Pursued

by Lisa Harris

  She hurried toward the guard, holding up her badge. “Officer Poole?”

  No response.

  She bridged the gap between them, irritation lacing her words. “Officer Poole …”

  She touched the man’s shoulder, but he didn’t move. Her heart quickened. She felt for his pulse, then glanced up at Jack. “I can’t find a pulse.”

  “We need medical attention over here now,” Jack yelled.

  Nikki felt the blood rush to her temples as she ran inside Peters’s room behind Jack. What if they’d found a way to get to the guard?

  Inside, Justin was handcuffed to the bed. His head was turned to the side, as if he were asleep, and his arm was hooked up to an IV. He was paler than the last time she’d seen him.

  No, God … please. Let him be alive. We need him to be alive.

  “Justin!”

  As she had with the guard, she felt for his pulse, then hesitated. Nothing. She took a step back. The room started to spin. This couldn’t be happening.

  She stumbled backward. “He’s dead, Jack. They killed him.”

  “Have Gwen send backup and alert hospital security. We’re also going to need access to their video surveillance.” Jack ran out of the room to where medical personnel were trying to revive the guard. A second team rushed into Peters’s room.

  Nikki could hear Jack’s voice echoing in the hallway as she hung up her call to Gwen seconds later and moved out of the way of the doctor trying to resuscitate Peters.

  “When’s the last time someone checked on Peters?” Jack stood in front of a nurse whose face was whiter than Peters’s.

  “I … I checked on him myself,” she said. “About seven twenty.”

  Nikki glanced at her watch. “That gives us a window of fifteen minutes.”

  Enough time for someone to slip out of the building without anyone noticing.

  “Did you see anyone who shouldn’t be here?” Jack asked.

  “I don’t think so … no … wait a minute. There was a man in a lab coat who walked through about ten minutes ago. I didn’t think about it at the time.”

  “Can you give us a description?” Jack asked.

  “He was about six feet tall. Short dark hair. He was wearing a typical lab coat and carrying some sort of small bag.”

  One of the doctors stepped up to where they were huddled. “I think the guard will make it, but the patient … I’m sorry, but he’s dead.”

  Nikki’s cell phone rang before she had time to process the information. It was Gwen. “The guard should make it, but Peters is dead.”

  There was a short pause on the line. “Do you have any idea what happened?”

  “Only that he was murdered.”

  “Murdered?”

  Nikki caught the surprise in Gwen’s voice. And felt the desperation in Russell’s latest move.

  “Sounds as if you need some good news,” Gwen said.

  “What have you got?” Nikki asked.

  “I just heard from the DA. She’s agreed to let you interview Cipher.”

  Nikki hung up the phone and turned to Jack. “We just got a second chance.”

  Nikki walked into the prison interview room with Jack for the second time in less than twenty-four hours, her last interview fresh on her mind. It was as if they were playing a game of chess, and they were always one move behind. But this wasn’t over yet.

  Cipher avoided her gaze as she sat down across from him. A guard stood by the door. They weren’t taking any chances this time.

  “I need to ask you a few questions,” she said.

  “Like I told you earlier. I don’t have to tell you anything. And even if I did, I don’t have to answer you. Remember, I don’t have nothin’ to lose.”

  “I think you do. Things have changed since the last time I saw you. The DA’s going for the death penalty. If you have any desire of taking it off the table, you’ll cooperate—”

  His jaw tensed. “Think about it. Life versus the death penalty. Doesn’t really matter, does it?”

  She needed to find a way to get through to him. “Then just listen. I’m trying to find a woman and her daughter who are missing. I believe their lives are in danger. The woman’s name is Erika Hamilton. She has a daughter named Lily. Brian Russell might have mentioned them to you. You might have even met her.”

  Cipher looked up at her and caught her gaze. At least she had his attention for the moment. “I know who they are, but I never met them.”

  Maybe she was trying to accomplish the impossible. Trying to speak to a conscience that was no longer there.

