Playing with Fire (30 page)

At last she fell asleep, but she dreamt of a faceless man pushing her over a cliff, his hollow laugh echoing in her head.

***

“You knew about this all the time, didn’t you?” Cassie stood in front of Barry Dangler’s desk, her tone accusing, her face tight with anger.

Beside her, Griff’s body was rigid with tension.

“Cassie, I —”

“You’re the police chief, for God’s sake,” Griffin exploded. “You would have been just as happy to see me rot in jail for a crime someone else committed. What kind of man are you, anyway?”

“Try to understand,” he pleaded, his face stamped with defeat, his shoulders slumped, his body posture one of resignation. “These men are my friends. My backers. They put me in this office.”

“So, that gives you the right to cover up a murder?” Cassie wanted to spit fire.

Dangler held out his hands, palms up. “An apology is useless now. What do you want me to do?”

“I want to set a trap for them,” she proposed, “and I want you to catch them.”

He shook his head. “Too dangerous. Besides, it’s police business.”

“Oh, right.” She slammed her purse down on her desk. “I don’t think that excuse will fly. There hasn’t been much police business conducted on this case until now. Why ruin a good thing, right?”

Dangler lowered his gaze but not before she could see they were filled with shame. “I deserve whatever you say, Cassie. I just…I guess none of us thought you’d ever come back here. Or if you did, that you’d even care about what happened.”

“I’ve wasted six years of my life because of this mess and what Diane and all of you did.” She pounded her fist on the desk. “I’d like to see it finished. Over and done with. Either you do this with us, or I’ll go to the media with my speculations. You’d be amazed at the damage innuendo can do.”

He threw up his hands. “All right. What choice do I have? Tell me your plan.”

***

I have the diary, and I know everything. I want something out of this, or the police will have it. I will contact you with further details. Be ready.

That was the first message she sent to three fax machines that afternoon. Dangler had agreed that was the best method of contacting all the men. While Griff followed his usual routine, Cassie drove into San Antonio and used fax machines at three different office supply stores. Then she found three more to send the second message. That way, no one could pinpoint a single source for them.

From the moment she sent the last fax, she was tense and anxious. Driving home, she convinced herself all over again this was a good plan, but there was real danger involved with it. She glanced at her watch. Right about now, they should all be sweating over their faxes. It would be interesting to know if they were all involved, or just one or two of them. And did they each know about the others?

Diane, you played too close to the fire, and now other people are getting burned. How could you do this?

She would have given a lot to know how fast all the men got in contact with each other and what they had to say. She hoped they were plenty scared and damned unhappy. Their perfect lives were about to unravel, and she was glad to be the one pulling the strings.

She looked at her watch for perhaps the tenth time. It would be hours before Griff came home. She needed to find something to occupy herself or she’d go crazy.

“Cassie?” Griff dropped his keys in the dish on the hall table. “You here, baby?”

She ran from the kitchen and launched herself into his arms. She locked her hands behind his head as if she’d never let go and pulled his face down to hers.

“It’s nice to be missed.” He grinned when they broke the kiss. “Unfortunately, I don’t think this has to do with my masculine charms. Right?”

She leaned her head against his chest, her arms still wrapped around him.

“Honey?” He tilted her face up to him. She was trembling, and her heart beat hard against his chest. “What is it? Did something happen? Damn. I knew this was a bad idea. I never should have let you talk me into it.”

“No, nothing happened.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him again. “Just my nerves, is all.”

“Did you see anyone today? Did someone do something?”

“No. Nothing like that.” She shook her head. “I stayed inside all day. I was afraid I’d run into one of them and give myself away.”

“All right. Come on. Let’s go in the kitchen and get something cold to drink. Do we have any beer left?”

She nodded.

“Good. I think you could use something to settle your nerves.” He insisted she come out on the patio with him after he’d opened the bottles. “What could be more natural? We do it almost every evening. If you hide in the house, they’ll know something’s up.”

“You’re right. I just…I’m glad you’re home.”

He reached across the space between them and took her hand in his, linking their fingers together and planting gentle kisses. “I’ve done a lot of thinking about this today, Cassie. I have to say again I’m not real crazy about putting you in any kind of danger. I don’t think I could handle it if anything happened to you.”

