Authors: Marion Faith Carol J.; Laird Lenora; Post Worth
Tags: #Fluffer Nutter, #dpgroup.org
She shook her head. “It's a burner.”
“Of course,” Connor said on a reassuring note. “I told you Josie knows her stuff.”
Armond didn't look convinced. “So...what should I do now?”
“I'd say we wait,” Josie replied, her fingers tapping on her phone. It really was a burner. She'd hidden her secure work cell in her car, where his men couldn't find it when they went out to do a search. She'd fill the burner with what she needed and send it to the fake email account she used as Josie Grant. Then she'd hide the phone in her lockbox in her apartment. If she got out of here alive, of course.
“Look, Mr. Armond, your girlfriend got shot on a city street and there's bound to be other witnesses who will come forward and tell what they saw.” She leaned forward, her dark bangs covering her face in what she hoped was an intimidating, mysterious way. “Some of them could lie, so it's a good thing Connor came along when he did. He knows the truth.”
Glancing over at Connor, she caught a whiff of admiration before his eyes went dark again. Then she turned back to Armond and did her tough-girl act. “Did you see the shooter?”
Armond shook his head. “No. I was too busy telling Lewanna to leave. We could never be seen together.” He held his hand to his head as if he had a bad headache. “I can't believe she's dead. If my wife hears this...”
Connor got up and poured coffee for Josie and then got himself a cup. “So why did she show up at the opera?”
“She was frightened,” Armond replied, his hand shaking when he tried to take a sip from his cup. He finally gave up and grabbed a silver flask off the table. Opening it, he poured what looked like whiskey into his coffee. “I've never seen Lewanna like that. Someone had left a nasty note on her porch, along with a dead rat.”
“Do you think she ratted someone out?” Josie asked.
“No, but someone thinks she did. And that means they also think I ratted them out. Lewanna showed me the note.”
Connor glanced over at Josie and then turned back to Armond. “Do you have that note?”
Armond looked shocked, as if he'd forgotten. “I tucked it into my pocket.” He pulled the crushed paper out and stared down at it, then began reading.
“Your boyfriend has been playing outside the boundaries. Tell Armond he's a dead man if he crosses that line again.”
He threw the letter down and stared at Connor. “They know something. They musta found out I was meeting you tonight to give you information.”
“You can still give us information,” Connor replied, his gaze full of resolve.
“Did you read that note?” Armond asked in a shout.
Josie took her napkin and reached for the paper, careful to keep her fingerprints off it. “Cutouts from magazines. How juvenile.”
“How serious,” Armond replied. “It might look like I killed her, but I didn't. I was standing there trying to talk her into leaving. I had dismissed my guards for the sake of privacy.” He rubbed a hand down the bald spot on top of his head. “Happened so fast. Had to be a sniper. It's a terrible thing, her being shot. But I'm a target, and someone wants me to be aware of that.”
He finished his spiked coffee, back to being the boss he thought he was. “I need you two to get to the bottom of this. Right away. And you need to tell the feds all deals are off.”
Connor gave Josie another glance. “You don't trust your own people, so that means you think this is an inside job?”
Armond nodded, shrugged. “I've made many enemies. Some of my close associates have betrayed me.” His keen stare indicated that Connor was one of those.
Josie did an eye lift to show her displeasure. “Let's start at the beginning,” she said. “We'll need a list of anyone you might have inadvertently offended, especially recently. And we need to check all your personal weapons to see if anything is missing.” She tapped notes into her phone.
“Maybe they made it seem like a sniper, but someone else with a closer aim could have done it with a different weapon and a silencer.” She tapped notes into her phone. “The forensic team and medical examiner can determine that if they can find any bullets to compare. Based on the angle and where the bullet entered, the type of weapon, all of that will come into play.”
“The shot could have come from the building directly right behind us.” Armond nodded, snapped his fingers to bring a guard running. After he'd ordered sandwiches, paper and pen, he turned back to Josie and Connor. “You'll stay here at Armond Gardens as my guests while you're doing the legwork, understand.”
“That wasn't a question,” Connor said low to Josie.
