One Touch More (21 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Where's Seth?” Tabitha's voice had reached supersonic proportions about fifteen minutes ago. She walked into the Boise police station flanked by the deputy U.S. marshal she'd met in the parking lot the other day and two cops. Wow. They must have thought she was dangerous. If she wasn't so scared out of her mind, she would have laughed. But if someone didn't tell her where Seth was soon, she'd show them dangerous and then some. “
Where is my brother?”

Her entourage remained annoyingly stoic as they led her into a conference room. Seth was seated at the far end of a long table, a frown marring his face as he slouched in his chair. Sweet relief cascaded over her, and Tabitha let out a sob as she rushed into the room to give Seth a hug. “Oh my God,” she sighed against his shoulder. “I've been worried
sick
.”

Seth gave her a look that said
Take it easy, Mom
, but she didn't care. When the marshal had showed up at the hotel and not-so-politely requested that she come with him, Tabitha lost her shit. Every worst-case scenario in the book had raced through her mind. Number one on the list, that Joey had gotten his hands on Seth and her brother was dead. Arrested was way better than dead as far as she was concerned. Seth might not see it that way, but she didn't care.

“Have a seat, Miss Martin.”

She stood up straight and squared her shoulders. “Not until you tell me what's going on.”

Deputy Gates gave her a deadpan smile, one she suspected was reserved for smart-mouth detainees like herself. His tone was ice-cold, forceful. “Have a seat, Miss Martin.”

Tabitha fell into the chair next to Seth's. The suspense was killing her and if something didn't give soon, she was going to throw up. Her stomach churned like an angry sea, her heart beating with so much force, she was afraid it was going to break right out of her chest like one of those creatures in the
Alien
movies. Should she have an attorney present? Could she even afford an attorney? How did one go about contacting a lawyer on a Sunday afternoon?

The door to the conference room swung open and Tabitha's brain froze as it tried to reconcile what her eyes were seeing. Behind an older man dressed in business casual was a towering mountain of a man, his height and bulk the most impressive form in the room. His light brown locks were still purposely mussed, but he looked out of place in a pair of formfitting slacks and a white button-down. Around his neck, a gold badge hung on a lanyard, the five-pointed star glinting in the artificial light.

Tabitha opened her mouth to speak. Closed it. Opened it again, but words refused to come. What in the hell was going on?

“Miss Martin, I'm Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Dennis Callihan. This is Deputy Parker Evans. I think it's time we had a chat with you and your brother.”

Parker Evans? Tabitha's brain cranked into high gear, along with an indignant fire that burned from the pit of her stomach all the way up her throat. What were the odds that Damien had an equally sexy twin brother who happened to work on the opposite side of the law? All signs pointed to
not a freaking chance
.

Seth began to run off at the mouth, a string of smart-ass remarks that Tabitha couldn't make a lick of sense of. The words were nothing more than gibberish, a cacophony of sound that amounted to white noise in the back of her mind. Her eyes met Damien's, and the look of regret that flashed across his handsome visage squeezed every ounce of blood from her heart and the last breath of oxygen from her lungs.

“You son of a bitch!”

Tabitha found her voice and it exploded from her in a shout that left her throat raw and aching. Angry tears stung her eyes, and she willed not a single one to pass over her lids. The thought that Damien—or was it Parker?—had used her, betrayed her trust, made her think that he felt
anything
for her, was like acid burning through her veins.
Oh God
. She'd thrown herself at him like some sort of sex-starved nympho. And he'd let her! Encouraged her! Played his little games of domination, making her think that she'd finally found a man who could give her what she needed. Had all of it been an act? Just a part he played to gain her trust so he could make an arrest?

The humiliation was almost more than she could bear.

“Come on, Seth. We're out of here.” Her brother gave a superior snort, a secret fist-bump to encourage Tabitha's defiance. She pushed out her chair with so much force that it crashed against the opposite wall. Childish? Maybe. But it was either that or she was going to put her fist into Damien's not-too-soft gut. If she assaulted a United States marshal, she doubted anyone would think twice before slapping cuffs on her.