“Chief Dangler said if they agree to the meet, he’ll be there with plenty of backup. And you’ll be there. I’ll be fine.”

“You sent the second fax written just as we agreed?”

“I did.” She nodded and recited, “Tonight. In the park where Diane died. One hundred thousand dollars and the diary is yours. Otherwise, I go to the police.”

“Okay.” He took another swallow of beer, trying to calm his nerves. If anything happened to her….

No. He wouldn’t even think that way. She’d be safe. He’d do whatever it took to make sure of that.

***

Barry Dangler arrived at Griff’s not too long after dark, with electronic equipment and his techie.

“I’m going out in the back, so we can test this thing and see if it works.” He made sure his earpiece was set while his officer who handled most of their technical stuff set up the wireless microphone kit. “Count to twenty then say something.”

Cassie finished buttoning her blouse, her hands trembling just a little. This had to work.

Griff slid one arm around her waist, his touch reassuring. “You’ll be well covered,” he reminded her. “I don’t think any of these guys will do anything. I think they’ve had their fill of killing, but we still need to be careful. Desperation does funny things to people.”

The most interesting part of the preparation, as far as Cassie was concerned, had been the noticeable decrease in hostility on Dangler’s part toward Griff. The chief wasn’t cutting him any slack, but something in his attitude had changed. A new Griffin had emerged when the chief wasn’t looking, one they could see the other man was having trouble reconciling with the bad boy image.

“Go ahead and try it now, Miss Fitzgerald,” the young deputy said.

“All right.” She cleared her throat. “Can you hear me, Chief?”

“Loud and clear, Cassie.” He came back into the house. “Okay, then. I’d say we’re ready to go.”

“I still think I should be right there with you,” Griff said.

She could see from his body language he wasn’t too keen on leaving her by herself, even though he’d agreed to the plan.

“We’ve already discussed this,” she reminded him. “This won’t work unless they see just me. Besides, you’ll be just a few feet away behind the restrooms with everyone else.”

It was obvious he still didn’t like it, but he was just as obvious he was through arguing. Ignoring the presence of everyone else in the room, he pulled her close and kissed her hard and deep. “That’s for luck,” he whispered. “You get the rest of it later.” He hugged her then let her go. “All right, Chief. Let’s do it.”

They all left and got into the two cars in the driveway. They would arrive at the park far enough in advance not to be observed. She checked her watch. One more hour. She could do this. She could confront them, and it would all be over. When she and Griffin left town, they’d have nothing they needed to look back on.

***

From where she waited, Cassie could see the three men approach. They did their best to keep out of the halos thrown by the park lights as they trudged into the park’s interior. She could hear the faint sound of their voices, loud enough that she could make out what they were saying.

“I don’t see anyone.” Neil McCloud looked around. “What if this is all a hoax?”

“It’s not a hoax,” Harley Graham snapped. “Get serious. Whoever it is, they’ll be here. No one is going to walk away from this much money.”

“That’s right, no one is. I’m over here, gentlemen.” Cassie stepped out from behind a giant oak next to the public restrooms.

“Cassie?” Harley Graham’s jaw dropped.

“Yes, Harley, it’s me.” She stopped several feet away from them. “Surprised?”

“I have to say, I am. I think all of us are.” He rubbed his forehead. “You’re the last person we’d expect to try this kind of thing.”

“What kind of thing is that?” she taunted. “Making the people who murdered my sister and my father pay for it?”

“Blackmail.” Cyrus McLeod’s tone was sharp. “It doesn’t seem quite your style.”

“We were all good to you, Cassie,” Neil told her. “Very good. Why are you doing this?”

“Oh, yes,” she sneered. “You were all very good to me. You killed most of my family and shortstopped every effort I made to get the facts. Thanks to you, Griffin Hunter’s been walking around town all this time with people speculating behind his back. Is that fair?”

“I can’t imagine Griffin’s reputation is anything for you to defend.” Neil’s jaw worked, a sign of his growing anger. “This is more his type of thing anyway. He had to put you up to it. We all told you to stay away from him. He’s bad news.”

