Endless (20 page)

“Cool.” I smiled at Emma, struck again by the
odd new freedom of discussing this kind of ability without worry of
recrimination. The only other time I’d had that sort of opportunity
and freedom was with Rafe and his family, and thinking of them
reminded me of something I’d been meaning to tell Emma.

“I knew another broadcaster once. She was
part of a King family.”

“Really? I don’t know many. We have just one
other--”

“All right, girls, can we get down to
business? You can finish your little chat later.” Cathryn’s temper
and tolerance were both short today.

We’ll talk afterward.
Hearing Emma’s
words in my mind was an odd sensation, reminding me again of Lucie,
Rafe’s cousin. I nodded in reply, smiling just enough to let her
know I’d heard without ticking off Cathryn again.

“I can’t stress enough how important
discretion and absolute silence are in this particular case. The
details are sensitive, and we’ve been retained on the condition of
our ability to keep everything quiet. As you both know, while we
always ask you not to discuss our assignments outside of
Carruthers, we don’t usually enforce that within the walls of this
house. That’s one of the advantages of our organization, the
freedom to share things that those with our talents quite often
have to hide.

“But in this situation, your absolute silence
is not only requested, it’s required. Nothing leaves the four of
us.” She pointed to each of us around the table. “And nothing is
discussed without Emma setting a perimeter for us first.”

“What about reports?” Emma asked.

“Nothing in writing,” Cathryn said. “Not even
encrypted. That’s why we’re meeting in person today, without the
usual emails first. You will record your hours and your work, but
only in the vaguest terms and under a dummy case name and number.
I’ll give you that information once I’ve finished laying out the
particulars. But can you all commit to this level of secrecy?”

Emma and I both nodded without looking at
each other. At the end of the table, Zoe laid out her hands, palms
up. “Of course, Cathryn. Although I’m not quite certain why I’m
involved here.”

“You, Zoe, are Harley’s concession to my
concerns about Tasmyn.” Cathryn speared me with a glance. “As I
just said, I’m not entirely convinced she can deal with certain
aspects of this mission, and I’m worried about what could happen.
You’re along for the ride to make sure that she behaves.”

I opened my mouth to hotly dispute what
Cathryn said, but then shut it without speaking. Cathryn had seen
me lose control too often. I couldn’t argue with her there. Plus,
it might be nice to have Zoe as part of our team. I might not agree
with Cathryn’s rationale, but since her provision for keeping me in
line wasn’t a bad thing, I decided not to waste time arguing.

“Tasmyn, you understand that the circle of
secrecy includes keeping Michael out of the loop?”

This time I gave in and rolled my eyes. “I
assumed that when you said ‘
Nothing leaves the four of us’
.
I can count. And yes, I get it. Discretion, secrets, blah, blah,
blah.”

Cathryn pursed her lips. “It might be
tiresome to you, but it’s important.” She took a deep breath and
shook her head. “All right then. I guess we’re ready to tackle
particulars.”

The rest of us sat waiting. I didn’t know
about Zoe and Emma, but I was almost holding my breath.

“Are any of you familiar with the Massler
family?”

If Cathryn had asked if any of us were
familiar the Queen of England, I would not have been more shocked.
Hearing Nell’s family name was the last thing I expected.

Cathryn carefully avoided meeting my gaze as
Emma spoke. “Massler? Aren’t they the big political family? The one
son had some kind of scandal years ago, but then he got involved in
charities. Their pictures are always in the social magazines, and
they hang out with actors and other famous people.” She smiled,
half-embarrassed. “So what? I read entertainment magazines.”

“I remember Nick Massler and his parents.
They live part-time around Washington, D.C., but they have a home
here in Florida, too. And that’s where Nick got in trouble, I
think. Down here.” Zoe glanced at me speculatively. “As a matter of
fact, wasn’t it in. . .”

“King. Yes.” I nodded. “He married into one
of the King families.”

“Tasmyn knows a little more about the
Masslers than the rest of you might. She’s actually met Nick, and
she. . .knew his daughter, too.”

“I
know
his daughter,” I corrected.
“She’s not dead.”

“No,” Cathryn agreed. “But she’s not. .
.well, responsive.”

I ignored that last part. “If this has
anything to do with Nell and anything Nick Massler might be trying
to do to her—or with her—you can count me out right now.”

Cathryn sighed. I recognized her air of
long-suffering patience and irrationally wanted to dump that bowl
of chocolates over her head this time. I caught Zoe’s eye and saw
her slight shake of the head. Maybe Cathryn was right; it was a
good idea to have Zoe around as my conscience.

“This actually has nothing to do with Nell,
except as she is Nick’s daughter. But your reaction is exactly why
I didn’t want you involved.” Her mouth tightened. “It’s entirely
about Nick Massler. Can you deal with it, Tasmyn, or would you like
to leave now?”

I thought about Nell’s father and my few
interactions with him. I didn’t like him; I hadn’t since the first
time I’d heard the story of his marriage to Nell’s mom, the scandal
that ensued and his treatment of their only child. But neither did
I believe in coincidence.

“I’m in,” I said. “Go on.”

Cathryn gave me the barest of nods in
acknowledgement and flipped through a few more papers. “So you’ve
all at least heard of the Massler family. And you’re right. They
are a political family, well known in this state for generations.
Nick’s grandfather was an ambassador to Romania, and his father was
a United States senator representing Florida years ago. They’re
wealthy, influential. . .Nick, as the only son, was expected to
carry on and maybe even go further. He’s very intelligent,
personable and well-liked.” I snorted at that, but Cathryn
pretended she didn’t hear me.

