One Secret Night, page 8
part #3 of Ivy Avengers Series
“Yeah. Maybe.”
A thump on the window made her jump. It was only a bird that had flown into the glass.
“Are you armed?” Autumn asked.
He grinned at the innocent question that would require he protect her. Lifting his short-sleeved button-up shirt, he showed her the holster.
She put her hands on his chest and patted. “Good.” He let her push him out of the way as she led him down a lower-level hall and entered the office.
This was probably the nicest room in the house. Although the desk looked used and abused, the computer was shiny and new. So was the leather office chair. Somebody spent hours working here, and Raith was pretty sure it wasn’t for the shooting range.
Autumn began sifting through papers and files stuffing a bookshelf while Raith sat at the desk. He dug through drawers and found a key in one that opened a metal lockbox. In that was a small notebook with a page of what appeared to be passwords. He tried them all until one unlocked the computer. After hacking into it, he navigated to the email program. While he searched for anything unusual, he listened for sounds of Garvin’s return home.
A few moments later, Autumn finished with the bookshelf and moved on to a trash can.
Raith found an email from someone named Nash Ralston. It read, Sorry to hear about Leaman.
He committed the name to memory and searched the other emails. There were several advertisements and purchase confirmations but no other acquaintances. He checked the Deleted folder. That was kept clean. It was empty.
Chapter 7
Autumn sat beside Raith in an internet café as he searched for information on Nash Ralston. It hadn’t taken long to learn who he was. Chief executive officer of NV Advanced Corporation, a government contractor similar to the one Kai Whittaker ran.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Autumn said. Doing all of this investigative work took her mind off her mood swing earlier. Nash Ralston knew Garvin, whose close friend was Leaman Marshall. Both Kai and Nash were CEOs of night-vision equipment companies. The two had to be acquainted on at least a professional level.
“Do you think Ralston hired Leaman through Garvin?” she asked.
“It’s possible. Why don’t we go talk to Kai.” Raith closed his session on the computer.
“What about Nash?”
“Later. Let’s see what Kai has to say.” He took Autumn’s hand and left the café with her. Outside, he made a call.
“Mayo. It’s Raith. I need you to look into someone for me. See what you can dig up on a Nash Ralston. He runs a government contracting outfit in Houston called NV Advanced Corporation.”
When he hung up, she got into the car with him. “Who was that?”
“Mayo Chambers. He’s ex-CIA.”
The one Desi had told her about. “You’re supposed to be a P.I. Why don’t you do your own checking?”
“Because I’d have to use one of my contacts in law enforcement and they can’t be tipped off to who I’m looking into until I know more about this Ralston character.”
“You have contacts in law enforcement?”
“A few.”
“Are they crooked?”
He grunted a laugh. “No.”
That almost made him seem legitimate. Autumn turned toward the window rather than torment herself with his handsome profile. Seeming legitimate wasn’t the same as being legitimate. He took the law into his own hands. Even if he worked on the side of good, he was still breaking the law. She struggled with that for a while as she stayed silent.
After a few minutes of driving, Raith asked, “What’s wrong?”
This was the second time he’d asked, and both times she’d been upset over her pregnancy—specifically with him being the father. Was he beginning to suspect something?
“I was just thinking that I’d love to go to shopping in Milan.”
He glanced at her as he drove. “No translating?”
“No. Just to go. To get away.” Although she’d made up the idea to cover up what she’d really been thinking, a trip to Milan really did appeal to her right now.
“Is that what you’re going to do when this is over?”
“Maybe. I have another translating job coming up in Europe. I could combine the two and make it an extra-long trip.” The thought of that soothed her. There would be no guns. No media. And no lawless renegades.
“It’s an escape for you.”
As Raith pulled into a parking lot and found a spot, she searched his face. What did he mean?
“You travel because it gets you away from whatever you’re avoiding here.”
“What’s wrong with that? I like no media around.”
“I can appreciate that, but is it only the media?”
“No. I love to travel.” What was he fishing for?
“I can see that. You also love learning new languages. But it all started with an escape.”
She wasn’t sure of the significance of that, but it did make her think of her days in high school, when all she’d tried to do was get away from there. Even the private schools were painful. She’d put on a good face. No one would have guessed she hated being recognized and treated differently than the other kids. Being Jackson Ivy’s child made her and her siblings automatically popular. She’d always felt as though she couldn’t be herself, as though being herself wouldn’t make her popular. She’d had to act the part.
“That might have a little to do with it,” she finally admitted. “The first trip I took by myself was during my senior year in high school.” She smiled with the memory. “It felt so good to get away. I could just be me and enjoy living.”
“You couldn’t be yourself in high school?”
“Hello...Jackson Ivy’s daughter. It was the same for all of us.” She rested her elbow on the door frame and chewed on a thumbnail. She’d never thought of herself as insecure, but maybe she had been in high school.
