Melissa reached for her gun… and touched her empty hip.
Seth stood up from his desk. In his hand he held her gun. The barrel pointed straight at her chest.
Her cell phone rang in her bag, the muffled tweet barely audible over the pounding of her heart.
She had figured it out. Finally. But she’d done it far too late.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
MELISSA’S PHONE RANG FOUR TIMES before it switched Nick to voice mail. Where in the hell was she? He left a message for her to call.
“Where’s Melissa?”
Nick glanced into the rearview mirror. “I’m trying to find her, Buddy.”
After abandoning his fire-building project, Nick had fed his son some quick breakfast and then loaded him into the truck so they would be ready.
The question was, ready for what?
He’d driven as far as it took for him to get a good cell signal, then pulled into a turnout, hoping to reach Melissa.
So now what?
Nick squinted through the smeary windshield at the Denver skyline. She’d said she was going to the office. Precisely where Seth Wallace would presumably be headed this morning. Nick had hoped to head her off, to warn her before she met with her boss.
He prayed he wasn’t too late.
He pulled up a Denver government directory on his phone and punched in the number for the district attorney’s office. The phone rang forever, it seemed. He was about to hang up and just race down to the building and bust in when a receptionist picked up. “Denver district attorney’s office. How may I direct your call?”
“I need to speak to Melissa Anderson.”
“Ms. Anderson is not in yet this morning. If you like, you can leave her a voice mail.”
“I already have. Thanks.” He paused for a moment. The move was tricky. The last thing he wanted was for Wallace to know he was on to him. But if it was the only way he could reach Melissa, he had to take a shot. “Melissa said she would be meeting with Deputy District Attorney Seth Wallace this morning. Can you tell me if he’s in?”
“He is. And he’s been in a meeting since before I arrived. So that might be where Ms. Anderson is. I’ll transfer you.”
Nick hadn’t had time to catch his breath when Wallace’s voice boomed over the line. “Raymond. Glad to hear from you. Where are you? I’ll get some deputies out to you right away.”
And not gangster wannabes?
“Is Melissa with you?” Nick asked.
“She is.”
“Can I talk to her?”
“How can we help make this easier for you, Raymond?”
Turn your murdering scumbag self in?
Nick had to think. When he’d called, he’d been so focused on telling Melissa the truth about her boss, he hadn’t planned any further ahead than that. “I have some papers here. Papers my ex-wife sent to me. Melissa said you needed them to help with the prosecution of her murderer.”
“Yes. Yes, we do. Where are you? I’ll send someone to pick them up.”
“Not necessary. I’ll bring them to you.”
“Here? To the office?”
“Can you put Melissa on the line?”
“Tell you what. I believe Melissa mentioned to you that we have a few issues regarding security. I don’t want to put you and your son in any kind of danger. So why don’t you stay put, and Melissa can come and pick up the papers? She can also bring some extra security to make sure you and your son stay protected.”
Him and his son. All along Melissa and he had both assumed Nick was the one who was in danger. That Jason was too young to be a witness, too young to be a threat. And all along, it was Jason Seth Wallace was after. Not because he was a threat in court, but that he knew Wallace as his mother’s boyfriend.
Right this minute, Nick felt as if he could storm into that office and take Wallace out with one bare hand. He forced his breathing to slow. He couldn’t let emotion get the best of him. Not now. “I’d like to talk to Melissa.”
“Sorry. She just ran out of the office. It’s crazy around here this morning. But I’ll give her the message immediately. Where are you?”
Something had happened to Melissa. Wallace had done something. Nick knew it. She would be picking up her phone otherwise. He couldn’t quite believe Wallace would hurt her. Not right there in the office. But if he could get her somewhere else?
Think.
“Raymond?”
He could meet with Wallace. Choose a safe place. Maybe even find a way to call in Detective Marris or someone else to help. Find a way to make them believe the chief deputy D.A. was a murderer. A cop killer.
A weight settled into Nick’s stomach. It would be a hard sell. Maybe impossible. He had no evidence. Just a story about his four-year-old recognizing a photo in the newspaper. Nick glanced into the rearview.
Jason stared out the window, thumb in mouth and fingers twirled in hair.
He had to find a safe place for Jason. That was the first thing. No matter what happened next, Wallace was not going to get his hands on Nick’s son.
“Okay. Tell Melissa I’ll meet her.”
“Good, where?”
Nick scanned through his limited knowledge of Denver. He’d seen very little of the city besides the hotel where the shooting took place and the McDonald’s playland. But years ago he’d been here with Gayle. He remembered a bookstore. The Tattered Cover, if he recalled correctly.
No. He didn’t just need a crowd of people. He needed more. Some kind of law presence. A bookstore wouldn’t cut it. “The train station downtown.”
“Union Station?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll have Melissa meet you at the Wynkoop Street entrance. She can be there in twenty minutes.”
Too soon. Nick had too much to do before then. “I will be there in ninety.”
______
Melissa didn’t know if Seth hadn’t thought about the construction going on at the train station, or if it was part of his plan. But either way, the area around Union Station was a mess. Seth wove his Mercedes slowly through construction barriers and snarls of traffic. She sat in the passenger seat, her cuffed hands in her lap, and stared out the window, searching for any sign of Nick.
