Bargain Hunting (27 page)

“Then you have to go someplace,” I insisted. “Someplace no one will know where to find you.”

He shook his head. “Not my style.”

“I know your style,” Tony said. “Carrying a concealed weapon is a violation of the conditions of your bond. If you get caught, Finley could lose a big chunk of money.”

“I don’t care about the money,” I said. “I want Liam to be safe.”

“Finley, do you have an alarm system?”

“Yes.”

“Then I think the two of you should stay there until we figure out someplace safe,” Tony said.

“Can you take her home?” Liam asked. “I have an errand.”

“Liam?” I practically whined.

“Nothing dangerous. Promise.”

“Can I get my car?” I asked.

Tony nodded. “I’ll follow you and stay until Liam gets there.”

“Wait,” I said. “That’s asking too much. What if something happens? What about Izzy?”

“Then stay here,” Liam said. “I’ll be back in an hour.”

“I have a job,” I reminded him.

“Which is on hold,” Tony said.

“But Ellen and Mr. Dane . . .”

“Ellen agrees and Victor is so pissed about his car that he doesn’t really want to see you right now.”

“Pissed about his car?”

“The glass that shattered came from the Hummer. The second bullet dinged his bumper.”

I slouched forward. “Great. He’ll probably take the repair costs out of my check.”

Tony laughed. “You leave that to me. I’ll stay here with you until Liam gets back.”

“I’m not sure I
want to go back to the scene of the crime,” I said as Liam drove me back to Dane-Lieberman.

“You have to get your car.”

“Why? We have yours. Such as it is.”

“Just trust me. Stay off the phone. Drive directly home.” His tone was strident and his expression was tense.

“You’re scaring me.”

He reached over and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. “Don’t be scared. I’ll be with you.”

But for how long? I wondered. Oh great, now I was
that
girl. The one who puts a stopwatch on a relationship. Only I was worse. I wasn’t even sure if we had a relationship. Maybe for Liam it was just sex. But then again, he was so attentive and caring. Maybe because he wanted more sex. Inside my head was a lost and confused world.

The parking lot was devoid of glass as Liam swung into the place next to my Mercedes. “Here,” he said as he reached under the driver’s seat and produced a small but lethal-looking gun.

“I don’t want that!”

“I don’t care. Take it.”

“The only time I ever fired a gun I missed by like ten yards.”

“This,” he said as he pulled out a portion of the grip. “This is the clip. I have extras. You just tap it in and pull back like this.” He did something that made the gun click. “Now there’s a bullet in the chamber. This,” he said as he pointed to a small lever by the trigger. “Is the safety. This is on, this is off. Put it in your purse.”

“I don’t want a gun.”

“Would you rather get shot?” he asked.

I couldn’t argue with that logic. Of course I didn’t want to get shot. “How am I supposed to shoot at someone I can’t see? Didn’t you say it was a sniper?”

“Yeah. It was a desperate move. One I don’t think they’ll repeat.”

“Who are
they
?”

“Not sure yet.”

“Great, so I could end up shooting the FedEx guy.”

“Let’s hope not. Now drive and don’t say a word. Blast the music and stay off the phone.”

“Why?”

“I have a theory, but we have to get to your place first.”

“Why?”

“Just trust me.”

“Okay.”

The shaking started again once I was behind the wheel of my car. I kept checking the rearview, making sure Liam was right behind me. Still, every time a car passed me I had to fight the urge to duck. I was very happy when we finally reached my place. At least there I knew I had an alarm and Tony had called the Palm Beach police and asked them to make periodic drive-bys.

Before we went inside, Liam placed his finger to his mouth and shushed me. As soon as we were inside, he reset the alarm and pulled a black box out of the backpack he’d brought in. He turned on the stereo and blasted it so loudly I could feel the bass in my back teeth.

I stood by while he extended an antenna and started scanning my living room. It beeped like one of those metal detectors people used on the beach. When the beeps got closer together, he followed that direction. His first stop was my television. From behind the bracket, he pulled a small black button with a wire that looked exactly like the one I’d found at José’s house. He repeated the same steps in every room and closet until he had a total of six of them in his hand. He motioned for me to kill the alarm, then he opened the back slider, walked to the water’s edge, and threw all of them into the Atlantic.

He came back and we reset the alarm. “How did you know someone was listening to us?” I asked.

“Too much of a coincidence that we agreed to meet at a
certain time and a shooter was in place. Where’s your electrical box?”

“Guest room closet. Why?”

He didn’t answer so I followed him down the hall and into the bedroom. He opened the breaker box and there was an open slot. “Now we know why your motion sensors aren’t working. You don’t have a spare breaker, do you?”

I shook my head. “Harold did all the electrical.”

“Did you call your alarm company?”

I nodded. “They’re supposed to send someone out tomorrow to fix the problem.”

“They’ll have a breaker. Got a flashlight?” he asked.

“It’s daylight,” I said.

“Flashlight?”

He followed me back to the kitchen. “Here.”

“I’ve got to go outside for a minute. Turn the alarm on while I’m out there.”

“Don’t go outside,” I pleaded.

“It’ll just take me a second,” he said. Then he pulled up the leg of his jeans enough for me to see the gun he had strapped to his ankle.

He went outside and got next to his car, then turned on the flashlight and scooted beneath the Mustang. True to his word, he was back out from under the car quickly, then he went to the Dumpster and attached something to the side.

