Scandal Never Sleeps (34 page)

How did she manage to make him feel slightly guilty for invading
her privacy instead of like a hero for saving her life? “We found proof that Valerie was the one who broke into your office. Then I . . .” How could he explain this without sounding like a loon? “I got a feeling you were in danger and that I should find you.”

“It didn’t help that no one could find Valerie, either,” Dax added.

“That makes sense. She clearly had it in for me—for all the wrong reasons.” She sighed. “I think the cops are assuming Valerie was the one who hired the Brighton Beach boys to torch Maddox’s house because he was obviously investigating her.”

“It’s logical,” Gabe admitted. “I’ll feel better once we find the money she embezzled.”

At least it would prove that she was guilty, not merely unhinged.

“Yeah.” Everly sent him a contemplative stare. “I’ll look into her financials as soon as I can, but I’m still not sure she’d know how to blow up a plane.”

Dax cleared his throat. “Um, that’s not an issue anymore. While Everly was talking to the police, I got a call from Roman. The FAA has reversed its position on the crash. They say the chemicals found at the site were the result of cross contamination and not actually on board the plane. Apparently, there’s a chemical plant in the area that’s being investigated by the EPA for illegal dumping into the area’s waterways.” He swallowed. “They’re ruling the crash pilot error.”

Though he no longer apparently had the threat of a murder charge hanging over his head, a cold chill swept over Gabe’s skin. “Bullshit. Mad couldn’t possibly have erred so badly that his plane crashed.”

Everly looked frozen as well. “Are you sure? There was a storm that night.”

Gabe shook his head. “Mad has flown in the worst of conditions. Not long after we got our pilot’s licenses, he experienced an equipment failure in heavy fog and came out perfectly fine. He wouldn’t have let simple weather derail him. And if he thought the plane was going down, he had the know-how and equipment to parachute out. There was no distress call. No call at all.”

“You’ve also forgotten more about planes than most people ever know, and Mad knew almost as much. This sounds like a pure cover-up to me.” Dax’s face tightened.

“I want to look at the black box data. I can tell you everything Mad did from there, but he was a good pilot. His plane was equipped with cutting-edge safety and navigation features. The thing practically flies itself. I don’t get why else the FAA would suddenly change their findings.”

“Someone has something to hide,” Everly whispered, so white she looked as if she’d seen a ghost. Then again, it had been a long day for her.

Just in case, Gabe sidled closer. “Money. Bad shit like this is usually about money, and I’m the only person who benefitted from Mad’s death.”

“That we know of.” Everly’s gaze turned thoughtful.

“None of this makes sense.” He shrugged. “Who else would want Mad dead?”

Everly hesitated, obviously reluctant. “Gabriel, you have very powerful friends who could convince the FAA to turn a blind eye.”

He stilled, his feet seemingly planted in the ground as her words sank in. “You think I had Zack strong-arm the FAA?”

“I think if anyone could do it, the president could. Or maybe Roman. I doubt a commander-in-chief does his own dirty work.” She gently bit into her bottom lip as she considered the problem. “You have the support of the White House, and your friend, Connor, is obviously very good at his job, which I suspect has something to do with intelligence. Between the three of them, they could likely cover up anything.”

He stilled and stared at her. Everly thought he’d killed Mad?

“Gabe would never do that.” Dax’s voice sounded like a hard warning.

Everly couldn’t possibly want him if she thought he was a killer. She couldn’t ever trust him if she thought he could do something so
heinous to a man who had been like a brother to him, the man who’d been
her
brother.

Everly raised her gaze to meet Dax’s. “Of course he couldn’t. Don’t be ridiculous. But he’s the chief suspect. Everything leads right back to Gabriel. Would your friends cover that up for you? Would they try to protect you?”

Relief swamped him, and he no longer cared that they were standing in a parking garage with three of New York’s finest, two security guards, an EMT, and a crime scene photographer. He closed the distance between them and sank his fingers into her hair, drawing her face up.

“What are you—”

He didn’t let her finish the question. He covered her mouth with his. He needed to be close to her, needed the feel of her body against his. He took her mouth in a long, slow brush. The moment she relaxed against him, he invaded. He caressed her tongue with his own in a sensual slide. He found comfort in the way she curled into his body, the grip of her hands at his waist as she melted into him. At least she was honest with him when he kissed her. Her trust issues and his stupid mouth didn’t rule them here.

