Merit Badge Murder (12 page)

"Where have you been?" I asked, my voice probably showing more anger than I would've liked.

Lana's eyes grew wide as she saw the two of us. "Oh! Merry! Riley! I didn't know you were back! How is Grandmother?" Ah. The old grandmother routine. I'd played this game before.

Riley didn't miss a beat, "She's fine. She asked about you."

"We came back to get you. Riley thought seeing you would cheer her up." I tried very hard to keep the malice out of my voice. I failed miserably.

"Sorry Ms. Wrath," Rex said. "Your cousin came over to borrow some sugar."

I'll just bet she did.

"I don't have any," Rex continued, "but she told me all about your family. I guess I didn't realize you were Russian on your mother's side." He looked at Lana. "Second generation, was it?"

Lana nodded. "You are so smart to remember that!" Her flirtation was off the charts. Funny how not two hours ago she was saying to my face that Rex liked me. I guess you can't change a zebra's stripes. Lana was going to hit on any man unless you dangled cute little girls in front of her. I remembered that Kelly said she had been snuggling up to her husband.

"Thanks for walking her back," I said tightly, "but we need to have a family discussion."

"About Grandma's end-of-life plan," Riley said smoothly. What, Fake Grandma was dying now?

He held out his hand, and Rex shook it. "Nice to see you again, Detective Ferguson."

"No problem." He turned and opened the front door. "And thanks for the yearbook, Lana. I thought Ms. Wrath was going to bring it over, but it gave me the opportunity to meet you." He shut the door behind him and was gone. I waited for him to cross the street before yelling.

"
You
gave him the yearbook???" I growled. "
I
was going to give him the yearbook!"

Lana looked upset. "Did I not do the right thing?"

Riley looked at her levelly, "Lana—you can't go off and talk to the police. They're investigating Merry. And now you've invented a whole family you'll have to brief us on."

I thought about that. A family where I was related to Riley and Lana. Seemed kind of like a nightmare. Especially now that Lana was flirting with my "boyfriend."

"I worked on that thing forever! It was my excuse to go over there!" I pouted.

Riley turned to me with a strange look in his eyes. "Why did you want to go see the Detective?" Hmmmm…either he was worried I'd botch everything, or he was jealous that I liked him. I didn't know whether to be insulted or happy.

"Doesn't really matter, now, does it? Especially now that Lana has her sights set on him."

Lana looked at me in surprise. "But Merry! I…"

Riley held his hand up. "Save it. You know, maybe that's not a bad idea…Lana could seduce Rex and keep an eye on his investigation. She could firm up the family thing which would defuse his quest to find out if Merry is local and maybe throw a few red herrings into the investigation."

He really needed to quit saying
red herring
. I made a mental note to buy him a thesaurus and shove it down his throat. That was, after I killed Lana for going after my soon-to-be spouse.

Lana shook her head. "Those days are over. I don't want to seduce anyone for secrets."

I glared at her. So her interest in Rex wasn't professional. She just had the hots for him. Which was much worse. I was an idiot to think Lana and I could be friends. The minute I meet a guy, she moves in with her blonde hair and boobs.

This was getting out of hand. "Lana has to go," I said.

Both of them stared at me.

"This isn't working out. And now she's messing with the local police. I think it's time for my 'cousin' to go back to Russia."

I should've said I didn't like her going after Rex. I should've stepped on her neck and held her down until she explained herself. Hell, in the first place I should've refused to take her in. But I was too pissed off for a discussion that would basically turn into me screaming incoherently. She'd only make some excuse or lie to me anyway.

Lana burst into tears and ran down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her.

Riley stepped closer to me. He was frowning. "Look, I know she complicated things just now, but Lana stays."

I shook my head. "The Slutty Roommate goes. It's my house. And I don't work for you anymore."

"You can't do that," Riley said. "You're being investigated by the CIA and the Feds. This local thing is just the tip of the iceberg. The media gave up, but the two government agencies won't. You're in it whether you like it or not, and you need my help. Lana stays."