  But if she could find a way to connect to him …

  “You mentioned you had a daughter. I’m sure you would do anything you can to protect her. Erika was only trying to do the same thing. Provide for her daughter. But if I can’t find her, I can’t help her.”

  Cipher ran his hand across the back of his head. “Do you think any of that matters to me? I lost everything the day I stepped into this prison. And nothing I can do can ever change that. I won’t see my daughter grow up, and every day I’m reminded of what I’m missing.”

  “Do you think Brian Russell has regrets?” she asked.

  “I know his girlfriend turned against him. What did you expect him to do?”

  “Tell me how you know Russell.”

  “I used to work for him. Before I landed here. I owed him a couple favors, so when he came to me needing help, I agreed.”

  “And that help was taking out Justin Peters?” Jack asked.

  “I wasn’t supposed to kill him. Just scare him. Brian needed some information out of him.”

  “What information?” Nikki asked.

  “Information Erika may have shared, or told Justin where she’d hidden it. Then that guard showed up, Finn stabbed him, and everything fell apart. Using you as a hostage seemed like my only way out.”

  “Did you know Peters is dead?” Nikki asked.

  Cipher stared at her. “They can’t pin that on me. When I left him, he was alive.”

  “Someone killed him in the hospital. We’re assuming Brian Russell was behind the attack.”

  “I didn’t have anything to do with that.”

  “Then help us find Russell. We know he’s in town. And we need to talk with him. Think about your daughter, Cipher. Think about the lengths Erika’s gone not just to save herself, but her daughter. You can understand that, can’t you? You want your own daughter to be safe. To have a normal life.”

  Maybe she was imagining it, but she thought Cipher’s eyes softened slightly.

  “I don’t care what Russell’s involved in,” she continued. “Right now, my job is to find Erika and Lily, and to do that I need to find Russell. And right now, you’re my best lead. If you help me find him, I promise I’ll make sure the DA knows you cooperated in this case.”

  “I owe him.”

  “You don’t owe him anything.” She leaned forward, keeping her voice even. “He controls you, even in prison, and doesn’t care what happens to you. You’re nothing more than a puppet. He’s free, and you’ll still be here when this is over. Forget a ticket out of here.”

  Cipher studied a dark spot on the table between them. “If he finds out I told you, he’ll kill me too.”

  “He won’t find out where we got this information,” Nikki said, praying she’d said enough to convince him.

  He gave her a small smile and crossed his arms. “Why don’t you try looking for the holdings of Arana Corporation. You never know where that might lead.”

  She glanced at Jack, praying that what Cipher had just given them was going to be enough.

  18

  10:15 a.m.

  Precinct

  At a quarter past ten, Nikki sat at her desk staring at a photo of Brian Russell, while Gwen searched for more on the corporation name Cipher had offered up. She’d spent the past hour going through the list of names Erika’s brother had finally given her before he died, hoping to find the person Erika had entrusted Lily with.
But so far her search had come up empty.

  And there was another thing that bothered her. In spite of Justin’s strong feelings against Russell, something wasn’t adding up. How could a man who was known for helping people, and who had his own personal fortune, end up so high on the FBI’s radar? He’d been interviewed by everyone from Time to People magazine. He’d been listed in Forbes as one of American’s fifty top philanthropists, making him the poster boy of a number of charities he not only donated to but helped raise money for.

  Nikki looked up as Jack dropped Erika’s watch onto her desk, pulling her away from her thoughts.

  “What’d you find out?” Nikki sat up and rubbed the back of her neck, trying to work out the kinks that had settled.

  “I traced the GPS tracker you found in Erika’s watch to a company that primarily works government contracts.”

  “That ought to narrow things down,” she said.

  “I’m waiting for a list of civilian purchases.” Jack leaned against the edge of her desk. “What about you? Any luck?”

  “I’ve contacted most of the people on Justin’s list, but no one I’ve talked to claims to know where Erika and Lily are. But here’s the strange thing. If it wasn’t for Justin and Cipher and Russell’s ex-wife’s damaging testimonies, I’d actually think that the FBI was on a witch hunt.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked.

