by Dee Lloyd
“Walt said Wilson had hired a bodyguard,” Reenie said. “He’s probably there, too.”
“I’ll call Walt and make sure his people pick up Wilson and whoever he has with him at the same time as they pounce on Casen and Gerardo,” Matt assured her. “By this time tomorrow, sweetheart, it will be all over.”
The last words echoed hollowly in his ears. He had tried not to wonder what Reenie was going to do when it was all over. He did know that he wasn’t going to allow what they had together to end with the arrest of Jon Casen. She couldn’t possibly believe he thought this was a temporary fling. Could she? When she’d confessed her love, he’d been so overwhelmed that he hadn’t been capable of uttering a word in reply. But she must know he loved her.
My God! He did.
He turned to look at her. There was such trust in her eyes, such love in her tremulous smile. He almost blurted out the words then and there. No, he’d wait until they were in their apartment - after he’d called Walt. And after he’d figured out how he was going to keep her safe for the next twenty-four hours.
They were approaching the marina gates when he suggested, “Ryan’s cottage is empty. You’d be harder to find there. If Ryan has sent the data he promised, I can work on it there.”
As he wheeled into the drive to the accompanying squeal of motion sensor, he caught sight of a familiar pickup parked beside the house.
“What’s Gus is doing here? He said he was going hunting on his first day off,” he said uneasily, parking the Jeep beside Gus’ pickup.
Even before they opened the door, they could hear angry voices.
“That’s nonsense, Pete,” Gus was saying flatly. “Every policeman in the state is looking for Maura Fitzgerald and you’ve been hiding her here.”
Reenie froze. Why now? All they needed was one more day. What was she going to do? Running to the cabin was no longer an option. All she could do was run blindly again - maybe take Matt’s Jeep and drive north, maybe cross into Canada at Sault Ste Marie. All she had to do was avoid being spotted for another twenty-four hours. But Gus’ next comment changed her mind.
“Everyone says the woman is unbalanced, Pete. How could you believe that crap she told you about Jon Casen?”
She’d had enough! Pushing aside Matt’s cautioning arm, she strode into the living room.
“Because Pete is smart enough to recognize the truth when he hears it!” she stated. She was quaking inside but she was so tired of lying and hiding. “If Jon Casen gets his hands on me, I’ll never get to testify to anything.”
Gus looked at her blandly.
“About time you brought her back,” he said to Matt. His scowl was hostile. “I was beginning to wonder if she’d taken off again taking you with her.”
“Last I heard, it’s no crime to take a drive in the country,” Matt said.
Gus turned back to Reenie. “You certainly don’t look like your picture on the Missing Persons flyer, Ms Fitzpatrick,” he said coldly. “Of course, the brown contact lenses you got from Sandra Field are a big help.”
“So that’s how you found out,” Matt growled. “What kind of story did Sandra give you?”
“Only that Maura Fitzpatrick was living at the marina under a false name.”
“My parents always called me Reenie,” she snapped.
“Reenie Kelly?” Gus raised an eyebrow.
Reenie felt guilty color flood her face.
“Casen is desperately worried about you. He’s moving heaven and earth to find you.”
“Jon Casen is a con-artist. He’s fooled a lot of gullible people, including me. But he is responsible for Danny’s death.” Reenie’s voice was getting a little ragged as her temper began to get the better of her. “And he’s desperately worried about finding me because he knows I can ruin him.”
“Well, Reenie, you’ll be safe with me. No matter who else you think intends to harm you,” Gus said. “I have to call Will Franks, the man who’s in charge of the DiMarco murder investigation, and tell him I’ve found his missing witness.”
“Reenie can’t tell you anything,” Matt burst in.
“Will thinks she can.” Gus placed his bulk between Reenie and the door. “You and Pete have no idea what kind of trouble you can find yourselves in. Every level of government has been after us to find this woman.”