Her mind was still whirling with what she’d figured out about Seth. That he’d killed Gayle with his own hands, paid those men to kill Jason, only Jimmy and Essie had gotten caught in the cross fire. “Tell me, Seth. Was Jimmy one of the people who screwed things up for you? Was he getting close? Is that why you had to unleash Calhoun in an attempt to discredit him?”
“You want me to tell you all the details, Melissa? Really?”
“Why not? I doubt you’re planning to let me go. Was it you driving that red SUV last night, too? Where did you get it? Would the license number lead back to you?”
He gave her a dismissive look and cranked the volume on the car’s stereo. The strong yet brutal strains of Wagner washed her questions away.
Fine. She didn’t need the answers. Not from him. She’d figured out most of it anyway. After she’d gotten hold of that first piece, one thing had just led to another. Why she hadn’t seen it all before—before Jimmy and Essie had died, before she’d ended up at gunpoint, before Seth had set up Nick to walk into a trap—would haunt her the rest of her life.
A span of time that promised to be pretty short.
She spotted Nick before Seth did. There he was, in front of the historic Union Station, bent as if examining the day’s headlines in the newspaper vending machines out front. The box of Gayle’s papers sat at his feet.
Seth made a strangled sound in his throat. “Damn it. Damn it. Where the hell is the kid?”
Melissa let out a breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding. So Nick was aware that something was wrong. She’d prayed he wouldn’t totally trust Seth. In the past couple of hours she’d reviewed every statement she’d ever made to Nick regarding the chief deputy, hoping she hadn’t conveyed her blind trust to him, hoping he’d see
past her misplaced confidence.
Seth piloted the car to the curb. He hit a button on his armrest. Her window lowered.
The chocolate cakelike scent of malt from the nearby Wynkoop Brewing Company wafted into the car. The sweet smell she’d always found comforting now stuck in the back of her throat.
Nick lifted the box with his good arm and approached the car. He stopped ten feet from the door. “Can you help me with this, Melissa?”
“Get in the car.” Seth’s order rang out like a bark.
Nick didn’t move. He focused on Melissa.
She gave him what she hoped was a warning look.
His expression didn’t change. “This damn box is heavy. I can’t get it into the car with one arm.”
Seth raised the gun just enough for Nick to get a glimpse. “Melissa needs you to get into the car. You and the box. If you want to help her, you’re going to have to find a way to manage it.”
Nick’s mouth flattened to a hard line.
Seth hit a button on the dash. A click sounded in the back of the car. “Put the box in the trunk. And don’t try anything. Melissa needs you to be very careful in what you do. Remember that.”
Nick circled to the back of the trunk and dropped the box inside. He used his good hand to slam it closed with a thunk.
Seth peered into the mirrors, tracking Nick’s progress. His hand was tight on the gun, his knuckles white with strain. He was inexperienced with firearms. He didn’t have the training she did. If she could distract him, take his attention off the weapon in his hand, she might be able to disarm him.
The trick was, doing it with her hands cuffed. And not getting shot in the process.
“Get in. Make it fast,” Seth ordered.
Nick opened the door behind her and slipped into the backseat.
“Give me the handgun,” Seth said.
“What handgun?”
“The one stuffed in your waistband.”
Melissa’s mind raced. So Nick had brought a gun? What gun? The only gun they had was the rifle he’d carried with him from the ranch. That and her handgun. The one that was now pointing at her chest.
“I want the gun. And if you want to help Melissa or even just have her continue breathing, you need to give it to me.”
A handgun clattered against the plastic console between the front seats. A handgun that looked awfully familiar…
Seth grabbed it with his non-gun hand and tucked it away.
Melissa glanced around the car. Surely someone had to see them. They had to question what was going on. But the construction barriers fenced most pedestrians off a distance away from them. And even if they did think they caught a glimpse of a gun out of the corner of their eyes, who would believe an ugly scene like this was going on inside a slick Mercedes like Seth’s?
Seth tossed a set of handcuffs into the back. “Put these on. And Melissa needs you to get them tight.”
Melissa heard the cuffs rattle in the seat behind her.
“What’s going on here?” Nick asked, his voice a low growl. “I thought you were going to provide protection.”
“I thought you were going to bring your son.”
“It was Jason you wanted all along, wasn’t it?”
“Melissa needs you to shut up.”
Melissa’s throat felt thick. So Nick had figured it out. He’d known Seth was behind it all, and yet he’d come to this sham of a meeting anyway.
Some investigator she’d turned out to be. Some protector. She hadn’t figured a damn thing out, even though the murderer was right in her own office. And when she’d finally caught on, not only had it been too late, she’d dragged Nick into this mess with her.
Seth shifted the car into gear. He drove through city streets, calm as if on a Sunday drive. But if she looked close, she could see his lower lip and chin tremble. Both the knuckles of his left hand on the wheel and his right on the gun showed white.
Seth was on the edge. The disheveled look. The desperation bubbling under the surface. The complete failure of coping with her questions back at the office. He was like a cornered animal, his whole carefully constructed scheme coming down around his ears. And that made him more dangerous and unpredictable than ever.
