Zach bent over and placed a kiss on Ella's head. "Get some rest."
"Aren't you coming to bed?" she asked.
"Later. I need to work."
"Then I'll stay up with you."
Zach could tell that she was determined to do just that. He also knew that she was worn out from her earlier encounter. She'd hit two men today, been kidnapped, and been shot at. It wouldn't take long for her to fall asleep.
He nodded, content to let her sit up with him as long as she liked.
Zach opened his computer, put in his passwords, and then began the software programs that he'd need to pick up where he’d left off earlier that day. By the time he was ready to start back up, Ella was sound asleep.
He smiled to himself. Damn, she was beautiful when she slept.
Zach turned back to his computer and got to work.
* * * *
Three hours later, he was in.
Zach was staring at a long list of names that were each coded with a file number. Each file number corresponded to a file located in a folder. Zach double clicked on one of the files, and a Word document popped up.
Abuzar Muhammed's name was listed at the top, with a laundry list of misdeeds below it. Trafficking of adults and children. Gun trafficking. Drug trafficking. Murder. Conspiracy. It was all there. Below it were pictures of Abuzar caught in the act of several of the crimes he'd committed.
They'd hit the jackpot. Not only should there be multiple files in here relating to Tobias Winters and hopefully The General, but they now also had enough on numerous other criminals to put them behind bars.
Zach took his phone out of his pocket to call Sully, not caring that it was three o'clock in the morning. He scrolled through the names as he punched in Sully's number and stopped cold.
Fiorella Flores.
A cold sweat popped out on Zach's forehead, and he looked over his shoulder to make sure that Ella was still sleeping. Below her name was another name, Guillermo Flores, and he wondered if that was her father. His intuition told him it was.
Scared to find out what Bruno had on Ella, he clicked on Guillermo Flores's name.
Guillermo Flores, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Husband to Alannah Flores, Kilarney, Ireland. Father to Fiorella Flores.
Crimes: Embezzlement. Conspiracy. Fraud.
Deceased.
Below those words were pictures of Guillermo and his family—a lovely, thin, blonde-haired woman, and a beautiful teenage daughter with her mother's hair. The next picture was a close-up of Ella's face. Younger. Carefree.
Then there were pictures of Guillermo with a man in an Army uniform. The man was highly decorated. A caption at the bottom said: The General and Guillermo Flores.
It couldn't be. Fiorella's dad couldn't have a connection with The General. Could he?
There were lots of generals in the Army. It didn't mean that this general was the same one who'd been pulling the strings of his life since he was seventeen.
Zach closed the file and hovered over the one with Fiorella's name attached to it. He debated within himself. Did he want to know what she’d been accused of? What could she possibly have done?
His curiosity won out, and he clicked on it.
Fiorella Flores, Washington, D.C., United States
Crimes: Sex Trafficking. Prostitution. Murder.
Zach's heart thumped in his chest, his pulse roaring in his ears. Murder?
He scrolled down to a grainy picture of Fiorella kneeling beside her father, her hands covered in blood. Below the picture, someone had scrawled the word Murderer under it.
He read on as Bruno elaborated on how Ella, a.k.a. Quita, had brought girls into the club, where they would be sold into sex slavery. That was easy to dismiss. She'd been a prisoner herself. Bruno would of course want to shine the light on someone other than himself. The prostitution was, of course, false. She'd been forced into that as well.
The next paragraph was about her father's murder. Ella had been found kneeling over her father's body, with his blood on her hands and no one else present in the house. There hadn't been an investigation. Someone had arranged for Ella and her mother to be escorted out of D.C. and hidden away in Phoenix, Arizona.
There was nothing about her motive for killing her father, the person who had taken the pictures, or whoever had helped them to get away. Only that someone had helped.
A niggling started in the back of Zach's mind, but he pushed it away.
Was Ella a murderer? Had she killed her father in cold blood? And if so, why?
He didn't have any answers to his questions tonight, only what he knew about her. There was no way he could hand over this information to Sully until he got to the bottom of things.
Ella claimed that her father had been murdered in front of her. But could she have said that to cover up the fact that she'd been the one to kill him?
Zach's eyes were heavy. He couldn't focus on this tonight. He needed a few moments of sleep.
He started copying the files, and left the computer in sleep mode so it would work in the background. Stretching his arms over his head, he eyed the empty space next to Ella.
Could he sleep next to her tonight, knowing what he knew? Did it change his growing feelings for her?
She'd been a teenager. And he didn't know the whole story. But he knew one thing—there was no way she'd killed her father in cold blood. She might have been responsible for his death, but there had to be an explanation in there somewhere. And until he figured out what that was, the files would stay with him.
Chapter 18
Ella woke the next morning warm and cozy. Actually, she was very warm. Maybe even too warm.
She opened her eyes and found Zach's arms locked around her waist, his body pressed tightly against hers. The contentment—as well as the overwhelming heat—she felt was startling. She'd never felt so comfortable with a man before. Since she'd been abused for so many years, she usually saw men as the enemy. Out for only one thing.
But Zach was different. He continued to put her needs before his own. And she was falling for him because of it.
