“Is there anybody else in these photos who look familiar to you?” She shook her head no. “And I never forget a handsome man.
None of these guys here look remotely close to familiar to me.” She tapped her finger on one photograph. “This one…I haven’t seen him before, but he’s cute. I don’t normally go for black guys, but woof,” she made a barking like sound. “I’d go for him.” Saints and Sinners 158
Thomas shook his head. She’d go for a dead guy—of course she didn’t know he was dead. The photograph was of Alaina’s father. He had forgotten to leave it in the folder before he pulled the photographs out for her to look at them.
“Anyway…now that I have answered your questions Mr.
McGregor, how about you let me buy you dinner tomorrow night?” Thomas felt himself nearly break out in a cold sweat. The woman was desperate for a man and he needed to find a way to squash her interest in him without burning any bridges in case they needed to talk to her again. God, he hoped they didn’t need to talk to her again. “I’m taken,” he said. It wasn’t a lie. He was taken. He was very much taken with work, with his own mission, but she didn’t need to know that. If he wanted a woman in his bed he had access to plenty of women who wouldn’t latch on like an octopus in heat.
“Too bad,” she winked. “If you’re ever not taken, you know where to find me.”
He nodded. “I’ll keep that in mind.” He would keep it in mind and be sure to avoid Mercy General at all cost.
Sully laughed heartedly as they got in the car. “I think the lady likes you.”
“Don’t remind me,” Thomas mumbled. Sully could tell how uncomfortable Thomas had been, even if she hadn’t been able to. Thomas Capri Montgomery 159
159
was clearly trying to refrain from having to utter aloud his rejection of her advances.
“And since when are you taken?”
“I’m taken with work practically everyday.” He started the car and put it in drive. “I do date, you know.”
“One of these days, Thomas you’re going to find a woman who is going to convince you to settle down.”
“Not until I finish my mission.”
Sully nodded. He knew what Thomas was after, but he also knew love had a way of coming on like a sneak attack. When it was right, it was right, but he wouldn’t tell Thomas that; he would let him figure it out for himself.
“We need to find out if Tony is still in the area,” although Sully doubted he was. Why would he stick around after taking care of business?
Unless he had more business to finish in town. If he knew Lila had seen him, had a good look at him and could identify him, then maybe he would make an attempt on her next. If not, then he was probably back by Ms.
James’ side.
“I don’t suppose we can call Ms. James to find out,” Thomas noted. “If she’s in on this it’ll tip our hand, and right now we don’t have a full house.”
Sully nodded. “It’ll also give her an idea of where we are, and I don’t want her to know that—not ever, but especially not yet.” He couldn’t keep Alaina’s location a secret for long. At some point he would Saints and Sinners 160
have to divulge the information, but he wouldn’t give it up before he had to. Right now her safety was priority. The fewer people who knew where she was, the safer she was going to be.
“Lila works all night. If Tony’s going to try something it won’t be during her shift.” At least he hoped it wouldn’t be during her shift because that would mean the man wasn’t just brazen, he was certifiably nuts. That emergency room was too visible for an attack. No, he was fairly sure any planned attacks would be at her home, made to look like an accident like the others.
“She’s not off until eight in the morning,” Thomas added. “I’ll keep a watch on her place. You spend the night with Alaina. I can call you if he surfaces.”
Sully nodded. “Just don’t play the hero on me. This guy won’t hesitate to kill. You and I both know that.”
“I won’t make a move unless I have to,” Thomas took his exit into the suburban area where he had rented the townhouse for Sully. “But I do know what I’m doing, you know. I’m not a rookie.” Sully laughed. “I know, but if anything happens to you, Gavin’s going to kill me.” He meant that literally. Gavin, being the oldest, was over protective of all of his siblings. He would kill for any one of them, and they all knew that.
“That’s my big brother for you,” Thomas added. “Thank goodness he’s married and out of Boston now. I could barely work with him around.
Capri Montgomery 161
161
Every time I looked up he was shadowing me to make sure I didn’t get in trouble.” He laughed. “He’s worse than my mother.” Sully laughed. “What are big brothers for?” He shook his head, glad he didn’t have any siblings of his own to worry with. He, too, would have been like Gavin, ready to protect, ready to kill, for his family. “How does he like South Dakota?”
Thomas shrugged. “I think he likes the woman in South Dakota more than he likes the state itself, but he seems to be doing fine.”
“There are some things worth the change,” Sully added. There were some things like love, that made sacrifice worth it.
“Yeah. From what I hear they’re thinking of opening up a ranch style bed and breakfast on her property. Something about giving adventure tours and horseback riding…I lost concentration when I started trying to imagine Gavin being part owner in a bed and breakfast.” He shook his head. “Love must be worth it. I thought I’d never see Gavin give up the rough life.”
“But he hasn’t fully given up,” Sully knew for a fact that Gavin was still working hard on locating Sabian.
“I know, but once things end, once this is over, he will go quietly into retirement—living the life with his wife, maybe some kids…” Sully heard the longing in Thomas’ voice. He knew Thomas wanted marriage, family, home. He also knew Thomas wasn’t willing to pursue any of those things until he settled matters with Sabian.
