Twin Peril (2 page)

“Alyssa did send me. How else do you think I knew about the cabin? She also told me your uncle Henry is really your mother’s cousin, and he hadn’t been up here in a long time because he recently had a stroke.” He hoped the additional information would reassure her that he was on the right side of the law.

“Yes,” she admitted. “That’s true.”

“I found the place a few minutes before you came out of the woods.” He sent a silent prayer of thanks, knowing God had been watching out for the both of them. “Alyssa didn’t come herself because we didn’t even know for sure you were here.”

Mallory’s scowl deepened. “What do you mean she didn’t know? I left a message on her cell phone. I told her to come to the place she least expected to find me. As kids, we had to stay at the cabin for two weeks in the summer while our parents took an Alaskan cruise. Alyssa loved it, but I hated every minute. Do you realize I spent the last few days in a place with no indoor plumbing?”

For the first time in a long while, he was tempted to smile. He could well imagine how a cabin on a lake with an outhouse was not Mallory’s idea of fun.

“Alyssa lost her cell phone and must not have picked up her messages. And the other reason she didn’t come is she tore the ligaments and tendons in her ankle pretty bad. I convinced her that she’d only slow us down and she agreed I could protect you better by myself. She’s scheduled for surgery later this week.”

That news made Mallory sit up in her seat. “Surgery? What happened to her?”

“It’s a long story.” He continued to drive, deciding he wasn’t stopping anywhere for a long time—maybe not even until daylight. “Several days ago Alyssa fell and hit her head. When she woke up, she had amnesia. Alyssa’s boyfriend, Gage, thought she was you. They asked for my help because someone was trying to kill them. Don’t worry, they’re safe now. And once Alyssa’s memory started to return, we realized you were missing and in possible danger. That’s when we began searching for you.” He glanced at her expectantly.

“Are you sure they’re all right?”

“I promise they’re fine,” Jonah assured her.

“Then what happened to her ankle?” Mallory asked.

Was she really worried about her sister? Or was she simply asking more questions to put off telling him the truth? He wanted to believe the former, but his instincts warned him not to trust her too easily. He’d been burned by an apparent victim before.

“According to Gage, they had to climb out of a warehouse window and drop down to the ground, about ten feet. She landed hard on her ankle. Frankly, we were both surprised she hadn’t broken it.” He turned his attention back to the road, slowing down since they were approaching a small town.

“Are we stopping here?” Mallory asked.

“No.”

“Why not?” she demanded. “How do I know I can really trust you? Let me out. I want to talk to Alyssa.”

He stifled a heavy sigh. “Be reasonable. It’s one o’clock in the morning.”

“Reasonable?” Her voice rose a few decibels and he tried not to wince. “A man in a ski mask broke into my uncle’s cabin to kill me. And suddenly you’re conveniently waiting for me when I run out of the woods? Don’t you dare accuse me of being unreasonable.”

He held up his hand in surrender. Good thing the rental car didn’t need gas—he didn’t doubt that Mallory would bolt the first chance she was given. He’d already saved her from the guy in the ski mask, so why was she so uptight?

“If you want to call your sister, go ahead. But the only number I have is Gage’s cell.” He tossed his phone into her lap.

She picked it up and grimaced. “Gage doesn’t exactly like me,” she said as she scrolled through the contact list. “How do you know him?”

“Gage and I went to high school together. Both he and Alyssa have been worried sick about you,” Jonah added. He had been worried, too, mostly because he believed Mallory was the key to solving the case. Just a little over a week ago he and Gage had uncovered a money-laundering scheme that involved a man named Hugh Jefferson. Jonah had also been betrayed by a cop who’d tried to kill him. Soon he’d discovered that Jefferson had been searching for Mallory, who’d disappeared.

Now that he’d found Mallory, he wanted to know exactly why she’d been hiding at the cabin. And why Jefferson had wanted to find her. All along they’d suspected there was a man higher up the chain of command, the one truly in charge of the money-laundering scheme. He was convinced Mallory knew the identity of that man, or at least someone working for him. Why else would Jefferson want to know where she was?

Mallory held the phone up to her ear. After several rings, the call went into voice mail. There was the faintest tremble in her voice as she spoke. “Gage? It’s Mallory. Will you please have Alyssa call this number as soon as you can? Thanks.”

