“Can’t you circumvent me?”
“Nope,” he said at the same time Henri said,
“Oui.”
Henri looked at David and he shook his head.
Maddie narrowed her eyes. “This is retribution for me swiping your badge back in Dallas, isn’t it?”
“Payback’s a bitch.” He wiggled his fingers. “Bye, bye.”
She glared, shouldered her bag and headed for the long customs line.
Henri glanced from David to Maddie and smirked. David knew what the Frenchman was thinking. “She’s not my mistress.”
“Then she’s fair game,
non
?” Henri wriggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“No. Stay away from her if you prize your neck.”
“Ooh-la-la.”
Henri laughed. “It must be
amour.
”
“No it’s not,” he denied hotly. “She’s Cassie Cooper’s sister.”
“And you let her come along with you?”
“It was either that or have her running around on her own getting into trouble. This way I can keep her under my thumb.”
“As long as your thumb is the only thing you keep her under.”
“Shut up.”
Henri laughed and escorted him around customs. On the other side of the barricade crowds of travelers streamed past them. They moved to one side of the walkway, waiting for Maddie to clear the inspection.
“So what’s the scoop on Shriver?” David asked, resting his shoulder against the wall.
“We followed him from the airport. He’s staying at the Hotel de Louvre.”
“Pricey digs.”
“Shriver is poetic, not subtle.”
“And Cassie Cooper?”
“She’s not with him.”
“Huh?” David squared his posture. “What do you mean she’s not with him?”
“He was alone,
mon ami.
” Henri shrugged. “Cassie Cooper went to Madrid.”
David ran a hand over his jaw. It was scratchy with beard stubble. He hadn’t shaved in two days. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Do we have anyone tracking her?”
Henri nodded. “Yes, we have a man on it.”
“Good work.” David took a deep breath and relaxed. This was an encouraging sign. Cassie’s absence in Paris meant she probably was just Shriver’s girlfriend and not his partner-in-crime as David had feared.
That tidbit of information should make Maddie happy.
And then a thought occurred to him. What if he could find a way to take advantage of this identical twin stuff? He had mistaken Maddie for Cassie on the jogging path. Under the right circumstances, Shriver might easily make the same mistake. Maybe David could find a way to use Maddie to entrap the art thief. Instinctively, he knew she would never go for it. The minute Maddie found out Cassie was in Madrid, she would hop the next plane to Spain and to hell with him.
You just can’t tell her yet,
the pitchfork-toting devil on his left shoulder announced.
David,
chided the halo-sporting angel on his right shoulder.
You can’t do that to Maddie. She’s placed her trust in you.
Trust, schmust. You wanna catch Shriver, don’tcha? Ignore goody-two-shoes and keep your trap shut,
the devil urged.
Angel be damned. The devil made a lot more sense.
“Do me a favor, Henri, and don’t tell Maddie her sister went to Madrid.”
“Ah, I understand. You’re trying to protect her.”
“Uh . . . yeah . . . sure. That’s it.”
“Whatever you want,” Henri murmured. “So we’re assuming Shriver came to Paris to make amends with Jerome Levy. I’ve got a team on both Shriver and Levy by the way.”
At the mention of Levy’s name, David grit his teeth. For years he’d suspected Levy was the one who’d brokered the theft of Aunt Caroline’s Rembrandt, but he’d never been able to prove it. He would love to bust Levy almost as much as he would enjoy busting Shriver.
“How else is Shriver going to unload the Cézanne if not through his old pal Levy? I cut off his connection with Philpot. There aren’t too many brokers willing to fence a painting that hot.”
“Shriver is taking a big chance showing up here,” Henri continued. “He knows we’re watching him. Why not lie low, sell the painting later?”
“I’m breathing down his neck hot and heavy, making things pretty uncomfortable. He doesn’t want to get caught with the Cézanne in his possession. Circumstances are forcing him to take chances he wouldn’t ordinarily take.”
“Or maybe,” Henri mused, “he’s fallen in love with Cassie Cooper and this was his last big score before giving up a life of crime for his lady love.”
“You French with the romance. Is that all you think about?” David snorted.
“One day,
mon ami,
love will hit you too,” Henri predicted slyly.