Saints and Sinners 162
“Come on in with me. I’m going to need some help explaining tonight to Alaina.” He didn’t even want to think about the confusion and anger this might spark for her. Finesse was more of Thomas’ strong suit than it was his.
The moment they entered the house Alaina was in action, trying to find out what the day’s events had unfolded for them. He had to settle her down before he could even begin talking.
“So you showed her those pictures and she knew who they were?” Alaina started leafing through the photos.
“Some of them. The ones that count,” he said. He was just about to tell her one of the men worked for her mother when she gave a high pitched, “hey,” that had both he and Thomas looking for answers to the questions her reaction had raised.
She held up a photograph. “I know this guy.”
“He works for your mother.”
“No…wait, he does?”
“He’s her right hand man. You didn’t know that?”
“I haven’t met anybody who works for Liz. God knows I never wanted to, and she never wanted me to, so why bother?” She shrugged.
“Then where do you know him from?”
“Well, I wasn’t really sure because he looks older here, but that scar; I’d know that scar anywhere.” She pointed to the deep gash that protruded just a little out the front of his hairline. “I remember it because Capri Montgomery 163
163
he had really short hair—like a military cut…like here. Does he still have it?”
Sully nodded. “Alaina, can you get on with where you know this guy from?”
She sighed. “You are so impatient. Anyway, I saw him at my school a couple days before my dad died.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“I know how long ago it was, but I couldn’t forget him even if I wanted to. We had recess at school. I was sitting off on a bench near the fence, drawing as usual, and I saw him watching the playg
round. He had on the darkest sunglasses I’d ever seen…but I still felt him watching us. I drew a picture of him, including that scar. I showed it to my dad and asked if he thought it was something to do with mom. She didn’t bring work home, but dad had always told me I had to be careful.”
“What did your father say?”
“He said he would ask her about it, but since the guy was at the bus stop that maybe he was just waiting for the bus.” She shrugged. “Can’t figure out why they put a bus stop right in front of a school anyway. That can’t be safe. But there it was, with only a sidewalk and a wire fence separating it from the school.”
“Did your father find out anything?”
“I don’t know. Two days later my dad was…dead,” she whispered.
“Do you think I got him killed? Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.
Saints and Sinners 164
Maybe I should have just kept my mouth shut—I mean he hadn’t hurt me or anybody else…he didn’t even try to talk to me.” Sully brushed his hand across her shoulder. “Your father’s death wasn’t your fault. You did the right thing in asking him about the guy. It might not be what got him killed.”
“But it might be,” she looked at him. “That’s what you’re not saying. He could have asked Liz about this guy and Liz could have…I don’t know what I think anymore. I mean, I just don’t peg her for a murderer, but this is just all too freakishly weird. He works for Liz, and two days before my dad died he was watching my school’s playground…unless he was trying to get to Liz. But then that doesn’t make sense either. He worked for her. If he were angry with her he could have just killed her, not my dad.”
Sully shook his head. “I don’t know how much he’s involved.
What I do know is Liz might not be up for mother or wife of the year award, but her death would have sent the agency scrambling in defense.
Her death would have brought a rain of terror down a lot harder than your father’s death brought.”
She shook her head. “In a way they still got away with it…whoever it was…because if the men sitting in prison for it didn’t do it, nobody knows about it. If it was this guy…then Liz is in trouble too.” There were too many pieces, too many parts of this puzzle that just wasn’t falling into place. “We’ll figure this out. We’ll get whoever is after you.” He was certain if they got the person after Alaina now, they would Capri Montgomery 165
165
find the person who killed her father all those years ago. He hoped, for Alaina’s sake, that her mother wasn’t involved. They had a torn relationship already, but if she found out that her own mother had killed her father, had chanced killing her in the process…she might not ever recover from that.
She leaned in and pressed her cheek to his. Sully’s arms instinctively wrapped around her. “I’m not sure I can deal with this,” she whispered.
“We’ll deal with it,” he assured her. No matter what the next few days brought they would handle it together.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Together sounds good.” He held her just a little tighter. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear. She stiffened in his embrace and for a brief moment he wondered if divulging that information to her had been wrong.
She pulled back and looked in his eyes. “I love you too. That’s what scares me, Sully. Everybody I’ve ever loved, I’ve lost.”
“You’re not going to lose me,” he said with conviction. They loved each other; he would protect her with everything he had. She would survive this, physically and emotionally.
She smiled. “I better not or I am so going to be pissed at you forever.”
He laughed. “Don’t be like that, darlin’. I’d rather you love me forever.”
She giggled. “Why am I this happy with you? I mean you…” Saints and Sinners 166
“Shot you…” he finished her sentence.
“Hey, that’s right, you did. You shot me.” If that hadn’t been what she was about to say then he didn’t know what her sentence would have been. He was sorry now that he’d brought up Central America again.
“You shot her?” Thomas asked incredulously.
“He did,” she confirmed. “I should be angry with you still.”
“But you’re not?” He asked cautiously, as if he needed to tread lightly.