“Why does that mean you couldn’t be yourself?”
Lowering her hand, she turned toward him, wondering why he’d asked. “Because they all expected someone popular.”
“You’d be popular regardless of how you acted. You could have been yourself. Why weren’t you?”
She continued to stare at him, startled that she didn’t have an answer. She’d never thought of it that way. “I suppose because it was my dad they were all in awe of. I was Jackson Ivy’s daughter, not Autumn Ivy, the girl who loved languages. How boring is that?”
“When you travel you can be yourself.”
Out of the camera’s eye. “That’s part of it. I’m not the rich socialite the media portrays me as. I’m not a celebrity. I’m rarely recognized when I travel. I’m just a translator or a tourist. Me.”
As he held her gaze from across the car, she could see him deducing things he kept to himself. He was a man who never put on a face for anybody. He was himself all the time, whether he appeared to others as hero or killer. He was a man who never compromised himself.
She admired that about him. Envied him, even. And in the next instant, she also realized that may be the real reason why she never committed to anyone. Why she was a lone wolf...like him but not like him.
As soon as men made her feel as though she had to put on a face, she ran away to foreign countries.
That was fine by her. It might be an escape, as Raith said, but if a man made her feel as if she had to fake who she was to be with him, she’d rather be an entertainment headline and travel to far-off places than erase herself.
Raith didn’t make her feel erased. Ever since meeting him, she hadn’t faked anything. There went her mood again.
“Come on, let’s go,” he said gently, as though guessing her thoughts.
How had he gotten so smart? By being a survivor? A rebel one...
* * *
Autumn walked with him toward NV Advanced Corporation.
Raith held one of the glass doors open for her, and then asked the security guard to inform Kai they were here. Seconds later, they were given visitor badges and escorted by Kai’s assistant to the top floor.
Led to a glass-walled office that took up an entire corner of the floor, Raith greeted the man guarding the door before they were allowed into the office. Kai’s bodyguard. A big man, he stretched the black suit he wore as he stood with meaty hands clasped in front of him.
Kai remained seated behind his desk. “Raith. I wasn’t expecting you.”
Raith stopped on the other side of his desk, behind two black leather chairs. Autumn stood beside him.
“I see you got in touch with Raith,” Kai said to her.
She glanced at Raith. Clearly he hadn’t updated his client in a few days. She didn’t expect him to reveal any personal details.
“I’m a little surprised to see you,” Kai added, still looking at her.
“Someone followed her after you met her,” Raith said. “They shot at her.”
Kai’s brow rose and he leaned forward in his chair, obviously taken aback. He glanced at Autumn, knowing why she’d been shot at. His look conveyed a recollection of what he’d told her, how dangerous it had been to reach out to him. Autumn lifted her chin and met his eyes. She didn’t need an I-told-you-so.
At last he said to Raith, “Why didn’t you tell me? Did you see who the shooter was?”
“I didn’t recognize the man, and the plates were from a stolen car that was later recovered. The police have no leads as to the identity of the thief.”
When had he ferreted out that information? Autumn eyed him and concluded he must have done that when he’d ensconced himself in his secure office.
“You didn’t think that was important to tell me?” Kai asked. He was obviously a CEO who was not accustomed to being left out of the loop.
“I’m telling you now.”
With a disapproving frown, Kai leaned back against his big leather chair. “How did he get away?”
“It was too public to risk a forced interrogation.”
“Is that what you came here to tell me? Why did you wait so long?”
“Since I had nothing to report, I didn’t think it warranted your concern. We’re here because we’ve had some breaks in the investigation.”
“I’m flattered that you decided to finally share.”
“How well do you know Nash Ralston?” Raith asked, dismissing Kai’s sarcasm.
Autumn realized he hadn’t contacted Kai until he had to. An investigation could unearth unexpected things. Did he not trust Kai? More likely he didn’t trust anyone.
A few stunned seconds passed before Kai said, “He’s a business associate. We’re in the same business. Our companies compete for contracts. Why are you asking me about him? I don’t see how he’s connected to whomever shot at me.”
“So you’re not friends?” Raith asked Kai.
“No, not friends, but not enemies, either. Are you suggesting Ralston may have been the one to hire Creighton?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. I found his name in Garvin Reeves’s email files. He expressed sympathy over Creighton’s death, who, incidentally, is not Tabor Creighton. His name is Leaman Marshall. He and Garvin were close friends.”
Kai leaned back and rubbed his chin, his elbow on the armrest. “And Garvin and Ralston are friends?”
“So it would seem.”
“Have you spoken with Nash?”
“Not yet.”
Lowering his hand, Kai contemplated what he’d learned so far. “I can see why you’re pursuing this. Nash could have found Mr. Marshall through his friend Garvin. The only question is does Nash really have motive?”
“That’s why we’re here.”
“Nash is a business associate.”
