Sins That Haunt (22 page)

“Wow, won't Christian be pissed that the two of you think alike?”

“He's already thought of this?” Screw Christian; she was pissed.

Noah palmed the envelope and pulled it over.

“What's that?”

“Names, addresses, obituaries of everyone you kept a record of. Monty already did his magic.” He slung his hip onto the desk.

“Oh, that was easy.”

“Out of the victims, twenty-five percent are dead.
Most
natural causes,” he quickly added with a hand on her shoulder. He knew her well enough to know she'd be worrying someone else had taken their own life. “Two died in car crashes, one in a plane, the rest old age. Considering JJ liked to target seniors, that high percentage was expected. Out of the remaining, ten percent are in homes for the elderly. There are a few under sixty-five, either working or retired. Monty is still collecting the details, but soon we'll have a better idea if one of them would be out for JJ's blood.”

“But then why come after my file?” He looked so hot sitting on Maggie's desk, she wanted to slip between his legs and nuzzle his neck. She didn't of course, but oh, she wanted to.

“I thought about that. We didn't recover a file from JJ's belongings. So unless he hid it somewhere or in the house in Tweedsmuir, whoever killed him might have taken it. While not likely, it's possible they knew about you having the original. If it was a victim of his scams, they could have spotted their name in the file and are looking to erase it, to remove themselves from a suspects list. Like I said, it's not the scenario I'm going for, but we can't rule it out.”

“All right. What else?” she asked, swiveling her chair from side to side, anything to keep her hands off him.

“From the twenty-six names you had on JJ's partners in crime, six are in jail, two dead, one disappeared ten years ago and was never heard from again. Killed, new identity, who knows, but if he fell off the radar, it's doubtful JJ was able to find him. We're still trying to find the rest, but we got lucky. Four are still in the Boston area. And those are the ones Boston PD is going for first.”

“They know?” And had they agreed to keep her out of it?

“I'm sharing what we find, under the condition you are in no way associated with it.”

At that, she relaxed a little and leaned back into the leather chair. “So what do we do now?”

“
We
do nothing. I sent a team over to JJ's house. They're going to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. Your father knew it was bugged and that he was being watched. When you met with him, the day he was killed, you gave him the file?”

“Yes. He didn't believe me so we set up a meeting.” God forbid he trust her.

“Why didn't you FedEx it to him?”

“He insisted on a face-to-face.” The asshole. “He made it sound like he was being sentimental. He
wanted
to see me.” She'd wanted to puke. “I wasn't buying it. I'd heard him use that kind of bull before and it was right before he made me pull a con.”

“Okay, so backtrack. You told him about the file prior to seeing him?”

“I even faxed him a page to show him I meant business.” She hadn't wanted to, but neither had she wanted to see him.

“Which one, do you remember?”

“No, but my machine is programmed to send reports to my computer. I can check. It transmits copies.”

“Your office computer?”

“You want to go there now?”

He glanced at his watch. “How about this afternoon? Damon and I have a meeting. I can't be late for it.”

“Santos?” It gave her the creeps just thinking about him.

“No; he hooked us up with a banker.”

“What do you need a banker for?”

“We don't.”

“Ah, I see. He's a crook too.”

“Maybe.”

“Well, good luck. I'll go to my office by myself.” Whoever had been behind the accident had wanted the file. They now had the file.

“I would tell you no, but you'd get your back up and go to spite me. So instead I'll ask you to please not go alone. If you must go, ask Christian to tag along.”

“Wow, aren't you being reasonable?” she said, not expecting him to be so agreeable.

“No, not reasonable; logical. You'll do what you want no matter what. I'm asking that you remember someone deliberately crashed into you.”

“Because they wanted the file. They have the file so there'd be no point in coming after me.”

“Maybe, but why chance it?”

“You present a good argument.” And he did. “Okay, I'll ask that guy sitting outside of Maggie's house pretending he belongs there to come with me, but then I'm sending him home. Happy?”

“Blissfully. Can all our arguments be this civilized?”

With her on one side of the country and him on the other, she didn't see how they wouldn't be—after their next and last argument. He might be willing to take the hit to his heart. She wasn't. According to Damon, Noah had pined for her their first year of school, if not longer. And she didn't want to be responsible for that—again.