“What was that?”

“A GPS tracker. That’s why they flattened your tires. You have a car alarm, I don’t. By forcing us to use my car, they could follow us everywhere.”

“And the window smashes?”

“My guess is they did a couple of houses before yours to throw the locals off the track. Do you all use the same alarm company?”

“I think so.”

“Then they waited around and got the response time.”

“So they knew how long they had to plant listening devices in my house.”

“Right,” he said as he bent down and gave me a kiss.

“Oh my God!”

“What?” he asked in a near panic.

“They heard us having sex.” I know I must have turned eight shades of red.

Liam laughed. “I’m sure it wasn’t as good for them as it was for me.”

Never trust anyone who lies to you. Never lie to anyone who trusts you.

Tony called to check
in just as the afternoon news was starting. Of course, the shooting at Dane-Lieberman was the lead story. I could only imagine what that was doing to Vain Dane. He was probably thinking of ways to kill me. Well, he’d have to get in line.

“Have you had a chance to talk to Garza yet?” I asked.

“I’ve got a call in,” Tony said.

“Surely once he hears what Jimmy Santos had to say, plus the shooting, he’ll have to see that Liam isn’t responsible for José Lopez’s death.”

“We have a problem with Santos.”

“If he won’t talk, I can testify as to what he said to me. It’s a statement against his interests and therefore admissible.”

“In a case against Santos,” Tony agreed.

“Well, Santos was running a criminal enterprise. Surely Garza can come up with some sort of charge to hold over his head.”

“It isn’t Garza who’s the problem. It’s Santos. He’s dead.”

“Dead?” I asked, stunned. “I thought he was some bigwig in the Latin Bandits. How could he get killed?”

“By an even bigger wig.”

“Does the Department of Corrections have any suspects?”

“They’re treating this like an NHI.”

“NHI?”

“No humans involved. Santos was responsible for a lot of murders. He was a dirtbag, so we shouldn’t expect there to be much of an investigation. Besides, hits inside prisons are, unfortunately, common. I’m surprised Santos made it this long. Usually when the youngbloods move in on the outside, the ones on the inside have a magical way of getting dead.”

I needed a diversion. “What happened with Travis Johnson and the shrink?” I asked.

“He was severely abused. How long will it take to get those records?”

“They should come back this week. Just make sure Margaret knows to give them to you or else she’ll bury them in my in-box.”

“How are you and Liam holding up?”

I told him all about the listening devices. “I’m now creeped out in my own home.”

“Maybe the two of you should get out of town.”

“Liam can’t leave the county.”

“I can go see the judge about that. It definitely qualifies as a change in circumstances.”

“Would you?” I asked. Not so much for myself, but I knew Liam. He wasn’t the type to sit around and wait for something to happen. He was just too proactive.

“First thing in the morning,” he promised, then hung up.

Liam came down the hallway, shirtless and drying his hair with a towel. My nerves might be shot, but my libido was just fine, thank you very much. I couldn’t help but admire the ripple of muscle, broad shoulders, and thick mat of dark hair that veered downward like a big arrow pointing to the good stuff. I also noticed the scar was healing nicely.

I turned away before he caught me gawking. I’d already showered and changed into some drawstring pants and a T-shirt. Unlike my normal routine, I’d reapplied makeup. Liam and I weren’t yet to the no-makeup stage in our relationship. I wasn’t exactly sure where we were. Just that we definitely had the sex part covered.

“Who called?” he asked.

“Checking up on me?” I joked.

“Just making conversation. You don’t have to answer.”

“Lighten up, Liam. It was Tony. He was just making sure everything was okay and give me the news that Santos was killed in prison after speaking to me.”

Liam’s hand stilled. “Santos is dead?”

“Yep.”

“Suspects?”

“No, and Tony isn’t holding out much hope that there will be much more than a cursory investigation. He thinks we should get out of town for a while. I’m game.”

“Good. Go pack a bag and we’ll take you anywhere,” he said as he pulled me into his arms. As wonderful as that was, I ducked away and went to the kitchen to take stock. It was a sad state of affairs. “I hope you like Lucky Charms,” I said.

“Why?”

“It’s that or mustard. I’m not terribly good at grocery shopping.”

“We can get takeout,” he suggested.

“Is that smart?”

“Only if you know a delivery guy on sight, which I’m guessing you do.”

“Then chicken or Chinese?”

“Chicken.”

I lifted the phone off its cradle and pressed the speed-dial number assigned to my favorite rotisserie place. I ordered a chicken and two sides. “Dinner will arrive in about a half hour.”

“That’s just about enough time to—”

“Think north of your waistband or I’ll start to think you’re only here for the sex.”

“The sex is a plus.”

We sat on the sofa and I muted the news. “Don’t the police use listening devices?” I asked.

“Yeah. But you have to sign them in and out with the undercover unit. Besides, the one from José’s was traced back to a store here. The police don’t order devices one at a time. They buy the things by the gross.”

“So the ones here and the one at José’s weren’t police issue.” My mind was spinning with the sensation that I was missing something right in front of my nose.

Liam wrapped the towel around his shoulders. “Definitely not. Besides, if they were department issue, you’d need to expand your conspiracy theory to include about twenty more guys.”

“There’s no way to find out who bought them?”