Daring Deception

by Barbara Freethy

  She still wanted him!

  It stunned him to think that might be true.

  Not that she would act on that attraction. Caitlyn hated his guts now. Her brain was not in line with her body.

  Even if she was interested, he wasn’t. He couldn't get close to her again. It would be stupid and dangerous. He needed to stay in the life he'd built away from her.

  But how would that be possible now that she was back in it?

  He told himself he was helping her because he owed her, because he owed their baby. And that was a part of it, but it wasn't all of it. It wasn't just about duty; it was also about love, the love that had once bound them together in the deepest possible way.

  He sometimes ached with the loss of that connection. He'd tried to put other women into that void, but no one had stuck.

  He wondered who had made their way into Caitlyn's life. There wasn't a ring on her finger, but that might mean nothing. He wondered if she'd told anyone else at the FBI that she'd found him. He still couldn't believe she'd become an agent. He never would have imagined her taking that path.

  "How did you get into the FBI?" he asked, breaking the taut silence between them. "How did you go from wanting to be a reporter to wanting to be an agent?"

  "I went into journalism for a while. I worked on papers in San Francisco and then in DC. But it wasn't the career I'd imagined. I didn't feel like I was making a difference reporting on crimes that had already happened. I wanted to stop them from happening. When I was in DC, an FBI agent who knew about my family connections asked me to help him gain access to a suspect. I did more than that; I helped him break the case wide open. The agent liked my skills and my connections and suggested I consider changing jobs. The one thing my family name gave me was the power to move in circles that others can't. Here I am."

  "What about the danger?"

  "I'm well-trained to handle the danger, and I've discovered that I'm quite good at putting myself into situations and accessing information."

  "Then why do you need me?" he said dryly.

  "Because the people I need to access don't like me. And it wasn't just because they were jealous. Some didn’t like me because of who I was. They thought you were sleeping with the enemy."

  "It wasn't fair to tar you with your father's reputation."

  "It wasn't just that they didn't like my family—they didn't like you with me. It felt like a betrayal to them. The more we were together, the less time you spent with the group. It's like I broke up the band."

  "Well, that didn't matter to me. And if anyone broke up the band, it was me. I wanted to be with you."

  "Do you ever regret making that choice? Were you ever sorry that we met, that we got together?"

  "No. What about you? Were you ever sorry?"

  She looked straight ahead at the road, then said, "Yes."

  Her answer stabbed him in the heart.

  They said nothing else for another fifteen minutes. When they made their way over the Golden Gate Bridge, he realized he couldn't let the silence continue. He needed more information before he spoke to Lauren. "What can you tell me about Lauren?" he asked. "You said you talked to her five years ago. I assume you know more about her life than I do. Is she married? Does she have kids? Does she work?"

  "Lauren was married to Vinnie Caputo for seven years. They divorced a year ago. She's currently employed as a teacher at West Bay Community College. I believe she teaches ocean sciences. She's still your kindred spirit."

  He let that bitter comment pass, more surprised by the fact that Lauren had married Vinnie. "I know she and Vinnie were dating that last year, but they always seemed to be fighting. I can't believe they got married."

  "When I spoke to her five years ago, they were married and living in a nice house in St. Francis Wood. Now, she's in a flat in the Sunset neighborhood, and Vinnie has a condo in North Beach. He works in marketing for Global Eco Solutions. He has been there for six years."

  "Marketing is a good fit for Vinnie. He always knew how to spin."

  "Wasn't he the one who came up with slogans for LNF campaigns?"

  "Yes. He had a talent for turning a complicated premise into a sound bite. I never thought he actually cared all that much about the cause, but rather was padding his resume. I might have been wrong since it sounds like he's working for an environmental company."

  "Neither one seems to have been involved in any activism in the last several years, at least nothing that was documented. Today, you need to concentrate on getting Lauren to talk not only about the past but also about Allison's group at Bolton." She paused, giving him a worried look. "I should come in with you."