“Both of you need to sit back down.” The older guy—Callihan—seemed to be running the show. Likewise, he didn't come off as the type of guy who took shit off of anyone. “Your brother might not know the kind of trouble you're both in, but you do, Tabitha. I don't think you want to take your chances out there.”

Despair permeated every pore of her body, tightening Tabitha's skin to the point that she felt suffocated. Seth gave her the side-eye, and she knew that if she didn't play along, they were both screwed.

“Tabs, what's going on?” Seth's smart-ass tone evaporated into something altogether more concerned. It was the most adult he'd ever sounded, and if not for their abysmal circumstances, she would have been thrilled to see that for once, he was taking something seriously.

“Thanks to that lying son of a bitch over there”—she jerked her chin toward Damien—“Joey thinks I helped to steal a half shipment of whatever it is he's selling. Gerald is coming down to clean house.”

Seth collapsed back down into his chair. “Holy shit, Tabs. This is bad.”

“This has nothing to do with either of you.” Damien approached the table and took up a place directly across from where Tabitha stood. She refused to demur and looked right into the bastard's eyes, hoping he could see the pain in hers. He deserved nothing less than to suffer for his deception.

“If it doesn't have anything to do with us, then why are we here?”

Damien gave Tabitha a look as though to say it was beneath her to play coy. Yeah, right. “We want Lightfoot. Period.”

Jesus. She would have been less hurt to know it was Joey they'd been after. The admission speared her straight through the heart and twisted painfully. Had Damien known about her history all along? Weaseled into her life—her
heart
—in an effort to find a way to Gerald Lightfoot? God, she'd bared her soul to him, told him things she'd never told anyone else, and for all she knew, he'd already been up to speed on every sordid detail of her life!

“I can't get you any closer to Gerald than you already are,” Tabitha replied. “You know that.” Damien's gaze slid to Seth, and Tabitha's temper boiled. “It's not enough that you used me? Now you want to use him, too?”

Damien's shoulders slumped. It was a low blow, but Tabitha didn't care.

“The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force has been after Gerald Lightfoot for years, Miss Martin,” Chief Deputy Callihan chimed in. “Arresting him is our top priority. If you and your brother help us to make an arrest, we can guarantee your safety. We can take care of some of the dark marks on Seth's record and give you both a fresh start.”

Tabitha snorted. “Sounds a lot like blackmail to me.”

“Call it whatever you want. We can let you both walk out of here right now, but what's that going to accomplish? You're facing racketeering and conspiracy charges, Tabitha. Your brother, too. Why take your chances out there when we can give you a sure thing right here?”

Yep, exactly like blackmail.

“Tabitha.” Damien's voice was like a slow caress, lingering on her name with so much affection that it broke her heart all over again. “We're trying to help you. Both of you. We know that you were coerced into helping Joey by setting him up at the hotel. And as far as Seth's involvement goes, I know you don't want to see him pay the price for a few stupid mistakes. You said he's been straight and I believe you. Let me help you get a clean start. Let us protect you. Both of you.”

Tabitha thought back to Damien's whispered words in the darkness of her bedroom. His emphatic proclamation that he'd protect her. That he'd never let anyone hurt her. She'd told him not to make promises he couldn't keep. He'd cut her more deeply than anyone in her entire screwed-up life. He'd gutted her. Hollowed her out and filled the empty space with his tender affection. And now, there was nothing left but a void.

“Let's say we do help you.” Seth took Tabitha's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “What do you want from us and what do we get if you arrest Lightfoot?”

 

 

An armor-piercing round to the chest wouldn't have hurt more than the pained look of betrayal marring Tabitha's delicate features. He'd wanted to explain things to her, come clean in private, away from the law enforcement setting. But this bullshit with Tony and the missing drugs had bumped up their time line. Damien had been too concerned for Tabitha's safety to risk not bringing her and Seth in immediately.