"You can't be serious," I said, arms folded across my chest to form a barrier between us. He was standing pretty close to me. "You can't tell me what to do."

"What are you going to do? Go and confess to the cop? Confess to the world? It won't help you. You'll have to move, and you'll try to start over, but it'll be worse because you'll never feel safe. I'm trying to help you."

Riley put his hands on my shoulders. He looked deep into my eyes. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to think he could just make this go away. And for some reason, I wanted to think he was jealous of Rex.

Wait…did I just think that? Why would I care what Riley thought? I held his gaze. There was something else in his eyes…other than professional concern. Or was I just hoping to see that in there?

He was handsome. He was smart. And he smelled wonderful. I felt the tug of his sex appeal drawing me toward him.

"But…but…" I floundered, grasping for a counter-argument.

Riley put his index finger on my lips. His voice softened. "But nothing. I just want to help you, Merry. Let me help you."

And then he kissed me. On the lips. His mouth was completely on mine. I didn't think there'd be fireworks like that, but in my head I heard them explode over and over. The sensation was tingly and zapped me all the way to my core. Just as I was about to climb him like a tree, he pushed himself away.

"Sorry." He ran a hand through his hair and looked a little shaken. "I don't know what came over me."

I just stood there, blinking like an idiot.

Riley cleared his voice and straightened his tie. He walked to the door and opened it. "Lana stays, Wrath. End of discussion." And out the door he went.

I stood there for I don't know how long, staring at the doorway. Riley had kissed me. And I liked it. Really,
really
liked it. What the hell was going on? Hey! He walked out on me! I continued to stand, staring out the door, replaying things in my head. Riley Andrews of the CIA had kissed me. And I hadn't been kissed like that since…well, it's been a really long time. In fact, I don't think anyone had ever kissed me like that.

That was a depressing thought. It snapped me out of my trance. I locked the door and turned out the lights.

I got ready for bed, ignoring the sobbing Russian in the next room. A tiny, obnoxious voice inside said I should try to talk to her. Make her explain herself. But did I really want to hear it? No. She should think about what she'd done and stew over it a while. If I still felt like I needed answers—I'd ask them while she was packing her stuff in the morning.

I shoved the thoughts of Lana's betrayal out of my mind and started thinking about the kiss. Riley's kiss. I couldn't fall asleep, wondering what it meant. Was Riley attracted to me? Or did he kiss me to shut me up and get his way? I couldn't tell. I'd worked with him for years and always assumed he was on the take where women were concerned.

Had he ever had a serious relationship? I couldn't think of any. But then, I didn't know how he spent his personal time. I guess I always thought he went surfing and overused words like
red herring.
Of course, in his down time he'd have tons of lady friends. Even in the future I saw him as the guy in the nursing home who had a different girlfriend for each night of the week.

There'd been soooooooo many women. It was impossible to count. In fact, I couldn't attach a name to any one of them. Thinking of Lana, I wondered if Riley had seduced those women purely to get intel. Is that why he did it? I'd written him off a long time ago as just a Casanova—a handsome guy who slept with women because he could. But was that accurate?

And was I just another woman falling for it? I hated to think that was true. I'd avoided using sex as a tradecraft tool, but maybe that was Riley's thing. Like Lana.

I was seriously pissed at her, and a little hurt. She'd used whoring to get what she wanted her whole life. In fact, she lied for her living. It was possible she'd lied to Kelly and me about the orphanage thing. Now I was even angrier. She'd manipulated us completely, making us feel sorry for her! And we'd fallen for it. Kelly—forgiving her for sleazing up to her husband, and me for, well, everything. The fact that I'd believed her was the worst. I'd been a good spook. I saw through cover stories and lies. How had I missed this?

Grumbling, I got up and started pacing the room. Great, now I couldn't sleep. I glared at the door. The sobbing had ended. Maybe the boyfriend-who-wasn't-really-my-boyfriend-yet stealer was asleep. She'd better sleep well because tomorrow, I was moving her ass out, and the CIA was getting a huge, obviously inflated bill from me.