Melissa scanned the landscape outside. People walking on the streets outside, people driving their cars, children in the backseat, all of them could become victims if she wasn’t careful. All of them could pay the price for her mistake of trusting the wrong person.
She held her breath, willing Nick to keep quiet, to not say anything to agitate Seth until they were clear of so many potential victims.
“Those guys I saw. You paid them to kill Jason. And when they shot Jimmy instead, you decided to pin the whole mess on him.”
Seth said nothing, but his fingers tightened further. The lines bracketing his mouth dug deep as ravines.
“You often kill your mistresses? Keep them from talking?”
They hummed onto the highway. Cars swirled around them. A compact pulled alongside, a mother with two toddlers strapped in the backseat. A wheel jerked to the side or a bullet fired through the door, and their busy morning would instantly become a tragic one.
“You often pay losers to kill a four-year-old? Or just if you have to keep him from telling anyone that you hurt his mommy?”
Seth took an exit that led to the area where they’d met Marris yesterday. He drove past the tavern and wound up the mountainside.
“You’re man enough to kill a woman and try to kill her kid, and yet you can’t even own up to what you’ve done?”
Melissa shifted in her seat. All drive long, Nick had been provoking Seth, needling him as if trying to get a reaction. He wouldn’t do that for no reason. He wouldn’t meet Seth and get into the car in the first place if he didn’t have a plan. Not Nick. He didn’t lash out blindly. He wasn’t like that at all. He was a man one could rely on.
A man she could risk opening herself to.
A man she could trust.
Shivers flooded her skin. She was so stupid. She was so blind. When she should have been skeptical, she’d taken Seth at his word. And when she should have trusted, she’d pushed Nick away.
She glanced in the back.
A blue-jeaned thigh shifted into view. He scooted his body toward the center, only an inch, but it was enough to show her what he intended to do.
It was risky, she knew. One point blank shot, and she would be dead. In this terrain, they all could. But she sure as hell didn’t have a plan. And if she didn’t trust Nick’s, the two of them would wind up dead for sure.
“Jimmy figured it out. Or at least he was going to.” Melissa took a deep breath and pressed on. “With all your experience in the system, all the criminals you’ve prosecuted, I’d think you’d be better at pulling something like this off.”
“I fooled your precious Jimmy for a long time, and I sure as hell fooled you.”
“And now you’re going to kill Nick and me?”
In the backseat, Nick shifted a little more.
She wasn’t sure how he was going to do anything with one arm broken and his hands cuffed. She swallowed into a dry throat. “I don’t know what good you think this is all going to do, Seth. Too many people are figuring things out. It’s not just us.”
He glanced her way. Beads of sweat hung at his hairline. “Like who?”
“Ben Marris.”
“I wasn’t kidding when I said we have evidence that Marris is being paid off. You were right about Jimmy Bernard. But Marris? Dirty as a damn whore.” He took a hairpin turn. A canyon opened up to the right of the car.
Was he bluffing? She didn’t think so. With any luck, it wouldn’t matter. “How about Calhoun? He’s an ass, but he can be a good investigator. He’s going to add things up.”
“Calhoun will spend the rest of his career trying to prove Jimmy Bernard was on the take. You think I was driving that witch hunt, as you put it?” Seth shook his head. He steered the car around another tight curve.
<
br /> Melissa could see the guardrail whizzing by on the left, nothing but air behind it.
“An investigation into Jimmy Bernard is Calhoun’s wet dream. He’s never going to give a second glance at something that ruins it for him.”
He was probably right. “Tammy won’t rest. Not until Jimmy’s cleared.”
“Tammy Bernard?” A smile spread over Seth’s lips.
A smile that made Melissa’s blood chill to ice. What had she said? What had she done?
“Tammy Bernard. How very convenient. Finally I can tie up the last of the loose ends. Tammy Bernard. Why the hell didn’t I see it before? I’ll bet she makes a wonderful babysitter.” Seth glanced up into the rear view mirror. His smug expression flashed to startled.
He’d seen Nick, noticed he’d moved behind Seth in the backseat.
Using her two hands together like a club, Melissa struck at the gun.
A shot exploded, the sound cracking through Melissa’s ears, her head, her whole body. The gun skittered to the floor, hitting hot on her ankle.
Seth’s head slammed back against his head rest.
“The wheel!” Nick yelled. “Grab the wheel.”
Melissa lunged for the steering wheel. Hands bound, she struggled to right the car, a tight bend in the road coming up fast.
A gurgle ripped from Seth’s throat. He thrashed his arms, beating at the back of Melissa’s head and shoulders. He jammed his feet down on the floorboards.
The car accelerated.
A scream caught in Melissa’s throat. She couldn’t think. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t even pray.
The guardrail rushed at her.
She yanked the wheel to the side.
Tires shrieked. The car swayed. Something hit the back fender.
She counter steered. The car fishtailed and straightened. They’d made it. They–
Another curve rushed up fast.
A blow from his fist clanged into her head, her shoulders. Another. Another. Faster. Harder.
Justice (A Rocky Mountain Thriller Book 3) Page 15
