by Cynthia Eden
Celia nodded. “Right. Come this way.” She motioned to the right. “His study is in here. The governor knows me, so I’ll greet him at the door. I’ll also make sure that no one interrupts us once we get started.”
Celia was certainly an interesting woman.
Mac followed Elizabeth into the study. Sullivan was right on their heels.
“We need the guy to slip up,” Sullivan said as he took up a post near the window. “When he makes a mistake, that’s when we have him.” He still had the briefcase in his hands.
“And by coming here, by catching him off guard, we immediately put the guy at a disadvantage,” Mac added.
Elizabeth studied him for a moment. “Why do I get the feeling you’ve done your share of interrogations?”
“Because Uncle Sam trained me well.” His stare was solemn. “I know how to spot lies. I know how to see the truth. The interrogations I did were in some hellholes, places I wish I could forget, but I learned valuable lessons there.” He peered over at Sullivan. “We both did.”
Sullivan’s shoulders stiffened. “I wish I could forget some of those places, too.”
“And some of the people?” Celia asked softly as she headed for the door.
“Not—” Sullivan began.
But Celia had left the room.
“Not you,” he finished. “Not you, C.”
Mac crossed to Elizabeth’s side. “Are you ready for this?”
“Yes.” Ready for it to be over. “If he’s the one who sent that hit man after me...if he’s done all of this—” her shoulders straightened “—then I’m ready to nail him to the wall.”
“Bloodthirsty, isn’t she?” Sullivan muttered.
Her angry stare flew toward him. “He’s destroyed my life. He took away the man I loved.”
Mac stiffened.
“Then he came after me again,” Elizabeth’s words tumbled out. “Just when I was safe. Just when I felt like I might have found a place to stay, he started hunting me. He put Grant in danger. He put Mac in danger.” Her chin jerked up. “That’s not going to happen again. He has to pay for his crimes. We have to stop him before anyone else is hurt.”
She heard voices out in the foyer. Celia. A man. A woman. Had the governor arrived?
“Showtime,” Mac murmured.
Yes, it was.
Elizabeth braced herself. Mac was at her side, standing close. Sullivan kept his position near the window. The voices drew closer. A woman was laughing, a light, tinkling sound that grated on Elizabeth’s nerves.
Then Celia was in the doorway. “Your guests are just in here, Governor,” she murmured. “I hope you don’t mind that I brought them inside.”
The governor strode in behind her. He was tall, with broad shoulders. He was still wearing a tux, and in her jeans, Elizabeth suddenly felt terribly out of place.
Get a grip. He’s a killer.
The governor glanced at her and smiled.
For a moment the world slowed down. The governor had one dimple in his left cheek. A dimple that flashed when he smiled. And his eyes were a deep gold. Very distinct.
“Hello, ma’am, gentlemen.” The governor nodded to them all as his wife followed him into the room. She was dressed in a form-fitting blue gown, one that had a long slit that showcased her well-toned legs. Her hands were covered in white gloves that ended just below her elbows. The governor’s wife was an attractive woman, perfectly styled, and she was giving their little group a practiced, polite smile.
“I’m so glad you wish to support my campaign,” he began.
“You have his smile,” Elizabeth blurted. She rubbed her suddenly pounding temples. “Or he had yours, I guess.” Her head tilted to the side as she studied him. “The eyes are the same, too. I thought only Nate had eyes like that.”
The governor paled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes,” Mac said, taking an aggressive step forward. “You do, Governor. You know exactly what—or who—she’s talking about.” He glanced toward Sullivan.
Sullivan strode forward and placed his briefcase on the governor’s desk.
“Wesley?” The governor’s wife wrapped her fingers around his arm. “What’s going on? Are these people here to support you?”
“No, Evelyn.” His voice had thickened, and his shoulders had slumped a bit. “I don’t think they are.”
Evelyn’s eyes turned cold and angry in a flash. “Then what’s going on? Who are all of you?” She glanced over her shoulder. “Where’s Martin? Didn’t he set this up? Where’s—”
“Is that you in the picture, Governor?” Sullivan asked.
He’d taken some photos out of the briefcase. He put one photo on the desk—it was the photo that Elizabeth and Mac had retrieved from Yeldon’s place. The photo of a lone man at Nate’s grave.
A man who looked a whole lot like the governor.
Wesley’s fingers shook as he reached out to touch that photo.
“I think that is you,” Mac said. He nodded to Sullivan, and another photo was placed on the desk. “And I think you know exactly who Nate Daniels is.”
Elizabeth pressed her lips together. The photo Sullivan had just put on that desk showed Nate at the crime scene. It showed all the blood. It showed his body, exactly where it had fallen after his attack.
A shudder ran over Wesley’s whole body.
“How did you do it?” Elizabeth asked. “How did you set up your own son’s murder?”
Wesley’s gaze whipped toward her. “What? No, no, I didn’t!”
“Wesley!” Evelyn grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the desk. “You’re being set up!” She gave him a hard shake. “These people must be reporters—they’re trying to destroy us! Don’t say another word.” She pointed toward the door. “I want you all out of my house right this moment. If you don’t leave, I will be calling the cops.”
