Two years on the run with no contact with family or friends was hard on a person.
When Thomas exited the shower, he found her curled in a chair beside the window, staring out at the darkened water.
He went to her and threaded his fingers through her hair. Her eyelids fluttered closed on a breath but he could feel the tension coiling in her body.
“It’s going to be okay,” he promised. “With the new information the charges will be dropped and we can get on with the business of actually catching this guy.”
“I just can’t shake this feeling that there’s something else waiting in the wings, some other nasty surprise, like what was waiting for Winnie in that fruit bar box.”
He understood her fear. She’d become conditioned to trust no one. It was natural that she’d mistrust the idea of going home without the force of an armed escort.
“Tell me what you know about Lionel,” he suggested, if only to keep her mind occupied. She was skittish, and while he wanted to believe that she’d given up her deceptive ways, skittish people did desperate things when they felt cornered. He’d already seen that firsthand with Cassi.
She shook her head and waved away his suggestion. “I’ve already told you most of it. The fact is, two years worth of my life searching for clues resulted in very little real evidence. Mostly, I was just trying to stay alive and out of jail. I only found two names, Lydia Proctor and Sylvia Williams, aside from his first wife, Penelope Hogue, who died from cancer. She’s the only one I think he didn’t kill.”
“What did you find out about Penelope?”
She shrugged. “Not much. She was also the only one who didn’t come with a sizable bank account. He did get a life insurance payout, though.”
“How’d you get that information?”
Her cheeks pinked. “Isaac. He worked for the same insurance company where Lionel and Penelope held the policy. It was also the only marriage where Lionel used his real name.”
“Maybe he loved her.” Cassi made a sour face and he lifted his hands. “It’s possible. What did you learn about them through Isaac?”
She shifted, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation, but she answered, “Actually, Isaac knew Penelope pretty well. They were shirttail relatives or something. Isaac said Lionel was heartbroken when Penelope died and that the payout was only about $250,000. Not a lot of money when it was all said and done. Isaac also said Lionel left town shortly after she died, saying he couldn’t bear to be surrounded by all the memories.”
“Isaac never suspected any foul play?”
“No. In fact, he spoke pretty highly of the guy.”
“So what led you to New York?” he asked, trying to connect the dots of her travels.
She sighed. “One of the things I found from Isaac after meeting with his family for the engagement party was that Lionel had family in upstate New York. I was following a lead. All I knew was that the Visshers were upscale socialites but Isaac said that side of the family didn’t have much to do with Lionel’s. Some kind of family feud.”
“What were you trying to find?”
She lifted her shoulders in a helpless shrug, fatigue showing. “I don’t know. Just something I could use to link him to the other women.”
He hated to see her looking so lost and worried. It was a side of Cassi he’d never seen when they were kids. She’d been fearless and even reckless in her disregard for rules, discipline or anything that didn’t subscribe to her individual brand of independence. She’d had the charisma of a superstar and hadn’t been afraid to use it. He smiled and her brow furrowed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, pushing her hand through her hair in an agitated motion. “My friend is dead, and we’re no closer to proving anything about Lionel and yet, I’m about to turn myself over to the mercy of the FBI, which coincidentally, hasn’t been known to have a soft side, so I’m not seeing anything worth grinning about.”
He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, silencing her. When he pulled away, she met his gaze and held it. “I’m scared, Tommy,” she whispered.
“I won’t let anything happen to you,” he promised, gently pulling her from the chair, leading her to the bed. “Come lie down. You look exhausted.”
“Thanks,” she said wryly but she climbed onto the bed nonetheless, her mouth twitching with a smile as he followed. “What’s on your mind?” she asked, leaning back against the numerous pillows plumped against the headboard.
“You.”
A shiver cascaded down her body and he wanted to follow it with his tongue. He climbed her lean form until he was right above her, looking down into that beautiful face as she smiled. “And what do you plan to do with me?”
