Sweet Dreams Boxed Set (154 page)

“You seem to know an awful lot about computer searches and phone technology.”

“I would love for you to think I’m a techie geek, but biometric technology isn’t exactly new. Most ten-year olds these days know how to scan their fingerprint and use that instead of a passcode.”

“Impressive all the same.” He looked around. “Done?”

She nodded.

By the time they made it back to the car, they heard sirens in the distance.

Angela helped him into the passenger seat, then scrounged around in the back for a moment.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked. “We’ve got get out of here. Now!”

She secured both passenger side doors and climbed back in behind the wheel, tossing him a clean shirt. “Use that to stop the bleeding.” She backed out of the narrow drive and sped across the parking lot, fishtailing onto the main road.

“Take a left onto Auburn Folsom when you get to the end of this road. Eventually, we’ll get onto the freeway and head west toward Sacramento.” He pulled his bloodied shirt over his head and used that to stop the flow of blood. It took some maneuvering, but he slipped into the clean shirt and then adjusted the position of the seat so he was no longer upright and in plain view.

“That’s not a graze. It’s worse than you thought, isn’t it?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Where are we headed?”

He gave her Colin’s address.

“Do you really think you can trust him?”

“I have no idea who I can trust any longer.” Although he’d never allowed himself to consider Colin as someone who might frame him for murder, he also knew it was time to get real. Everybody was a suspect. He couldn’t forget that. His life was on the line. And what about hearing Sophie’s voice in the background when he’d called his friend? What was going on between those two?

“What are you thinking?”

“Sophie. When I called Colin from the payphone this morning, I heard her voice in the background.”

“Are they living together?”

“I don’t know, but it’s time I found out.”

“We need to pull over and take care of that wound of yours.”

“Not yet. Get out of the area first. I’ll be fine.” He winced in pain. “Thanks for the help back there. How are you holding up?”

She kept her eyes on the road. “I’m fine.”

Sirens blared as a police car sped past in the opposite direction.

“Did your sister bring the computer?”

“Nope. She couldn’t find it.”

“You really think that’s where you’ll find what you’re looking for?”

“Someone spent a lot of money to make sure I stayed in prison for a good, long time. As I told you, I’ve had a few years to think about this. And everything always comes back to that damn computer. The answers have to be there and I’m the only one who can find them.”

“How?” she asked. “What is it you think you might find?”

“I was in charge of finance. My laptop was connected to the company’s network. I wrote a program that kept track of every deposit and withdrawal made since day one. It was still running when I left. I need to follow the money trail. Any and all withdrawals made in the year following my indictment could possibly lead me to the culprit.”

“Unless the murderer is someone outside of the company. What about all the different women Dirk was seeing? Did you ever meet any of them?”

“No. I just heard stories. He mentioned a woman named Pam once. I think there was a Jenny, too, but he didn’t say much, and to tell you the truth, I had no interest in hearing about his love life, so I never asked for details.”

“A pissed off woman. Isn’t that a common motivation for murder? Did the investigators ever consider that maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

He released a heavy sigh. “It always came back to my fingerprints on that damn knife.”

Angela sighed, too. “You should rest.”

A few minutes later, she merged onto the freeway and headed west. Fifteen minutes after that, she exited near Colin’s street and pulled to the side of the road.

Jason opened his eyes.

“We’re getting closer,” she told him. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. Stay low in case anyone is keeping an eye on Colin’s house.”

It wasn’t long before they arrived. His seat was as far back as it would go. “Take a drive around the neighborhood,” Jason told her. “Keep your eyes straight ahead, but let me know if you see anything suspicious or anyone sitting in parked car.”

She did as he said. Two blocks away she saw someone sitting behind the wheel of a dark sedan. “Don’t move,” she said through her teeth. “They are definitely watching his house. What should I do?”

“Just keep driving. Don’t look around. As soon as you can, get back to the main street, and I’ll give Colin a call.”