“And you have no idea what kind of delicate operation you’re interfering with,” Matt declared. “If you’d get the chip off your shoulder because I didn’t confide in you, I could let you talk to someone who might put you in the real picture. Come with me while I check something at the apartment. Then we’ll make a call.”
Matt’s eyes locked on Reenie’s for an intense moment.
“I’ll be here when you get back,” she replied to his unstated question.
“I’m not letting Reenie, or Maura, or whatever her name is out of my sight.” Gus was really angry. “Can’t you get it through your thick head? She’s an important witness in a murder investigation.”
“I guarantee she’ll be here when we get back.”
“I can’t count on that,” Gus pointed out. “You’ve done nothing but lie to me since she got here.”
“Gustav Schroeder, you have my word that Reenie will remain with me in this house while you are gone,” Pete said, his face flushed with indignation that Gus would need to hear the words.
Gus glared back at him, then threw his hands up in surrender. “I need my head read.”
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Matt said softly. “Why don’t you make Dad some of your awful herbal tea and see if you can’t get him calmed down?”
She and Pete were halfway to the kitchen when Pete stopped in his tracks. “Did Matt call me ‘Dad’?” he demanded.
A shrill screech from the sensors warned them that some kind of vehicle had passed the gate. They hurried to the window.
“Just somebody using the driveway to turn around,” Pete said.
Reenie’s heart leapt to her throat. A distinctive dark blue sedan with wide chrome trim took off out the gates, its tires spitting gravel.
“That’s Wilson Foster’s car,” she gasped. “Matt and I saw it at my Dad’s cabin. They know where I am.”
She could see Matt, with Gus trailing, racing back towards the house. She flew out to meet him.
“It’s Wilson,” she gasped as he caught her in his arms.
“I saw the car. I don’t think they expected the alarm,” he said. “You’d better come back to the apartment with us while I contact Walt. We have plans to make.”
He turned to Pete. “Can you make it up the stairs, Dad?”
Pete didn’t waste his breath on an answer but merely nodded as he headed across the yard. Reenie could see from Gus’s expression that he was reluctantly being affected by the fierce tension that gripped the three others.
“Get Walt on the regular line, Reenie.” Matt was in his command mode. He picked up the huge pile of fax sheets that had arrived in their absence. “I’ll check my e-mail to see what Ryan’s fix on this stuff is.”
Reenie tried the GEL headquarters first. Luckily, Walt was still there.
“Finally,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get you for half an hour. Where on …”
“Walt,” she interrupted, “Wilson is here. He was about to drive right in through the marina gates when the alarm changed his mind.”
“He can’t be there already.” There was a shocked silence on the line. “Get Matt on the extension,” Walt snapped.
“Matt,” he acknowledged Matt’s terse greeting. “We have a major glitch here. The timing of our raids looked perfect, but Reenie’s location has been blown. Big time.”
“Yeah, Wilson Foster was just here.”
“There’s more than that. They put a photograph of Reenie in Pete’s kitchen side by side with the one they’ve been showing around of Maura Fitzpatrick on the front page of the GEL newsletter. The only good news is that the papers only arrived from the printer about an hour ago
and they aren’t supposed to be distributed until tomorrow morning. They’re all still here in bundles waiting for the trucks. I can put off the delivery. The bad news is that there’s one opened bundle on Jon’s desk and he’s not here.”
“That’s how Wilson knew,” Reenie breathed. “Did anybody from the newsletter staff or the printers call the hot line?”
“Not a soul,” Walt assured her.
“Find Casen,” Matt broke in. “Whatever you have to do. Your people will have to move in on him sooner than you planned.”
“Can’t be done. There are too many people involved. And I don’t know exactly where Jon is right now. But he wouldn’t miss the planning meeting. All the people who are essential to his career will be here.”
“We have another problem,” Matt announced and proceeded to tell Walt how Gus came to be sitting there determined to take Reenie in for questioning.