Pounding need rushed his shaft and all thoughts of the case fled his mind. All he could think of was Cassi and how little time they had before everything got very real. He didn’t know how things were going to end when they got to the field office in Pittsburgh. He felt fairly certain it would go their way but there were too many variables he couldn’t control. His job had been to bring her back. And he hadn’t forgotten that. For now, he had her in his arms and that was what he was focusing on. Tomorrow would bring its own troubles. Tonight was all about pleasure. He gathered her tight and growled against her mouth right before taking it, “Everything.”
Director George Zell eyed Thomas and then Cassi before asking, “Mind introducing me to your friend?”
“This is Cassi Nolan.”
Zell sat a little straighter, his gaze darting from Cassi to Thomas and then back to Cassi again. “Any reason she’s not in cuffs, Agent Bristol?”
“We have new evidence in the case, sir. Barbara Hanks is dead and Winifred Jones has recanted her statement. We also have reason to believe someone tried to kill Jones to keep her quiet after she took money to issue a false statement against Ms. Nolan.”
Zell, a hard man with a shock of white hair on his Charlie Brown head, pursed his lips at the revelation. “Your job was to bring her in. You’ve succeeded. Now take her to booking.”
Thomas felt rather than saw Cassi’s alarm and rising panic. “Sir, I think there’s more to this case than we originally thought,” he began, but Zell cut him off.
“That will be all, Agent Bristol. Take her to booking and then report back to me when you’re through.”
Cassi’s eyes widened and she gave a minute shake of her head and he knew she was going to bolt. “She’s innocent,” he protested but two agents appeared and grabbed her arms. She shrieked and started kicking and Thomas felt the situation sliding out of his control. He moved to his superior’s desk and slammed the surface with his hand. “Listen to me, damn it. She’s innocent! The man who sent the Bureau after her is a killer. He’s used multiple aliases to prey on rich women. I’ll show you!”
Zell motioned to the agents and they dragged Cassi away even as she twisted and jerked trying to get free. Thomas moved to follow but Zell’s voice commanding him to stay put stopped him. He bit back the swear words filling his mouth. He was this close to tanking his career and for what? He couldn’t very well bust her out of lockup. His best bet to help her would be to stay calm. He knew this intellectually but right now he was tempted to say “Screw it” and charge after the agents muscling Cassi from the room. He turned to Zell and he knew his eyes were hot. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.
“Sit down, Bristol,” Zell commanded. “You’re losing your head over this woman. Your assignment was to bring her in. Job done. Now move on.”
Thomas pressed his lips together in an effort to stay calm but his heart rate was erratic and all he could think of was that Cassi was probably thinking he betrayed her. “Sir, I have information—”
“So do I,” Zell interrupted. He tossed a file at him. “We have new information on your friend.” Thomas grabbed the file and opened it while Zell kept talking. “Before we go any further, I knew you and Nolan had history. I figured it would work to our advantage in bringing her in. Seems I wasn’t wrong. But what you probably don’t know is that your friend—the one proclaiming to be innocent—is wanted for murder. The theft charges were a bonus.”
“What?” he said in a breath, his chest hurting as if someone had thrown a sledgehammer into his ribs. “What are you talking about?” But Zell didn’t need to answer. Thomas could read it in black-and-white. Cassi was wanted for murdering her mother.
“No.” He shook his head. “This is wrong. Where’d you get this?”
“A good source,” he answered, but Thomas wasn’t ready to let it go.
“This is still my case and I want to know where this new information is coming from. If it’s from Lionel Vissher, the information is no good. The man is a possible sociopath and it serves his purpose to have Cassi out of the way.”
“What are you talking about?” Zell demanded. “Lionel Vissher has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation in spite of the personal embarrassment of having a criminal for a stepdaughter.”
Thomas looked at Zell. Something about his statement sounded off-key to him. “You tight with Vissher or something?” he asked, throwing Zell off.
“What?” Zell asked, his brow bunching in a fierce glower. “Just what the hell are you implying?”