Angela didn’t realize she’d been holding her breath until she made a right and could no longer see the sedan in her rearview mirror. Once she pulled onto the main road, making sure to stay at the speed limit, she gave Jason the all clear.

He reached for the stolen cell phone and made the call. “Your house is being watched,” he told Colin the minute he picked up.

“Where are you calling from?”

“Not important. Did you hear what I said?”

“Yes. They showed up about an hour ago. I didn’t have any way of letting you know.”

“Nobody came inside?”

“Two agents took a quick look around the house. Before they left, they said they would be keeping an eye on the place. Rick Berner is the agent in charge. He left his card and told me to give him a call if you phoned or showed up.”

“I’ve got a problem,” Jason told him. “After I met with my sister, a couple of goons were waiting for me. I took one of them down, but not before he cut me with his knife.”

“How bad?”

“Not sure yet. Any idea where I might be able to lay low for the night?”

“Yeah, I do. After you called the last time, I thought of somewhere you’d be beneath the radar for a while. Do you remember where Sophie’s mom used to live?”

Jason grimaced as he tried to readjust himself in the seat. “Did she move?”

“No. She passed away three months ago. Cancer. Sophie hasn’t decided what to do with the house yet, so the electricity and water are still on. There’s a key hidden under a rock next to the rose bush by the front door.”

Jason remembered that Sophie and her mother had been close. He’d liked the woman. She lit up a room, just like her daughter. “Thanks. We’ll head that way.” He confirmed the address.

“If the activity around here dies down, I’ll come see you.”

“One more question,” Jason said.

“What is it?”

“After you sold the company, what happened to my computer?”

“D.M.S. Protection kept all the computers in case they ever lost a file. Want me to give Dennis a call?”

“No. Leave it be for now.”

Chapter Twelve

Her phone vibrated.

The moment she saw the number on the screen, she pushed the switch on the microphone and picked up the call. “Is it done?” she asked, her voice masked.

“There was a problem.”

“What sort of problem?”

“This Jason guy is clever. He attacked my man, took him out with a rock to the head, but not before Jason was stabbed.”

“How bad?”

“No way of knowing.”

“Damn it. I told you I didn’t want him to suffer.”

“Don’t worry. It’ll slow him down and make it easier for us to get him the second time around.”

This was not how things were supposed to go down. Clearly, she had not hired professionals. She should have trusted her instincts and found someone else to handle the problem. “Any witnesses?”

“Just the female he’s traveling with.”

“A woman?”

“That’s what I said.”

It had to be the woman she’d seen on the news—the one from the morgue.

“Everyone was gone before the police arrived,” the caller went on. “We’re not happy about this either.”

The hand at her side curled into a fist. She should have left well enough alone, let law enforcement do their job and bring Jason in. But the fact that Jason had been in Vermont, free to run, and instead had chosen to return to California didn’t sit well with her. It made no sense…not unless he knew something or had some kind of proof that might set him free. Why else would he risk coming all this way? “Bottom line,” she said into the microphone, “you screwed up. Now Jason knows that the Feds aren’t the only ones looking for him.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“If you don’t, I’ve got others waiting in line who will be more than happy to clean up your mess. You’ve got twenty-four hours.”

***

The house looked the same as Jason remembered, a one-story ranch painted blue and surrounded by trees. The front lawn was overgrown, and the landscaping neglected since he’d been here last. He, his partners, and Sophie, had shared quite a few beers in the backyard. The good ol’ days.

“I’ll go look for the key,” Angela told him. “Stay low until I check out the garage. If it’s empty, I’ll pull the car inside. We don’t want the neighbors to see you.”

After Angela left, he shut his eyes. The pain in his side was excruciating, but he didn’t want Angela to panic. With two years of medical school under her belt, he was hoping she would know what to do.