Being this near her was arousing him, and it had more to do with the chance to brand himself on her than simple sexual desire. His need for Everly was so much more complex. All-consuming.

But he couldn’t satisfy his craving for her here. He couldn’t claim her in the way he needed if he wanted any chance to keep her. With a growl of frustration, he pulled back, allowing himself one more brush of his lips against hers before setting his forehead against her own and letting himself breathe her in for a moment.

“You thought I was accusing you of something?” Everly asked, her hands still on his waist.

“I’m so grateful that one of us in this relationship is very smart.” He needed to grovel. He would get down on his knees and beg if he
had to—whatever it took to earn her forgiveness and convince her that he cared deeply.

She chuckled. “I know you wouldn’t have hurt Maddox. Well, I think you might have kicked his ass, but you wouldn’t have killed your friend. You wouldn’t kill anyone.”

She was wrong about that. An hour ago, he’d wanted to wrap his hands around Valerie’s throat, not stopping until she could never threaten Everly again. When he thought about the people who had nearly murdered her over the past few days, Gabe felt savage and perfectly capable of killing. “I definitely didn’t end Mad and I’ll find out if Zack and Roman are worried that someone’s trying to set me up.”

He kissed her one last time, then stepped back and sent a questioning glance Dax’s way.

Dax shook his head. “I don’t know a damn thing about it. And you can leave Connor out, too. He would have simply confronted you. I’m not saying Connor wouldn’t cover it up, but he would find out the truth first, and that would include putting you through a very uncomfortable interview.”

Everly looked up at him. “You’re not going to let this rest, are you?”

“Not as long as I have breath in my body. Mad’s death wasn’t an accident.” He knew that. Maybe his conviction made him sound naive or mental, but Gabe refused to back down when he could help the people he loved. Just because Mad was gone didn’t make their bond less real. “I owe it to him.”

Dax nodded. “We all do.”

Everly looked his way with a resolution he’d never seen on her face. “He’s wrong about you. The man I met earlier, I mean.” Her jaw firmed, and she slipped her hand in his. “Since before the funeral, I’ve been getting messages from an individual who claims to know what happened to Maddox. So I met him earlier this afternoon.”

He let that wash over him. She’d been hiding information from him. He’d been honest with her and she’d been hiding. “Damn it, Everly. That was dangerous.”

He was going to let it go because he couldn’t afford to get his back up. That wall of hers now had a chink in it and he wasn’t going to give her any reason to fix the sucker. She was being honest now and that was all that mattered.

She shrugged. “Calculated risk. I had a gun. I’d like to look through the security footage, but I doubt we’ll get a great shot of this guy. He wore a hat and kept his head down. If we did capture an image of his face, I know some facial recognition software that might help us ID him. I’ll have to hack the FBI . . . unless one of your friends wants to help.”

Thank god. She’d found one thing about his lifestyle that might be beneficial. He had friends who could help her hack major government websites. Yeah, his life might have been easier with a girl who only wanted a Tiffany bracelet. Not his nerd goddess.

“I swear I’ll talk to Roman and get you whatever you need. Now tell us everything you can.” Gabe vowed to protect her. He didn’t want some crazy bastard texting her, convincing her to meet him. It was too dangerous. Even the thought of it made him insane.

“Not here,” she murmured. “I don’t have enough proof to bring the police into this. And I’m worried whatever we tell them will be leaked to the press. I think we should conduct our own investigation until we have a firm grasp of who’s hiding what and possess solid evidence.”

She was right; this wasn’t the place to talk about it. “Dax, can you bring the limo around? We should get out of here.”

Everly shook her head. “I need to go upstairs and get my laptop.”

“No. Valerie isn’t coming back. We’ll have security lock your office. It will be safe.” He refused to let her argue that point. After she’d nearly been killed again, no way was she walking back upstairs and calmly strolling into her office. Time to talk about her taking a short leave of absence while they figured out who was pulling what lethal strings.

Her shoulders lifted and fell with the force of her sigh. “I really need that laptop and some other items from my office.”

Gabe crossed his arms over his chest. “No.”

Everly shook her head. “Fine. At least it’s in my safe, so I know no one will make off with it. And we need to talk about where I’m sleeping tonight because I think it’s time we took a step back.”

He moved closer so she would hear his whisper. “That’s not what it felt like when I kissed you a few minutes ago. In fact, space felt like the last thing you needed.”