He'd never blurred the lines between his personal and professional lives before. Probably because he didn't have a personal life to speak of. This was a cluster fuck of epic proportions, and it was a wonder he was still allowed to wear his badge. Of course, once Crawford got wind of the situation, he might be turning it in after all.

“Right now, all Lightfoot knows is that half of his latest shipment is missing. That's almost a half-million-dollar loss for him and not something he's going to let slide. According to Joey Cavello, your sister and I stole those drugs and beat up one of his guys last night. I'd imagine that Joey is going to do whatever he can to avoid Lightfoot when he gets to town. It won't matter who stole what, only that it's gone. Joey is going to be held responsible. And if Lightfoot can't get his hands on Joey, he'll go to the guy who initially set him up with Joey in the first place. You.”

“Damn, Tabs,” Seth said to his sister. “You got into some
shit
last night.”

Tabitha's face flushed with embarrassment and she sunk down into her previously discarded seat. As hard as she'd tried to separate herself from the life she'd grown up in, Damien knew that this situation had to be humiliating for her. He hated that she was involved at all. There was so much he wanted to say to her. But it didn't look like he'd get a second alone with her for a while.

“You're probably right,” Seth said with a shrug. “We're sort of like family to him. He'll call me if he can't find Joey. So, what do you want me to do? For the record, I'm not wearing a wire.”

“We don't need you to.” Callihan drummed his fingers on the tabletop as he spoke. “We're not trying to catch Lightfoot in the act of anything. He's a fugitive. We don't need any other reason to make an arrest. All we want is for you to arrange a meet.”

“But you'll want Seth there to meet Gerald, right?” The accusation in Tabitha's voice stung, her blue eyes narrowed with anger.

“Yes. When we arrest Lightfoot, we'll arrest Seth as well. That way, Seth is protected from looking like a narc. After we've got Lightfoot in custody, we'll start the process of setting you both up in witness security.”

Tabitha's eyes grew wide. She looked from Callihan, over at Gates, and back to Damien. “What's witness security?”

“You probably know it as the witness protection program, Tabitha,” Callihan continued. “In exchange for your testimony—if needed—we'll set you and your brother up with new identities. In a new town. You'll both get a fresh start, and not Lightfoot, Cavello, or any of their associates will be able to find you. It's a chance at a real life and a little freedom.”

“Freedom?” Tabitha's incredulous outburst echoed off the walls. “You call that freedom? You might as well throw us in jail!”

Tabitha's reaction wasn't out of the ordinary. Callihan's attempt to put a shiny spin on WITSEC crashed and burned like Damien knew it would. Witness security wasn't a cakewalk by any means.

“I know it sounds scary, but you should be focusing on the fact that you and Seth will be safe.”

Tabitha looked at Damien with wide eyes, as though waiting for him to jump in and set the chief deputy straight. “I've got clinicals starting in less than a month! I'm so close to graduating. Seth's got a job and he's enrolled in college for the spring semester. You can't expect us to give all of that up. We've worked hard to get to this point, and you want us to throw all of it away?”

Callihan stretched his hands out imploringly. “You won't be throwing anything away, Tabitha. Seth can enroll in a school wherever we set you up, and as far as your education goes, we'll do whatever we can to make sure your credits transfer over so you don't lose any time.”

Tabitha's eyes went wide. “I'm going to assume that you haven't been to college recently. Transferring credits between in-state schools is nearly impossible. Doing it with an out-of-state university? You may as well ask me to start over from square freaking one.”

Damien leaned across the table, his hands itching to reach for her. “Tabitha—”

“You don't talk to me,” she seethed, pointing an accusing finger his way. “You don't get to say another word to me. Ever.”

She might as well have ripped his beating heart from his chest, thrown it on the ground, and stomped it into a bloody pulp. Damien welded his jaw together, the enamel grinding. The helplessness he felt grated on him, but not because he wasn't in control of the situation. Because he had this locked down. No, what pissed him off was the fact that he was in a room with three other colleagues and Tabitha's brother. And he wouldn't get a chance to plead his case with her.