“You got a better idea?” he shouted.
She stared at him, her eyes wide, color riding high on her cheeks. “There’s nothing in that file that’s worth dying for.”
“I’m going to prove I didn’t kill Evan. Then I’m going to nail Duke. For what he did to Evan. For what he did to us. Either you’re with me or you’re not. I think it’s high time you made up your mind.”
Chapter 6
T
he ultimatum unnerved her. Of all the things he could have demanded, that was the most difficult. To ally herself with Jack now would be to admit she believed him innocent. Not only of Aaron Chandler’s murder, but of Evan’s. The repercussions of that were almost too enormous to absorb.
She couldn’t bear to believe he’d spent the past year in prison for a crime he hadn’t committed. She didn’t want to think that she’d walked out on him when he’d needed her so desperately. That he’d been innocent all along. That she’d been so terribly wrong.
Pressing her hand to the knots in her stomach, Landis turned away from him and walked into the kitchen. She felt sick inside and more uncertain than she’d ever felt in her life.
“What’s it going to be, Red?” he asked.
She’d always known Jack LaCroix wasn’t for the faint of heart. There was nothing easy about him. He could be uncompromising and unreasonable and stubborn as hell. He bent the rules until they broke. Pushed the limits until the boundaries changed. He embraced risk, courted danger and laughed in the face of authority. He was all of the things she was not. But the combination of those things had attracted her like a moth to a flame….
Raising her chin, Landis met his gaze, praying he didn’t see the emotions twisting her heart into knots. “I’ll help you,” she said.
“That’s not an answer.”
“That’s all you’re going to get.”
Eyes flashing dangerously, he stepped so close to her she could feel the heat emanating from his body, feel the anger coming off him in shimmering waves. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said.
His eyes slashed at her with dizzying intensity. She couldn’t look away as he moved even closer, overpowering her with his presence, his anger, the raw sexuality that was so much a part of him.
Automatically, she stepped back, hating it that she’d lost ground. A tactical error on her part, but she was smart enough to know when she was outgunned. “You’ve convinced me your case warrants looking into,” she said breathlessly.
A smile whispered across his mouth. “Well then in that case maybe I ought to level with you about what Chandler might have in his office.”
The hairs at the back of her neck began to crawl. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about Chandler having information that could exonerate me.”
“What kind of information?”
“He was always vague, never told me who his sources were, but he led me to believe he had information that would clear me.”
“Why didn’t he use it, for God’s sake?”
“Because he didn’t get this information by going through the proper channels. It was relatively new information he’d only recently come upon, and he was waiting for court orders, subpoenas to come through so it would be official and admissible in court.”
“How do you know all of this?”
“Chandler liked to walk on the wild side occasionally.” Jack shrugged. “And he liked to brag about it.”
“But he was going to use whatever information he had to exonerate you?”
“So he said.” He grimaced. “Maybe that’s why he was killed.”
She tried not to react, but felt the color leach from her face. “You make it sound like a conspiracy.”
“Maybe it is.” His voice was deadly and soft. “In any case, I need to get into Chandler’s office. Then I’m going to make Duke wish he’d never heard of Jack LaCroix.”
Turning away from him, Landis strode to the counter to stare out the window. Jack was the only person in the world who could make such an outrageous and dangerous plan sound reasonable—and then proceed to convince her it was a good idea.
“If you turn yourself in and retain me as your lawyer, I can subpoena Chandler’s files,” she said after a moment. “I can subpoena witnesses. I’ll help you, Jack. I promise.”
“I’m flattered by the offer, but I’m finished with going by the book.”
“You’ll only destroy what’s left of your life—”
“My life has already been destroyed. I’ll do whatever it takes to get it back.” One side of his mouth curved. “Besides, what’s a little felony B & E when you’re already facing life in prison?”
“That’s not funny.” Needing to move, Landis paced the length of the kitchen. She didn’t like feeling trapped. Not by Jack. Not by her own sense of right and wrong, especially when the line between the two was so thin. “I’m not going to let you involve me in this cockamamie scheme of yours.”
“Are you willing to let justice slide on this one, Counselor?”