She feigned laughter. “Silly boy, that was no argument but simple negotiations. Believe me, you won't win a fight with me that easily.” No one did. She was a good lawyer. Telling Noah that starting something was a bad idea wouldn't be good enough. She'd have to prove it to him. Question was, how?

* * *

“Why are we going to Caesar's?” Noah asked Damon.

“Not my choice. Hyatt's. He's been dropping a bundle at the tables, courtesy of his friend and now ours.” Damon gave his keys to the valet, then together they walked inside.

“Santos is paying his gambling debts? Why do I think there's more to their
friendship
?” he said sarcastically.

“That's not all.”

“Why, what did you find out?”

“Hyatt racked up a large voucher four months ago. And I mean large. Someone paid it.”

“How much?”

“Fifty thousand.”

So Mr. Hyatt had gambling issues. They walked through the lobby and into the casino, loud with tourists and clanging slot machines. “Was that someone Santos?” Noah said, already knowing the answer.

“Yup.”

The crowd was rowdier in the bowels of the casino so they waited until they came out the other end and into the Forum, a covered mall, where Noah continued. “Maybe that's how they met. At a table, months ago.”

Damon switched the briefcase he carried to his left hand as he held the door open for two women entering the casino. Typical Damon; he was completely oblivious to their flirtatious smiles. How was it he could ignore women flirting with him and yet he'd done it so flawlessly with Shannon?

“You think we can get casino footage?”

“We'll have to pinpoint exactly when Santos was in town.”

“We can check the airlines,” Damon said.

“Then yeah, I'll get one of the guys on it.”

“Good. Hey, I forgot. How's Shannon?”

“She's fine.” He'd replied a little too quickly, and yes, it would come back and smack him. One, two . . .

“You slept with her, didn't you?” Damon asked, stopping in front of the Fendi window.

“Why would you say that?”

“Your nonchalance. Dead giveaway.”

Somehow Damon always knew when he was bullshitting. “That's stupid.”

“I know, right?” He slapped Noah across his back. “But's that you, buddy. So are you a couple now?”

“None of your business.” Noah started walking.

“So not a couple. That's interesting. Did she turn down your offer to go steady? Or are you too chicken shit to give her the school ring?”

“School ring? Were you up late watching TV Land again?”

“Hey, I didn't get to watch television when I was a kid, remember?”

Yeah, he remembered. Damon's parents had this thing about no television, no candy, nothing processed, and organic this, organic that. Which was fine, but a kid had to have his TV or at the very least an Xbox, something they also banned because of the violence. And yet Damon became a law officer and carried a gun. In fact, he was one of the best marksmen in their class. Something that hadn't made his parents proud. “Okay, Richie, let's focus on the case. Where are we meeting anyway?”

“Carmine's; it's just around the corner.”

“Do we have to pay for this?” Carmine's wasn't cheap.

“Since we're the ones asking for a loan, I'd say so.”

“Great, you can tell Marsh.”

“Why do I have to tell him?” Damon complained as they entered the Italian restaurant.

“Because after he saw the bill from the Capital Grill, I had the pleasure of listening to him rant about budget cuts and spending. I put him on speaker to shower and when I came back he was still bitching me out.” He smiled at the hostess and gave her their fake names.

Unlike their last dinner meeting on the country's tab, Mr. Hyatt was ready and waiting for them. They introduced themselves, shaking hands, and while Damon went on about the fantastic menu and the rich food, Noah assessed their next target. By the gray hair, the wrinkles on his forehead, and the laugh lines when he smiled, he'd put him at around fifty. The abundant waistline said he had a sedentary lifestyle. A desk job and sitting at a craps table tended to do that. He liked his jewelry. One wedding band, two diamond pinky rings. His navy suit was expensive but not over the top. He was dressed to impress but not attract attention.

“I understand you're friends with Miguel Santos.”

“Yes,” Noah said. “Have you known him long?”

“No actually; we met about four months ago.”

The man's left eye twitched. He was lying.

“At one of the casinos?” Damon asked.

“No, through a mutual acquaintance. But he's become one of the bank's best clients so we like to make him happy. You were thinking of expanding your business. Luxury cars, I believe.”

“We also provide used cars,” Noah said. “We have two dealerships already. One here and one in Los Angeles. Both have a used car division.”

The waiter came by, but Noah and Damon stuck to soda water while Hyatt ordered a ten-year aged Scotch.