She ended the call but kept a tight hold on the phone, as if waiting for her sister’s return call. In the darkness, he was able to see the glitter of tears in her eyes. His gut clenched and he tightened his grip on the steering wheel. The last thing he needed was for her to break down.

“Look, I’m sorry. I understand you’ve been traumatized by everything that’s happened. But, Mallory, I am a cop. And I promise I’ll keep you safe.”

A tense silence stretched between them. She sniffled loudly and swiped at her eyes. When her chin came up again, he almost smiled, impressed by her ability to pull herself together. Mallory was obviously a lot tougher than she looked. “You better. It’s only fair to warn you, I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and besides, I can call 9-1-1.”

When she actually punched in the buttons, prepared to make the call, he reached over to take his phone back. She didn’t let go. In the brief tussle, she brushed her arm against the side of his chest.

“What is this? Are you bleeding?” She stared in horror at the stain on her arm.

He glanced down in surprise, feeling the dampness against his shirt. It wasn’t easy to see in the darkness, but he could feel blood oozing through the dressing along the right side of his chest.

“Yuck. I faint at the sight of blood.” She rummaged through her purse, pulled out a small packet of wipes and cleaned the stain from her arm before glancing over to frown at him. “Are you sure you’re okay? Were you hit by a bullet back there?” The concern in her eyes was nice even though he didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t here just to save her life—he was here to close his case.

“No, I’m fine.” He realized the fresh surgical incision located along his rib cage was throbbing painfully. There was ibuprofen in his duffel bag, which was all he was willing to take. “It’s just an old injury that must have opened up a bit.”

“We’ll have to stop at a drugstore and get some bandages,” she murmured. “Too bad I’m not Alyssa—you could probably use a nurse.” She made a face as she placed a hand over her stomach. “I really am not much help when it comes to blood.”

He gave a brief nod, even though he had no intention of stopping at a drugstore anytime soon. Right now, his reopened wound was the least of his worries.

First he needed to find a safe haven, somewhere they could stay for the next twenty-four hours. And then he needed to figure out a way to make Mallory trust him enough to tell him the identity of the man who was in charge of the money-laundering operation that had almost gotten them all killed.

* * *

Mallory sensed there was far more to the story regarding how Alyssa was injured than Jonah Stewart was telling her. But as much as she wanted to keep after him, she couldn’t fight the wave of exhaustion washing over her, the adrenaline crash hitting hard. She wished she could talk to Alyssa.

She supposed it was logical that Gage wouldn’t answer the phone in the middle of the night. And if Alyssa really had lost her cell phone, then there was nothing more she could do except wait until morning. She wondered how Gage and Alyssa were getting along. Jonah had made it sound as if they were a couple saying they were both worried about her. But Mallory knew better than to think Gage was worried—she could only hope he wouldn’t let his personal feelings toward her get in the way of responding to her voice-mail message.

Back when Gage and Alyssa had started dating, she hadn’t trusted Gage’s feelings, especially the way he’d proposed so quickly. She’d shamelessly flirted with him as a way to test his feelings because, in her experience, men usually went for the easy, no-strings-attached type of relationship. But he’d surprised her by instantly shutting her down. He had claimed to love Alyssa, although just a short month later, she had returned his engagement ring.

Mallory suspected Alyssa still harbored deep feelings for Gage Drummond.

Since thinking about her past—and the way she’d messed up one relationship after another—was depressing, she concentrated on the present. Glancing over at Jonah, she focused on his wound. It wasn’t easy to see the stain on his navy T-shirt, but she could tell the damp spot was spreading.

“Jonah, what happened? Why would an old wound bleed like that?”

“I had surgery about a week ago, and a few of the stitches must have popped open.”

“What happened? Were you injured on the job?”

He clenched his jaw. “I was stabbed by a dirty cop Gage and I discovered was working for Hugh Jefferson.”

Mallory twisted her fingers together nervously. The architectural firm she worked for had been awarded the design contract for the Jefferson Project—fancy high-rise condos overlooking the Milwaukee River. She was the firm’s interior designer, and her boss, Rick Meyers, was the one who’d introduced her to Anthony Caruso.