“We’re not talking about justice, we’re talking about breaking the law.”
“So you’re willing to overlook the occasional glitch in the system, even if a man’s life is on the line? My life?”
His words pierced her with the proficiency of a bayonet. Landis stopped pacing and looked at him. Logic warred with her heart as she recognized the lay-it-on-the-line desperation in his expression. He was the only human being she’d ever known who could make her feel so acutely with nothing more than a look, a gesture, or the tone of his voice. She didn’t want to see fear or desperation when she looked into those clear, dark eyes. She didn’t want to see hope, or longing, or the kind of pain she could only imagine in her worst nightmare. But she saw all of those things when she looked at Jack.
The realization that she was going to help him shook her badly, made her realize exactly what she was risking. The career she’d devoted her life to. Her freedom. Maybe even her life.
Groaning, she lowered her face to her hands. “Do you have a death wish or do you merely want to ruin my life, too?”
“Quite the contrary on both counts.” A smile touched his mouth. “As much as you don’t want to hear this, I’m starting to like you again.”
Her heart fluttered wildly. She felt as if she’d stepped into a bog of quicksand and was being sucked down inch by inch. “I can’t deal with you when you say things like that.”
“Yeah, well, I’m afraid you’ll have to take me as I am. What’s it going to be?”
It hurt to gaze into the depths of his eyes and see the glimmer of hope for a future that was shaky at best. It hurt even more knowing he was going to risk his life to do it. “All right. We’ll go to Chandler’s office. I’ll help you find—”
“I go in to Chandler’s office alone. All I need from you is to help me sort through the files and all the legal mumbo jumbo.”
“You won’t know where to find what you need. I know how paralegals and lawyers keep things filed.”
“I’m not taking you with me.”
“It’s not your decision,” she snapped. “You involved me in this, damn it. If I’m going to help you, I’m going to do it my way.”
“I thought you drew the line at aiding and abetting?”
“An assistant prosecutor having personal knowledge of a suspect’s innocence would qualify as mitigating circumstances.”
“You’re a tough cookie, Red.”
“Just mildly insane.”
He looked away, his expression going serious, his jaw flexing. “A year ago I would have cut off my own hand to keep you out of this kind of situation.”
Landis didn’t miss the bitterness in his voice. It was obvious he didn’t want her involved—at least when it came to burglarizing Chandler’s office. That he would acquiesce so easily made her realize just how desperate he really was.
“With my help, we can be in and out of Chandler’s office in a matter of minutes,” she said. “It’s the logical decision.”
Jack brooded, his expression as telling as anything he might have said as he stared out the window.
The water on the stove came to a boil. Thankful for the diversion, Landis made two cups of coffee. All the while her mind ran the gauntlet of obstacles they faced. Jack was the most wanted fugitive in the state. Chandler’s office was now a crime scene; it would be extremely difficult to gain access to his files. Not to mention the fact that if she went into Chandler’s office with Jack she would be breaking the law.
Picking up their cups, she met Jack at the dining room table. “Why did Duke have Evan killed?”
Jack settled into the chair across from her. For an instant he looked tired and older than his thirty-eight years. “I think Evan wanted out from under Duke. When he became more of a liability than an asset, Duke had him shot.”
She digested the information, her heart aching. If Jack was right—and God help her she was beginning to believe he was—the fact that Evan had wanted out of the situation was something she hadn’t considered. The thought of her brother trapped in such a dangerous and compromising situation—even of his own doing—devastated her. It must have been terrible for him. The shame of betraying his profession. The fear that his wife and two little girls would be harmed. Having a sister who worked in the D.A.’s office…
“When Evan threatened to take everything to the D.A, the bastard had him shot in that warehouse.”
Landis stared at him, her mind grinding through the words, picking apart the logic. It would have been easier not to believe him. The alternative was too terrible to contemplate.
“Why didn’t this information come out during the trial?” she asked. “If Chandler knew about this, but didn’t use it in court, he did you a grave injustice.”
“I didn’t know about any of this until about six months ago.”
“You were in prison six months ago. How did you—”
“I bunked with Duke’s ex-head of security, Jimmy Beck. We shared a cell for about six weeks. Not a bad chap considering he broke kneecaps for a living.”
