It didn’t happen.
Colin tore his gaze from hers and followed Jerry toward the back of the lab. Callie motioned for her to go into her office, and once they were inside, Danielle shut the door so they’d have some privacy when she asked about Rusty.
Callie’s desk was littered with photos and reports, including pictures of possible escape routes around the estate. Hopefully, there were photos of all escape routes, especially considering Boyd’s latest threat.
“Boyd said if we didn’t do this errand, he’d take Luke and run,” Danielle explained, sinking down into the chair across from Callie’s desk.
“I figured there was a chance of that. He’s got to be getting desperate by now. Don’t worry, the FBI and the local sheriff will do their best to keep the tunnels locked down,” Callie assured her, but they both knew that was nearly impossible.
If Boyd truly wanted to get out with Luke, he just might succeed.
“I need to ask you about Rusty. And Bobby,” Danielle started. “Any chance either of them could be feeding info to Boyd?”
That improved Callie’s posture. Her shoulders went back. “Why? Do you have any proof they can’t be trusted?” Her voice took on a cool, detached edge. A boss defending her people.
“No proof. Not even anything circumstantial. But someone is giving Boyd information, and Colin and I need to know who’s doing that.”
“So do I.” Callie’s shoulders relaxed a bit. “Rusty’s fairly new here, but neither Bobby nor he has given me any reason to distrust them. No red flags in their background checks, either, but I’ll run them again.”
“Thanks.”
Callie rummaged in a small fridge behind her and came up with two bottles of orange juice. “So, how have you handled being in such close quarters with Colin?”
Danielle opened her mouth to lie and say everything was fine, but the lie would stick in her throat. “I kissed him.”
Her friend had the decency not to laugh or say something about that being a stupid thing to do. But Callie’s left eyebrow rose a fraction.
“It meant nothing.” Well, nothing other than the fact he could still get her hotter than fire. “The issues that ended our marriage are still there.”
“Well, minus the whole fertility thing,” Callie reminded her. And now she smiled.
“Colin and I will be divorced in less than two days,” Danielle reminded her right back.
“It’s not over until it’s over.”
“It’s over,” Danielle assured her and wondered if that was the biggest lie of all.
The emotion and feelings weren’t over, but she couldn’t go through more waiting and watching for Colin to be hurt on the dangerous assignments he seemed to thrive on. She wanted stability. A home for her unborn child. And right now, Colin didn’t seem interested in becoming a traditional father in a traditional family.
“What about that if you used earlier?” Callie questioned. “Please tell me you’re not thinking about keeping this a secret from him.”
Danielle groaned softly. “I know I shouldn’t even consider it, but this is where my old baggage comes into play. My mother forced my dad into marriage because she was pregnant with me. My father hated her for it. And I don’t want Colin to feel the same way about me.”
Callie leaned closer and met her eye to eye. “You have to let Colin decide for himself if he’ll feel trapped. And for that to happen, you have to tell him.”
Callie was right, but Danielle didn’t know how she could make him understand that she had no expectations about his role in all of this. Colin was a problem solver. The kind to jump headfirst into a difficult situation, and she didn’t want him to make a hasty decision that he couldn’t live with.
Just so she wouldn’t have to continue this conversation, Danielle picked up one of the photos from Callie’s desk. Not of the estate or the kidnapping crime scene. It was the picture of a man with dark brown hair and brooding brown eyes.
“That’s Ben Parrish,” Callie supplied. “The missing FBI agent that everyone’s looking for. He’s also a close friend,” she added with heavy emotion in her voice.
“The one with the pregnant wife,” Danielle mumbled.
Callie nodded and rubbed her fatigue-weary eyes. “We’re not even close to finding him. There’s no physical evidence, other than a single piece of fabric and some broken tree branches taken from his last known location.”
And those things could be signs of a struggle. Or perhaps even an indication he’d been killed. His wife had no doubt already come to that horrible conclusion.