“What did you shoot her for?”
“I was saving her life,” Sully defended himself.
“By shooting her? Jeeze, Sully. Remind me never to let you save my life.”
Alaina laughed. “Well, in his defense, the guy did have a knife to my throat.”
“See.”
“But that doesn’t excuse your shooting me,” she confirmed. “You could have just shot him.”
“I did shoot him.”
“You shot me first!”
He shook his head. “Would you have preferred if I had shot you second?”
“I would have preferred if you hadn’t shot me at all.” She wrapped her arms around him again. “Besides, that wasn’t what I was going to say.”
Capri Montgomery 167
167
“Then what were you going to say?” He wanted to know her words, her thoughts, her heart, everything. She smiled, almost deviously as if she just might make him work hard for it, but then her smile turned soft, warm, inviting.
“I was going to say that you and your family made me happier than I’ve been in a long time.”
He pulled her in close once more, wrapping his arms around her and enveloping her in his warmth. “I don’t want to leave you tomorrow, Alaina. Tomorrow I might find out something, you’re not ready to handle.”
She exhaled slowly. ““We must not be afraid to follow the truth, wherever it may lead us.”
“Thomas Jefferson.”
“Jefferson had it right. We don’t get to pick and choose our truths.
You must follow it, even if it leads you some place that ends up hurting me.” She pulled back and looked into his eyes, tears shimmering, threatening to escape her control. “I just need to know that you’ll be there with me if it does.”
“I’ll be there, right beside you.”
Alaina looked forward to the night time hours now. She barely had the nightmares she had begin to have again, not the ones about her captivity, but the ones about the death of her father. Those nightmares had played in her mind, over and over again, when she was younger. Up until Saints and Sinners 168
she was about fourteen she dreamed about the explosion almost every night. Four years of hellish nightmares with no comfort in sight, but then they stopped. The nightmares just vanished as if they were never there.
Perhaps her mind had finally found a way to let her dream in peace. But after her captivity, after she returned home, she started to have the nightmares again. They briefly alternated with memories about what happened in Central America, but mostly, those dreams replayed the last few minutes before her father died over and over again. She could almost remember the conversation clearly. After he died she had written down what he had said to her that morning when he dropped her off, she never wanted to forget his words. She had even drawn a picture of him, trying to commit him to absolute memory, but what she didn’t have was his voice.
She couldn’t remember his voice. Was it deep or high pitched? She thought it was deep—at least that’s how she remembered it anyway.
The past few nights her father’s last moments of life hadn’t invaded her dreams. Instead, she had dreamed of Sully and his mother and Teagan. She had dreamed of being at his home, being his wife, being Teagan’s mother, and having Maureen as her mother-in-law. She would bet anything that she would seem more like a mother than her own mother had. Alaina had happy dreams; dreams that would probably never be a reality, but it didn’t matter, because she preferred the happy to the sad any day.
When she awoke that morning, Sully had assured her that she would be safer at Thomas’ office so he carted her down there and left her Capri Montgomery 169
169
with Janet, the very friendly secretary, before going off with Thomas for the day. She had been bored out of her mind. She needed to stay busy, needed to work on something. She borrowed a pencil from Janet and a few sheets of computer paper and she sketched a picture of Janet that she could give to her son if she wanted. From her previous experience, Alaina knew just how important it was for children to have an abundance of pictures of their parents…especially the ones who loved them.
Saints and Sinners 170
Chapter Fourteen
Tony had done the one fool thing they had hoped he would do; he had gone to Lila’s apartment in the dark hours of the morning, ready to kill her. He hadn’t tried that first night, fortunately Thomas hadn’t thought that it was over and he had camped out one more time. Thomas managed to thwart the attempt before Tony could carry it out. The weapons the police found in his car had been a great assistance. And because of his connection to the force, he and Sully were allowed to question Tony first.
“I don’t have to tell you squat,” he had insisted.
“Is she worth going to prison for? Are you that loyal to Ms.
James?” Thomas asked, trying to get Tony to realize the brevity of his own situation so that he would do what most people did, try to save himself by turning over evidence on the person in charge.
Capri Montgomery 171
171
Tony laughed. “Ms. James? Please. She’s nothing, less than nothing. The two of you aren’t bright at all,” he laughed.
“Then educate us,” Sully snarled. “Who do you work for? Who hired you to kill those people?”
“I owe him my father’s life,” he shook his head. “If it weren’t for him, my father would have gotten himself killed with all those stupid gambling debts. I won’t turn on the man now. Not ever. And since you have no proof that I killed any of those people…I’ll walk by lunch time,” he held his head high, confident in his ability to get away with it.
“Him? Who is he?” Sully looked at him.
“While you’re here badgering me, who’s with that hot little number you’re supposed to be protecting?” Sully felt the chill race down his spine. He had left her at the townhouse this time. He had left her unprotected. “Shit,” he barked as he ran out the interrogation room. If he didn’t get to her in time, if he didn’t save her, he would never forgive himself—never.
Men-of-Action-Seres-04 -Saints and Sinners Page 13
