criminal intent, but our New York field office…Who else could be leveraged?" Bree asked. "I don't see Peter Hunt having a weak spot. I did a little research on him. He's divorced. He has no children. He's very high up in the department, so he wouldn't need the mob to boost his career trajectory. He doesn't appear to have any vices or any appearance of wealth. But he does have a lot of powerful friends from his Yale days."

  "Th
e fact that Alan didn't tell Sophie to trust Peter still makes him suspicious in my mind," Damon said. "Why did Alan give Sophie a blanket order to avoid everyone from the FBI?"

  "Is that what he did?" Bree asked.

  She nodded. "Yes, he told me to trust no one."

  "Then maybe he knew the mob had pulled someone else in, but he didn't know who," Wyatt speculated. "I'm putting my money on Agent Leigh. In fact, I staked out her apartment last night after I left Bree's place. I thought Karen was in for the night, but around ten, she left in a taxi. I followed her to a bar in the Bronx, a Venturi-supported bar, I might add. She met with Paul Candilari, Stefan Venturi's number-two man. I took some photos." He handed the phone to Damon. "A younger woman joined them halfway through drinks. I never got a good look at her, beyond the fact that she had dark hair. She might have been Candilari's daughter. Or she could be connected to the new player."

  "It's difficult to see her," Damon said. "But she doesn't appear to be very old."

  "Well, I doubt she's in charge, but she could be related to whoever is in charge."

  Damon passed the phone to Bree, who took a look and said, "This picture is certainly damning for Karen. Meeting with a known crime boss outside the office? Although, she could play it that she called the meeting to get info on Alan, that she was using Candilari and it wasn't the other way around."

  "May I see the phone?" she asked, feeling a little left out of their crime-solving club.

  "Sorry," Bree said, passing her the phone.

  She looked at the photo for a long moment. Karen and the older man seemed to be having an intense conversation, while the younger woman appeared to be looking at her phone and not all that engaged in the discussion. In fact, she looked bored…and a little familiar. "I feel like I might know her," she murmured.

  "The woman?" Damon asked in surprise. "From where?"

  She shook her head, trying to think. "I'm not sure. She's in her twenties, I'd bet. Maybe she was in one of my classes or just a student at NYU?" She frowned. "There's something about her...I wish I could see her face better."

  "It's the best shot I could get," Wyatt said. "You can look through the other photos if you want."

  She scrolled through the four other pictures, but none of them captured the young woman any more clearly. She gave Wyatt back his phone. "Did they all leave together?" she asked.

  "No, Karen left first. I was on her tail, so I went when she did. Unfortunately, she went straight home. I was hoping she might meet up with someone else, but she didn't."

  "So, what are we going to do?" she asked. "Are we going to confront Karen?"

  "Yes," Damon said with a nod. "That's exactly what we're going to do. We need to set up a meet. I think we should send Karen the photo. She'll want to protect herself, so she'll come alone."

  "But how are we going to get in touch with her?" she asked.

  "I can make it happen," Wyatt said. "I'll use the emergency protocol we set up for my cover. I'll send her the photo and a time and place to meet."

  "Why would Karen come at all?" Sophie asked. "Why wouldn't she just run?"

  "If she's guilty, she'll want to know what I know," Wyatt said. "I'll offer her additional enticement. Instead of a threat, I'll tell her I want in on the action. That the Venturis trust me more than they trust her, so we need to partner up. I think she'll come. She'll be too afraid not to."

  "She might not come alone," Bree put in. "And you're assuming she is guilty. What if she's innocent? How does that change the scenario?"

  "I don't think it does change it," Damon said. "She'll want to know why Wyatt thinks she's double-dealing. She'll still want to protect herself from whatever he thinks he has against her. But I'm with Wyatt, I think the only reason Karen went to talk to Candilari is because she's involved in some way with the family."

  "But it seems kind of stupid on her part to go to such a public meeting," she couldn't help putting in. "Why do it?"

  "Sophie makes a good point," Bree said.

  "She has a cover," Wyatt said. "She's looking for info on Lorenzo's murder, so she took a meeting. That photo alone isn't enough to bring her down. We just want her to think we have more."

  "Okay," she said with a nod. "How are we going to do it?"

  "I'll send the message," Wyatt said.

  "You will," Damon agreed. "But I'm going to take the meet. You and Bree are going to bake me up."

  Wyatt frowned. "No way. I've got more skin in this game than you."