The fact that she insisted on putting herself in danger continued to bother him. It was different now. There were agents everywhere. First chance he got, he planned to convince her to walk away before she got hurt or in trouble with the law for aiding and abetting.

The attack today baffled him. Whoever was responsible must have been keeping a close eye on his mom’s house, then followed his sister to the deli. It was the only explanation he could come up with.

The garage door opened. There was plenty of room for the Volvo. Angela climbed in behind the wheel, drove the car inside, then waited for the door to clang shut before she came around to the other side to help him into the house.

She moved fast, worry lining her face as she pulled a spindled chair out from the kitchen table and ordered him to take a seat. “I’ll be right back.”

When she returned, her arms were loaded with rubbing alcohol, clean towels, tape and bandages she’d somehow managed to find. She spread the items out on the counter and then removed the centerpiece from the table. Next, she put a clean sheet over the top and patted it with her hand. “Take off your shirt and lie down here.”

When he didn’t move right away, she said, “You don’t want to make a bloody mess in one of the bedrooms, do you?”

He supposed not. With her help, he removed his shirt and climbed up onto the hardwood table. “I feel like I’m back at the morgue,” he muttered after lying down flat on his back, his calves dangling over the edge.

She ignored him. Working slowly, methodically, she examined the wound.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For everything.”

“You’re welcome. Now let me get you cleaned up so I can see what we’re dealing with here.”

He clamped his teeth together as she used hydrogen peroxide to clean around the wound, careful not to remove any clotting.

“How bad is it?”

“The gash is a few inches long. It looks to me as if you pulled back just as he attacked because the blade appears to have only affected the subcutaneous tissues.”

He winced when she applied some pressure. “I’ll take that as a good thing.”

“It’s a very good thing. The bad news is, I’m going to have to stitch you up.”

“With what?”

“Needle and thread, of course.”

***

With a cup of hot mint tea in hand, Angela opened the sliding doors leading to the back deck and stepped out into the dark. Slivers of moonlight lit up the deck and stars sparkled in the distance.

After cleaning Jason’s wound, she had used super glue to hold the flesh together and make it easier to sew him up. A sponge bath came next, and then she’d helped him into the bed in the master bedroom. He’d been restless at first, but finally settled into a deep sleep. For the past three hours she’d stayed by his side, making sure he didn’t develop a fever or show any symptoms of shock.

He was going to be fine.

The past few days had been a whirlwind of craziness. Her life had changed overnight. By now her sister must have seen the news and reported it all to her mother, and though Angela didn’t like the idea of causing them worry, calling either one of them at this point would only serve to put Jason in further jeopardy. They had come too far for her to see him carted back to prison before he had all the information he needed.

“Hello!”

Angela made her way back inside the house.

There was only one word for the woman standing in the entryway—beautiful. Tall and slender, her thick blonde hair pulled back from her face. Perfectly sculpted brows and high cheekbones framed a pair of amazingly blue eyes.

“I’m Sophie.”

Angela offered her hand. “Angela.”

“Where’s Jason?”

She pointed down the hall. “He’s asleep in the bedroom at the end of the hallway.”

“Colin told me he was hurt. Is he going to be okay?”

“After a few days of rest, he should be fine.”

The woman was at the top of Angela’s list of suspects. But Sophie was either a pretty good actress or she really was deeply concerned about Jason. 

Sophie set her purse and a bag of clothes on the floor near the couch, then gestured toward the bedroom. “Is it okay if I peek in on him?”

“Sure. He’s been asleep for a while. I was just about to make him some soup.” Angela lifted her cup of tea. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ve helped myself to some tea.”

Sophie waved a hand through the air. “Use whatever you need.” She hesitated, and then, before heading down the hall, said, “Your face has been all over the news. There’s been a lot of speculation about the two of you. Jason didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“Of course not.”

The woman looked relieved. “I’m glad you’re both okay.”

An awkward moment hovered between them.

“Is it true what they’re saying?” Sophie asked. “That he forced you to go with him?”