“Hit who with what?” Maddie asked, arriving on the tail end of their conversation.
“Nothing,” David lied, but he couldn’t deny the intense awareness that smacked him in the gut whenever he looked into her eyes.
It’s just lust. Nothing else,
he told himself.
“I know what you’re up to, Marshall,” she said.
“I’m not up to anything.” For one strange moment David had thought she was talking about the sexual fantasies wreaking havoc with his imagination.
“What have you been saying behind my back?” Maddie poked him in the chest with her index finger. “I know that’s why you made me go through customs. You’re hiding something from me about Cassie. What is it?”
The woman loved busting his chops. And the bizarre thing was, he respected her for it. Most people didn’t have the courage to call him on the carpet. They bought into his bluster and let him have his way.
But that insistent index finger tapping his chest and the determined expression on her face stopped him in his tracks.
And damn if Henri wasn’t snickering.
“The truth,” Maddie demanded.
How in the hell did she know he was lying? Her perceptiveness knocked him off balance.
Turn the tables on her. Quick. Anything to wrestle back control and keep from feeling guilty.
“I’m offended,” he said.
“Offended?”
“That you would impugn my character.”
“Ha! It would be easier to offend a polecat, Agent Marshall.”
Was she calling him a skunk? Man, but the woman was sharp with those zingers.
Henri guffawed. David glared at his friend.
Maddie eyed him speculatively. “You swear you’re not keeping anything from me.”
“Scouts honor.” He raised two fingers, held her gaze and tried his best to look guileless.
“Were you ever a Boy Scout?”
“No. It’s a symbolic gesture.”
“You wouldn’t betray my trust, would you David?” She sank her hands on her hips.
“Who me?”
That’s it,
the devil egged.
Lay it on thick.
For shame.
The angel clucked his tongue.
Hey, David justified himself. An FBI agent occasionally had to make a few moral judgment calls in order to score an arrest. And if catching Shriver meant delaying the truth from Maddie for a little while longer, he’d take his lumps like a man.
Because nothing, absolutely nothing, meant more to him than arresting the art thief. Bringing Shriver in meant far more than seeing justice done or evening the score for his aunt. It meant he was a winner.
At that moment, the two-way radio clamped at Henri’s belt loop squawked. Henri answered in rapid-fire French. David had trouble keeping up with the conversation.
“What is it?” Maddie asked when Henri finished speaking and turned to look at them.
“Both Shriver and Levy are on the move,” Henri explained. “Shriver left his hotel carrying something large and flat and wrapped in brown paper.”
“The Cézanne,” David guessed.
“It looks as if they are about to make the exchange.”
“What about my sister?” Maddie asked. “Is she with Shriver?”
“No,” Henri answered. “He is alone.”
David rubbed his hands together. “Let’s hit ’em.”
They crowded into Henri’s Cooper Mini—Henri and David up front, Maddie crammed into the back seat—and careened through the cobblestone streets, siren blaring. Henri’s chase team gave him frequent updates over the two-way radio, as they played fox and hound with Levy.
Maddie was frustrated with her inability to speak French. She was desperate to know what was happening. And where was Cassie anyway?
After the last update, David glanced at Maddie in the rearview mirror. She met his gaze. “What?”
“Levy’s headed up the Eiffel Tower.”
“Shriver is going to hand off a valuable Cézanne at a crowded tourist spot? Seems pretty risky to me,” she said.
David shrugged. “Maybe he’s thinking it’s better to hide in plain sight.”
“Or maybe he’s afraid to meet Levy in private,” Henri suggested. “He did double-cross the man.”
She curled her fingers into the seat cushion and managed to restrain herself from telling Henri to drive faster. She wanted Shriver in custody and her sister found.
“Cassie’s okay,” David said.
He was still studying her in the rearview mirror and that, along with the fact he’d just read her mind, unnerved Maddie.
“You don’t know that. Shriver could have killed her.”
“If he was going to kill her he would have done it in Grand Cayman, not paid for her ticket to Europe.”
He was right, but Maddie couldn’t stop imagining the worst.
Henri turned off the siren as they neared the Eiffel Tower. He made radio contact with his crew who told him Levy was headed for the top but they were holding off, waiting for Henri.
