by Tara Thomas
He nodded, as if understanding. “I won’t tell your supervisor about your personal connection with the case and in exchange, you allow me to work with you. No secrets. You know something, you tell me.”
Other than him keeping quiet about her connection, it sounded like a horrible deal. He would get complete access to the case, but other than his silence, what did he bring to the table?
“I know you’re a powerful businessman and that you’re incredibly successful, but let’s face it.” She waved her hand around the room. “You’re a shipping expert. How are you going to advance the case? I’m sure I don’t have to remind you that every family member of every missing person wants them found, and yet, we don’t invite them to work with us.”
“Surely you aren’t that naïve.” She tried to take a step backward, but hit the love seat.
He was so close, she felt the heat radiate off his body and she couldn’t stop thinking about his touch or how his body would feel against hers. Or above hers …
He chuckled. “Someone’s thinking naughty thoughts again, aren’t they?” he asked in a low seductive voice that sent shivers up her spine. “Whatever am I going to do with you?”
She had a top ten list ready in response to that question, but she pushed all thoughts of it aside and when she spoke, she hoped her voice didn’t tremble. “How about we start with you answering the question?”
“Okay,” he said. “But I thought that much was obvious. Yes, I’m a shipping expert and that has made me wealthy. Very wealthy. Obscenely wealthy. That means I can fund your investigation into Finition Noire and I can do much better than the Charleston PD.”
She was crazy to even think about it.
Wasn’t she?
She told herself she wasn’t going to risk her career for money. Especially his money. She’d arrested him once, for crying out loud. But the more she thought about it, the more she liked the idea.
She would have to quit the force. Not that quitting made it right to do what she was thinking about doing. But maybe, just maybe, with the availability of funds, she’d be able to do more on the case. It definitely wouldn’t hurt. And hadn’t she been thinking about leaving the force anyway?
God, she was so tempted.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?” he asked.
“You know I am.”
“Do it, Alyssa,” he said in that same seductive voice. “You know we’ll be good together.”
Why did she get the feeling he wasn’t talking about the cases?
“Would we?” she challenged him. “I have the feeling we’d get on each other’s nerves.”
He laughed softly. “Of course we would. That’s what’s going to make this so interesting.”
“I need to think about it,” she said. Preferably somewhere that he wasn’t so he wouldn’t be able to influence her decision. Or at least that’s what she told herself. The truth was, she knew she’d more than likely already made up her mind. She just didn’t want him to know.
“Offer stands until tomorrow at noon,” he said.
She raised an eyebrow. “That’s not very much time.”
“You’ve already decided and you know it. You want to make me sweat.” His cocky grin was back. “Something you should know about me before you agree to work with me is that I very rarely sweat about anything.”
“You’re an ass.” She pushed him aside and walked to the door of his office. She turned around before walking out. “It may not be over this, but I guarantee I’ll make you sweat about something.”
“I’m counting on it,” he said while wearing a look that somehow managed to be playful and yet still carried a hint of wicked intent.
* * *
The Gentleman gave a grunt in acknowledgment as Officer Alyssa Adams dropped a few coins into the cup he had beside him. Dressing up like a homeless man wasn’t his favorite way to gather information, but he had to reluctantly admit that it typically ended up being fruitful. Not only was he able to observe his prey relatively unnoticed, but he’d been playing this part for long enough that he could question those who were actually homeless, as well.
Most people did everything they could to avoid the homeless. Because they wanted the homeless to be invisible, they became that way. Other than being able to say, yes, she’d walked past a homeless man, he doubted Alyssa would be able to remember anything substantial about him. And for now, that was the way he wanted it.
He’d pretty much left Officer Adams alone, she’d inadvertently done him a favor by eliminating a thorn in his side some months ago. He couldn’t help but chuckle remembering how Officer Adams looked when she found out it was her lover who was also the killer and kidnapper she’d been hunting. He’d been grateful, so he let her investigate while keeping an eye on her to ensure she didn’t get too close. Thus far she hadn’t, but he was going to have to keep a closer eye on her. He’d always known he’d have to eliminate her. Maybe he should move the timeline up.
He wasn’t sure why she was spending so much time with Kipling Benedict, but it needed to stop or else she would find she’d reached the end of his gratefulness. Perhaps she needed a warning, a little lesson in why she should stay away from the Benedicts.
It was all up to him now. He was finished letting others take care of things. This was too important to fuck up again. Which meant he had to do it.
First, though, he had to make sure his troublesome ward wasn’t getting into anything she shouldn’t. He’d left her tied up, but he’d trained her and trained her well. He wouldn’t put it past her to attempt escape.
CHAPTER 4
Jade wondered if she closed her eyes and pretended she was back at Knox and Bea’s house, she could actually convince herself that she was there. She’d stayed there earlier in the summer and it had been one the best times in her life. She’d been able to do whatever she wanted. Eat whenever and whatever she wanted. And the absolute best part was her ability to sleep for however long she wanted.