“A competitor,” Autumn said. “You compete for big government contracts. Night-vision equipment.”
“I find it a stretch that Nash would go to such extremes. Why would he? To get more contracts for his company? I doubt he’s that desperate to keep his job...or lose it if he’s caught.”
He had a valid point.
“What about the email?” Autumn asked, anyway. “There’s an obvious link between Ralston and Marshall.”
Kai turned to Raith. “You said the email was between Nash and Garvin.”
“It was. Expressing sympathy over Leaman Marshall’s death. That implies Ralston at least knew of Marshall.”
Kai considered that for a long moment, longer than Autumn thought reasonable. He seemed to be holding something back, and trying to steer this discussion away from Ralston as a suspect in his attempted shooting. “All right. It’s possible he contacted Marshall without going through Garvin.”
“Do you know Garvin?” Raith asked.
Kai grunted cynically. “No. Why do you think I would?”
“You don’t seem willing to accept the possibility,” Raith said.
“I just can’t imagine Nash hiring someone to kill me. What have I ever done to him except beat him to a few prime contracts?”
Autumn looked over at Raith. He’d caught Kai’s use of the word beat.
“Do you beat him a lot?”
“I beat everyone a lot. It’s because of me that DT Corporation is the leading supplier of night-vision equipment to the U.S. government.”
Would that be enough to drive Ralston to such extreme measures? Or was there something else that Kai wasn’t saying? Something that would be enough to drive Ralston to extreme measures. Like murder.
Chapter 8
A stop at NV Advanced Corporation proved to be a waste of time. Ralston was away on business travel and wouldn’t be in the office until the next day. Back at the hotel, Autumn didn’t feel like ordering room service. Raith didn’t protest, so they’d gone down to the nicest restaurant in the hotel.
With a tealight burning in the middle of the table, it had begun to feel like a date.
“No wine?” Raith asked.
Would he have joined her if she’d have ordered some? Or was he curious for another reason?
“This is romantic enough. Anymore and we might be in trouble.” That should divert his inquiring mind.
He smiled just a bit. His emotions never came into his face much. He kept them under control. He reminded her of a detective on one of those investigative reality shows. Not much animation came into their faces, although she sometimes could tell they made an effort. That’s what happened when a person saw too much death.
“Is that your way of stopping yourself from feeling too much for a rebel like me?” he asked.
“Shouldn’t you be doing the same with a heartbreaker like me?” Two could play that game...
His smile grew but only marginally. “Would you break my heart?”
“Milan is awfully appealing right now.” She smiled back at him.
He chuckled. “Yeah, but what would happen when you got back? Would you stay away? Would you be able to?”
That he’d even asked such a flirtatious question went against her perception of his character. And then she realized he was talking about the chemistry they’d generated in Iceland, hot enough to melt a glacier.
“I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.”
“An adventure to look forward to.”
The waiter arrived and Autumn took longer than she should have needed to order. Raith suffered no awkwardness. In fact, he seemed to enjoy flustering her.
What was he doing? Did he hope to seduce her again? Seduce her and then leave her the way he had in Iceland? That wouldn’t bother her if she wasn’t pregnant.
The rest of dinner passed with idle talk and many long looks. Autumn still hadn’t cooled by the time they left and rode the elevator to the top floor. She dreaded being in the suite alone with him, and then anticipated it at the same time. Raith slept on the sofa bed in the seating area and she slept in the bedroom, but it may as well be one giant king-size bed in a huge, wall-free room.
Just as they entered the suite, Raith’s cell rang.
Glad for the reprieve, Autumn went to stand by the window to gather her wits, looking out at the city lights to wait for Raith to answer the call. He never did.
Turning, she saw him putting his phone on the table beside the pullout bed.
“Your father again?” she asked.
He sent her a brooding look.
A clear enough answer. He was sure dogged about ignoring his father. “He’s calling you a lot.”
Raith picked up the remote and turned on the television. End of discussion.
She walked over to him, ready to do some serious probing. Her own cell rang and she stopped next to a chair. Seeing it was her sister Savanna, she answered.
“Where are you?” Savanna demanded.
“In Houston.”
“No one knows where you are. Why haven’t you answered your phone?”
She’d only answered Savanna’s call because Savanna already knew about Raith. Her mother didn’t, and she didn’t feel like explaining.
“I’ve been busy.” She met Raith’s eyes. He hadn’t turned on the television to watch it, only for something to take his mind off his father, apparently.
“Not that busy. What’s going on with you, Autumn? Is it that guy?”
“What guy?”
Raith leaned back, no longer brooding. She was a better distraction than the television now.
“You know what guy. The one Lincoln doesn’t like.”
Autumn couldn’t respond.
“What are you doing, Autumn?”
“I’ll be home soon.”
“Call Mom. She’s worried to death about you.”
“No. Will you call her? Tell her I’m fine. I’m just on another trip. The media is all over me because of Knox.”