Walt’s string of curses would have done a longshoreman proud. “We’ve managed to keep everyone off her tail for two weeks,” he muttered. “All we needed was one more f–ing day. Do you think Schroeder will be reasonable?”
“Depends on how convincing you are,” Matt said.
“Put him on.”
Reenie handed Gus her receiver. From what she could hear of the three-way conversation, Gus was surprised but prepared to believe that Walt was a special agent of the IRS. He was even willing to believe that Jon Casen was probably a killer and connected with organized crime. What he was not prepared to do was let Reenie spend another minute without police protection.
“She’s a probable witness to murder and she’s in my county,” he said doggedly again and again. “I want her statement today.”
“Hold off,” Walt bargained, “and I’ll be more cooperative than you have any right to expect about giving you details that will help your criminal case.”
Gus finally gave in. “But I want the whole story about DiMarco’s killing.” He paused and scratched his head. “I guess the most secure place I know of without involving anyone else is here at Pete Hanson’s. I’ll have a man in the house around the clock to make sure nobody gets at Reenie.”
“Only you and I, Gus,” Matt insisted. “Nobody else.”
“No one else,” Walt agreed. “I caught a glimpse of that young redheaded deputy of Franks’ talking to one of Sal Gerardo’s boys last week. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but I’d rather keep this amongst the three of us. Reenie’s testimony is vital. For one thing, she can back up my version of what happened when Danny DiMarco was killed.”
“Your version?” Gus began. “Does that mean…?
“When we have Casen in custody,” Walt promised. “You have my word.”
The three men talked for another few minutes while Walt made sure each of them understood exactly what was planned for the following day. As soon as Walt called with word that the IRS men were in place, Gus would be freed of his promise not to notify Will Franks that he had Reenie.
The moment he hung up, Matt began to lay down his own ground rules. “You have every right to question Reenie, Gus, but you aren’t going to browbeat her. And I want to be present. Before we get started, Reenie and I need a couple of minutes of privacy.”
Reenie could see that Gus had put up with about all he was going to. Before his hackles rose any higher, she decided to lay down a few ground rules of her own.
“Listen to me, Mattias Hanson,” she told him. “You will not stay with me. You have more important business of your own to finish.” She turned to Gus. “You have no idea how relieved I am to finally be able to tell you about what happened, Gus. I want you to know the whole story. I won’t hold anything back.”
Gus looked a little happier.
“But if you wouldn’t mind excusing us for a while …” She gave him her most imploring smile. “I think I know what Matt wants to discuss with me. It’s extremely important. Please. We’ll be in the next room.”
“You’ll owe me more than one weekend on The Sailing Solution, Matt, old buddy,” Gus said with a deep sigh. “I want to tell you I’m getting mighty sick of making concessions here.”
The moment the bedroom door closed behind them, Matt opened his arms and she stepped into them. Nothing had ever felt as good as his muscular arms closing around her. For a few seconds, she allowed his strength to renew her.
“I do love you, Mattias Hanson,” she said, then placed her fingers gently over his mouth when he began to speak.
“No,” she said, moving out of the tempting warmth of his embrace. “Don’t say anything. I just want you to know I meant it.”
Matt lifted her chin and kissed her. She tried not to read too much into the earnestness of his kiss.
“To business, woman,” Matt said when he raised his lips from hers. “You think we should let Gus see the copies of the photos and the memos.”
“Yes. Walt didn’t mention them one way or the other. I don’t know if the negatives could be admissible as evidence without testimony of the photographer, but those pictures sure are the quickest way to convince someone that Jon isn’t the man everyone thinks he is.”
“I agree. And I know you can handle Gus’ questions without me. I have to stay here at this infernal computer until I nail the bastard. We can’t take time to move the equipment back to the house.”
He was obviously reluctant to let her go. “You don’t want me with you when you go through the envelope with Gus?”
“Just finish your search. And join me at the house as soon as you can. Oh, by the way…” She couldn’t believe she was blushing. “Where will I be sleeping?”
“In my bed.”
“What about Pete?”