“I hope you had a chance to read over our financials. If not, I brought a hard copy.” Damon reached for the briefcase he'd set on the spare chair.

“Why don't we talk business after lunch? I hear the veal saltimbocca is fantastic.”

And expensive. Noah smiled.

“Too heavy a lunch for me. I'll just have a salad,” Damon explained, giving Noah a subtle but definite stink eye.

Noah was tempted to order the veal just to piss him off, but he'd eaten a steak for breakfast and wasn't that hungry to begin with.

After lunch Hyatt kept everything business-like. “I did read over your records and they are impressive. A loan won't be a problem. In fact, I brought the papers with me.” He reached down to the suitcase they hadn't seen and he pulled out loan documents.

A loan should have been a problem. On paper they were in debt up to their eyeballs. Noah took the application while Damon waited for the server to clear their dishes before placing his briefcase on the white linen–covered table.

The tall backs of the booth afforded privacy so there was no fear of prying eyes. Damon opened the case, making sure, however, that Hyatt could see, and pulled out a pen before closing it again.

“Wow,” Noah said, “this is service.”

“We aim to please. If you'll just sign where it's marked, I'll forward you a copy once I have it filed. Is there
anything
else I can do for you?”

“Now that you mention it,” Damon said. “We do have a deposit we need to make.”

It wouldn't fall to the chief financial officer to open new accounts. But if he were working for Santos, he would understand what they meant by
deposit
.

“It's not my usual department, but while I'm here,” he shrugged, “I'll see to it that it gets deposited. I assume you want it separate from your loan account?”

“Very separate.” Noah made certain to give him a pointed look. They'd played enough word games. “Mr. Santos was generous with his finder's fee for the new car.”

Damon slid the case over to Hyatt, who took it with a smile. “I understand.”

T
he trip to and from Shannon's office went off without a hitch. She sent a copy of the report log to her private email and made it back to Maggie's without incident. Not that she'd expected anything to happen. Whoever wanted the file had it. Noah hadn't returned so she was spending time on the computer going over those names when Maggie and Christian walked into the den.

“What's up?” At their somber expression, she went on high alert. “What's wrong?” Was Noah hurt? Where? How? She stood and came around the desk. “Is it Noah?”

“No. I got a call from Monty,” Christian said.

“And?”

“He found the school where she was enrolled,” Maggie added. “Actually both: the one she was in and the one JJ moved her to.”

She managed to calm her heart down, but the rest of her stayed on edge. “Okay. As long as she's safe and happy . . .” Christian's expression didn't read happy. “You're starting to freak me out.”

“Sorry; I don't mean to. Your sister isn't at the school. Either of the ones JJ enrolled her in.”

“Then where is she?”

“Nobody knows. They saw her at breakfast and didn't realize until dinner that she was gone.”

“Gone? When? And what kind of a school doesn't realize they have a missing student?” Where the hell had JJ put her?

“Let's sit down and we'll explain.” Maggie took her hand and sat with her on the leather sofa. “It's an excellent school, but she'd been forced to leave her friends behind and she was miserable. JJ didn't spend much time with her, only on the holidays. Summer camp the rest of the time. So they were her family. Apparently, she'd called her father and asked him to return her to her old school, but of course he refused. That was at breakfast. She'd been so upset the school excused her from classes. They weren't having much luck acclimating her to her new environment. They checked on her at lunch and she appeared to be sleeping in her bed, so they left her alone. By the time they discovered it wasn't her under those blankets, it was dinner.”

“She'd made up the bed to look like she was sleeping in it? Did she run away?”

“There was no sign of a struggle,” Christian said, having taken a seat on Maggie's desk. “Some of her clothes were missing, but the latch on her bedroom window was broken.”

“She went out the window?” How unhappy was she?

“There are security cameras in the halls so if someone took her, they used the window.” Noah walked in.

She glued her butt to the couch when everything inside made her want to run into his arms. “How do we know she didn't just run away?”

“It's not likely,” Maggie said. “She's seven.”

Seven
? She was just a baby.

“And a larger kid might have made the small drop to the ground, but not a seven-year-old. She had help.”

And by help Christian didn't mean the good kind. “Someone abducted her?”

Noah took a seat on the other side of Shannon. “The day JJ was shot.”

That was too much of a coincidence and a very long time for a child to go missing. “What about her mother? Maybe she snatched her.”