But the truth was, absolutely anywhere would be better than where she currently was, tied to a chair at this table of terror she only knew from the other side. On his good days, The Gentleman called it his interrogation table. On his bad days, he didn’t bother with a name. A name wasn’t needed when its function was easily determined by observing.
She’d give it him, though, he certainly knew what he was doing. “The mind is the best weapon there is,” The Gentleman taught her at a young age. She knew he was right when she was seven and she knew he was right today when she was too old to have a guardian, but found herself at this damn table anyway.
Once again he was proving his superiority as well as how he was using her mind against her. Surely he knew that in leaving her here she would remember every time she’d sat here before but in a different capacity. The times when he went easy on the person being interrogated and only broke fingers. All the way to the times when he went harder and cut them off completely.
Something banged down the hall and she jumped, immediately hating herself for doing so. She wasn’t sure where he was, but she knew he was watching and she’d just given away more than she should. She was weak, so very weak and now he knew and he’d use it against her.
From down the hall came the sound of footsteps. It sounded like he had his boots on. The leather ones with the metal toes. The thought of them made her shiver. She thought that was bad, until he started to whistle and she felt sick to her stomach.
It was too late to try and visualize anything. Sweat dripped down her back. He was here and it wouldn’t be much longer until he was in the room. And while she wasn’t sure what he was going to ask, she knew there was one thing she could count on.
He was going to hurt her.
* * *
Kipling left his office shortly after Alyssa did. He knew he wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything following the phone call and pursuant conversation with Alyssa. He walked slowly back to the house. Without Alyssa nearby to tease, his thoughts went back to Jade
.
He remembered the day Knox found the birth certificate in the oven of the house he’d bought for him and Bea to renovate. He’d thought Knox was playing a joke on him at first. Jade was their sister? The young woman the family couldn’t decide if she was out to get them, misunderstood, or disturbed? It didn’t seem possible.
But then he’d looked at the birth certificate and it seemed real enough. Knox had gone a step further and called the Department of Vital Records to verify its legitimacy. He’d hung up the phone looking pale and said simply, “It’s legit.”
With those two little words, it was as if he’d been punched in the stomach. He had a sister, a little sister, and he’d all but thrown her out of the house. Looking back at that day now, it was obvious she needed help and he’d done nothing, NOTHING, to help. Now she was in danger and he had to rescue her.
He cringed every time he thought about that night. He tried to tell himself that, based on the information he had, his actions were justifiable. But that didn’t make him feel better, because he knew he’d acted like a horse’s ass to her.
It came as a surprise to no one other than Bea that Jade had slipped out of the house in the middle of the night, leaving through the secret passage that was so secret, neither he nor his brothers had known of its existence until she’d told Keaton. After that, no one had heard from her, other than the birth certificate. Knox got online and exhausted his extensive search capabilities, but every lead he chased turned out to be a dead end. He’d wanted to find her guardian, if nothing else, but the files pertaining to her whereabouts after her mother died were nowhere to be found.
Kipling couldn’t help but think the guardian was related to her current situation. It just seemed odd that they couldn’t find any information on the man, or woman. He ran a hand through his hair, knowing he had to call Knox and have him and Bea come home early. Maybe with Alyssa’s help they could find something new and finally get to the bottom of this.
He arrived home to find Tilly and Keaton working in the office. He must’ve looked bad, as they both looked up and suddenly had concerned expressions when he walked in.
“What?” Kipling asked.
“You look horrible,” Keaton said. “What happened?”
So much for his little flirtation with Alyssa helping him look better. He sighed. “I got a call at the office; they said Jade had been kidnapped. If I want to see her alive again, I’ll follow all the instructions that they’ll be sending.” He hadn’t planned on spitting it out like that, but it just happened that way.
“Shit, are you serious?” Keaton asked.
“That’s a bit odd, don’t you think?” Tilly asked. Both brothers looked at her. She continued, “Odd that they would call you to tell you that Jade was kidnapped, I mean.”
“They actually said that my sister had been kidnapped,” Kipling clarified.
Tilly nodded. “That’s even odder. How many people know you have a sister and that Jade’s it?”
“It doesn’t matter who knows,” Keaton said. “If Jade found herself in trouble, all she’d have to do is tell whoever nabbed her that she was a Benedict and to call Kipling. They might not believe her, but the potential that she was right and could be worth millions would be worth taking a chance and calling.”
“That’s a good point.” Kipling hadn’t thought of that. “Unfortunately, it just made our search bigger. I’d hoped we could narrow our list of suspects down to only those people who knew, but if it was someone unrelated to this whole mess, that list is huge. I think it’s also important to note that whoever it was didn’t ask for ransom money.”
“I don’t even know how to start looking,” Keaton said.
“I called Knox and he and Bea are coming home early.” Kipling hated they had to cut their honeymoon short, but he’d had no choice. “I’m going to have him relook at a few things. And you two should know that I’ve asked Alyssa Adams to help us.”
“She’s a police officer, isn’t that her job?” Keaton asked.
“I asked her to join us in an unofficial capacity.” Kipling was prepared to field more questions, but instead all that happened was a look passed between Keaton and Tilly. “I have no way of knowing if she’ll agree or not.”