“The cops sound like a great idea to me,” Celia said, nodding. “And they’re already on their way. I had to contact the right ones, of course, a few detectives I know who weren’t particularly impressed by your husband’s position.” She leaned forward and said, her voice hushed but carrying, “They didn’t vote for him in the last election.”
Evelyn’s cheeks flushed a bright red. “You were supposed to be his ally! You came into our lives with the highest recommendation! You were CIA—”
“I came into your lives because you were already under investigation,” Celia fired back. “There were some financial discrepancies that had been brought to my boss’s attention. I’ve been watching the governor for quite some time. My boss wanted me to investigate, and then when the McGuires contacted me, well, let’s just say that vanishing money suddenly made a whole lot more sense. When you’re paying off a hit man, it takes a lot of cash, doesn’t it? It’s not like he’d be the type to accept credit.”
“What are you talking about?” Wesley stumbled toward Celia. “I haven’t hired any hit man! And I certainly never arranged for Nate’s murder!” His voice dropped. “My son...my son...”
“Shut up,” Evelyn ordered. “They’ll use this against us! It will be in every tabloid in the country, and we will never sit in the White House!”
Wesley cut her a quick glance then nodded.
“Get out,” Evelyn ordered again. “If the cops really are coming, they’d better have a warrant or they won’t get past my front door.”
Sullivan collected the photographs.
Celia inclined her head. “If that’s the way you want to play it...”
Wait, were they really all just going to leave?
Elizabeth rushed toward the governor and she grabbed his arm. “Nate was a good man.”
He blinked at her.
“He loved me.” She’d never doubted that. “He had
a beautiful smile and big dreams. And I know that all of his dreams would have come true. He was good,” she said again. “I saw him empty his pockets to help someone else that he thought was worse off than he was. The whole time I was with him, he never complained about anything. He just talked about the good things that were coming.” Her heart was breaking all over again. “He didn’t get any of those good things.” Tears slid down her cheeks. “Because you had him killed. You had your own son killed!”
“No!” His voice was hoarse. “I didn’t... I didn’t even find out about him until he was dead. I didn’t know, I swear!”
“I’m calling security,” Evelyn announced as she marched toward the desk and reached for the phone there. “You got past the team at the gate because you fed them your lies. They’ll drag you all out now.”
Mac stepped forward. “If you didn’t kill him, Governor, then why won’t you talk to us? Why won’t you answer our questions?”
“This is Evelyn,” the governor’s wife snapped into the phone. “I need security at the main house right now. We have intruders here that must be escorted off the property immediately.”
“Like this is the first time we’ve ever been kicked out of a place,” Sullivan rasped, a rough grin sliding over his face.
Elizabeth glanced away from Sullivan and back at the governor. He was staring at her with wide eyes.
“I...know you,” Wesley said. “I saw you at Nate’s funeral.”
Her heart slammed into her ribs. This is it! “Yes, you did.”
“Did you...did you really love my son?”
Elizabeth nodded.
Mac was silent, watching. The only person in that room who wasn’t silent was Evelyn. She was barking orders, screaming for the security team to get there.
“I wish I’d known him,” Wesley confessed. “I—I got his letter to me, saying that he was coming, but he never showed up.”
And she remembered what the hit man had said, Look what happened to Nate! He should have just kept driving! Another hour and I never would’ve been able to touch him, but he screwed up.
“He was coming to see you,” she said, struggling to put the puzzle pieces together. “But then he met me.”
Wesley shook his head. “I don’t—”
“He told me that he’d let his past go the day that he met me.” She swiped at her cheeks. “He wasn’t going to ruin your career! He wasn’t going to create some kind of scandal. He let it all go.” Pain squeezed her heart. “Why couldn’t you let it go, too?” It hurt to stare into eyes so like Nate’s. “Why did you have to kill him?”
The governor’s hands latched around her shoulders, holding tight. “I didn’t!” He shook her. “I didn’t!” His voice rose. “I would never—”
Mac grabbed him and tossed the guy back against the desk. “You don’t hurt her.” His hands were fisted and ready to attack. “You don’t put your hands on her, you understand? Try it again and you’ll see just how violent I can truly become.”
Even Evelyn was silent.
“I’m sorry,” Wesley said as he pressed his hands to his eyes. “It’s just—seeing those pictures. Seeing him like that.” His hands dropped, and he tried to meet Elizabeth’s stare, but Mac stood in front of her, shielding her with his body. “Did he suffer? Did he cry out? Did he say anything at the end?”
Elizabeth bit her lip so hard she was surprised she didn’t taste blood. “He screamed,” she told him starkly as she moved to Mac’s side. “He told me to run. With his last breath, he was saving me.”
The lines on Wesley’s face seemed to deepen. “I didn’t know. I found his letter after he was already gone. I had an assistant back then. She’d opened it and thought it was some kind of blackmail threat. She didn’t even tell me about it. Not until it was too late.”
He was really going to stand there and lie to them?
“I don’t believe you,” Elizabeth said flatly. “You hired that hit man to kill Nate. And then you hired the same man to come after me in Austin.” Her pounding heartbeat shook her chest. “He’s dead now, by the way. Your Fixer was killed when he tried to escape from police custody.”