As soon as she was gone I'd figure out what to do. Hell, if Riley was right and she'd been the target all along, maybe the trail of dead terrorists would follow her, and everything could go right back to the way it was.

I felt a small pang at the thought of Riley leaving. Of him going back to Langley. Maybe it was for the best. Falling for someone like Riley was out of the question. Rex was a much better bet. A nice guy. More stable. And he lived here.

Rex. Why wasn't I angry with him for getting all gooey around Lana? It was clear he couldn't help himself—a knockout blonde fawning over him—who could resist that? Then I realized that's what Riley had done to me.

No, Rex was a safe bet. And I was attracted to him. Why had Lana done it? Why did she take the yearbook over? She knew that I wanted to do that. Clearly she couldn't resist. I didn't need someone like that in my life. In my house.

I had to shake off this investigation if I wanted Rex to think of me as something other than a suspect. But if Riley was right, and this was about Lana—her moving out of here would take care of that.

Riley's theory barged its way into my brain. It was out there, for sure. It was hard to believe that all of this was for Lana. She did have the connections though. But so did I—to Ahmed and Carlos at least. Not to Midori. Lana had the connection to Midori.

That was the only thing that kept me from dismissing the idea outright. The Agency had proof that Lana had been personally connected to these three baddies. It was possible that someone found out the CIA was going to set me up as her babysitter. There'd been leaks to information like this before. Why not now?

If that were true, then I was really pissed. The CIA was dragging me…an employee they'd let go, into their bullshit. Making my life…a life that was just starting to get interesting…a nightmare. I didn't deserve that. I'd given up a personal life when I'd worked for them. I'd sacrificed everything just to do their bidding. Now I had a chance to make up for my lack of, well, any life, and they wanted to drag me in again. Talk about unfair.

And yet the tremor of doubt remained. I just couldn't shake it—no matter how beneficial it was for me. Something wasn't right about Riley's theory of Lana being the target. I just couldn't put my finger on it. I toyed with the possible connections until I finally climbed back into bed and fell asleep.

*  *  *

THUNK. THUNK.
A sound roused me from sleep.
THUNK.
There it was again. What was that? I opened my eyes and lay very still in my bed. A few minutes passed, and I heard nothing else. Probably Lana's foot hitting the wall while she slept. Stupid big-foot bimbo.

THUNK.
I sat up this time. It kind of sounded like someone throwing a baseball at the side of the house.
THUNK.
What the hell was that? I looked at the alarm clock—three a.m. Without turning the lights on, I got up and put on some shoes.

THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
The sound was always the same. It hadn't changed in volume. Maybe a branch was hitting the house. I listened. It was windy outside.

THUNK.
Well if it was a branch, then I needed to make it stop. There was no way I'd be able to sleep. I opened the door and moved down the hall.

Thunk. Thunk.
The sound grew softer. It must be right outside my bedroom, but I had no windows on that wall to check it out. There was an old oak tree right next to the house. That had to be it.

I opened the front door and stepped outside. It was damp. Humid. We'd had some rain. I must've slept through it. Maybe a storm had knocked that branch loose. I moved into the wet grass and walked around to the side of the house. A huge pine tree stood between me and the oak, and I made my way carefully around it. My bedroom wall faced the street, but there was no traffic at this hour, which was good since I was wearing Dora the Explorer jammies. I rounded the big pine and stopped dead in my tracks at the foot of the oak.

It wasn't a branch banging against the side of the house. It was a body. And it was still alive. A piece of cloth was wrapped around the head and covered the body down to the ankles. The rope looped around the head and arms so they were unable to move much. Legs kicked and flailed, occasionally hitting the house. That's where the sound came from. No other noise came from the victim—they must've been gagged.

I ran up to the body, wrapped my arms around the legs, and lifted, supporting them with my weight so the rope wouldn't strangle him anymore. Whoever it was immediately stopped kicking. Either they were afraid that the assailant was back, or they knew I was trying to help them.

"It's going to be okay!" I shouted. They didn't respond. By now, I was pretty sure it was a woman. The legs had that shape to them that I could feel through the blanket.