“Just because I respond to you sexually doesn’t make us a good match out of bed, Gabriel. There are still a lot of issues between us that can’t be solved with sex. I’m going to finish up with the police.” She walked over to the lieutenant, her heels sounding against the concrete.

Grimacing, Gabe watched the sway of her hips. She turned, and he could see she was tired, too. Of fighting him? Of being forced to bend to his wishes when that so obviously wasn’t her nature? If they’d had a proper dating relationship, he would have indulged her every whim. He could have proven how patient he could be with her, but it seemed as if he’d spent half his time knotting her up in a state of stress and anxiety, trying to protect her and fighting the urge to rail when she resisted.

The other half of their time together, when they were alone, he’d found both an ease and a craving he’d never known possible, one that had been missing from all his other relationships.

If he pushed Everly too hard, he would lose her.

“I’ll go get the car, but I’m not taking us directly to Connor’s,” Dax said. “You need some alone time with that woman. She’s not happy with you, brother. You need to grovel. And by grovel, I mean you need to spend some serious time making her scream. I’ve found women are way happier after I’ve given them a couple of orgasms.”

Gabe wasn’t sure he should listen to Dax’s relationship advice. “So says the man whose wife left him.”

“Yeah, well, I was on a ship for a year, so I couldn’t give her any orgasms. Not surprising she dumped my ass.” Dax slapped him on the
back. “Trust me, I know what I’m talking about. You need to settle things with that woman, Gabe. She’s good for you.”

He nodded. She was the one. In a million years, he’d never imagined he would find her, much less in the midst of death, chaos, and danger. Gabe wondered, however, if he was good for her. Even if he wasn’t . . . he didn’t think he could let her go.

E
verly stood in the lobby of the Crawford building and waited for Gabe to join her while Dax brought around the limo. She thought seriously about marching out of the building and getting on the subway. She could be home in no time. She’d lock every door and let her phone ring so she wouldn’t have to deal with Gabriel Bond at all. She could hole up, turn on a Doctor Who marathon, and veg with her computer. She could gather everything she knew about Valerie and try to connect her to those two thugs. She could try to find her informant’s identity because, despite his warning, of course she was going to do that.

Then she wouldn’t have to think about Gabriel or worry about melting for him. She could hide away and try to get back to the woman she’d been before she met him.

Except he would have his superscary, probably worked-for-the-CIA spook friend break in. Then she would really be in for a lecture.

No. She wasn’t going to run from him. Maybe she should. But she refused to dash away like a timid rabbit. Instead, she’d talk to him
until he understood that she needed time to process everything that had happened.

The problem was, she didn’t actually want time away from Gabriel. No, she wanted to be with him—in every sense of the word—especially after yet another brush with death.

“Oh, hell. Your dress! It’s ruined. Are you all right?” Scott dashed out of the elevator and over to her side, his expression concerned.

She wondered what he’d heard about the incident with Valerie. “A few bumps and scrapes, but otherwise, I’m fine.”

“Thank goodness. The rumor is that Val tried to kill you.” His voice shook slightly.

Oh, the gossip mill at Crawford really annoyed her. She wished it hadn’t chosen now to be so accurate. “Valerie had the wrong idea about my relationship with Maddox.” Everly shrugged. “But I survived.”

“It’s my fault.” Scott’s shoulders slumped. “I knew she didn’t like you. I should have said something.”

“Everyone knew she didn’t like me, Scott.”

His stare bounced up to hers, and she couldn’t miss the guilt there. “I knew
why
she hated you.”

That confused Everly a bit. “You knew she’d had a fling with my brother?”

“It’s still so weird to think of you as Crawford’s sister, but yes. At one point, Val was what a lot of straight dudes would call his
convenient pussy
.”

She winced. “Okay, you don’t have to be so graphic.”

“Sorry. Early this year, Crawford hooked up with Val every now and then. She often waited around the office to see if he wanted her. He wasn’t serious about her. Once, I was out with Tavia and Val at happy hour, and Crawford called her.”

“Like . . . a booty call?”

Scott nodded. “Just like that. He said that he was drunk and to
meet him at some hotel if she wanted to fuck. Apparently, she didn’t care how desperate accepting made her look. She jumped up and left the bar. Tavia said that whenever Crawford beckoned, Val ran.”

“So when he started spending a lot of his evenings at my place more recently, she assumed I was her competition.”