Tilly shook her head. “She won’t. She’ll think doing so is unethical.”
Kipling hated it, but had to admit she was probably right.
“I can’t believe you asked her that,” Tilly said.
Keaton gave her a funny look. “Really? I can.”
Thankfully, the doorbell rang and he was spared further funny glances from the couple. He met their longtime housekeeper Lena in the hallway and told her he’d get the door. He opened it to find Alyssa on the other side.
He couldn’t help it. He broke out into what he knew was a huge grin. “I must say, Officer Adams, I didn’t expect you to decide that quickly.”
“If I remember correctly, you told me I’d already decided.” She shrugged. “Since you told me I couldn’t make you sweat, I figured why expend the energy?”
He leaned in as if telling her a secret. “I never said you couldn’t make me sweat, I said I very rarely sweat over anything. I can think of several things we could do that would lead to sweating on my part.”
“A condition of me working with you is that you have to stop with the not-so-subtle sexual innuendo. As much fun as it is to spar with you, we need to keep this professional.”
Damn, he liked her. “It’s August in Charleston, Alyssa. All I have to do is walk outside to sweat. You’re the one making everything sexual.”
“If you let her come inside so you could close the door, no one would have to sweat,” Keaton said from the hallway.
“Now I know which Benedict brother got the brains.” Alyssa swept her way inside, past Kipling, like he wasn’t even there. “Hello, Keaton. Tilly.”
They both said hello to her and then Tilly led them all into the kitchen where she’d made a cake earlier in the morning.
“I’d planned on having it for after lunch,” she said, slicing everyone a piece. “But it works just as well as a pre-lunch snack as well.”
“Even better if you ask me,” Keaton said. “Cut me a bigger piece than that.”
“I’ll take a small one, thanks,” Alyssa said.
They all took their cake and sat around the kitchen table. Kipling waited for Alyssa to sit down and then took the seat beside her. Not that she noticed, she was too wrapped up in Tilly’s cake.
“This is divine,” Alyssa said, digging into her slice.
“You should have gotten a bigger slice.” Keaton held up his plate.
Alyssa laughed. “I really should have.”
Kipling realized that was the first time he’d heard her laugh and he felt strangely jealous that he wasn’t the one who made her do it.
Across the table, Keaton had finished the monstrous slice Tilly had given him and was watching Alyssa carefully.
“So,” his younger brother said. “You’re going to work with us?”
Alyssa wiped her mouth. “Yes, I came over to tell your brother I’m going to resign from the police department. I’m not going to tell them why.”
Another one of those looks passed between Keaton and Tilly. Kipling did his best not to roll his eyes.
“Decided to come over to the dark side?” Keaton teased.
“Something like that.” Alyssa finished her cake and put her fork down. “I was wondering as I drove over here, when did you find out about Jade?”
“She left her birth certificate in the house Knox and Bea are renovating,” Keaton said. “They found it not long after he was released from the hospital.”
“But before that, he had the birth certificate mailed to him.” Kipling looked at Alyssa. “It had the child listed as Jane Doe, so we didn’t know it was Jade at that point.”
“We also thought she was dead,” Keaton added.
“That’s very odd,” Alyssa said, thinking out loud. “Why would you think tha
t?”
“We also had what we thought was her death certificate,” Keaton said. “But Bea was able to determine it was a fake.”
“And,” Kipling added. “She found that the date of the fake death certificate was very close to the time Tilly’s father was fired for supposed espionage.”
Keaton placed his hand over Tilly’s. “But we think Tilly’s dad was set up. It never seemed right that he would do something like that and we’ve been looking over all the old records to try and prove it.”
Something else struck Kipling at that moment and he couldn’t believe he’d never put it together before. “Bea was looking into those records when she was attacked the first time.”
Alyssa whipped a notebook out of her purse. “Wait a minute,” she said. “I have to write this down. I want to make sure I don’t forget any of this.”
Kipling watched as she wrote and didn’t miss her frown. “What?” he asked.
“I’ve got: Tilly’s dad, Jade, your parents’ deaths, and the attacks and threats on Tilly and Bea. Bea was attacked shortly after she started looking into Tilly’s dad and he was fired around the date on the death certificate.” The frown hadn’t left her face. “I’m missing something. I know I am.”
“We all are,” Kipling agreed.
“What do you know about Jade’s mother?” Alyssa asked.
Kipling shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Who was Jade’s guardian?” Alyssa asked.
“That’s another thing we don’t know,” Kipling said. “Knox has been trying to find out, but so far hasn’t had any luck.”
“He’s a hacker. He did some work in the Middle East for the government during the summer, while he was in college,” Keaton added and Kipling shot him a dirty look. “Sorry, man, but if she’s going to be working with us, she should know.”
“Part of the problem,” Kipling picked up, hoping Alyssa would ignore the hacking part, at least for now. “Is that we aren’t sure we have her real name. She gave us Kaja Jade Mann, but there doesn’t seem to be a record of such a person.”
Alyssa gave him a snarky smile. “And your hacker brother hasn’t been able to find anything out?”