“Nick excelled in law school up north. He
came back down here, went into the family law firm. It was about
then that he met Alyse Brador. There was some buzz that his parents
didn’t approve of her, but they got married anyway, in a huge
over-the-top wedding in King. He left the family firm and started
his own practice there, because Alyse wouldn’t leave her own family
home. Or at least that’s the rumor.

“A year later, their daughter Nell was born.
And then some years after that, the scandal that you all referenced
took place. Alyse Brador Massler went into a psychiatric facility,
and for all intents and purposes, Nick removed himself from King
and went back to his family.”

“Leaving his daughter, who was a child at the
time, to be raised by strangers. And then when she needed him the
most, history repeated itself and he stuck her in a mental
hospital. Neat and easy.” I folded my arms across my chest.

“Tasmyn isn’t wrong,” Cathryn said,
surprising me. “But what happened with Nell really isn’t important
here. It’s something more current.”

Emma frowned. “I haven’t heard anything about
him recently. Other than he’s heading up some big charity. I can’t
remember what it’s for, though.”

“He is the president of the board for a
charity that raises money for autism research. His sister’s son was
diagnosed a few years ago. So he does a lot of work for that group,
and using that as a springboard, there has been talk that he might
try to resume his political career.”

Zoe whistled low. “Ah, well, that
is
news, then.”

Cathryn nodded. “Yes. All of this up to now
is fairly well known, in certain circles. What comes next is
not.”

This was when I missed being able to use my
ability on my co-workers. My curiosity definitely had the best of
me.

“Nick Massler is very discreet, and while his
name has been linked with a few women here and there in the past
decade, since his wife. . .was committed, there hasn’t been
anything serious. But unfortunately, there is now a situation.”

She pulled three sheets of paper from the
folder and slid them across the table, one to Zoe, one to Emma and
the last one to me. I looked down at the smiling face of an
unfamiliar blonde woman, dressed in an evening gown and dazzling
jewels. Her eyes were bright and warm, as though she had just
caught sight of an old friend.

“This is Helene Gamble. She’s a model, a
local actress, originally from a little town outside Orlando. She
met Nick Massler when she modeled at a benefit fashion show about
six months ago. They began seeing each other.”

“She doesn’t look very old,” remarked
Zoe.

“Twenty-six,” Cathryn answered. “But she and
Nick seemed remarkably compatible. Her family isn’t on par with
his, socially speaking, but nothing’s wrong with them, either. Just
typical upper-middle class.”

“So what’s the problem?” I picked up the
picture and studied it again.

“This is the problem.” Cathryn handed me
another paper, and I sucked in a breath. It was a picture of the
same woman, but she definitely wasn’t smiling this time. She lay on
the floor, on a carpet whose color I couldn’t discern as it was
covered in blood.

Helene Gamble’s eyes were wide open and her
mouth gaped. The blouse she wore was half off her shoulder, which
was also spattered with blood. The lower half of her body was not
in the photo, but I assumed the cause of death had something to do
with the multiple stab wounds I could see on her chest and
neck.

“Oh, no,” Zoe breathed, and I realized that
Cathryn had given both of the others the same picture. Emma’s face
was white, and her eyes were fastened on the paper.

“She was found by a maintenance worker in an
apartment not too far from the Massler family estate. She’d been
dead for about six hours at that point, or so it appears.”

“Who. . .?” Emma asked, and she didn’t have
to finish her question. We all knew where she was going.

“We don’t know, and neither do the police.
But of course, Nick Massler is a suspect. Possibly the chief
suspect.”

I flipped over the page so that I didn’t have
to look at those horrible vacant eyes for one more minute. “What’s
our job? Find the killer?”

“Not exactly. There’s another component to
this case. Have you ever heard of John Remington?”

I shook my head and Emma shrugged, but Zoe
nodded. “Congressman Remington, right? Is that who you mean?”

“Yes,” Nell affirmed. “John Remington is a
U.S. representative for this district. But he has a history with
Nick Massler that not many people remember. He actually started out
working for Nick, many years ago, but after Nick’s political career
tanked, he went out on his own, ended up running for office
himself. I don’t know all the details, but there was a falling out
between the two of them, and the rumor is that Nick plans to run
against John for a Senate seat.”

“And that has what to do with all of this?” I
asked.

“Nick believes that John might have had
something to do with Helene’s murder, that he’s trying to frame
Nick to ruin his political career once and for all.”

“Is that even a possibility?” Emma looked
unconvinced.

“That’s our job, our mission. We’re going
into Remington’s organization and determining if he set up the
murder. We need to find any evidence that might remove the weight
of suspicion from Nick.”

“Wait a minute—you want us to help Nick
Massler get away with this? Really? Because from my point of view,
the easier solution would be just ship him off to a looney bin.
That’s how he handled his wife and daughter, after all. Why not?” I
pushed my chair back and stalked to the window. My hold on the fury
was tenuous at best, and I needed to breathe, to rein it in.

“We’re not helping him get away with
anything. We’re merely trying to help him find out what part—if
any—Remington played. And we need to keep it quiet, because if this
kind of story gets out, it would be explosive, especially given the
history of Nick’s marriage and his daughter. So far, it’s been
buried. The police have been cooperative, as have the Masslers, but
it’s only a matter of time before word gets out. Nick loses his
last chance at politics, if we can’t help him prove he was set
up.”

“What if we do find something?” Emma asked.
“Even if Tasmyn hears a full confession, it’s not the kind of thing
that’s admissible in court.”

Cathryn nodded. “You’re right. Our primary
goal is to learn whatever we can and inform Nick. Of course, if we
come across any concrete evidence, or if we can manipulate the
situation so that a confession were actually heard, that would be
extremely beneficial.” Her eyes slid to Emma.