Tough Justice Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  She sighed in deep frustration. “But I’m having trouble remembering the right conversations. It’s like the harder I try, the harder it gets.” Time was passing far too quickly, and with each moment that passed she was angrier at herself for not being able to remember something worthwhile.

  “Maybe you need to stop trying at all,” Nick said. “When I can’t remember something important, I just forget about it, and then when I’m watching television or working out it just pops into my head.”

  “It’s difficult not to think about it when Emily’s life is on the line and when there’s so much at stake.” She looked at the dashboard clock. It was almost two PM.

  The day was quickly slipping away, and Lara frantically wanted to hang on to every aching minute. She couldn’t imagine the night coming without knowing where Emily was, without knowing if she was still safe and sound.

  She didn’t have the luxury of taking any time off from trying to access what might be an important clue. This was life or death with a sweet, innocent baby girl’s future, potentially her very life hanging in the balance and an evil man once again out on the loose.

  She had to think. The whole case might come down to her being the only person in the entire world who could save Emily and get Moretti back behind bars.

  The fact that nobody had called to tell her that a new lead had developed or a credible clue had been gleaned from any of the other team members only increased the internal pressure on her.

  Are you really smart enough? Lara grimaced and tightened her hands into fists in her lap. She had to be smart enough. This couldn’t end with Emily being in Moretti’s custody and the two of them disappearing forever.

  But, right now Moretti held all of the cards. He was the one in control, and somehow, someway they needed to shift that balance of power.

  But how?

  The idea of going back to headquarters and just sitting around and waiting for something to pop was repugnant, but she didn’t know what else to do. Think, Lara, think, she commanded herself.

  Once they were back at their desks, the silence in the room was excruciating. She and Nick were the only ones at their cubicles, and she assumed the others were out interviewing people and trying to find a lead, any lead to follow.

  Victoria was in her office with the door closed, and Christina was in the tech room monitoring who knew what in the quest to find Moretti.

  Lara’s entire world was falling apart in the calm quiet of this room. Did everyone feel her urgency? Did everyone else feel the abject terror that coursed through her?

  They certainly couldn’t experience it quite as intensely as she did. After all, she’d carried Emily for nine months. She’d given birth to the little girl whose future was now at risk.

  From the time of her birth, Emily, despite the fact that mother and daughter couldn’t be together, had always been in the forefront of Lara’s mind...in her very heart and soul. Not a single day had passed that she hadn’t thought about the baby she’d given birth to and had given up so that she could have a better, safer life than Lara could ever provide.

  Think, Lara. Do you hold the key? Do you have the answer as to where they might be? Is the information you so desperately seek someplace deep inside your head? Think!

  For the next hour she alternately checked the ticking clock and tried desperately to retrieve any memories of the hours she’d spent with Moretti when she’d believed he was arms commander Andrew Moore.

  In another three hours or so, dusk would begin to move in and after that the utter darkness of night. The idea of Emily being in Moretti’s arms when night came was especially horrifying, even though, logically, Lara knew that Emily being with him during the hours of daylight or darkness was equally horrific.

  It was almost five o’clock when Victoria called for Lara to come into her office. Hoping and praying that her boss might have some news, Lara hurried into the private room and closed the door behind her.

  “Has something happened?” she asked Victoria eagerly.

  “Nothing specific,” Victoria replied. “But Dr. Oliviero is at the jail with Cass,” she said and gestured for Lara to sit in the chair in front of her. “They were in the middle of a session, and Cass insisted she wanted to speak to you. The two of them are on the phone now.”

  Lara stared at the landline on Victoria’s desk where a red button blinked off and on like the pulse of a heartbeat. Lara’s mouth dried as she thought about the friend who had betrayed her, the coworker who had betrayed them all.

  Now wasn’t the time to speak to her. Lara was too raw, far too vulnerable to have any conversation with Cass. Cass was in jail—what could she possibly say that would mean anything to the current urgent matter?

