Cold Snap, page 18
She was pretty and fun to spend time with, but something tugged at him beyond that.
Was it her sense of humor? The intelligence in her pretty eyes or the hurt he saw lurking in the shadows? He didn’t want to be the asshole to deepen that hurt. Their futures didn’t meld. Their paths diverged.
But he liked her.
More than he should.
“Why’d the widow give you the laptop?” Ropero asked after a minute of silence.
“She wants me to help find her husband’s killer. Believes the sheriff’s main suspects are the two of us, which would give me a reason to want to investigate further.” Grady rolled his window down and let the fresh air blow inside.
“What did you tell her?”
“I said I’d help her provided she didn’t tell anyone, not even her son, who’s still at college doing a master’s degree in business, despite the news of his father’s murder. Maybe she plans to set me up to take the fall, but I guess we know something she doesn’t.”
They exchanged an amused look.
“Figured she might have some information that could prove useful at some point so decided to keep her on my side. There’s a five-million-dollar life insurance policy on the dead guy. People have killed for less.”
Ropero cradled her forehead. “If that idiot sheriff arrests you and fucks up this operation, I’m going to shoot him myself.”
He turned in his seat and frowned. “This thing with Kane seems personal for you. I mean, I get wanting to nail this bastard, but…”
She looked at him with annoyance then relented. “I guess it is, although I have no personal connection to the case. My family lived in the same Maryland town as Kane when I was growing up. His kids were similar in age to me and my sister. It made an impression—that an entire family could disappear that way. I remember how shocked everyone was. The disappearance, then the discovery of the bodies. Usually, it was the stranger danger that was being pushed on us kids back then, so that’s the first time I realized the threat could come from inside a family.”
She flicked a glance at Grady, but he didn’t say anything. He’d been born into a household that had been dangerous from the get-go.
“It’s all the adults talked about for weeks. People started to lose faith in the FBI and police. That bothered me even though I was young. That one man could destroy so much. It’s one of my first memories.”
She wiped condensation from her side window. “I joined the Bureau in some ways to try to redress the balance, I guess. I never imagined getting a place on the squad tasked with hunting him. I was doing a rotation at HQ when the Australia tipoff came in. Dobson was on the team. I asked to be put on it, too.” She shook her head and looked at him. “I would love to take this asshole down.”
“You’re an idealist.”
“I’m a goddamn pragmatist,” she snapped and hugged herself.
“Aren’t we all?” The air was frigid but Grady liked the breeze. “Did you manage to get hold of Bodurek’s autopsy report?”
“Yeah. One shot to the head from a 9-mm at point blank range.”
“Execution style.”
“Bullet is worthless for ballistics. Too fragmented. Lab’s testing the constituents in case we get a hit, but I doubt it. Bullets aren’t exactly uncommon in the US.”
“You ran Bodurek’s DNA?”
She nodded tiredly. “He’s not Kane. Neither is Brynn Webster’s daddy, by the way. That would have been too easy,” she muttered despondently.
The news made him very happy, but he squashed it. Brynn was off-limits. He was working.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out the evidence bag with the cigarette butts he’d picked up last night. “Almost forgot. I found this near those boot prints I sent you before having my brains bashed in.”
“Why were you there, anyway?”
He shrugged. “Brynn thought she heard someone in the alley behind her the night Bodurek bought it. Blamed it on a stray cat. I got to wondering if someone deliberately flushed out the animal when she paused and looked behind her.”
Ropero took the bag of cigarette butts with a grimace of distaste. “I’ll get them analyzed ASAP, but I don’t know what it will tell us.”
Grady shrugged. “Someone hanging around.”
“Could have been someone who’s homeless.”
“The person who attacked me was someone with training.”
“That could be your ego.” She smirked.
“My ego died the day you dragged me out of a HRT meeting in handcuffs.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“The guy could have killed me.” His head still throbbed. “It’s not my ego saying he knew what he was doing to put me down as quickly and effectively as he did.”
“We scoured security cameras, but the plates of the van were obscured. White vans aren’t exactly rare in that part of the world.”
Grady swore. “Went to see my old friend Saul Jones. He told me Bodurek was an asshole to him after he was shot. Edith admitted it and claimed it was out of character, but we should keep digging into Bodurek’s background.”
“He could have been having a bad day.” Ropero grinned. “It happens.”
“Don’t tell me you have a sense of humor, Ropero. Not now after I’ve already pegged you as a heartless bitch.”
She shook her head. “I’m exactly who you think I am.” At least she admitted it. “I’ll keep digging into Bodurek’s background in case something pops. Who do you think killed him?”
“His death so soon after the robbery can’t be a coincidence.” Grady stared into the distance. “Maybe it’s financial and one of the family did the robbery and the murder—or a competitor. Edith was very convincing as the grieving widow. I’d dig into the son.” He pulled a stick of gum from a packet in the Jeep’s dash. Offered one to Ropero which she took. “Part of me wants to believe Kane killed him but I can’t help thinking he’d avoid trouble rather than create more. Unless Milton had something Kane needed in order to escape again…in which case he’s already gone. The other thing that crossed my mind is a little more disturbing.”