“Connor is a very smart man,” Armond said, his demeanor calm now. “He owes me his life, and right now, the only thing keeping him and you alive is my need for expediency on this pressing matter. Do you understand what I'm saying, Josie?”
“Clear as a bell, Mr. Armond. We're going on a quest of sorts. If we succeed, we live. If we don't, we die. Am I right?”
Armond's chuckle was low and sure. “I like this woman.”
She understood the command. Giving Connor a frustrated glare, she turned back to the man sitting like a king across from them. “Okay, then. We'll start with your immediate staff and work our way out. And I can promise you both, I'll take care of whoever is behind this.”
And you, too.
She would definitely take care of business with Louis Armond. But right now, she was playing a dangerous game. She wasn't sure if she could help convince Armond to seek immunity and protective custody or try to save him from someone even more dangerous. But Josie did know she had to make sure she kept herself and Connor alive, because they had one thing in common. They both wanted this man out of commission.
FOUR
A
rmond had left them alone, but a member of his security team stood just outside the partially opened pocket doors. He'd been so paranoid, he'd rushed out of the room with his guard, but he'd ordered a giant named Beaux to guard the door.
Josie had no doubt that Armond would attempt to monitor their conversation. As paranoid as he seemed, he'd have set up security measures in every room in this sprawling mansion.
She went around the big room, touching things here and there in search of electronic bugs. When she was satisfied they were clear, she stared over at Connor and started whispering. “Look, I can't just hang out here with you and Armond. I'm sure a team is already in place to get to the bottom of this, and they'll want an update.”
Connor stepped close. “Careful. That priceless bust on the table by the window has its eye on us.”
Josie tipped her chin in acknowledgment. “Thanks for the heads-up. But we still need to discuss how we're to handle this.”
Connor let her go, then paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. “Even though I vouched for you, they won't leave us alone for very long, so we need to compare notes. I've stayed here before, so I know it's not easy to get out. They'll make sure we can't leave if they don't want us to leave.”
“Why? What good is there for Armond to hold us?”
“None, unless he thinks he needs us for leverage or bargaining. But he's a hands-on kind of criminal. He'll want to hover nearby until we prove to him we can help him. We have to convince him that he's not in danger and that we're on the level with him. If not, he'll be done with us and...we'll disappear in a permanent way.”
“Which is why I had to inform my superior,” she reminded him. “I'm already pushing it by being here without backup.”
“I can try to get us out of here if things get ugly,” Connor replied, still whispering. “I know all the secret passages, but the security here is ironclad.”
Of course he knew all the secret passages. “That's why he's keeping you so close,” she offered. “He's afraid you'll squeal.”
“I don't kiss and tell,” Connor said, his eyes hitting on her lips. “I was close to ending this last year, but that art-heist fiasco kind of blew that out of the water. This is a second chance, if you look at being held captive as a positive thing.”
“A risky chance,” she replied. Josie tried to reestablish her position. “I get that you're part of the inner circle, but I do have a job to do, remember? I can't hang out and pretend I'm some mysterious cleaner. Armond expects action, not explanations.”
He shot a covert glance toward the hallway. “I can do the talking for both of us. Leave you out of any threads.”
What, did the man use a messenger pigeon? “I'm already tangled up in all the threads,” she retorted. “Besides, I have a secure phone in my car.”
“And how do you propose we get to that phone?”
Josie couldn't believe she'd walked into such a convenient trap. “You've got me right where you want me, Randall. What's the deal here?”
His face tightened into an irritated glare. “The deal isâI asked for your help and you came. So we have to see this through. Get over the notion that I'm out to do you in. I have enough problems without that kind of attitude.”
The man who'd fooled so many people was lecturing her about attitude? Josie wanted to handcuff him and take him into town, fast. But she had agreed to help him. Getting Armond had to be her only goal. For now.
“Okay, so what's the protocol? How did you handle things with your last liaison?”
Connor lowered his voice again. “I came and went on my own most of the time, but when I needed to get a message out, I sent a text on a secure phone to an address that looks like it belongs to my sister, Deidre.” He put a finger to his lips to indicate they still needed to whisper.