  “We have more important things to do. Is this really necessary right now?” Lara asked with impatience.

  “Dr. Oliviero thinks it is,” Victoria replied. Her gaze was sharp as it lingered on Lara, as if she was checking how much more stress Lara could take.

  Lara dug deep inside her, seeking the strength to deal with not only the fear for Emily that thundered in her heart, but also the emotional toll of talking to the woman who had gone to so many lengths to torture her before finally being arrested.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Victoria punched the red blinking button on the phone. “Dr. Oliviero, I have Lara here in my office with me, and you’re on speakerphone.” She leaned back in her chair as tension knotted in Lara’s stomach.

  “Good afternoon, Lara.” The psychiatrist’s deep, smooth voice filled the small office. “As Agent Russo has probably told you, I’m here now with Cassandra, and I’ve shared with her that Moretti escaped from prison this morning and has kidnapped the baby. She insisted that she needed to speak with you as soon as possible.”

  There was a long pause. Lara’s hands grasped the chair arms on either side of her. “Hello, Lara.” Cass’s familiar voice evoked a flash of memories, both good and bad, inside of Lara’s brain.

  She and Cass had worked closely together in the Washington, DC bureau. They’d shared a lot of laughs and a lot of tears over the course of the years. But nothing had prepared Lara for the bitterness that Cass had held in her heart toward her, a bitterness that she’d ultimately wielded to make Lara’s life a living hell.

  “Hello, Cass,” Lara replied. What was this all about? Did Cass need some sort of forgiveness, an absolution from her? Her emotions concerning Cass were so mixed.

  On the one hand she was still angry with the woman for everything she had done. But on the other hand, she knew that Cass was really just another of Moretti’s victims, one whose grief and anger concerning her sister’s horrendous death had been exploited.

  “I know I’m probably the very last person on the face of the earth that you want to talk to right now,” Cass said. “I can’t believe he escaped, Lara, and I can’t believe he has the baby. I never wanted that. I swear, I never wanted your little girl to be in any kind of danger.”

  Lara momentarily squeezed her eyes closed as Cass’s words stabbed a renewed shaft of pain through her. She drew in a deep breath and opened her eyes once again. “Is that why you wanted to talk to me?”

  “That’s part of the reason,” Cass replied. “But the main reason is that while I was talking to Dr. Oliviero, something popped into my mind that I hope might be helpful.”

  Lara released her hold on the chair arms and leaned forward as all of her senses shot to a high-pitch awareness. “Like what?”

  There was another long pause, and Lara fought the impulse to jump out of her chair and scream into the phone that time was wasting, that if Cass had any information that might help them find Moretti and Emily, then she needed to talk fast and right now.

  “I’m sure you don’t know that I was receiving anonymous notes from who I now believe was Mason Moretti.” Cass’s voice was thick with emotion and a deep regret.

  Lara wasn’t surprised. It was something a Moretti would do. These notes, along with Katya Auerman’s subt
le influence, had played on Cass’s bitterness over her sister’s death and a festering anger that Lara hadn’t gone undercover soon enough to save Allie.

  “What about these notes?” Lara asked with more than a touch of impatience.

  “In one of the notes Mason referenced something he called his Dunehalla,” Cass replied.

  Lara frowned and met Victoria’s gaze in confusion. “Dunehalla? What does that mean?” she asked.

  Victoria shrugged, and the two of them stared at the phone speaker once again. “I thought it might be a place,” Cass continued. “I don’t know...maybe it doesn’t mean anything at all. It just jumped into my head, and I thought I should tell you about it. I... I wanted to help.”

  “And we appreciate it, Cass. We appreciate all of your cooperation,” Victoria replied smoothly.

  “Lara, I never wanted any of this to happen,” Cass said, her voice once again filled with deep emotion. “I’m sorry, Lara. I’m so very sorry about everything.”