“Nothing. Just curious as to why you’re ready to crucify Cassi even though there’s evidence to the contrary that leads straight to Vissher.”
“That’s a load of horseshit and I’m your superior so watch your mouth.”
“I’d like to have Olivia Nolan’s body exhumed and tested for arsenic poison.”
“Why?”
“Because information I gathered in Virginia Beach supports the theory that Vissher isn’t who he says he is. I have information stating that Vissher was actually married before to another wealthy woman under a different name. Funny thing is, she died under suspicious circumstances.”
Zell looked perplexed with Thomas’s information and Thomas sensed a crack so he pushed. “Listen, we’ve got a guy who seems adept at smoke and mirrors and you know the best way to take the heat off of yourself is to put it someplace else. I think Cassi got too close to the truth and that’s why he trumped up these charges. He paid those women to make a false statement and now one is dead. The other one is alive only because we discovered the contaminated food before she ate it.”
Zell took a long moment before responding. Then he said, “Get a court order and exhume the body but keep it quiet. The last thing I need is Lionel Vissher in my office making waves over this until I have more to go on. In the meantime, your friend can stay here.”
That wouldn’t work. Knowing Cassi she’d find a way to skip town and then the trouble would start all over. “Release her to me,” he suggested.
Zell scowled. “Have you lost your mind? No.”
“Look, you and I know that we don’t have much to hold her on, given the new evidence, but if you release her into my custody I will make sure she stays in town.”
Zell considered this, then barked, “Fine. But she’s wearing an ankle bracelet. You may be soft on the woman but I don’t trust that she’s not a criminal herself.”
“A thief is not a murderer,” he said to Zell. “You have my word that I will bring her back if the evidence doesn’t support my theory.”
“You willing to stake your credentials on this woman?” he asked.
Thomas didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
He believed her. In his heart, he knew Cassi was innocent.
He just hoped to God he wasn’t putting his trust where it didn’t belong. There was a whisper of a voice telling him to be careful but he was way past able to give it heed.
He wondered if his father had had a similar voice going off in his head right before he lost his mind and killed his family.
Thomas shuddered and shoved it all away.
He had other things to worry about at the moment.
Tears pricked her eyes and she dashed them away, angry at their appearance. She felt weak and pathetic and needy. Three things she despised.
The door opened and she stopped abruptly to stare at Tommy as he entered. She glared. “What do you want?”
“C’mon,” he said, gesturing. “We’re getting out of here.”
His statement threw her. “What do you mean? They’re just letting me go?”
“More or less,” he said, but he was holding something in his hands.
“What’s that?”
“A new accessory,” he quipped, but she didn’t find it funny, especially when she realized what it was. She wasn’t amused at all. He exhaled loudly and she was incensed that he had the gall to be annoyed. “Listen, work with me here. I had to make a deal. In order to let you out on your own recognizance, you have to wear a GPS bracelet. It’s not a big deal.”
She eyed him coldly. “Then you wear it.”
“I’m not the one in trouble.”
She glared and looked away but after stewing for a minute she lifted her pant leg and thrust her foot at him. “Fine. But don’t think for a second that I’m happy about this,” she warned him, looking away as he clicked the latch in place, securing the bracelet and officially putting her on the FBI’s radar. “Great. Now the U.S. government can find me no matter where I go, whether it’s to the grocery store or to the toilet.”
“Having tracked you for the past two months I’d say that’s a blessing. Especially around bathrooms,” he teased, but she wasn’t ready to forgive him. He sighed and gestured. “Let’s get out of here. You’re in my custody until further notice.”
“What else is new?” she retorted, sending him a dark look. “And if you think I’m sleeping handcuffed to you again you’re crazy.”
He gave her a sideways glance that heated her blood in spite of how pissed she was, and he warned in a low tone that sent goose bumps across her skin, “If I put you in handcuffs again…you won’t be sleeping.”
She gasped and stalked past him. “Keep dreaming, Tommy boy,” she growled. “Keep dreaming!”