Danielle stared at the photo and thought of Colin. Of how she would feel if he were missing and maybe even dead. Tears filled her eyes before she could stop them, and she silently cursed her overly hormonal reaction. This had to stop. She couldn’t continue to let her feelings for him bounce around.
Callie handed her a tissue and would have likely launched into a Q&A about the tears. However, the knock at the door stopped that from happening. The door opened, and Danielle expected to see Colin. But it wasn’t him. However, she did recognize the tall, dark-haired man from photos she’d seen in the newspapers.
This was Elliot Hennessey, the attorney for the late crime boss, Vincent Del Gardo. Since it was Del Gardo’s money that Boyd was searching for, Danielle was suddenly very interested in why Elliot was at the crime lab.
Did he have anything to do with Boyd and the kidnapping?
“Mr. Hennessey,” Callie said, getting to her feet. “I understand you were here yesterday looking for me?”
“Yes. You were out.”
“And you refused to leave a message or tell anyone the reason for your visit. So, what can I do for you?” Though it wasn’t a warm offer from Callie.
He glanced at Danielle first. “I have something for you.” He handed Callie a thick padded envelope. “Under the terms of Mr. Del Gardo’s will, I’m to deliver that to you. Your people have already scanned it, to make sure it’s not a bomb or anything.” Elliot turned to walk away.
“Wait.” Callie looked at the envelope. “What’s this all about?”
“When you read it, I think you’ll know. If you have questions, give me a call.” And with that vague answer, Elliot left.
Danielle peered outside the door to make sure the man wasn’t hanging around. He wasn’t. However, he did stop when Jerry said something to him. She couldn’t hear what, but she wasn’t pleased to see that Rusty joined in on the conversation, as well.
“Open it,” Danielle insisted when Callie just stared at it. “It might have something to do with Boyd and the kidnapping.”
She doubted it. Boyd and Del Gardo were on opposite sides since Boyd was working for Del Gardo’s rival, Nicky Wayne. However, that didn’t mean the two men hadn’t collaborated on a crime, especially one that might be worth so much money.
Callie opened the envelope and silently read the first page. After several moments, she dropped back down into her chair, and the color drained from her face. With her hand trembling, she passed the paper to Danielle.
Oh, mercy. Danielle wasn’t sure she wanted to know what had caused her friend to have that kind of reaction.
It was a letter, and according to the signature, it was from Vincent Del Gardo himself. Not a document with legal terms. This letter was personal.
“‘Callie, years ago, I met your mother, Brenda,’” Danielle read aloud, “‘and we had an affair.’” Danielle stopped. “Whoa. Did you know about this?”
Callie shook her head. “Keep reading.”
Danielle did. Del Gardo went on to explain he’d been married at the time of the affair, and that’s why Callie’s mom and he had kept it secret. And then Danielle got to the next part, and she understood the reason her friend had gone pale. “Vincent Del Gardo is your biological father?”
Callie didn’t answer. She downed the juice as if it were hard liquor, and she was probably wishing that it was.
“Your mother never mentioned this before she
died?” Danielle asked.
“Not a word.” Callie’s hands were shaking as she took out the rest of the items in the envelope.
Then, this was indeed a bombshell for Callie.
Danielle kept reading. “Del Gardo says that he’s always loved you and that’s the reason he bought the estate in Kenner City. So he’d be near you.” Even though these were the words of a former crime boss, the next part still touched Danielle. “He said he’s sorry you were scared of him, that he only wanted to get to know his daughter.”
Callie blinked back tears. “I couldn’t figure out why he kept coming around. And yes, I was scared of him.”
Danielle reached out and slipped her hand over Callie’s. “Of course, you were. You didn’t know he was your father.”
That hit Danielle like a ton of bricks. How ironic she’d be reading this now, when she had her own doubts about telling Colin that he would soon have a child. Trapping him wouldn’t be good, but keeping her pregnancy a secret couldn’t happen, either.