“Oh, you weren’t even in the same league. He cared about you. He barely spoke to her during the day. But she’d deluded herself. Tavia said she’d go to lunch and tell her friends that Crawford was going to marry her. She talked about what a whore you were for trying to steal him.”

Well, the day wasn’t complete if someone didn’t accuse her of prostitution. “I hope she gets some help in jail.” And a nice long sentence. “It’s not your fault. I probably wouldn’t have told you if someone was being horrible behind your back and there was nothing you could do about it. Val and I weren’t friends. I knew she didn’t like me.”

“I never imagined she would go so completely crazy on you.”

“Well, she did. I’m trying to look on the bright side. At least now it will be much easier to go through her records and figure out where she hid the money she embezzled. You did a turn in accounting, right?”

He stood up a little straighter. “Sure.”

“You any good at it?”

Scott grinned. “I find accounting easy.”

Relief wound through her. Finally, she might get some concrete answers about why Maddox had been killed. “Could you look into the accounting on the foundation gala for the last few years? I would really love to get a big picture of exactly what Val did. If you could find out how and where she funneled the money, that would be insanely helpful.”

“Sure. I can certainly take a look. Most likely she worked with caterers to overcharge and then split the extra money with them, but I’ll tell you if I see anything else.”

“Thanks. I would love your thoughts. I have to know what
happened. This might be the reason my brother was killed.” But the idea that emotionally unstable Valerie could manage to kill Maddox by tampering with his aircraft kept bugging her. It didn’t compute. If Valerie had wanted to kill Maddox, it seemed far more likely she would have chased him with a knife or tried to run him over, not put a bomb on his plane. And why would anyone cover up the crime for her?

Unfortunately, Everly didn’t have another suspect. Her mysterious contact hadn’t given her much to work with. Oh, she’d find the information he’d mentioned and look up Lara Armstrong, see if she dug up any more clues or proof, but she couldn’t fathom that it would lead to anything more than a dead end.

Scott stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Sure. I’m on it.”

“That’s a relief. Gabriel has a forensic accountant coming in, but I need answers now. Even a quick-and-dirty look would help.”

“A forensic accountant?” Scott’s eyes went a little wide. “Okay. Yeah, I’m not that good, but I’ll have a report ready for you as soon as I can. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

That was one problem taken care of. “Thank you. Call me as soon as you’re done, okay?”

“You got it.” Scott looked to his side and Gabriel was striding toward her. “Looks like your escort is here.”

She gave Scott a quick hug, feeling eyes on her. When she turned back, Gabriel stood, watching. Pure possessiveness blazed across his face before he seemed to force himself to relax. He gave Scott a smile before his hand found hers.

Moments later, he led her through the lobby doors and ushered her toward the limo. Only a few reporters loitered outside. Gabriel had been correct. Between the announcement that she wasn’t Maddox’s mistress and the FAA ruling the crash pilot error, she and Gabriel weren’t much of a story anymore. She breathed a little easier as Dax pulled away from the curb.

Then she noticed someone had raised the partition between them and the driver. It made the big, beautiful stretch limo feel very
intimate. She was alone with Gabriel—and so aware of him watching her intently.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice not quite steady.

He stared at her from across the seat, his brilliant blue eyes threatening to pierce her. A sexy five-o’clock shadow clung to his jawline. “You and I should talk.”

Gabriel was right, but she didn’t want to discuss the subject most likely on his mind. “I don’t know. The man I talked to this afternoon said I shouldn’t trust you because you’ll side with your friends when all of this shakes out.”

He sat up straight, his expression turning serious. “We’re on the same side. So what is that supposed to mean?”

At least he wasn’t looking at her like she was a little bunny he was about to eat in the sweetest of ways. “You tell me.”

“Baby, I don’t even know what this asshole told you. Apparently nothing good about me. How does he know anything at all? How do we know he’s not some reporter?”

She’d asked the same questions herself. “He asked if we’d found the pictures of the girls inside the lockbox in the hidden room.”

That shook him. “How did he even know we found a hidden room or the lockbox, much less what was inside?”

“I have no idea.”

He blew out a breath. “Mad had cameras installed throughout the house. For . . . security.” Something about the way he said
security
gave her pause. “I assumed they were destroyed in the fire, but maybe not.”

“Security, huh? More likely Maddox had cameras around the house so he could make sex tapes.” She knew her brother. He’d been a great friend to her and a complete pervert to all other females.