They parked, jumped out of the car and jogged toward the base of the Eiffel Tower. A swish of tires and the rumble of engines arose as vehicles passed them on the street. Henri was on the radio, contacting the team tailing Shriver.
“Where is our target now?” Henri asked. The radio crackled an answer.
Maddie moved closer to David. “What did Henri’s man say?”
“Shriver’s headed east on the Champs-Elysées. Coming straight toward us.”
Her heart skipped. Startled she realized the irregular rhythm wasn’t from fear, but from excitement. The same sort of excitement that had suffused her when she’d trained for the Olympics.
“Omigosh,” she said. “We’re about to catch him.”
“Feels good, doesn’t it?” David’s eyes glowed, his excitement clearly matching her own.
The look they shared was magnetic, drawing Maddie deeper into David’s world. She gulped, both invigorated and unnerved by the sensation.
Henri flashed his badge at the ticket booth and they scooted on through.
“The stairs will be quicker,” Henri called over his shoulder and skirted around the huddle of tourists waiting for the elevator.
They took the stairs two at a time. The weather was a damp gray drizzle and the brisk breeze chapped Maddie’s cheeks. But she didn’t care. They were about to nab Shriver and this Levy person. Once Shriver was in custody, she would find out what he’d done with Cassie.
She caressed the half-a-heart necklace hanging against her chest.
Hang in there, Cassie. I’m coming to save you.
Without meaning to give in to her fears, Maddie found herself visualizing her sister bound and gagged in a dark closet somewhere. Her heart thumped. She clenched her fists, bit on her bottom lip.
“Stop imagining the worst,” David said as they topped the stairs and exited to the second floor platform. “Cassie is fine.”
How in the world did he know that’s what she’d been thinking? The man was uncanny.
Henri was on the radio again. “They’ve got Levy in sight,” he repeated for Maddie’s benefit. “He’s waiting at the top.”
“And Shriver?”
“Heading this way.”
From the second floor they were forced to take the elevator to the top. Luckily, in late February, the tourist crowd was fairly sparse. Henri displayed his badge and moved them to the head of the line but Maddie couldn’t help feeling frustrated as they waited for the elevator to arrive. Any other day she would love to visit the Eiffel Tower, but today all she wanted was to get this over with. By the time they reached the top of the tower she was breathless from anxiety.
“Do you see him?” she whispered to David.
“Don’t look now but Levy is standing about a hundred feet to the left. He’s wearing a red beret and a black leather jacket.” David slipped his arm around Maddie and pressed his lips against her ears.
She tensed.
“Pretend we’re honeymooning tourists taking in the sights,” he whispered.
“What for?” she whispered back, disconcerted by his nearness.
“It’s our cover story.”
“Like someone is going to ask?”
“Let’s just stand over here in the corner, with our backs to the elevator. I don’t want Shriver to recognize us and blow the whole sting. I might even have to kiss you if he comes our way.”
“Kiss me?” Her voice sounded as shaky as her insides felt.
“Yeah, you know. As a dodge.”
“Oh yeah.” Was that all?
“Look honey,” he said loudly as he guided her to the corner. “You can see the Arc de Triomphe from here.”
David used his tall body to shield her from the brunt of the wind blowing up the tower. “You’re cold,” he murmured where only she could hear.
She
was
cold but that wasn’t why she was trembling.
David took off his trench coat and draped it over her shoulders. Then, he put his arm around her again and drew her close to his side, his body heat merging with hers.
She shouldn’t have enjoyed the hard feel of his arm against her waist. She shouldn’t have noticed how nice he smelled or how his beard stubble scratched lightly at her earlobe. She shouldn’t have been stunned by the considerate loan of his coat.
But damn her, she was.
“Do you think it’s safe for me to try and get a look at this Levy character?” she asked.
Maddie needed to do something, anything to get her mind off David’s proximity and back on the situation at hand.
“Just don’t be too obvious about it.”
“Where did Henri go?”
“He and his men are taking cover on the other side of that group of Japanese tourists.”
Cautiously, Maddie glanced around, pretending she was taking in the sights. To her left, she spotted Henri smoking a cigarette beside two other men. When she turned her head to look over her shoulder, she spied the man in the beret and leather jacket. He was glancing at his watch and frowning.