“JJ told the school Cecilia's mother was dead,” Noah said.

“Well, that would explain why any woman would give JJ custody of her kid.” At least he hadn't been evil enough to keep the poor little girl with him.

“The local police were looking into it before the FBI got involved. They came up empty. It's like JJ wiped her clean out of existence.”

“Could he do that? There must be a record of her somewhere. Cecilia's birth certificate?” But Shannon knew JJ had connections and none of them good.

“That's just it,” Christian said. “The one he gave the schools is a forgery. The woman listed has been dead for forty years.”

“Why would he go to so much trouble? Who the hell was the mother?”

“I'm having all the school records pulled and delivered here. You'll have them in a few days.”

“Thanks, Noah.” She really wanted to wrap herself in his arms. But she didn't do that kind of stuff. She didn't need a man to kiss her and make it better, especially this man, because in the end it wasn't good for either of them.

“There's an AMBER Alert, but so far nothing. Christian asked Monty to try to find out what he could about her mother. And I've already called Nick,” Maggie said.

They'd hired Nick earlier in the year to find a girl snatched by her miserable father. Nick had found and returned her to the States. They'd discovered later that Nick worked with Christian.

As much as Shannon didn't want to ask, didn't want to consider it, she needed to know if Noah or Christian were thinking the same thing. “Do you think it's possible that whoever shot JJ has her . . . or had her?” God forbid something bad had happened to the little girl. Maggie scooted closer and put her arm around Shannon's shoulder, anticipating she'd need a hug. Shannon wanted to throw up. But she didn't want anyone to sugarcoat the brutal truth. It wouldn't help her . . . or her kid sister. “Tell me honestly.”

“Let's go over what we know,” Noah said. “You faxed JJ part of your file. Which list did you show as proof?”

“Looks like I sent him two pages. Page one of the victims and page one of his partners in crime.”

“Okay, my gut tells me this isn't about revenge. So for now let's leave that. Before you and he met, he would've had enough time to contact anyone on that list. If he was trying to extort money from them, it would have to be someone who has a lot to lose by his exposing them. We'd already busted JJ. So you giving the file to the police would have meant little to him. We were on to him. He let you think it did for another reason.”

“What reason?” And why had he agreed to back off?

“I don't know. This is just a theory. It's just as possible that he wasn't blackmailing anyone, but either way someone knew and wanted your file. That much we're certain of. But I'm not sure the two are related. He moved your sister long before you showed him the file. Everything points to his hiding her. But from whom?”

“So you think he started blackmailing me to pay for her new school?” Was JJ not a complete and total shit?

“Well, that's another big coincidence, don't you think? We busted him, so he didn't have the cash to move her. He went to you.”

“He could have just asked.” It would have made her life a whole lot simpler.

“Would you have given it to him?” Noah asked doubtfully.

“Probably not, at least not right away. I mean, if he'd given me proof that there was a kid, I might have. The idiot and his trust issues. Maybe he didn't mean to do it, but he's gone and screwed up another kid's life. If this kid is still alive.”

“Let's not think like that,” Maggie said. “We don't have much to go on. We don't even know why someone would take her.”

“In cases like this,” Noah said, “it's usually a family member.”

“Yes, that's common knowledge, but he was shot. Killed on the same day she went missing.”

“Maggie, may I?” he said, wanting her to move aside so he could hold Shannon.

Her friend obliged him and joined her husband. Shannon was undeniably grateful. His scent, his strong arms, they were reassuring—and she was a sap. He held her to him. Her ear against his chest, she let the sound of his heartbeat soothe her.

“Look, if her family killed JJ and took her, she's likely safe. That's a positive,” Noah said.

“So why did JJ not want anyone to know where she was? He was a sack of shit, but he must've had a good reason for keeping her out of everyone's reach. Don't you think?”

“We could debate this all night. Truth is, we don't know. Why would someone want to hurt Cecilia?”

“JJ had enemies too. He knew how to push people's buttons. Maybe they wanted to use her as collateral for something. Could Santos have her?” She tipped her chin, wanting to see confirmation that her theory was wrong. Santos was not a nice man.

“I don't think so.”

“I have to agree with Noah,” Christian said. “If he needed JJ to do something JJ didn't want, all he had to do was threaten his ass. Santos isn't someone you fuck with. Nick's good at what he does. If there's a trail, he'll find it. No offense,” he said to Noah.