Callie brushed the tears from her cheeks. “He might not be telling the truth,” she said. She pushed aside the envelope and the other items she’d taken from it and logged on to her computer. “Because he was murdered, Del Gardo’s DNA will be on file. Mine, too. All the crime lab employees have DNA profiles in the system because of their background checks.”
Callie actually seemed hopeful that this was all some big lie. But Danielle didn’t think so. The tone of Del Gardo’s letter wasn’t that of a liar, but a father who’d desperately wanted to get to know his child.
With the sound of Callie’s frantic computer keystrokes clicking through the room, Danielle leaned against the desk. There were other papers in the envelope, and she only hoped they didn’t contain unsettling information like the first.
When Callie finished typing, the tears filled her eyes again. “Why wouldn’t my mother have told me that Del Gardo was my father? Why did she let me believe a lie all these years?”
Danielle walked around the desk, leaned down and hugged her. “Maybe your mother thought it’d be easier for you this way.”
“Easier?” Callie snapped. “And in doing so, she made it a lot harder.”
Yes, Danielle could see that. She held Callie until there was a dinging sound on her computer. Callie turned, looked at the screen and shuddered.
Danielle soon saw why.
CALLIE STARED AT THE SCREEN. The DNA comparison was there. Plain as day. Her DNA was a statistical match to Vincent Del Gardo.
The man was her biological father.
“Callie?” Danielle questioned. “Are you okay?”
No. Far from it. But Callie managed a nod. “Could you give me a minute alone?” Callie asked. Even though a minute wasn’t nearly enough. She might need a lifetime or two to come to terms with this. God. How could this be happening? She’d devoted most of her adult life to solving crimes, yet her father was a criminal.
Danielle brushed a kiss on her forehead and thankfully walked out, easing the door shut. Callie tried not to cry. She failed. And the tears began to stream down her cheeks. As soon as she wiped them away, more came. Somehow, and fast, she needed to come to terms with this because she didn’t have time for an emotional meltdown.
She forced herself to look at what remained in the envelope and prayed it wasn’t another bombshell. She’d already had her quota for the day. But she soon realized it was a bombshell of a different variety.
It was another letter from Del Gardo. From her father, she amended. “‘I’ve put money in an offshore account for you,’” she read aloud.
Callie instantly got a bad feeling about this.
“‘I didn’t want to risk putting this information about the account in my will,’” Del Gardo continued to say, “‘so I had parts of the offshore account number put on three medals that were sent to three different people.’”
“The medals,” Callie mumbled, recalling the mysterious medals that Tom and Ben had received from Julie Grainger. And she continued to read the letter, the words seemingly echoing through the room. “‘The first is the St. Raphael, the patron saint of nightmares, because I hope to never be the cause of another one of your nightmares. The second is the St. Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, so you’ll be safe no matter where life takes you. Finally, there’s the St. Joan of Arc medal, the patron saint of imprisonment. That represents a prison of my own making. A prison that prevented me from knowing my own daughter.’”
She had to read the last line three times for it to sink in. It sounded as if he loved her.
Maybe he had.
More tears threatened, but Callie choked them back and forced herself to keep reading. “‘Each of those medals contains a series of numbers. Put them all together, and you have the offshore account that I left for you.’”
An offshore account and a covert way of hiding the account numbers. Del Gardo was probably accustomed to doing business this way, but Callie hated all this subterfuge.
She stared at the papers that had changed her life. Money, medals and paternity. None of that mattered right now. Freeing Luke was the only thing she wanted on her mind. She wouldn’t even bother her husband with this now. It could wait. Besides, she wasn’t even sure she wanted her father’s money.
Callie grabbed the envelope, shoved the papers back inside and crammed it into her desk drawer. There was no good reason to tell anyone right now about her father and what he’d left her.
DANIELLE LEANED AGAINST Callie’s office door and waited. The minutes crawled by, and Danielle was about to knock, to ask Callie if she was okay, but she heard the footsteps. Colin and Jerry were walking straight toward her. Colin had changed his clothes and now wore black jeans and a black shirt. He had his badge clipped to his belt.