  "If you do, Lauren will not say a word. Isn't that why I'm coming with you?"

  "Okay, but you can't let her put you off. You have to challenge whatever she says, dig for details."

  "I'm aware of the stakes, Caitlyn. You're going to have to trust me."

  "That's not possible." She turned down Lauren's street. "This is the block. It's 426A."

  "Looks like that green building. Park around the corner. I'll walk back."

  She did as he suggested, squeezing the car into a tight spot.

  "Quinn," she said, as he put his hand on the door.

  "What?"

  She gave him a long look. "Come back with something."

  "I'll do my best." He got out of the car and walked down the sidewalk.

  He didn't want to disappoint Caitlyn. She'd been waiting a long time for a break in the case, but he wasn't that hopeful. He had no idea how Lauren would react to seeing him. She might have liked him at one point, but the last time they'd seen each other had not ended well. He probably should have told Caitlyn that. On the other hand, she would have just thought he was trying to get out of helping her.

  He had to admit he was tempted to keep on walking, to find a cab, and get as far away from her and his past as he could. But he couldn't run again. He'd thought he'd found the truth a long time ago. He'd believed that the danger for Caitlyn and everyone else was over.

  Today's bomb had made him wonder if he'd been wrong. That's also why he'd agreed to help Caitlyn. It wasn't just about getting justice. He needed to know if he'd made a horrific mistake.

  Chapter Six

  Quinn stepped up to Lauren's door and rang the bell before he could change his mind. When Lauren appeared on the threshold, he could instantly see the changes ten years had brought. She had always been thin, but she looked almost skeletal now, wearing jeans that probably should have been tight but hung loosely on her frame, and a green striped sweater that seemed a size too big. Her dark-brown hair was cut short and straight. Her face was pale and there were dark shadows under her eyes. She didn't look particularly well or happy. While Caitlyn hadn't aged a day, Lauren appeared closer to forty than thirty-one.

  "Is it really you?" Lauren murmured, shock in her gaze. "Quinn Kelly?"

  "It's me."

  "I thought you were dead."

  "Why would I be dead?"

  "Because of what you did, Quinn. You should go." She tried to close the door, but he stuck his foot out.

  "Not so fast. What do you think I did?" he challenged.

  "I don't want to talk to you. Go away."

  "I'm not going anywhere," he said, pushing his way into her apartment.

  Lauren backed up, grabbing her phone from the coffee table in front of her couch, giving him a wary look. "I can call 911."

  "Why would you need to do that? I just want to talk to you."

  "About what?"

  "Let's start with why you thought I was dead."

  "Everyone thought that. No one could find you. You didn't even come to Donovan's funeral, and he was one of your best friends. Vinnie and some other guys thought you killed yourself over what happened to Caitlyn."

  It shocked him that that was the explanation his old friends had come up with, although he supposed it was as good as any. "I just needed to start over."

  "Why?" she asked, echoing the same
question Caitlyn had asked earlier.

  "Because I did."

  "That's not an answer."

  "I thought that someone in the LNF was responsible for the bomb, and I was the reason Caitlyn was hurt."

  "No one ever proved that."

  "I know. But I couldn't shake the feeling that the person was someone I knew. That thought wrecked me. The LNF was filled with my friends. They were my family. If anyone in the group was responsible for hurting Caitlyn and killing innocent people…well, I couldn't stand it. I needed to get away from Bolton and from everyone in that life."

  "I suppose that makes sense," she said slowly. "Caitlyn came to see me several years ago. She's an FBI agent now. Did you know that?"

  "I heard something about it."

  "She reopened the file on the explosion. She's still searching for answers."

  "Why did she come to you?"

  "Because she doesn't like me. I'm the reason you weren't with her that day. But I won't apologize for that," she said, a defiant glint in her eyes. "I saved your life."

  "You might have. What did you tell Caitlyn?"