Ropero twisted around to face him.
“What if someone else is looking for Kane?”
“Like who?”
He shrugged.
“How would they know to look here? They’d have had to know we found the fingerprint.” She scowled.
“Your paranoia is probably rubbing off on me.” Grady shrugged.
Ropero’s expression became fierce. “Donnelly and Sullivan sent some images to be analyzed. Sullivan was particularly interested—”
“In the two Russian tourists in the bar last night?”
She nodded.
“Kane worked counterintelligence, right?”
“He did, but there was nothing in his file to suggest he was spying for Russia and no hits in the database regarding the tourists. One Muscovite is on a three-month tourist visa. She flew into Boston and met her friend who arrived from Prague. The two have spent the past week working their way up the coast.”
Grady rolled his shoulder. “Like I said. Paranoia.”
A crinkle pinched her dark brows. “I’ll talk to Kane’s old boss again.”
“Any luck tracing the call that lured Milton Bodurek to the harbor?”
She shook her head. “Came from a burner that is probably at the bottom of the harbor.”
“The divers find anything?”
She shook her head. “Nothing useful according to what we could access.”
Grady gritted his teeth. The lack of clues was becoming frustrating. “I set up a couple of cameras around my house. Did surveillance pick up any hits for the person Brynn Webster saw walking away from the harbor?”
“Nothing. The only camera in town is above the ATM on Main Street. We brought in a consultant name of Alex Parker to go through the footage as far back as he is able, in case we get lucky with Kane using it or walking by.” She rubbed her eye. “I didn’t want to, but the tech on the team told me it would take up most of his time for weeks to analyze the footage. This guy Parker can run it in a couple of days. How is that even possible?” She looked pissed. “I’m assured this guy is discreet, and he hasn’t been told who he’s looking for, just to look for any hits in the database.”
“We’ve worked with Parker before.” Grady forced the grit out of his voice as memories surged from the last time. “He’s good.”
And his friend had still died.
Emotions threatened but he forced them away. He hoped Grace and the kids were doing okay, although, really, how could she be? He hoped he could be around to help when the new baby arrived. Losing Montana on top of that was still a devastating blow.
They were still trying to find enough of him to bury.
Ropero grunted. “Fine.”
That shook him out of his funk. Even he knew “fine” was anything but.
“I plan to go visit the former sheriff this afternoon,” Grady said. “Thank him for helping me out as a teenager and all that bullshit.”
“He’ll think you’re trying to get off the suspect list.”
“They can’t pin it on me without a lot of poor police work.”
Ropero snorted. “Like that’s never happened. You get your weapon back yet?”
“No. I guess Quantico isn’t the only lab that’s backed up.” He pulled his lips to one side. “If you don’t hear from me in the next twelve hours start looking for a shallow grave.”
“Not funny. That’s exactly what Eli Kane did to his family.”
“Gallows humor. You find anything in the former sheriff’s financials?”
She angled her chin. “Yes and no.”
He raised a brow and waited.
“They live simply and within their means, but they paid rock bottom prices for the land and the new build.”
“Huh. You figure out who sold it to them?”
“Company called ‘Serenity Construction,’ which sounds like an oxymoron. We’re digging into who owned it. The business shut down not long after the Yorks house was completed. Traced it to a shell company based in the Caribbean.”
Definitely suspicious.
“We’re probing deeper, but we have a lot to deal with and I’m not convinced this is tied to Kane.”
His phone rang and he checked it. An unknown number. “I better take it.”
“Go ahead.”
“Steel,” he answered his phone on speaker.
“Grady. It’s Brynn, Brynn Webster?”
“You’re the only Brynn I know.” He smiled and ignored the kick to his pulse.
“Do you have a leash and a collar?”
He laughed. “Er, do you have some sort of fetish I need to know about?”
Ropero placed a hand over her mouth as if to stop from laughing.
“No,” Brynn said impatiently. “I have your dog.”
“My dog? I don’t have a dog.” He frowned in confusion, then straightened. “The stray?”
“Yeah.”
“You caught him?”
“I guess.”
He could hear whimpering in the background. And scratching.
“I lured him into my apartment with an offer he couldn’t refuse. Now I’m afraid to open the door, as I suspect he’ll slip out and no amount of cookies or baked ham will get him to trust me again.”
He checked his watch. “I’m going to be about forty minutes, more actually as I need to stop to buy a leash on the way. Think you can survive that long?”
The scratching sound grew louder. “It’s your house.”
“Sit on the floor and watch TV or something. He’ll settle down.”
“Okay. It’s not like I have a life or anything.”
“Thank you. I’ll call the veterinarian on the way, book him in to check him over. Be there shortly.” He hung up.
Ropero paused with the door open. “Do not get distracted from the reason you’re really in Deception Cove.”
“Just when I was starting to like you.” Grady shook his head wryly.