  “Every person I’ve spoken to about Brian Russell has said pretty much the same thing. None of them believe he would do anything to hurt either Erika or Lily.”

  “And these are friends of Erika?” Jack asked. “Friends who have to know that despite Russell’s charitable lifestyle he’s also a womanizer?”

  Nikki shrugged. “I’m just as surprised as you are. Though Erika might have kept their relationship problems to herself. Because trust me, no woman wants her friends to know she’s fallen in love with the wrong man for the second time.”

  Gwen looked up from her computer where she was working and tapped her pen against the table. “I confess, I kind of keep hoping the man’s innocent. I read about him last year in Time, and quite honestly I’m surprised they don’t put the guy up for sainthood. And besides his long list of good deeds, just look at him. He’s this perfect specimen—you gotta love that five-o’clock shadow. With a face like Bradley Cooper, what’s not to like?”

  “Apparently you’re not the only one who thinks that way,” Nikki said, frowning. “The list of women he’s dated over the past few years—Erika included—is pretty extensive and, according to a couple articles online, every one of them talks like he hung the moon. And on top of that, despite the FBI’s long list of accusations, the guy doesn’t even have a parking ticket.”

  “It does sound more like a witch hunt,” Gwen said, turning back to her computer screen.

  Nikki’s gaze fell back on Brian Russell’s photo. The man had degrees from Harvard, then Vanderbilt. He’d served on a number of boards for various nonprofits, one of which had grown into one of the largest private nonprofits in the south.

  “So the man sounds perfect,” Jack said. “But we all know, being wealthy doesn’t solve all your problems. Or keep you on the right side of the law.”

  “True, and I did find a few hiccups along the way.” Nikki glanced down at her notes. “Two years ago, he checked into a rehab center for a problem with prescription drugs after shoulder surgery. Though no one seems to hold that against him. And according to a recent interview I read, he claims he’s been clean ever since. There’s one other stain I could find on his reputation. When he was seventeen, he got a girl pregnant.”

  “What happened to the child?” Jack asked.

  “His mother got involved. Made the problem go away.”

  “What about his father?” Gwen asked.

  “He’s been out of the picture since he was a baby.” Nikki’s mind started running the threads together. “Maybe that plays into this situation.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked.

  “He feels guilty over his girlfriend’s abortion. There was no father figure in his life. We know that Russell and his ex-wife weren’t able to have children. It would make sense for him to want to hold on to Lily.”

  “And give him motivation to get rid of the woman standing in his way.”

  “Guys, hold on,” Gwen said, pushing her chair back from her desk. “You both might be on to something, but I think I just tracked down Russell’s address here in Nashville. Cipher was right. The owner of the property is listed as a corporation, but with a bit of digging. I tied it back to Russell.”

  Nikki grabbed her keys out of the top drawer of her desk and glanced at Jack. “Then it sounds like it’s time we make a personal visit and ask Mr. Russell our questions ourselves.”

  Twenty-five minutes later, Nikki parked her Mini Cooper on the street in front of one of Nashville’s upscale neighborhoods. She hadn’t included Brinkley in the loop this time. Until they found Russell, they were going to move ahead on their own.

  The sprawling two-story house matching the description Gwen had given them stood at the end of a circular drive. Manicured lawns and pristine landscape were surrounded by a fence and steel gate to keep out unwelcome guests. A silver Mercedes-Benz sat in the driveway.

  “What do you think this place costs?” Nikki asked, pushing the buzzer on the wrought-iron gate that stood at least eight feet tall. “Two and a half, three million?”

  “At a minimum,” Jack said.

  She pushed the buzzer again.

  Finally a woman’s voice came over the intercom. “Can I help you?”

  “This is Special Agent Nikki Boyd and Special Agent Jack Spencer with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. We need to speak to Mr. Russell.”