  "The same things I told the FBI when it happened. I changed the time of our study group because I had my roommate's birthday party that night. Caitlyn seemed to think I knew something else, but I didn't. Vinnie was angry that I spoke to her at all. He didn't like that she was digging into our lives. When she tried to talk to him, he said he had nothing to say and she could speak to his lawyer, but his lawyer never heard from her."

  "It surprised me to hear you'd married Vinnie Caputo."

  "Well, that wasn't the greatest idea. We had a few good years. Now we're divorced. He was cheating on me."

  "Sorry."

  "Why are you here, Quinn?"

  "I heard about the blast at Bolton today, and I went to the campus to see what had happened."

  "I didn't realize you lived in the area. You didn't go far, did you?"

  He ignored her question. "When I was there, I heard one of the FBI agents talking to a female student. She said she was your sister, Allison. I couldn't believe it. When I met her years ago, she was a little kid."

  "Alli is a senior at Bolton. She called me this morning. She was hysterical. Luckily, she wasn't hurt." Lauren shook her head. "I couldn't believe it had happened again. What are the odds?"

  "Fairly long."

  "I felt like I had PTSD when I heard about it. Suddenly, I could remember the exact sound of the blast ten years ago. It knocked us both off our feet. Remember? It was deafening."

  "I remember."

  "I was stunned for several minutes. But you—you immediately took off running. You knew before I did what had happened. When I got to the scene, you were fighting with the first responders. You wanted to get inside to find Caitlyn, but the building was on fire."

  His mouth tightened as her words took him back again. "That was an awful moment."

  "Caitlyn looked bad when they brought her out. I didn't know if she was alive."

  "Neither did I."

  "I tried to comfort you after the ambulance left, but you pushed me away. I couldn't blame you. You were in shock. You were angry. You were especially furious with me. You could never look at me after that. The last time we spoke, you accused me of knowing about the blast in advance. You suggested that I changed the time of our study session so you wouldn't be with Caitlyn. You threw out a lot of accusations, Quinn." Her voice hardened. "I couldn't believe that you would think those things of me."

  "I was trying to find answers. I'm sorry."

  "Are you?" She tilted her head, giving him a speculative look. "Why are you here now? Do you think I had something to do with this bomb, too? Because that's ludicrous. My sister goes to Bolton. She could have been killed."

  "I don't think you had something to do with it," he said, realizing he was about to lose her cooperation. "When I heard your sister say her name, I thought of you, and I felt like I needed to talk to you about it. You're one of the few people who shared that experience with me."

  Her gaze softened. "We do have that horrible moment in common. How did you find me? Did you ask Allison?"

  "No. She was busy with the FBI. I looked you up on the internet."

  "I guess nothing is private these days."

  "Allison said she's involved with an environmental group."

  "The Green Citizens. They're nowhere near as organized or as passionate as we were. They make up flyers and put them up around polluting companies. They try to organize events to hold companies accountable, or at least make them more aware. They were supposed to have an event today in the auditorium, which I guess is where the bomb was located. I can't believe my sister had to live through the same thing I did. I never thought it would happen again."

  "It's almost ten years to the day. Seems very coincidental. Is it possible that someone from the LNF is helping the Green Citizens?"

  "I don't think so. The LNF disbanded years ago."

  "And you haven't heard of any former members from our group still out there protesting?"

  "I have not." She let out a sigh. "I have seen no one from the old group since I divorced Vinnie a year ago, and our so-called friends sided with him."

  "Which friends were those?"

  "Wyatt Pederson, Hank Merchant, and Vitaly Loucks. Sometimes Wyatt's brother, Justin."

  "What are they all up to now?"

  "Wyatt owns a bar in the Marina. His dad bought it for him, but he's managing it. Hank runs a gym called Evolve Fitness in Pacifica. Vitaly works for a clean energy company. Justin is an environmental lawyer."

  "So, Vitaly and Justin stayed in the environment space, and Vinnie, too, right?"