Josie mouthed the words. “With an encryption?” How cloak-and-dagger of him.
“Yes, several codes. My
friends
know all of them.” He touched on his phone.
Josie nodded. The text messages were rerouted to the FBI. “I see your point.”
“Will that work?”
She nodded. “We need to let my, uh...boss know I'll be late for work.” She glanced around, sure someone was listening right along with watching them. “Really late.”
“I'll fix it,” he replied.
Not liking his smug tone, she shook her head. “No,
we'll
fix it. You don't make a move without me, understand?”
“Got it.” But he gave her a look that indicated he didn't like her bossing him around. Then he started back tapping at his phone.
Wanting to wipe that smug smirk off his handsome face, she got right in his ear. “Maybe your last contact got transferred for this very reason, Randall. You didn't play by the rules, and you didn't bring Armond down when you had a chance.”
His expression hardened to stone. “Look, we can play this game of âI don't like you, Connor Randall' all night or we can get word out that you're in and we're a team now.”
He was right. They were wasting time standing here while Armond could be escaping out the back door. Or worse, while he waited for them to force the issue, or else. “If his people do a background search, they might figure out I'm FBI,” she said. “So we need to establish that I'm legit so we can stall him. Once we have him at the safe house, I'll come clean.”
Connor clicked his phone. “I'll tell Deidre that I can't wait to see her on Mother's Day.”
“That's sweet, but this doesn't involve your mother.”
“If you studied my file, you'd know my mother is dead,” he retorted with iron force.
“Sorry,” Josie replied, truly apologetic. She had studied his file. Several times. She should have remembered that fact, but the man had her all tied in knots. She attributed that to plain not liking him and missing her favorite pizza, but she had a feeling it went deeper than that. “Mother's Day is your code...for what?”
“Mother's Day means I'm in,” he explained. “My fail-safe is Thanksgiving.”
Josie almost smiled at that. “Is the Easter Bunny one of your cute little codes?”
“Funny.” He didn't laugh. “No, but Memorial Day is coming up. A whole month or so with you,
Josie.
I see fireworks in my future and, yes, this could be memorable.”
“Just get back on task,” she replied, but she saw the gleam in his interesting eyes. So Mr. Cool had a sense of humor and he knew how to flirt. Too bad she really didn't care. “So we go with Mother's Day. And?”
“And I'll be staying here for the weekend with my friend Josie, who needs to settle in and get established in her new position. Josie âhandles' things for people.”
“All right. We should be okay for now. But I do want to check on the latest update.” She didn't like putting the cart before the horse, but what else could she do? They were stuck here with Armond until they could produce a plan of action.
So they both went to work, sending cryptic messages and waiting for even more cryptic replies. Soon they had enough of an update to give Armond a fresh report.
“We could tell him the truth,” she suggested on a read-my-lips whisper, her mind whirling.
“Excuse me?”
If this hadn't been so serious, she would have laughed at the comical shock on his face. “We tell him it's been handled. Which it has. We can inform him we've called our contacts and he's safe as long as he does exactly what we tell him to do.” She started tapping away on her burner again. “I'll even call some of my other confidential informants to make sure we have the right information.”
“And?”
“And we show him why we need to focus on keeping him safe. We can't go after whoever did this if we're babysitting a paranoid Mafia boss. We need to move him to another location.”
Connor relaxed again. “That's a good point. If the locals and the FBI can keep his name out of this for now, we can search for the real killer, and if we find that person, we'll have them both in a corner.” He glanced toward the door. “And an added bonusâwe get to live.”
Josie crossed her arms. “Armond has to trust us with sensitive information, so we need to really make this work.”
“I can handle him,” Connor replied. “He'll come around if I keep working on him.”
She saw the confidence in his eyes. “You sure are smug for someone who walks in two worlds. You expect the man who probably wants you dead to trust you?”
“I'm trying to be low-key and relaxed for the camera.” He moved close. “So far, we've been whispering, but maybe we should act a little more lovey-dovey for the tiny red button embedded in that beautiful woman's necklace.”
She didn't dare turn to look at the stone-faced interpretation of a woman draped in robes. The one he'd mentioned earlier. But she scratched her ear and mouthed
I don't see how being lovey-dovey can help us.