  “I’m sorry, but Mr. Russell isn’t here right now.”

  Nikki glanced at Jack. “Then we’d like to speak to you for a moment.”

  There was a long pause before the woman answered. “All right.”

  A second later, the smaller side gate opened automatically. Nikki made her way with Jack down the long drive to the house, where there were half a dozen brick steps with a wrought-iron railing leading to a wide front porch. A swing hung on either side.

  An older Hispanic woman, wearing a double-breasted black dress with white lapels, met them at the porch, the frown on her face intense. “You said you were with the police?”

  Nikki held up her badge. “I’m Special Agent Nikki Boyd and this is my partner, Jack Spencer. You said Brian Russell isn’t here? It’s very important that we speak to him. Do you have a way for us to get ahold of him?”

  The maid’s face paled as she pressed her hands against her chest. “This is about the car, no?”

  Nikki caught the fear in the woman’s expression. “I’m sorry … what car?”

  The maid glanced at the circular drive. “Mr. Russell’s BMW.”

  “What about the car?” Jack asked.

  “It’s nothing serious. There was just some … confusión. I thought maybe there had been an accident.”

  Nikki glanced at Jack, then back to the woman. “If you would help us get in touch with Mr. Russell, I’m sure we’ll be able to clear up any … mix-up.”

  “I’m sorry, but he’s not here.”

  “And do you know when he’ll be returning?”

  “Mr. Russell had an appointment with his accountant today, so I’ve been expecting him, but I haven’t heard from him.” The maid fiddled with the lapel on her dress. “You must understand, por favor, I am just the housekeeper. Mr. Russell doesn’t keep me informed of changes in his schedule. I do my job and make sure the house is ready when he shows up.”

  “Do you have a number to contact him?” Jack asked.

  She pressed her lips together. “I have his cell number. I suppose he wouldn’t mind if I give it to you.”

  “Wait a minute.” Nikki read off a number on her phone. “Is that the number?”

  “Sí … Yes. That is his number.”


  It was the same number they’d already been using.

  “What is your name?” Nikki asked.

  “Maria Lopez.”

  “Maria, how long have you worked for Mr. Russell?”

  “Eleven, almost twelve years.”

  Eleven years was a long time. Enough time for her to become protective of her boss. And to know some of Mr. Russell’s intimate habits and secrets.

  “At this house?”

  “Oh no. In Houston. But when he bought this house, he asked me to come here to help get the house ready until he hires staff.”

  “Let me ask you something else.” Nikki held up a photo on her cell phone. “Do you know a woman by the name of Erika Hamilton?”

  “Erika … Sí. He brought her here a couple times. She’s … she’s always been sweet to me. Asks me how I’m doing. Not everyone does that.”

  “When is the last time you saw her?” Nikki asked.

  “It was … last Wednesday. I remember because it was her birthday. I made her favorite cake—chocolate fudge.”

  “Was that here?”

  “No. She’s been staying at Mr. Russell’s house in Houston.”

  “And what about her daughter, Lily?” Nikki asked, sliding the phone to the next photo. “Do you know her?”

  Maria’s smile broadened. “Sí… sí. She’s a sweet chamaquita—little girl. Looks so much like her mother. At least in her eyes. I watched her a few times when Mr. Russell took Erika out. Never can get her to go to sleep unless I hold her, but I don’t mind. Just like my own Matías when he was little.”

  “Was Lily with Erika the last time you saw her?”

  “Lily was at the party as well, but I think Erika was worried about something. I just tried to make her favorite foods and keep her happy.” Maria’s smile faded. “Something is wrong, isn’t it? Por favor … if she’s in trouble—”

  “We just need to locate Mr. Russell and Miss Hamilton,” Nikki said as she handed the older woman her card. “If you’d have Mr. Russell call us when he returns. It’s very important that we speak to him.”

  The fear was back in her eyes. What was the woman afraid of? Mr. Russell? Or something else?

  Maria slipped back into the house, shutting the door behind her as they started back toward the gate.