The Heart of A Killer (16 page)

Eleven

A
nna stared up at Dante in dumbfounded shock.

“What the hell are you talking about?” She pulled away.

“Let me start at the beginning. I told you I joined the army when I left. But I need to explain why I left.”

She folded her arms. “That would be a good place to start.”

“Twelve years ago when I walked out on you, it was because I figured I needed to get out of town fast. I wanted to separate us, Anna.”

“Why?”

“I was afraid of the fallout from the murder, of anything tying you to me. I figured distance would help.”

“That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Now, maybe. Back then it made a whole lot of sense to me. Anyway, during my time away, let’s say I learned how to handle myself. And I can watch over you.”

“That’s what you mean when you said you killed a lot of people. You were black ops.”

He didn’t answer, but his eyes gave him away.

She backed away, irritation grating on every nerve ending. More lies. More cover-ups. More about him she didn’t know. What else was there? “I don’t need you to watch over me. I’m a trained detective. What’s it going to take for you to realize I can take care of myself?”

“A little backup couldn’t hurt. Not with some insane killer out there. Look at what happened to George, one of the smartest men I ever knew. He would have never let himself get blindsided like that. And Jeff wasn’t exactly a moron. He knew to watch his back. We came from the streets. It was tough out there. Instincts like that are never lost. We had just told him last night to watch out for himself and now he’s dead. So whoever’s doing the killing was smart enough to get the drop on him. They could do the same to you, so no matter how tough and capable you think you are, you can still be hurt.”

Anna flinched. Dante knew he’d insulted her, but he needed her to see reason. This wasn’t a game, and it wasn’t a back-and-forth about which of them was better prepared to take care of themselves. It was life and death and they had to start watching out for each other.

“I’m moving into your place.”

She looked horrified. “What? No.”

“Until this guy is caught, I’m not taking any chances with your life.”

“And I said no.”

“You want to make sure I stay safe, don’t you?”

“You would if you got the hell out of town.”

“You need me.”

She sighed. “Because you’re some supersecret agent?”

“Not exactly, but that could work to our advantage, and it’s the reason I didn’t just spill to everyone about who I was. It’s not something people are supposed to know.”

“How can you help?”

“I can get information you can’t. I have carte blanche in this country. Hell, anywhere, for that matter.”

“Again, how?”

He hooked his thumbs in his jeans and gave her a smug smile. “Basically, I don’t exist.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’re above the law?”

“Pretty much, yeah. So let me help, Anna. You need all you can get on this, and I’m damn good at taking care of myself.”

“You might be good at what you do, Dante, but just like you said to me, it still doesn’t mean you can’t be killed. Sticking around here thinking you’re immortal cock of the block is the surest way to end up dead.”

“I’m better than most at watching my own back. And people who do what I do know how easy it is to slip up and end up dead, so believe me, I know how to be careful. I haven’t stayed alive this long by being stupid.”

She wanted to believe him. But she wanted him to stay alive, too. And maybe she could use his help down the road, because bureaucratic red tape was the worst, especially once you got into the nitty-gritty of working a case. Brick walls were frustrating. If she hit one and Dante could help her bust through it, then he could be useful.

“Fine. You can stay in town.”

He smirked. “I was staying anyway.”

“Smart-ass. But you aren’t bunking at my house.”

“I’ll just sleep in your driveway if you don’t let me in.”

“I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”

“Won’t stick.”

She wanted to kick him. “Goddammit.”

“Quit arguing with me. I’ll pack a bag and then we can head over to Jeff’s house.”

“You can’t just investigate this case with me. You’re a civilian.”

“I know. I need FBI credentials.”

Her eyes widened. “What? You can do that?”

“Yeah. I can pull some strings and make it happen.”

“Just like that.”

“Not exactly. I’ve been working on it for a couple days now, figuring I might need them. It’ll take some maneuvering and a few phone calls, but yeah, I can get FBI ID.”