  "Yes, but he's a marketing guy." She paused. "Wyatt asked me about you the last time I saw him. I don't know what brought you to his mind, but it was weird to hear your name mentioned after so many years."

  "What did he want to know?"

  "If I'd ever heard from you, if I really thought you were dead."

  "Did you think that?"

  "Honestly, yes. I thought you were messed up, Quinn, and that's why you left Bolton. I even wondered if you and Donovan had made some sort of suicide pact."

  "I heard Donovan fell while hiking."

  "That's what the authorities said, but he was a damn good mountain climber."

  "It seemed odd to me, too. Although, I wondered if he'd had some attack of conscience and just let himself fall."

  She shrugged. "We'll never know."

  "So, why did Wyatt bring me up?"

  "He said he sometimes thought of you. He could never forget the look on your face when the firefighters brought Caitlyn out of the building. Wyatt said he'd never seen anyone look so shattered. He told me he never really got a chance to talk to you after that. And then you were gone."

  Her words made little sense. "I didn't know Wyatt was at the bomb site that morning. I don't think I ever knew that."

  She shrugged. "Lots of people were there, Quinn. You just couldn't see anyone but Caitlyn. Anyway, I haven't seen Wyatt since the divorce. Ditto for Hank. I ran into Vitaly a few weeks ago when I was shopping. He was polite, but he wasn't interested in chatting." She paused. "I shouldn’t have been surprised when those guys dumped me after the divorce. The LNF was always about the men. They let the women in, but it was a brotherhood at the top, and you were part of that, Quinn. In fact, you were once as powerful in the group as Donovan Byrne. Then you met Caitlyn, and your passion turned to something—someone—else." She gave him a pointed look. "That's when the LNF changed. Donovan no longer had your voice in his ear; he was listening to Hank and Vitaly, Wyatt, and Vinnie, and let's not forget Gary Keniston. He brought a militancy with him that Hank and Vitaly really liked. Donovan leaned that way, too."

  She was right. The group had changed when he'd met Caitlyn and started spending less time with them. They'd become more radicalized, more interested in anarchy and destruction versus reason and peaceful protests. Gary Keniston had been a big part of that, a
nd Gary would have been at the top of his list for the bomb blast, but he'd been out of town that day at a family wedding. His alibi had been solid. Not that that didn't mean he hadn't had some knowledge or even instigated the event.

  "Do you know what happened to Gary?" he asked.

  "I don't. I never saw him after we all graduated. I think Vinnie might have run into him once at Hank's gym. But that's it for who we hung out with. Do you want coffee? Maybe a drink?"

  "No, thanks."

  "Why didn't you come to Donovan's funeral?" she asked. "He was one of your best friends."

  "I didn't want to see everyone again. My emotions were too raw."

  "Was that the real reason, or did you think that Donovan was responsible for the bomb? He hated Carlson Industries. And he hated that you were dating Carlson's daughter."

  "Caitlyn wasn't responsible for her family."

  "She didn't speak out against them."

  "It's not easy to call out your family."

  "You always made excuses for her."

  "Do you think Donovan set the bomb?" he challenged.

  She hesitated. "I would never say this to anyone else, but there's a part of me that thought he might have done it. He knew how to make things, and he was also working on some big new plan."

  "What are you talking about? I never heard anything about a new plan."

  "Hank told Vinnie about it at Donovan's birthday party a few days before the bombing. He said Donovan wanted to change things up, and Hank agreed that it was necessary. Hank said people in the group were going to have to get on board or get the hell out. It was time to pick a side and commit. Vinnie knew who he was talking about—you."

  His stomach twisted at her words. "What was the plan?"

  "No idea. After the bomb went off, Vinnie and some of the guys speculated that maybe it was part of Donovan's new plan, but Donovan wasn't talking to anyone, and Hank suddenly had nothing to say, either. The FBI were all over both of them, just like they were all over you. No one wanted to get in the middle of that."