Ella tried to roll out from under Zach's grasp, but he just held on more tightly. She tried kicking the covers off, but his leg was like a vise on hers. Finally, she sighed loudly and was rewarded with a soft chuckle.
Turning her head, she peered into the green eyes that melted her insides. Zach’s lips were quirked up in a slight smile.
"Warm?" he asked.
"I'm burning up."
"Yeah, me too," he said, with a waggle of his eyebrows, and rolled over to give her room.
"How late did you stay up last night?" Ella asked. She'd meant to stay up with him, but she didn't think she'd lasted very long.
"Till about four."
"Yikes. What time is it now?" she asked, looking for a clock.
"About eight. I'd like to be on the road by nine. Is that doable?"
Ella nodded. "Sure, just give me a few minutes." She slipped out of the bed and padded over to the bathroom, gathering her toiletries for the shower.
Breaking records for the quickest shower ever, Ella dressed hurriedly and put her hair in a messy bun on top of her head. When she stepped out of the bathroom, Zach had his laptop open and quickly shut it, jumping up to take his turn in the shower.
Ella sat on the bed while she waited, wondering if Zach had broken the encryption. Would he tell her if he had? Was her name in those files?
Bruno only knew what those in charge wanted him to know about the situation. She knew that if she was in that file, it would look very bad. No one knew the truth. No one except her and the man responsible for her father's death.
Steam billowed out as the door to the bathroom opened. Zach came out with his jeans slung low on his hips, and his chest bare. He had a towel in his hands, which he was using to scrub his hair dry. Ella licked her lips. He was beautiful.
She cleared her throat as she moved her eyes away from his tantalizing chest. "Did you make
any headway last night?"
Zach caught her gaze and nodded.
When he didn't say anything else, Ella asked, "Did you break the encryption?"
He paused, dropping the towel to the floor. Sauntering over, Zach sat down on the bed next to Ella. She watched as a single drop of water rolled down his neck, over his collarbone, and then down his chest. Oh, how she wanted to follow that path with her tongue. But not now. That would have to wait.
"I did."
She opened her mouth to speak, but Zach held up a single finger to stop her. "But I didn't have time to go through the files. I was tired and needed some rest. We need to get on the road today. I'll comb through the information once we've stopped again."
"Did you send the files to Sully?" she asked, nervous that Sully might already have information linking her to some very bad crimes.
"No."
That startled her. Why wouldn't he have sent the files on over?
Zach stood, reaching for the shirt on top of his bag and pulling it on over his head. When he was done, he zipped up his luggage and walked toward the door, Ella right behind him.
"Ready?" he asked.
Ella nodded, and they walked to the car.
She wasn't sure what had changed, but something sure had. Zach wasn't being unfriendly, and he'd certainly enjoyed being cuddled up to her this morning, but he seemed distant.
They drove through a drive-thru for fast food and ate in the car. Besides asking her what she wanted, Zach had barely spoken to her. She couldn't figure it out. Unless he'd seen something in the files last night.
If he had, then why wasn't he asking her about it? She wasn't ready to tell him everything. That information would put him in danger. But she could at least tell him that she was innocent.
And if there was no file, or if he hadn't seen it yet, then she didn't want to be the one to bring it up. Why talk about it if she didn't have to?
Her mind kept spinning. If he did find out, would he turn her in? She thought about the disappointment that Sully and Isabel would feel towards her. Ella hadn't had many friends in the last few years. It was nice knowing that there were people besides her mother out there who cared about her. But once they found out the truth, would they still care about her?
Ella rested her eyes as Zach drove them through the countryside of Arkansas. It wasn't a state she’d ever thought much about. She'd never been here, and it hadn't been on a list of places she’d wanted to travel to. But she was soothed by the passing scenery of trees, fields, and tiny towns that had seen better days.
After a few hours on the road, Zach pulled over for lunch and gas. There wasn't much to choose from in that small town off I-40 west, but they found a diner connected to the gas station. Zach pumped the gas while Ella went into the diner to get them a table.
A waitress came by, dropping off a couple of menus for them. Ella decided on the cheeseburger and French fries right as Zach walked in. He looked mouthwatering in his jeans that fit just right, and the gray henley that he'd pulled on that morning.
"What looks good?" he asked.
Ella wanted to say, You do, but she refrained. "I'm getting the cheeseburger and fries. I've found that diners like this make the best ones."
"Agreed. I'll have the same," he said, and smiled. It was the first time she'd seen him smile all day.
"What can I get for ya'll?" the waitress asked.
They ordered two cheeseburgers and fries, and chocolate shakes. If she was going to eat poorly, she might as well go down with a bang.
"You want to tell me why you've barely spoken to me all day and won't make eye contact?" Ella asked. It was time to talk about whatever was going on. She couldn't handle the suspense any longer.
"Just a lot on my mind."
"Yeah, not buying it. What's going on, Zach?"
He sighed, leaning forward and propping his elbows on the table. The waitress came over, bringing them the chocolate shakes and a couple of glasses of ice water.
"Look, I scrolled through the files, and I found your dad's name."
Ella started. That wasn't what she’d expected at all.
"Oh?"
"Yes. There was a list of crimes, fraud being one of them."