Gabriel’s lips curled up slightly. “Fine. He might not have always used them for security. But I can’t think of any other way this guy knows about that room or the lockbox. But how could he have been in the house with us?”

This was her area of expertise. Back in college, she’d managed to
catch the school streaker by hacking the security cams of her dorm. She hadn’t turned him in or anything. She’d just wanted to prove she could do it. The dude had been surprisingly well hung, and after a while, everyone looked forward to his monthly runs.

“He didn’t have to be in the house with us. If he remotely stole the feed, he could have watched us. He could have been watching us the whole time.”

His furious expression told her he didn’t like that thought. Truth told, Everly didn’t like it, either.

“But that doesn’t explain how he knew about the pictures inside the lockbox,” she pointed out. “We didn’t open the box at Maddox’s place.”

He leaned over and checked the small control panel on his side of the limo, ensuring Dax couldn’t hear him. “The only other way your guy could know is if he’s talking to Dax, Connor, or Roman. But I don’t believe any of them would betray us.”

She didn’t, either, but was surprised he’d considered his friends as suspects for even a moment.

“Unless my informant has been watching Maddox’s ‘security’ feed for days or weeks and saw him load the box.”

“And why would he do that unless this guy’s interest in Mad preceded his death?” Gabriel cocked his head, leveling her with a stare rife with suspicion. “Unless your informant was involved.”

Everly saw his point, that maybe her mystery informant hadn’t just been a spectator in Maddox’s murder, but she saw another possible angle. “Maddox was a subject of interest in life, too. Maybe this guy had been monitoring him for potential tabloid/sex tape fodder and simply kept watching the feed to see what happened in his murder investigation.”

Gabe froze, then blew out a breath. “Any idea who this guy is?”

“No, but he knows plenty. He claims he sent me some information that might help me understand Mad’s murder. So far, all I’ve received from him is one e-mail and a couple of cryptic texts. He claims he sent me some information. He called it data, but I haven’t gotten anything
like that. I did have someone send me a camera, but it’s got pictures on it, not data. I downloaded some of the pictures off it before my laptop crapped out on me. If you had let me go get the damn thing, I could load the pics on Connor’s computer.”

Gabriel sighed. “I’m sorry. I was trying to protect you. I promise we’ll get them first thing in the morning. Valerie won’t break into your office from jail. Now explain this to me.”

Valerie being in custody was the only reason she hadn’t stormed back up and gathered her evidence. “It looks like someone was watching me and Maddox before his death and sent me a camera with a memory card inside. That memory card contained photos.” She held a hand up because Gabe looked ready to blow. “I’ll remote access my system tonight and let you view the pictures I was able to download. I promise. Tomorrow we can look at the rest. Take a deep breath.”

Gabriel squared his shoulders, and they seemed to grow broader. She was starting to pick up on all the signs that he was angry or concerned. “He took pictures of you before Mad died?”

Yep, he was going to flip out. “I think he knows a lot about me. Really, about everything. He said there’s more to Maddox’s death than we’re seeing. Far more. I got the idea that he meant that whatever’s happening went beyond a murder. He mentioned the name Sergei. We’re supposed to find someone with that name.”

He ground his teeth together. “The day he died, Mad asked me about a Sergei, but I don’t know one. Did your mystery informant say how we’re supposed to find him?”

“Not we. Me. I’m supposed to find Sergei alone. The informant said I couldn’t trust you.” But she felt as if she could. Or was that simply because she really wanted to believe her heart wouldn’t lead her so astray?

“I swear to god when we figure everything out, I’m going to beat the shit out of this Sergei guy—and your cloak-and-dagger informant.”

That probably wasn’t such a great idea. “I suspect we’re looking for a man with ties to the Russian mafia. I wonder if he has anything to
do with that other woman Maddox was trying to find. Natalia, wasn’t it?” The connection had been playing around in her head all morning. “I want to hire an investigator to find her.”

“The last one died under questionable circumstances, Everly.” Gabriel turned stern. “You’re out of this. Now that Valerie’s been caught, your part in all of this is over.”

“No.” She shook her head emphatically. “I’m the one this mystery man is willing to talk to. He suggested I make contact with Lara Armstrong, whoever that is. I’m going to do that and start feeling out what she knows.”

He’d gone a nice shade of pale. “Absolutely not. She’s the one running Capitol Scandals. Connor will handle her.”