Mind Play (Bennett Sisters Book 3) (16 page)

Butch glanced at Claire and sat back
, regarding Clair
e
with a speculative gaze
.
She didn’t have a temper like her sisters, but he knew if Thompson pushed her buttons, it was just a matter of time before Claire
would put him in his place
. Clair
e
narrowed her eyes at Thompson and raised her brow. She crossed her arms over her c
hest before she glanced in Butch’s direction, sending him a private message with her eyes
. A smile tilted on her lips
when she
held out her hand
to his old partner
.
“This blonde has a name. I
t’s
Claire B
ennett
and I’d appreciate it if you used it
.”

Thompson shook her hand and looked back at Butch before leaning back in his chair. “
This one’s smarter than the ones you normally date.
”

“Let’s get this over with
,
Thompson, before she puts you on your ass.”

Thompson
’s eyes twinkled when he glanced back at Claire and let
his gaze fall down to her chest. Butch clenched his fist
, but held his tongue
.
If Thompson was willing to test
his little angel
, Butch was willing to sit back and watch her drop Thompson on his ass, just like Emma had done to him almost a year ago. The females in this family weren’t we
a
k
and if Thompson had a death wish he’d let him try
.
He knew his friend was just checking
to see
if what Butch said could even be true.

“I’d like to see her try.”

“Don’t tempt me, Agen
t Thompson. I know forty-one ways
to
drop
you on your ass, and
I can promise you none of them will be pleasurable
.”

Thompson laughed and glanced to Butch “Who is she?” He tilted his head in her direction.

Butch could see the humor in his eyes but knew that Claire wouldn’t. He’d have to explain later why his friend was being such a jerk. “Thompson, this is Claire Bennett
,
younger s
ister to detective Mike Bennett. Older sister to
f
orensic
i
nvestigator
,
Abby Bennett, and older sister to Emma Bennett, who is married to Jake
Donavan
. T
rust me when I tell you it would be wise of you to
show
some
respect to all the Bennett women.
Trust me when I tell you, y
ou don’t want to piss
any of them off
.
They don’t take shit
from
men who try to put them down.
”

Thompson
returned his
gaze
to
Claire.

“She went undercover with me to meet Sal
. I
needed to find out how he got his hands on one of
the
checks
from
Claire’s
fundraiser
.
There
are
five checks
missing
and some cash, and we’re trying to figure out who stole them. Your turn
. W
hy were you tailing Sal? You might as well
tell me and save me from having to make some calls. I’m going to find out anyway
.
”

Thompson
threw his head back and laughed. “
You haven’t changed a bit, and I still don’t know where you get your information.
”

Thompson
opened the file on the table and turned it
,
sliding it
toward Butch
and Claire
. “As you know
,
this is Sal Santiago.
” He pointed to a
candid
picture of a live Sal they’d just witness killed. “
We’re still investigating
Joel Winters
,
and we hadn’t figured out how Sal fits in, but our sources say they do.”

Butch crossed his arms. “Money laundering. You still haven’t caught the guy?”

“We’re getting closer. Winters is still evading us
.
He’s using several aliases
, but we’re tracking
the accounts we know of
. Until we find out who he is to arrest him, we’re checking out all of our leads to see if someone will lead us back to him.”

“How was Sal connected?”

“We’
ve traced some of the money our undercover agents used to buy drugs
,
and it’s being
laundered
through his account. We weren’t prepared for him to try and cash a check made out to a charity. We didn’t know what kind of game he was playing.
We were hoping he could lead us to
the mastermind
behind it all.
”

Butch had more questions t
han answers but knew if the money launderer
was connected to Sal then Claire
was
in some serious trouble. He was going to have to tell Jake and Briggs so they could come up with a strategy to keep Claire safe. This raised the stakes. Winters had been a case the bureau
had been
working on back when he worked for them. The fact that they hadn’t cau
ght the sneaky bastard
in such a long time
had Butch worrying that much more
.

“That check was in
Claire’s
office before it went missing. I hadn’t even had a chance to question Sal before someone picked him off.”

“Did you see
who
shot him
?” Thompson glanced from Claire back to Butch. Butch hadn’t seen him
in fact
.
He’d been focused on Sal and what he was trying to do to Claire. He’d let his guard down when the shots were fired, solely focused on
protecting Claire.

“No.”

Claire pushed her chair back and stood. “Are we done for now
?
I’d really like to get home and change out of these clothes
.
Agent
Thompson
,
if you need to reach us
, you can find us at my house.”

Butch stood
. I
t seemed his
angel
was ready to leave. He’d have to call
Thompson
later to see if he’d found out anything more. “You’ve got my cell number
,
and yo
u can get the address from the
c
a
ptain
, but it looks like I’m taking Claire home now
.
” Butch grinned.

Claire
yanked the door open and walked out
.
Butch gla
nced over his shoulder
.
“I’ll call you later for the rest of the details.”

Butch put his
hand on Claire’s back
and led her out of station.
Shit. This isn’t good.
Not good at all.
He opened his truck door and lifted her in. Claire shivered
;
probably cold from the lack of clothes she had on. She was dirty from
being thrown on the
ground and
looked exhausted
from everything that happened tonight. All he wanted to do was take her home and get her in a bath to relax
,
and he could use a cup of coffee himself. Butch glanced at her
. S
he
’d rested her head against the seat and let out a small sigh.

His angel
looked crestfallen; her smile had faded along with her determination
. He didn’t miss that her hand was pressed against her neck, where normally her pearls laid. She was worried
,
and she should be. Th
ere
was a lot of information she was going to have to digest. “Now do you care to tell me what you read in his mind?”

****

Claire toed off her heels and flexed her feet. She’d been close to shivering in
that
room. Her body
was fighting a chill.
“Not yet. I’ll tell you and my family all at once. This isn’t just about me anymore
,
and the quicker I let them know what I found out, the safer everyone else will be.
Right now I just want a bath to get this grime off me and a cup of steaming coffee.”

Butch took her hand
from
her lap and linked his fingers with hers. “Let’s get you home.”

They
were
silent the rest of the ride home
.
Claire’s mind was spinning from everything she’d learned tonight.
The man
w
ho had one of her check
s
was dead
,
and he’d left her with more questions than anything else. The fact that the FBI was tracking him wasn’t a good sign
,
and the look on Butch’s face when Agent Thompson had mentioned Winters had her thinking that things were only going to get worse
.
Her passion might have been her fundraisers, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew the score
;
after all
,
she was a cop
’
s kid that paid attention
.