He flashed his classic charmer smile. “I don't know. Just smile and pretend you like me, and who knows, maybe you will one day.”
She grimaced and then laughed. “Too late for that. Why don't we continue to pretend we're putting our heads together to figure this out?”
“We are doing that.” He tipped his forehead to hers, then stood back. “I like literal interpretations.”
Shocked at how much that brief contact had zapped her awareness, she asked, “Is that your secret-handshake kind of thing?”
“That's my staying-alive kind of thing. I have to be a carefree drifter who has a new woman on his arm every night. You need to be my latest conquest.”
Josie didn't want to think about that, and she didn't want to acknowledge the hum of curiosity and chemistry his words provoked. Now was not a good time to explore that little tug she'd felt earlier. “Don't count me in on that list.”
“I wouldn't dream of doing that. Not in reality. Right now, however...”
“We pretend.”
“Yes. Hard as that might be for you, we need to ramp up the sizzle that Armond will expect. If he thinks we're close, he'll be distracted, and that will crack his famous armor.”
Josie conceded yet again but her heart shouted a warning. Connor's explanation was so smooth she felt the kiss of silk moving over her skin. She was supposed to be professional and courteous while she gave Armond a show? “The sizzle? Like bacon on a hot griddle?”
“Exactly.” His eyes lit up into a shimmering blue-gray as he turned and tapped out a text report. “We might end up liking each other yet
.
”
“Don't get your hopes up on that,” she retorted. But she still felt the warm imprint of his touch after she said it.
* * *
Connor paced, his mind clicking with ideas. He was used to taking care of himself, but now he had Josie to think about. True, she was a trained agent, but his last FBI handler had been a tall, strapping fiftysomething family man. Big difference.
Of course, Josie Gilbert would tell him to drop the protective-male persona. She gave off so many hostile vibes he was surprised he hadn't been burned by electricity by now.
Just one more thing for him to deal withâa bitter female FBI agent. Bitter? Or just determined to prove her worth after that little dustup in Dallas?
Connor certainly could understand that concept, since his now-dead mother had been a hard-core, bitter working woman. He didn't mind that so much, but being around Josie only made him want things he couldn't have. He'd been on his own for too long now to think about normal, mundane things such as dating or dancing or settling down. He would never admit it, but he liked working with the feds on the good side of the law. For a change. He did the same things that he'd always done, but now he used his experience and talent to help bring in criminals. That gave him a bit of redemption, at least.
He wondered about Josie. What drove her to be so structured and buttoned-up? Had she believed she'd come from a normal, peaceful family or had she known early on that something was off with her successful father? Had she grown up in a small town with the white picket fence and the whole cheerleader, high-school-prom persona? Probably. Until it had all come crashing down.
That crash and burn would explain her need for justice now.
He'd have to find out so he could see inside her head. Sure, he'd found her file and...studied it, but some of the things that had transpired in Dallas were on a need-to-know basis. Probably to protect her identity. Connor wanted the real Josie to show up.
But right now, Louis Armond was waiting in his office for an update. So Connor planned to give him one.
“Are you ready?” he asked Josie.
“Ready, set, go,” she retorted on a close whisper. “We've covered every angle, including a thorough email report to Sherwood. If Armond asks for my credentials, we give him a rundown. If that doesn't work, we give him the phone number.”
“And he'll call and get a glowing report on your services.”
“Everything is in place,” she whispered. “We're on our own unless we give the fail-safe signal.” She adjusted her black leather jacket. “And I'm not talking Mother's Day here, Randall.”
“Why don't you call me Connor?” he suggested, hoping to crack just a tiny edge of that chip on her shoulder.
“Why don't you just lead on?” she replied.
But he did see a trace of acceptance in her eyes.
Progress, at least.
“All right, so we have our stories straight?”
She gave him a curt nod.
Connor turned to the giant guard waiting outside the drawing-room doors. He prayed this would work and that Armond would finally agree to immunity in exchange for his testimony regarding his nefarious associates. Connor had managed to unearth enough information to know the man had some sort of silent partner.