Who the hell was he that he could grab fake credentials? “You’ll never get that bullshit past my captain. He’ll want to verify you with the actual FBI.”

“And he’ll be able to—with the actual FBI. I work for people who’ll clear it.”

“Jesus, Dante. Really?”

“Really. Give me a few minutes to make a phone call and see if I can push things along. Then I’ll pack a few things.”

Anna was rarely impressed, but she was impressed. If he could pull off what he said he could.

After he packed, they went outside.

“I’ll meet you at Jeff’s condo. I have to go somewhere.”

She arched a brow. “Supersecret black ops stuff?”

“Something like that.”

She shrugged, figuring he could do what he wanted. She had a murder investigation. “I’ll see you there. Or not.”

He walked over to her car and pulled her against him. “You can pretend you don’t care, Anna, but I know you do. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have tried to boot my ass out of town.”

She lifted her gaze to him, half angry and half scared to death. “I don’t want anyone else to die before I get this case figured out. You don’t mean any more or any less to me than the other guys.”

His lips curled in a smile that told her he knew she was lying. “Bullshit.” He pulled her against him and kissed her soundly. The emotion of the night got the best of her and she grabbed a handful of his shirt, held on and kissed him back, terrified she’d never see him again.

When she pushed away, his eyes had gone as dark as the storm churning within her.

“Do you always take without asking?”

He swept his thumb over her bottom lip. “No.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers again. “No,” he whispered against her mouth. “Want me to apologize?”

She shuddered against him, then pushed him away, not sure if she was more irritated at him or at herself.

“I’ll see you at Jeff’s. Be careful.”

She nodded, and climbed into her car, her lips still tingling from his kiss.

Oh, sure. Become an FBI agent.

Great idea, Dante
. It was a good thing he’d already set things in motion a couple days ago, because he needed it to happen now and it wasn’t like he could pull this whole FBI thing out of his ass in an instant.

And speaking of his ass, his superiors were going to have his over this. The one thing he’d never done was abuse the power they gave him.

Until now, anyway. He was on vacation, and now he wanted FBI credentials. Sure, he could do almost anything, but he had some tap dancing to do to explain this.

First thing was to meet with a local contact, and since security was paramount he couldn’t do it with Anna around.

A half hour after he left Anna, he arrived at a house in South County.

Nice neighborhood. Well established, with thick, full trees and well-maintained lawns.

And one expensive, big fucking house. Colonial-style, two-story, with those columns and big windows and a lawn that looked as if whoever lived here hired people to take care of it.

Dante went to the address he’d been provided and through the gate toward the side door to the garage. The garage door was open, so he walked in.

“Good thing my wife is in Tahiti with the kids,” the guy said who greeted him.

He was in his fifties, slightly graying hair short in a military kind of cut.

“Sorry to bother you. This is kind of urgent.”

The guy had a glass half filled with amber liquid and a couple ice cubes. “Whatever. Come on into my office.”

Dante followed him through the garage and into the house.

He led Dante into a downstairs study, motioned for him to take a seat on the other side of his cherrywood desk.

“Someone will be here shortly with your paperwork.”

“Thanks.”

Dante looked around the room while his host worked on the computer. Military medals were framed on one wall, law certificates on another, political awards and the like.

He’d been out of the country for a while, but not too long to finally recognize who his contact was—he was influential and a big player.

This was going to cost Dante next time he got an assignment, which would probably end up being in some shithole he might have been able to turn down otherwise.

The man finished typing in his computer. “Background complete, without question.”

“Thank you.”

Someone entered the office and handed an envelope to the man, then left.

He removed the contents, reviewed them, then handed them over to Dante.

“These should be sufficient for your needs.”

They were. “Thanks. Sorry to bother you.”

“The request came from high enough up that I figured it was important for national security.”

Oh, Christ. “It is. Thank you. I’ll get out of your way now.”

The man nodded, led him back out the way he came.

“Stay safe, Dante.”

“I will.”