“He...came after you?”
Mac was still standing protectively close. Did he think the governor was going to attack her?
“You’ve been the governor here for so long. People love you.” Disgust twisted her lips. “But they don’t really know you, do they? Yes, the killer came for me. And he also came for a reporter named Steve Yeldon. I was lucky. I lived, thanks to Mac and his brothers.”
Mac caught her fingers in his.
“Steve wasn’t so lucky,” she continued. “The Fixer stabbed him in a dirty alley and left him to die.”
Wesley’s body shuddered.
Evelyn put the phone back down. She hurried to her husband’s side. “His heart is weak! He doesn’t need this stress.” She wrapped her arms around him. “Get out.”
Elizabeth turned for the door. She’d wanted a confession. Wanted proof. She’d stared the monster in the eyes and she’d seen—
Pain. Pain had stared back at her.
The governor must be one fine actor, because that grief and horror on his face had looked real, too.
She heard the front door crash open, and a thunder of footsteps raced toward the study.
“That would be the guards,” Sullivan said, voice wry, “coming to drag us out.”
Sure enough, the guards burst in. One immediately grabbed for Celia.
Sullivan lunged forward. “You need to watch that.” His voice was lethal. “That’s no way to handle a lady.” His fingers flexed, as if he was getting ready to deliver a punch.
“Don’t hurt them,” the governor ordered. His voice seemed low, weak. “They were just leaving.”
Like she wanted his protection. Elizabeth strode for the door, but then she glanced back at him. “Did you kill his mother, too?”
The governor stared at her in confusion, but beside him, Evelyn’s mouth dropped in shock. For just an instant, she let go of her husband’s arm.
“Nate’s mother. She was killed in a hit and run when he was just a little kid.” Now she was going with her gut. “Another job for the Fixer, huh? I guess he’s been on the payroll for a long time.”
Mac’s shoulder brushed against her. “That Fixer of yours talked to the cops. Got real chatty with Detective Ben Howard. Trust me, you won’t be getting away with anything that you’ve done.” He gave a mocking salute. “We’ll be seeing you again real soon, Governor.”
The guards were all around them, all dressed in black and glancing a bit nervously at the governor and his wife.
The guards didn’t touch them again, not as they slowly walked out of the mansion. Elizabeth didn’t hear the shriek of any police cruisers approaching, so she wondered if Celia’s story about the cops had just been BS to stall while they questioned the governor.
“That was certainly interesting,” Celia murmured as they neared the SUV.
Sullivan caught her arm. “Did he hurt you?”
She laughed. “Really, Sully? You know it takes a whole lot more than that to hurt me.” Her voice sharpened. “You—of all people—know that I don’t break.”
Mac opened the SUV’s passenger door. Elizabeth started to climb in.
“Wait!”
The desperate cry had Elizabeth glancing back. Evelyn was running toward her, her gown tripping up her legs, and her face a frantic mask. “Wait! Miss— I didn’t even get your name!”
Elizabeth turned toward her. “Elizabeth Snow.”
The woman staggered to a stop in front of her. She glanced nervously at the others then said, “We have to talk. You and I...alone.”
“The hell you do,” Mac said immediately. “If you’ve got something to say, then just say it right here in
front of us all.”
Evelyn’s gloved hands twisted together. “He’s...he’s got a temper, you see.” Her breath heaved out. “I lived with him all these years... I’ve witnessed it.” And she didn’t look so confident and cold any longer. Instead, her face had twisted with fear, and her eyes held dark shadows. “That boy’s mother...you mentioned that you thought my husband had killed her, too?”
And Elizabeth remembered the way Evelyn had pulled away from the governor when she’d dropped that particular bombshell.
“We sure think that’s a possibility,” Mac said grimly. “A very strong possibility.”
“Was her name—” her eyes squeezed shut “—Gloria?”
Elizabeth’s heart stopped. “Yes! Yes!” Elizabeth stepped closer to the other woman. “He told you about her?”
“She...she was one of his mistakes.” Her lips trembled. “So many over the years, but I remember her because one night...he was having a nightmare. He screamed her name. When I asked about her, he told me later that...Gloria was a problem that he’d fixed.”
Her heart was racing again, but it sure seemed as if a cold wind had just wrapped tightly around her. Elizabeth shivered.
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder. “I’ve lived with him so long. He was a good man, once...” Her voice trailed away.
“You need to come with us,” Elizabeth said immediately. “Come with us to the police, and you can tell us everything you know.”
But Evelyn backed up. “I can’t turn on my husband.”
Mac swore. “He’s a killer! So his hands didn’t get dirty, so what? He ordered those deaths! And how do you know that he won’t decide to do the same to you?”
Evelyn shook her head. “No, you’re wrong—”
But Sullivan had joined them, and he brutally asked, “If you’re no longer useful to him, how long do you really think he’ll keep you around?”
The guards spilled out of the house. “Ma’am? Is there a problem?” one of them called.
Her eyes were stark as she backed away. “No problem. They’re leaving.”