“He has his own bed.” He grinned. “He knows we sleep together, sweetheart. Would being together under his roof embarrass you?”
“I want you near me,” she said. Forever wouldn’t be too long. “Hurry. Find that bank account. I’ll take Pete and Gus over to the house now and leave you to it.”
A few minutes later, Gus was slipping the glossy photographs back into the manila envelope.
“Well. Well. Well,” he mused. “I see.”
His eyes were focused on the papers he was folding, then inserting carefully into the same envelope. He raised his deceptively warm brown eyes to Reenie’s. She was sure his sharp gaze penetrated to the back of her brain.
“Do you object to my taping our talk?” he asked.
“Anything that will help,” she replied.
“I’d like you to tell me about Jon Casen,” he said. “Start anywhere. Who introduced you - where you first heard his name - what made you run from him - anywhere.”
“Gran raved about Jon for months before I agreed to meet him,” she began.
She told her story in chronological order. With occasional prompting from Pete, she did a pretty thorough job of it. Then Gus began to question her on the minute details of her report of the night Danny was killed. Again and again, he had her repeat the words she had overheard and describe the scene when she’d pushed the door open so that she could see what was happening.
“Why didn’t you run before that?” he asked.
“I thought maybe I could stop them fighting.”
“She’s been over all that,” Pete objected. “She’s had enough, Gus.”
“One more tiny clarification,” Gus held up his hand to signal Pete be quiet. “You didn’t see Jon Casen hit DiMarco. How can you be so sure he did?”
“Walt was there.” Her temper flared. “He’ll tell you Jon started hitting Danny while Wilson held him down.”
“Our case will be stronger if your independent testimony can give us some detail.”
Reenie squeezed her eyes shut and made herself see the scene as it had been gradually revealed through the slowly opening office door.
“There was blood on the knuckles of Jon’s right hand. He was dabbing it with a tissue as he bent over Danny,” she crowed.
“That could be important,” Gus told her as he cl
icked off the tape recorder.
It was almost ten o’clock when Matt returned. Reenie was sitting with Pete and Gus at the kitchen table absentmindedly stirring a cup of herbal tea. When she heard the door to the mudroom closing, she rushed to meet him.
“How did it go?” she asked.
“I’m close.” He grimaced wryly. “But no cigar. The corporate structure I was working through turned out to be a dead end,” he told them. “But I’m sure I’m onto the right one now.” His eyes were red-rimmed and his eyelids were drooping but there was no mistaking the concern in their dark depths. “Are you all right?”
“Gus was more prepared to believe me than I expected,” she told him.
“True,” Gus said, taking a large bite from the brownie he was holding.
The picture of Pete and Gus having an evening snack at the kitchen table looked normal, if you didn’t look at the shotgun that leaned against Pete’s chair and the businesslike shoulder holster that Gus was wearing.
“From Reenie’s story of your midnight raid on Driftwood Lodge,” Gus greeted him, “I gather you have a handgun, Matt.”
“A .38 Special Airweight. It’s legal.”
“Do you have it with you?”
Matt withdrew the small revolver from the back of his belt.
“Make sure you have it on you, “Gus said. “Knowing where Wilson Foster is and not being able to pick him up until tomorrow is driving me nuts. I can’t even put him under surveillance.”
“The gun we took off the man Matt knocked out is still in my bag,” Reenie volunteered.
“Do you know how to use it?”
“Matt took me out to a gravel pit and made me fire it a few times last week.” In spite of her aversion to guns, she wished she had a bit more expertise. “I couldn’t hit anything small.”
“You’re not going to need to,” Matt asserted firmly.
“Keep it with you,” Gus advised, “in case…” The unspoken words, “something happens to us,” hung in the air.
“It shouldn’t take Ryan more than two or three hours to get access to the new data I need.” Matt changed the subject abruptly. “I told him I’d log in at four A.M. so I’d better get some sleep now. Come on, Reenie. Time for bed.”