He said the words lightly, but Landis didn’t miss the glint of fury in his eyes. She didn’t want to think about the kind of people Jack had been forced to live with while he’d been in prison. Granted, he knew how to handle himself. He was strong both physically and mentally, yet an entire year in such a terrible place, especially if he were innocent, had to have worn his armor very thin.
“Beck said Duke had ripped him off. He had a bridge to burn.” Jack shrugged. “He talked to me.”
“Will Beck testify on your behalf?” she asked.
He gave her a hard look. “Someone slipped a knife between his ribs while he was in the shower room. He’s dead. Two inmates came after me the next day, but I fought them off and got away.”
Landis didn’t allow herself the luxury of flinching. She didn’t want to think about how close Jack had come to being murdered. “Exactly how do you plan to go after Duke?”
“I won’t know until I see Chandler’s file.”
“What if there’s nothing there?”
“We’ll deal with it when and if it happens.”
She thought about it for a moment, her head spinning. “Did Beck tell you anything else?”
“Enough to get him killed. That’s all you need to know.”
For the first time she realized he hadn’t told her everything. The thought angered her. “This is not the time for secrets, Jack. If I’m going to lay it on the line for you, I deserve to know everything.”
“I’ve told you everything that matters. You know too much and you could become a target, too. If you’re not already.”
His answer chilled her. “Okay. How do you propose we get into Chandler’s office?”
“Crime techs will have finished collecting evidence by tonight. We’ll have to get into the building. Past any security officers they’ve got posted. Then we’ve got to get into the suite.”
She rubbed at her temple. “In case you missed that day at the academy, breaking and entering in the state of Utah will get you two to five years in the pen.”
Never taking his eyes from hers, he reached into the breast pocket of his flannel shirt. “Why break in when I have a key?”
Landis groaned at the sight of the key dangling from a purple rabbit’s foot. “How on earth did you get that?”
“Let’s just say I borrowed it and leave it at that.”
“You took it from Chandler. The night he came here to pick you up.” She had a very bad feeling about this. “Entering a crime scene and tampering with evidence is a serious offence, Jack.”
A smile brushed the corners of his mouth. “Only if you get caught.”
But Landis knew getting caught was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to all the things that could go wrong.
Landis parked the Jeep curbside and shut down the engine. Steam billowed from a nearby storm gutter, giving the winter landscape a surreal edge. Next to her, Jack sat quietly, his eyes riveted to the sleek, eight-story structure a hundred yards away. Around them, the night was quiet and so cold she could hear the frozen tree branches snapping together in the brisk westerly breeze.
Providence Legal Tower was located in an upscale office park just outside Salt Lake City. Nestled amongst stately lodge pole pines and low-growing juniper bushes, it was the kind of building that bespoke of prestige, money and high rollers. The kind of place Landis had imagined herself in as a child, when her dreams had been as big as the Utah sky.
She and Jack had spent the afternoon poring over his hand-drawn blueprints of the tower and drinking cup after cup of wretched instant coffee. They would enter the building via the loading dock at the rear, then take the freight elevator to the penthouse. Chandler’s firm encompassed the entire floor.
A shiver rippled through her as she studied the building. A shiver that had nothing to do with the single-digit temperature outside—and everything to do with the fact that she was scared out of her wits.
“I guess Aaron didn’t mind high rent.” She tried to make her voice light, but her throat was too tight to manage it. She hated being scared. Especially when Jack seemed so calm.
She jumped when his hand covered hers. “High rent hell. Chandler owned the building.”
His eyes were dark, shimmering pools in the semidarkness. She could just make out the cut of his jaw, the shape of his mouth, frowning at her, and she realized the calm was a front to cover nerves that were as taut as hers.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“It’s cold.”
“You’d be an idiot if you weren’t afraid.” He squeezed her hand. “And I’m a son of a bitch for involving you.”
The words tugged at her with unexpected force. “This isn’t the time to start second-guessing the decision we made. Okay?”
“It’s not okay.” Cursing, he leaned back in the seat. “I’m not going to do this.”