"That's not possible. My dad was an upstanding guy. He wasn't a fraud," she started, then shut her mouth with a pop.
Of course. The General had fixed it so that her dad looked like the criminal, when the opposite was true. She shook her head.
"It's ok," Zach said.
"No!" she said sharply. "It is not ok. You have no idea what you're dealing with here, Zach."
"Then tell me," he said, pleading in his eyes.
"I can't." Ella glanced around them. She was just waiting for more bad guys to pop out and take her down.
"You can. Who else are you going to trust?" he asked.
"No one. But I can't, Zach. I'd be putting you at risk, and I can't do that any more than I already have."
"That's bullshit," he said.
"It's not. I just can't—"
"I'm in this up to my eyeballs, Ella. Our team is in this, too. It’s not fair for you to keep us in the dark. You're not giving us all the information. That puts us at even greater risk, since we have no idea what we're dealing with."
His words were true, and Ella felt a wave of shame at having gotten them involved at all. She never should have called him that night in New York City. She should have just kept running. Or just let them kill her.
Ella wouldn't be able to live with herself if something happened to Zach or the Castle team because of her.
"There was also a file on you," he said quietly.
Ella's head jerked up at his words. "What kind of file?"
"One with photographs."
"Of what?"
Zach dropped his voice. "Of you and your father. The night he was murdered."
Ella didn't understand. "What do you mean?"
"It was you, Ella. Standing over your dad's body. Your hands were covered in blood."
A sob was wrenched from her throat. "No! It can't be," she said, panic clawing at her insides.
"I’m sorry," he said, placing his hand over hers.
She felt the tears run down her face. She'd been there. He'd accused her of killing him. But she'd had no idea that he’d had pictures taken of her. Incriminating photographs that could put Ella away for a very long time.
"I know you didn't do it," Zach said.
Ella stared at him. How could he have so much faith in her? He had pictures of her, standing over her father's dead body, with blood on her hands—and yet he still believed that she had nothing to do with it.
"How do you know that?" she asked.
"Because I know you. I heard you talk about the night he was killed. I heard the anguish in your voice. No guilt. No fear. Just heart-wrenching grief. The grief of a girl who lost her dad way too young."
Ella waited for the waitress to place their burgers and fries in front of them. The greasy goodness smelled amazing, but Ella's stomach churned. After hearing what Zach had found, she was suddenly not very hungry.
"I was there. The night he died. But I didn't kill him."
"I know."
"But you don't know anything else, Zach. And the other stuff, it could get you killed. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you because of me."
"And why is that?"
"What do you mean? I just don't want you hurt—"
"It's because you care about me," he said, confidence resounding through his words.
Ella didn't know what to say to that. She did care about him. A lot. More than she should.
But she couldn't keep Zach. There was no future for them. As long as The General was in the picture, she would never be safe. And those she loved would never be safe, either.
Love. She realized that that was what she was starting to feel for Zach. Or maybe she'd loved him from the beginning, from the night he'd taken her hand as she lay passed out on the floor of her townhome.
Or maybe it had been at the hospital. Or the night they first kissed, after she'd retrieved the files from Bruno's office. Whenever it had happened, she knew now that she did indeed love Zach Harper.
All the more reason to keep him safe.
"I do care about you," she admitted.
He smiled. "Don't sound so put out about it.”
Ella laughed softly. "My dad was doing business with someone. He found out that the man was doing things that were illegal. My dad confronted him. I was home that night, but I wasn't supposed to be. I’d had plans, but they were canceled at the last minute. My dad didn't know I was home. Neither did the man who killed him."
Zach took her hand and squeezed lightly. Ella took a deep breath before continuing.
"I heard them arguing. Heard the loud report of the gun. I ran downstairs just as my dad hit the floor. I tried to stop the bleeding. That's why my hands were bloody. The man who killed him told me to keep quiet, or he'd kill my mother, too. He sent us to Phoenix. Got us out of D.C. so I wasn't tempted to go to the police. I tried to act like it was my mother's idea. I even said that I'd contacted friends to try to stay in D.C. But none of that was true. I assume the photos were meant to keep me in line. If he framed me for my father's death, he'd be in the clear. But why risk someone getting curious? Easier to send me away."
Ella didn't tell Zach that it was The General who'd killed her father. She didn't tell him that she knew his name and his face. It was The General who’d had Tobias and Bruno find her in Vegas. It was he who'd forced her into stripping, prostitution, and gaining the trust of the girls they trafficked.
It was hard to sleep at night. The faces of girls who'd trusted Ella flashed through her mind. They’d trusted her—and then she'd betrayed them. Sure, she'd had no choice. It hadn't been just her life at stake. If she hadn't done what they’d required of her, they would have killed her mom. Or they would threaten to do terrible things to the girls at the club. They always knew how to make her cooperate. She'd had no choice.
But that didn't lessen the guilt. Bone-crushing guilt rested on Ella's shoulders every single day of her life. She was so tired of carrying the burden. It would be so nice to unload it on someone else for a change. Let Zach help her bear it. But she couldn't do that to him. She wouldn't do that to him.
Castle Investigations Box Set Page 90