Caruso had talked often to Hugh Jefferson. The mere memory of what she’d overheard made her stomach roll with nausea. “What are you saying? That you have proof Jefferson was involved with illegal activities?”

“Yeah. We have proof of how he was involved in a money-laundering scheme. But now he’s dead.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock. Hugh Jefferson was dead? “Are you sure all this happened while I was making my way to the cabin?” She hated thinking she’d left Alyssa in danger.

“I’m sure.” Jonah’s tone was terse. “Jefferson’s yacht caught on fire, and while Gage and Alyssa managed to escape, he and his cohorts didn’t. All three of them died—Aaron Crane, the dirty cop, Hugh Jefferson and Eric Holden, the newly elected Milwaukee mayor. Well, technically, Holden died before he could be sworn into office.”

She was disappointed that he hadn’t mentioned
Caruso. Listening to Jonah talk about the Jefferson Project confirmed that everything she’d suspected all along was true. There hadn’t been some horrible mistake. Caruso really had sent that thug to kill her at Alyssa’s town house, hoping to silence her forever. And then Caruso had found her again, at Uncle Henry’s cabin. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I’m relieved to know Alyssa and Gage escaped. But why were they even on the yacht in the first place? What possessed Gage to put Alyssa in danger?”

“Gage didn’t put her in danger on purpose. In fact, he went to great lengths to keep her safe. But we didn’t know exactly who she was running from, because of her amnesia.”

She rubbed her temples, trying to make sense of what Jonah was saying. “I was the one they wanted to silence.” She felt sick at the thought she’d inadvertently put Alyssa in danger. “They must have thought she was me.”

“No, it wasn’t that,” Jonah said reassuringly. “Alyssa was working in the trauma room the night Councilman Schaefer was brought in with his stab wound. He told Alyssa that Jefferson was responsible. She believed him and reported the crime to Officer Crane, who happened to be working for Jefferson. He tried to kill her. More than once. If not for Gage’s help, he might have succeeded.”

Mallory shook her head, unable to process what he was saying. Wave after wave of regret battered her. She’d been so worried about her own well-being, especially after Wasserman followed her to Alyssa’s town house, that she’d never considered her sister might be in just as much danger. She’d left the urgent message—assuming Alyssa would drop everything to come out to meet her—then ditched her phone, worried that
Caruso had the means to track it. If only she and Alyssa had been able to talk to each other. They could have disappeared together.

“So now, Mallory, it’s your turn. We know why Alyssa was in danger, but we don’t know what happened to you. Did you stumble onto something you shouldn’t have? Did you find out about the money-
laundering scheme?”

“I don’t even know what money laundering is.” She kept her tone even with an effort.

“It’s taking money received from illegal activities and putting it into legal activities,” he explained, not willing to be distracted from his purpose. “You left a lot of blood on the floor of Alyssa’s town house, along with a blood-stained blouse.”

She shivered, remembering that night all too clearly.

“Mallory, are you listening to me? I can’t keep you safe unless you’re honest with me. Tell me the name of the man you’re running from. If you do, I’ll make sure the D.A. knows you cooperated with our investigation.”

She snapped her head up to glare at him. A flash of anger blurred her vision, forcing her to wrestle it back to maintain control.

“What do you mean you’ll convince the D.A. I’ve cooperated with the investigation? I’m not involved in anything illegal. I’m the victim here. Caruso’s thug, a guy named Kent Wasserman, followed me to Alyssa’s town house and tried to kill me!”

“Yeah, maybe,” Jonah said, his calm voice only fueling her annoyance. “But just a few hours ago, I was informed that Wasserman’s body was found in an alley not far from your condo, and your fingerprints are on the knife in his belly. The ME has deemed his death a homicide. As a result, there’s a warrant for your arrest.”

She couldn’t have been more surprised if the car had sprouted wings to fly. How could there possibly be a warrant out for her arrest? He was the one who’d tried to kill her! She’d fought with Wasserman, sure, but only in self-defense. She’d barely escaped. And she didn’t touch the knife.

At least, not that she remembered.

“I didn’t kill him,” she whispered, the images she’d tried to forget crowding in her mind. Somehow, someway, she had to make him believe her. “I swear to you, Jonah, I didn’t kill him. Don’t you see? I’m being framed for murder!”