Dante got the hell out of there as fast as he could, grimacing at the cost of what he’d just done.

He tucked the badge into his pocket and backed out of the man’s driveway.

Fuck it. He never called in favors or abused power like some of the other guys did.

This one was necessary, and worth it.

Now maybe he could do some good.

He entered the address to Jeff’s house into the GPS unit in his car. Anna was waiting outside when he got there.

“Roman here yet?”

“He just called. He’ll be here in five. And I assume you’re now an FBI agent?”

He moved beside her. “I’m trusting you with some pretty sensitive information, Anna. Don’t blow my cover when I could help you with this case.”

She shrugged. “Why would I when it’ll be so much fun watching you play secret agent?”

“Not a secret agent.”

“Whatever.”

“You can’t tell anyone about me, not even the other guys. Not even Roman. As far as anyone knows, I really am an FBI agent. I was on vacation and when the murders started happening I decided to get involved.”

“Uh-huh. And why the mystery beforehand? Why wouldn’t you have just told them what you did for a living when you first got here?”

“I’ll figure out some explanation for that. Hell, I’ll lie.”

“You
are
lying.”

“I know.”

She rolled her eyes. “However you want to play this, but you know what they say about lies.”

“My life is a lie, Anna. I don’t sweat it much.”

And her life was all about the truth. He could see the mistrust on her face. They’d just taken two steps backward, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. This was his life, what he did.

They lived in two different worlds.

Roman showed up along with two uniformed police officers. Dante took a step back to observe how this went down, mainly because he didn’t want to get in the way, but also because he liked watching Anna work.

Flashlights in hand, Anna, Roman and the uniforms surveyed the perimeter of the house looking for signs of forced entry and for footprints.

“There’s a window here over the kitchen,” she said. “It’s closed, but not locked.”

“That could be an entry point,” Roman said.

Anna nodded. “We’ll have to dust it for prints and check for footprints.” She shined the light on the ground. “Lots of bushes here under the window. I don’t see any broken branches, but since this window is over the back porch he could have climbed onto the porch railing and lifted the window that way without rustling the bushes or leaving prints on the ground.”

They headed around the front once they determined there were no other points of entry. Once inside, Anna was methodical. She was a born leader, giving the uniforms—and Roman—directions on how to proceed. She didn’t rush in, was in no hurry to scour Jeff’s house for clues or to see if his place was in shambles. She took each room step by step in order to preserve any evidence they might find, and she kept control over everyone under her.

She operated a lot like he did, with a cool head under pressure. It would be easy to want to know right away what had happened in Jeff’s house, to need to know now if the killer had taken Jeff from there, if there had been a struggle.

The living room was clean, and so was the kitchen.

“Nothing in the sink or on the counters looks disturbed. Sink is clean. Wow, the counters are clean, too. This place is immaculate.”

“Man, Jeff was a neat freak. I didn’t know that about him,” Dante said.

“Don’t you remember how he’d put a napkin in his lap whenever you all would come to the shop for ice cream? You’d make fun of him.”

Dante squinted as he tried to remember, then his lips lifted. “You’re right. And he’d clean the counter after we all ate. How could I forget that?”

Anna smiled at the memory, then ached at the loss.

“So if our suspect got in through this window it doesn’t show,” Anna said. “You’d think there would have been some cast-off dirt from his shoes.”

“He could have cleaned up,” Roman said.

She nodded.

It was a one-story house, so they moved into the first bedroom.

Nothing there.

“I have blood here,” Anna said, motioning with her flashlight in the hallway.

“Possible drag marks with more blood,” Roman noted.

They followed the trail toward the door to the master bedroom. The door to the bedroom was open and Anna flipped on the light.

“Here,” she said.

Dante peered over her shoulder. The room was a mess and it was obvious there’d been a struggle. The bed had shifted, marks on the hardwood floor showing where it had been pushed away from its normal spot. The bedside-table lamp was broken and there was blood on the floor next to the bed.