She stood, grunted, and leaned back inside. “I meant to say that the redhead’s background check came in clean, but there’s something odd about the ex.”
“Odd how?” Grady had the vehicle in reverse and was impatiently waiting for the other agent to close the door.
“We haven’t been able to locate him.”
“Keep trying.”
“We are.” She slammed the door, and he reversed quickly and sped away.
31
Twenty-seven years ago
Spring
Eli sat outside a small, exclusive boutique hotel in Maryland. Far enough away not to be spotted and close enough to watch the front door. It was spring and the cherry blossoms were blooming. His favorite time of year in this part of the world.
He watched his dutiful wife hurry inside. She was wearing a navy sheath dress and scarlet high heels. That morning she’d kissed him then told him she had a dental appointment and planned to do a little shopping afterward while a sitter watched the boys.
They were not his boys.
A few months ago, he’d taken samples of their DNA and submitted them to a private lab for analysis along with his own.
Not his boys, but full siblings, with rich brown eyes the color of dark chocolate.
That discovery had gutted him.
Lisa had indeed visited the dentist earlier, where she’d had a clean and polish scheduled.
She had great teeth.
Probably a job requirement.
She hadn’t done any shopping though, not yet anyway. He suspected he knew what was happening but was helpless to stop the jaws of this intricately laid trap from snapping shut and devouring him whole.
But he wasn’t ready to roll over and die just yet.
He glanced up at the elegant stone façade and listened without surprise as his wife greeted her lover. He wanted to know who he was, to see his face.
He listened as they fucked. He listened as they lay in bed, plotting his downfall.
He mulled over his options. Even if he went to his superiors right now with everything he knew, he’d be thrown out of the Bureau, a laughingstock.
His pride wouldn’t allow that.
He could take his own life. It was tempting. The Russians would probably be irritated they’d wasted so much time on him. His wife justifiably angry she’d had to be with him for so long with nothing to show for it.
He could disappear…
And then what?
Would they look for him? Would his colleagues even care? Probably not as much as the fucking Russians, he thought bitterly. They’d be mad their long-term kompromat scheme hadn’t paid off.
But then Lisa, the grieving widow, would likely seduce one of his colleagues who’d happily raise “Eli’s” orphans as their own.
The DNA results wouldn’t be quite so shocking to them, he thought with dark humor.
He listened to the two of them grunt and groan and pound without a hint of jealousy.
She wasn’t his. She never had been.
He was the mark, the dupe. And she’d played him like a pro—still was.
How long would Lisa live this charade? Until the Russians were pumping him for information the way her lover was pumping her right now? Or until the two of them retired and they’d wasted their entire lives on a lie?
Yeah, the latter. They’d let him raise those brats as his own, feed them, clothe them, educate them, love them, but they were cuckoos in the nest. Parasites.
Eli smiled.
No, he’d think of a different plan. In the meantime, he’d nail his lovely wife every chance he could. He’d save as much money as he could while cutting that bitch off from their accounts. His fingers drummed the steering wheel. He’d give her an allowance. A small one with bonuses only he understood for various sex acts. That’s what she basically was, a prostitute.
A whore.
A lying, fucking whore.
He waited for them to finish. His wife’s lover had stamina, that was for damn sure.
He watched her leave her nooner looking as fresh and put together as when she’d arrived. She climbed into the little sedan he’d taken out a loan to buy for her.
That would go back tomorrow.
She hadn’t showered. Would he still smell the prick on her when he came home tonight?
He thought of their small dining table as his hands squeezed the steering wheel. As soon as the boys were down for the night, he was going to fuck her right there, with the drapes wide open so that anyone walking by the house would see.
He smiled grimly.
He was going to enjoy this game for the next few months. Make her feel unsure and uncertain the way he had before he’d finally figured it out.
Angry. Humiliated. Stupid. Used.
When the lover exited the hotel, his identity wasn’t a shock. It wasn’t even a surprise. It confirmed everything Eli had already suspected. The rush of humiliation and revulsion slid all the way down his spine to the base of his coccyx.
But he was the one in control now.
He was the one calling the shots.
32
Present day
Brynn watched Grady run his hand gently over the dog’s bony skull and along the sagittal crest as they sat in the veterinarian’s waiting room.
It had taken time and an infinite amount of patience on Grady’s behalf for the dog to accept the collar and leash. The massive bag of dog treats he’d picked up had helped. Coaxing the dog into the car had proven near impossible until Grady had tossed her the keys and climbed into the cargo area of the Jeep with the large, filthy dog in his lap.
They’d been here for ten minutes now, and the dog had finally calmed down, thanks mainly to the comfort of Grady’s touch. She couldn’t help wondering what it would feel like being stroked that way…
A perky assistant came out of an exam room and jerked Brynn out of her salacious thoughts. She’d spent more time thinking about sex in the past twenty-four hours than she had in the entire two years previous.
The assistant ushered them inside. Brynn didn’t miss the disapproving glances sent their way when the woman noticed the dog’s matted coat and pronounced limp.