“As a matter of fact, Griff tried to talk me out of this. We’re leaving town as soon as his house sells, and he wanted to just walk away. I couldn’t do that. His name needs to be cleared, and my father and Diane deserve justice.”

“If you wanted justice,” Cyrus growled, “you’d give this book to the chief. All you want is the money. That makes you no better than the rest of us.”

“So far we haven’t admitted anything,” Cyrus pointed out in his lawyer voice.

“But you did do it, didn’t you?” She was so disgusted with all of them.

“Diane was an accident,” Harley blurted out.

“Shut up, you old fool,” Cyrus hissed. “All she’s doing is guessing right now.”

“An accident?” She studied him. “Then why didn’t you come forward at the time?”

“We had our own reputations to think about.” Harley shook off Cyrus’s restraining hand.

“Then none of you should have started fooling around with my sister,” she pointed out. “And what about my father? What was the problem with him?”

“Your father stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong,” Cyrus said.

“So, you admit you killed him?” she pushed. “I want to hear you say it.”

“We’re sorry about that.” Harley mopped his sweating brow. “Diane, too. But neither of them would listen to reason.”

Cassie moved one step closer. “But I will. Three hundred thousand of them. Do you have the money?”

“It’s right here.” Neil held up the briefcase. “Where’s the diary?”

Cassie held up the package in her left hand. “I’ll put it down right here. You toss the briefcase over. I’ll check inside, and if the money’s there, I’ll just walk away.”

“You don’t think we’re going to stand here and let you have both the money and the diary, do you?” Neil’s tone was vicious. “Toss the diary over here.”

“Uh-uh. I don’t trust any of you. Look here. I’m putting it down. Toss the briefcase.”

“You think we’re going to stand still for this, you little bitch?” Neil’s self-control had snapped. In three long strides, he was at Cassie’s side. Before she could back away, he had an iron grip on her arm and tried to wrench away the diary.”

“Let go of me.” She struggled, but he was too strong for her.

“Give it to me, or you’ll get what your tramp sister got.”

The sound of a gunshot stunned everyone. Barry Dangler and two of his deputies stepped out from behind the restrooms. Griff was with them, moving with speed to Cassie’s side.

“The next one won’t be in the air.” Dangler’s disgust was evident. “Step away from the girl. And don’t even think about running,” he added, as Harley tried to back away. “I have deputies at your cars and two more here with me.”

As he spoke, the two men he indicated stepped up, guns drawn, and forced the men to kneeling positions. The only sound that broke the night was the clink of handcuffs.

“You’ll regret this, Barry,” Cyrus threatened.

“I already have too much to regret,” Dangler said, his tone sad. “I’d like to get a little of my self-respect back.”

“You still have to prove this.” Neil was in a rage. “I want to see what that diary says.”

“Whatever it says doesn’t matter.” He held up a small tape recorder, pushed a button, and the entire conversation began to play back. “I’ve covered for you all long enough, and I have to say, I’m ashamed of myself. But I have a chance to correct things, and I’m doing it.”

The three men were led away, swearing and protesting. Cassie watched the little tableau play out, hoping she wasn’t going to be sick to her stomach.

“Are you all right?” Griff wrapped his arms around her. “I swear my heart stopped beating when I heard that shot. Tell me you’re okay.”

“I am now.” She shook in his embrace. “I just want to get away from them. Take me home, please.”

He held her tight against his body and looked at Dangler, who watched them.

The chief nodded. “Go on. I’ve got a busy night ahead of me.” He held up the briefcase and the diary. “Cassie, I’ll need to take your statement, but it can wait until tomorrow.” He paused. “I just want to say I’m sorry. About a lot of things.” Then he was gone.

Griff placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Okay, sugar. Let’s blow this pop stand.”

Time dragged in the month since the McLeods and Harley had been arrested. Cassie gave a detailed statement to Barry Dangler, and they’d been shocked when he actually reached out his hand to Griffin. He didn’t say anything—that was as much of an apology as he was giving to the town’s bad boy, but they shook hands, banishing the past.