  “We all are,” Lara replied as she fought against tears that unexpectedly burned at her eyes. She didn’t wait to be dismissed but instead jumped out of the chair and left the office. She went directly to the tech room.

  Christina looked up, her features taut and her short dark hair mussed as if she’d run her hands through it in frustration dozens of times throughout the long hours of the day.

  “I need you to run a thorough search for me,” Lara said.

  Christina nodded. “Okay. What am I searching for?”

  “Dunehalla. See if the word comes up in any of the background information we have on Andrew or Mason Moretti.” A new energy surged inside Lara. Was this a real clue? Or was it possible Cass was jabbing in a knife and twisting it one more time into Lara’s heart? Giving her hope when really there was none?

  Christina punched in computer keys with a frown as Lara waited impatiently. “Dunehalla doesn’t even come up as a real word in a general search.” Her frown deepened as she continued to click keys. “And I’m not finding it anywhere in all of the records we have on the two brothers. Dunehalla...are you sure that’s the right word?”

  “I’m not sure of anything anymore,” Lara said with a renewed swell of disappointment. “Keep searching and let me know if you find anything at all.”

  “Will do,” Christina replied.

  Had Cass just made it up? Had her real goal not been to help but to rather leave Lara spinning her wheels chasing down a false clue?

  Lara returned to her cubicle, and Nick turned to look at her. “What’s going on?” he asked.

  She filled him in. “I had Christina do a quick search, but she couldn’t find anything in all of the records.”

  “Dunehalla.” Nick frowned thoughtfully. “Are you sure she didn’t say Valhalla?”

  “Valhalla...isn’t that something from mythology?” Lara asked. Maybe Cass had been confused. The two words were fairly similar.

  “Yeah, Norse mythology,” Nick replied. “If I remember right it’s a place where warriors killed in battle are honored and received or something like that.”

  Lara turned to her computer and did a word search for Valhalla. Nick was right. Valhalla was indeed from Norse mythology. Not only did it refer to a great hall where slain warriors were taken, but it also meant a place of honor or happiness.

  She leaned back in her chair as her mind whirled back in time, back to her intimate talks with the man she believed to be simply Andrew Moore.

  Dunehalla... Valhalla...a place of happiness. Andrew had told her about a place where he and his family had once spent a week in the summer at an old beach house. It was in Rockaway Beach.

  Her body tensed as the memory blew up and exploded in her head. Had the story been true, or had it just been another lie that Moretti had fed her?

  Dunehalla... Valhalla...dunes...rocky dunes. Her mouth went dry. Was it possible that Moretti was hiding out in a beach house in the Rockaways? He’d told her that it was the only place and time that he’d ever known true happiness.

  “Nick, I think I know where he might be.” Her voice was strained. She jumped out of her chair, her heart thundering with anxiety and a wild hope that she knew she shouldn’t entertain.

  She raced back to Victoria’s office and threw open the door. “I might know where he is,” she said urgently.

  Victoria sat up straight in her chair. “Where?”

  “The Rockaways.” Lara quickly told Victoria about the memory she’d just had. “I can’t be sure if he was telling me the truth or not, but we need to check it out. I grew up in Rockaway Beach. It’s a huge area. How do we narrow the search?”

  “I’ll get agents out there immediately,” Victoria said.

  “And have Christina check out beach house rentals that might tie to Moretti or one of his henchmen,” Lara said urgently.

  “Lara and I are heading to the Rockaways now,” Nick said from behind Lara.

  Victoria picked up her phone and nodded. “Go,” she said.

  Lara would have gone whether Victoria had given her blessing or not. She had to go. She and Nick left the office and ran for the elevators.

  Lara’s heart beat so hard, so fast, she vaguely wondered if she were on the verge of a heart attack. Not yet, she told herself. She’d have a stroke later, when Emily was safe and back where she belonged.

  Minutes later as Nick roared out of the parking lot, Lara stared at the dark storm clouds that portended an early twilight.