“None taken. The more eyes, the better. Screw my boss.” Noah smiled down at her. “We'll find her. Promise.”

“You're not so good at finding people,” she said.

“I'm not seventeen anymore. And I found you six years ago.”

Shannon withdrew herself from his embrace. “What?”

“Come on, Christian; that's our cue to leave.” Maggie tugged on Christian shirt.

“But someone is going to get his ass handed to him by one of you girls and for once it's not me.”

“And if you want it to stay that way, we're going to leave them to have at it.”

Shannon kept her eyes trained on Noah, but from the corner of her eye she saw the newlyweds leave.

“Before you
hand me my ass
, you should know I regret not contacting you.”

“And . . . ?”

“I'm sorry I didn't.”

“You found me when?” She silently did the math. “I was in law school.”

“I'd just joined the FBI, had access to information I wouldn't otherwise have. It took me a couple of years after school to figure out what I wanted to do.”

“And . . . ?” she repeated, her patience wearing thin.

“You want to know why I didn't contact you?”

“That would be the million-dollar question.” Why go through all the trouble of trying to find her and not make contact?

“You knew where I was. Why didn't
you
contact me?”

Was he serious? “You're starting to annoy me.”

“Just starting?”

“Noah . . .” She gave him her best don't-screw-with-me glare.

“What do you want me to say? You left me. You broke my heart.”

“In your own words, you weren't seventeen anymore. Did you stumble on my name by accident and wonder, gee whatever happened to her?”

“No.”

“Did my name come up in an investigation and it rang bells in your head?”

He shook his head, looking rightfully nervous.

“So you went looking for me and yet, when you found me, said nothing. Well? Are you going to make me drag it out of you, because if that's the case, Maggie has a hitch on the back of her SUV.”

“I just wanted to see if you were all right. Happy.”

She'd have liked to know if
he
was all right, if
he
was happy. It would've gone a long way in easing her conscience. But her bullshit detector smelled a stinker. “No, you wanted to see if I was miserable without you. Must have been a real disappointment to see I wasn't.” If she weren't so sore, she'd haul off and punch him. As it was, she wasn't about to inflict pain on herself just for the satisfaction.

“It wasn't like that.”

“No?” She stood, ready to leave. “So tell me, what was it like?”

He stood too. “Okay, it was a little like that, but not how you're thinking.”

The big doofus; all the turmoil of last week could have been avoided if he'd had the balls to call six years ago. And he didn't because she wasn't wallowing in her tears for him? “I'm done.” She left and headed straight for Maggie's bedroom, Noah on her heels. She might not have been wallowing in misery, but she'd missed him. There hadn't been a guy she'd dated that she hadn't compared to Noah.

“Hear me out” were the last words she heard as she locked Maggie's bedroom door.

Noah's fist began to throb. He must've banged for five minutes before he drew Maggie and Christian's attention.

“What are you doing?” Maggie asked.

“Shannon locked herself in your room. She won't let me explain.”

“You can stop banging,” Christian said. “She's not in there.”

“I followed her. She shut the door on my face,” he argued.

“I'm not doubting you, but our bedroom opens up onto the patio. Guaranteed she's in the pool house by now.”

“Thanks,” Noah said, giving the man's shoulder a squeeze. “I owe you.”

Maggie folded her arms and blocked his path. “You'd better have a good reason for not calling six years ago. Who knows what could have happened had you reconnected then.”

He wasn't certain how good his reasoning was, not anymore. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right.”

She nodded once and grudgingly let him pass. “Don't you hurt her, Noah.”

Not if his life depended on it. Not intentionally anyway.

He ran through the house, into the living room, and out the patio doors. Sure enough, inside the pool house, Shannon sat on the couch, a glass of white wine in her hands.

“Took you long enough.”

She didn't appear mad. Was this a trick?

“Want some wine?” She indicated the bottle and empty glass on the coffee table.

“Did you poison it?”

“Not my style. When I kill someone I want him to see me coming.” She sipped her wine.

He humored her, poured himself a glass and sat on the table across from her. “I want to explain.”

“I'm sure you had your reasons,” she said, suddenly interested in the contents of her glass.

Why was she being so reasonable? “I did, but they may not have been the most mature.”