  "Doesn't matter," Damon said. "If Karen brings Venturi backup, they won't know what to make of me. You'll still be my ace in the hole. If they take me out, you can still take them down. I can use you as leverage against Karen, Wyatt. If she doesn't come clean with me, you'll take it to the Bureau, and she'll be ruined"

  She could see Wyatt starting to cave as Damon made his case. As much as she didn't want Damon to be in the hot seat, it made sense.

  "He's right," Bree said. "Damon should take the meet. Let's keep Karen in the dark about where you are and what you have. Where will you meet her?"

  "Central Park. It's where I used to meet Alan," Wyatt said. "She'll feel confident that it's me she's talking to if we go with that location. Of course, once she sees Damon, all bets are off. But there are lots of trees and plenty of people around for cover."

  "I don't think Karen is calling the shots," Damon said. "When I meet with her, I'm going to make sure she's as scared of me as she's scared of whoever is running her. If we can turn her, then we'll be one step closer to taking this whole thing down."

  Sophie listened to the three of them as they continued to plan their strategy. She wanted to go, too. She wanted to face Karen and ask her if she was the one who set her father up, if she was the one who'd sent gunmen after her, not just once but twice.

  She could still remember how kind Karen had pretended to be when she'd first told her that her father was dead. Her questions hadn't been about helping to find her father's killer; Karen had wanted to know what she knew. She was really glad that she'd run that first night.

  "I'd like to be a part of this," she said, interjecting herself into the conversation.

  "It's too dangerous," Damon said quickly, immediately shaking his head.

  "I'm not going to stay here by myself," she said. "Someone could figure out this apartment is tied to my dad. You said yourself we can't stay too long in one place, especially not a place rented by my father."

  Damon frowned. "Then maybe Bree—" he began.

  "No," she interrupted. "You are not going to ask Bree to babysit me. You need her to protect you and to take down Karen. Just let me go with you. I don't have to do anything. I'll just be nearby."

  The three of them exchanged a look. Then Damon said, "You can come as far as the park, then I'll reassess the situation."

  "Where in the park are you going?" she asked Wyatt. "It's a big place."

  "The Alice in Wonderland statue near 5th and East 74th," he replied.

  Her heart thudded against her chest at that piece of information. "My dad used to take me there when I was a kid. He used to say that his job sometimes made him feel like Alice going down the rabbit hole." She paused, an unexpected rush of tears coming into her eyes.

  The irony of Damon, Wyatt, and Bree possibly taking down her father's killer at a place that had once held happy memories filled her with emotion.

  "I'm sorry he let you all down—that he let me down," she said. "But I want to know the truth—the whole truth. Get Karen to that park and make her talk."

  Nineteen

  A little before three Damon drove back over the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. As he maneuvered through the busy city streets, he felt like it had been a year since he'd been in the city. So much had happened since he'd impulsively decided to drive up to the Adirondacks to find Sophie. He was very glad he'd followed his instincts; he just hoped his gut was steering him in the right direction today.

  Wyatt had come up with a bold plan to draw Karen out, and whi
le he was happy to move from a defensive position to an offensive one, he was worried about Sophie. He was torn between taking her into the park and making her a potential target and leaving her alone in the car where anything could happen. He liked when she was right next to him, when he could see her, touch her, know she was okay.

  He glanced over at her. She was looking toward the park, probably thinking about the statue where she used to go with her father. They hadn't had any time to talk just the two of them since Bree and Wyatt had arrived, and he suspected she'd felt a little left out of their strategy session, but she hadn't complained, and he hadn't had time to include her.

  After Wyatt had initiated the emergency protocol with the photo of Karen at the bar in the Bronx, Karen had responded almost immediately. They'd only had ninety minutes to study a plan of the park, pick up four phones with earpieces that they could use for an emergency communications system, and then get into Manhattan.

  Now, he would have to waste more valuable minutes, finding a parking spot. "It's not going to be easy to park around here," he muttered, hoping Bree wouldn't have trouble finding a spot, too. She was driving Wyatt to the park in her car. They'd decided to split up to make the group less of a target.

  "Try one of the side streets," Sophie suggested, her voice tense. "Wait, I think someone is leaving," she said, pointing down the block.

  He let out a breath of relief. The spot was about twenty-five yards from the park entrance nearest the statue and across the street, which would keep Sophie close but not too close. There was a busy intersection nearby, so there would be plenty of people around. He knew she wouldn't be happy to wait in the car, but he had to persuade her that it was the best option.