  Was this right? Were they going to a place where Moretti felt safe? Where he’d once known real happiness and was now hunkered down with her baby?

  Lara swallowed hard, as if to cast away the encroaching, unnatural false night from seeping its darkness into her very soul.

  * * *

  Traffic was a nightmare during rush hour. Nick gripped the steering wheel tightly as he maneuvered aggressively through the throng of vehicles, lights and siren on.

  It would have been faster to take the train to the Long Island peninsula, but the Rockaways encompassed a large expanse of beach, and if they were going to search the area as thoroughly as possible, they needed to be in their own car.

  He didn’t have to look at Lara in the passenger seat to feel her presence. Her simmering energy filled the car interior. Although their relationship had finally transformed into something that really worked since those few first days of being assigned as partners, he still couldn’t begin to guess at the depth of emotions and thoughts that had to be crashing through her right now.

  He had no idea if this was another dead end or not, but he hoped, for Lara’s sake, that it wasn’t. Tension had been building in her since the moment they’d first been pulled from their sleep that morning with the news that Moretti had escaped from prison.

  God, it felt as if it had been days ago that she had waved her gun around in Central Park, her eyes wild and unseeing as she’d screamed for Moretti. She’d momentarily slipped over the edge; he feared that if this was another dead end, then she might fall over the edge once again, only this time she wouldn’t be able to fully recover.

  He didn’t look at her until they hit the Belt Parkway where the traffic was no better, but most vehicles actually paid attention to his siren and flashing lights. She stared out the front window with an intensity that was almost painful to see.

  “I’m sure there are law enforcement and FBI already crawling over the beaches,” he said. “Victoria would have called in every agency possible to help with the search.” He didn’t want to remind her of how big the search area really was.

  “The problem is that we don’t know specifically what we’re searching for. Nobody has even been able to give us any hint as to what kind of vehicle he might be driving.”

  Nick was pleased that her voice was calm and filled with the gritty strength he’d come to expect from her. “Have you thought of anything else that might narrow down the search area for us?”

  “I’ve been trying to remember every word of the conversation we shared wh
ere he told me about his summer vacation with his family,” she replied. She raised a hand to her forehead and rubbed two fingers there as if battling a headache. She dropped her hand to her lap and closed her eyes.

  Nick couldn’t know what it was like to have a child and to go to the enormous lengths Lara had in an effort to keep that child safe, only to have the horrible outcome that she now faced. He didn’t know what it was like to love a child more than anyone else on the face of the earth. At this point in his life, he couldn’t guess if he’d ever know what it was like to have a child.

  It had been hours and hours since they’d had any proof of life from Moretti where little Emily was concerned. Had Moretti already killed the girl? Was this a rush that would ultimately result in her body being found stretched out on a deserted beach?

  Nick swallowed hard against the horror of his thoughts and once again glanced at his partner. Was she entertaining the same kind of dark thoughts?

  With each mile that clicked off, her face grew paler, and the sick energy in the car heightened. He was afraid for the little girl, but he was equally afraid for his partner.

  The clouds overhead had become so thick and opaque that he had to turn on his headlights against the deepening darkness. The early night certainly wouldn’t help things.

  NYC Parks maintained about fourteen miles of beach that comprised the Rockaways, but the official season was over, and all of that beachfront would be closed until next spring. There would be no lifeguards on duty anywhere to notice if anyone who didn’t belong was on the beaches.

  Lightning flashed in the distance, and Nick sent up a silent prayer that no rain would fall to make the search even more difficult.

  “He’ll be on the beach,” Lara said suddenly. “He told me that his family all sat on the beach in the late evenings to watch the sunset on the waves. Jamaica Bay... I just remembered that he said something about Jamaica Bay. Dammit, I should have listened more carefully.”

  “You couldn’t have known that it would be important almost two years later,” Nick replied and then frowned thoughtfully. “Jamaica Bay. The area around Breezy Point?”