Colin handed her a leather overnight bag. “This is a change of clothes for you. But you should probably dress here, because Boyd might not let us take the extra items onto the grounds.”
True. She took the bag from him.
Colin looked at Danielle, and then at Callie’s closed office door. “What’s wrong? Why are you out here?”
Danielle thankfully didn’t have to answer because the door opened, and there was Callie. Both Jerry and Colin looked at her and then at Danielle. It was obvious that Callie had been crying, and both men would want explanations.
“I just got some tough personal news,” Callie volunteered, “but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”
Danielle studied her friend’s somber face and hoped that was true.
“Does this have anything to do with Elliot Hennessey’s visit?” Colin asked.
Callie nodded, and Danielle wondered how much she would tell him, especially in front of Jerry.
Colin mumbled some profanity. “I wish I’d known Elliot’s visit would upset you, and I would have stayed put while he talked to you. I know him. I’ve had some long interrogations with one of his clients. During those, he always seemed, well, reasonable. Guess I had the wrong opinion of him.”
“He was just the messenger.” Callie looked at Jerry. “Could you excuse us for a minute?”
Jerry mumbled, “Sure,” and walked away. Maybe because Danielle was suspicious of everything, she thought he seemed a little angry at being dismissed from a private conversation.
Callie then turned to Danielle. “Why don’t you go ahead and change your clothes? I want to talk to Colin about the plans for the helicopter and ransom money.”
“You’re sure?” Danielle asked. “I can wait.”
“I’m sure.” Callie gave her a reassuring pat on the arm. That was Danielle’s cue to get moving. Besides, she didn’t want to hang around much longer. Best to get back to the estate so she’d be near Luke in case he needed her.
Danielle went to the bathroom just up the hall. It was unisex and small but thankfully the door locked. She went inside and started to strip down. Colin’s old clothes were there, in a folded pile on the floor. Danielle decided to do the same with hers.
She took the clean clothes from the bag and had a moment of panic. There was a loose beige Bohemian style skirt. The stretchy waist was no problem for her slight baby bump. Ditto for the underwear, though her breasts practically fell out of the bra. She panicked when it came to the top. It was dark purple and stretchy, as well, but it clung to her far more than her business suit.
Danielle tried to look in the mirror. No easy task, since it wasn’t full-length. And finally she just gave up. If Colin noticed the bump, then that would open up the conversation they needed to have anyway.
She quickly folded her old clothes and stooped down to put them next to Colin’s. The glint of metal caught her eye, and she saw the ring sticking out from his back pocket.
His wedding ring.
Strange. Why would it be there? She picked it up and headed back to Callie’s office.
Colin was still with her, talking about the helicopter arrangements. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice her slight belly bulge.
But Danielle did notice something.
Rusty was hovering near the water cooler. Only a few yards from Callie’s office. He had his attention fastened to a paper in his hand, but because she was already in a suspicious mood, she had to wonder if he was trying to discreetly listen in on the conversation.
When Danielle walked past him, Rusty looked up. Nodded in greeting. And turned his attention back to whatever he was reading.
“We might have an audience,” Danielle whispered to Colin.
Colin stepped out of Callie’s office and glanced out at Rusty. “How long has he been there?” And he didn’t exactly whisper it.
“I don’t know.”
Colin stared at the man, and when Rusty noticed them, he quietly walked away.
“We didn’t say anything about Boyd or Luke,” Colin muttered.
Good. Because Rusty might be on the up-and-up, but she didn’t want to take any chances. “Is Callie okay?”
“I think so. She told me that Del Gardo’s her father.” Colin cursed, shook his head. “That won’t be an easy pill to swallow. She also said there was something she might need my help with. Something about an offshore account and some religious medals. She’ll give me the details just as soon as Luke is free.”
She’s Positive Page 8
