Private Affair

by Rebecca York

  Chapter 17

  Max cursed under his breath.

  “What?” Olivia murmured.

  “Trouble.”

  The chunky man came stamping toward them. He was wearing a rumpled tweed sports coat and dark slacks, a white shirt that had seen better days, and no tie. His name was Archie Hamilton, and Max had tangled with him on a couple of cases a few years ago. That was one of the factors that had convinced Max it wasn’t worth going back into police work after he’d been shot. Hamilton had a tendency to act like a bad cop in a film-noir drama. But Max didn’t have time to explain any of the background to Olivia. He had to deal with the guy right now.

  He came straight toward Max. “Lyon, what are you doing here?” he demanded. “I thought you got canned.”

  “I wasn’t canned. I took disability retirement over a desk,” Max clipped out, then silently cursed himself for feeling like he had to explain his decision to this guy, and at the same time hating that they were having this conversation in front of Olivia and his partners.

  “And you’re here now because?”

  “I’m with Rockfort Security,” he answered. “I was hired as a bodyguard by Olivia Winters.”

  “And she’s in danger from what?”

  Olivia jumped into the conversation. “My best friend from high school was murdered. I wanted to make sure it didn’t happen to me.”

  He tipped his head to the side, studying her, and Max was pretty sure she wanted to pat her hair back into place. “You’re that supermodel? The big Howard County success story that I read about in the Baltimore Sun?”

  She raised one shoulder. “More like a successful model.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “Money. Celebrity.”

  “But you’re in New York.”

  “Yes, I’ve worked in New York for the past ten years, but I grew up here.” She gestured toward the house. “Right here. I was just attacked. And another friend from high school is dead.”

  Hamilton looked from her to Shane and Jack. “And what are you two doing here?”

  “We came when Max told us there might be trouble here.”

  “Yeah, trouble,” the detective agreed. “That’s why we’re going down to police headquarters to sort that out.”

  “All of us?” Shane asked.

  “Until we know what the hell went on here.”

  “Would a surveillance video help?” Max asked.

  The detective gave him a long look. “You’re saying you got one?”

  “Yes. When I took the bodyguard job, I had cameras installed at the front and back doors. You can get the digital output. It’s on the laptop computer in the little office off the living room.”

  The detective sent a uniformed officer into the house to get the computer.

  “Can we go in to get some clothing?” Max asked.

  “You know I can’t do that,” Hamilton answered.

  “My things are in a suitcase upstairs in my bedroom,” Olivia said. “If you could just have an officer bring the suitcase, I’d be very grateful.”

  “And maybe he could pick up my bag too,” Max said.

  “In the same room?” Hamilton asked with a grin in his voice.

  “No. Down the hall,” Max answered, making an effort to rein in his annoyance. If he got into a pissing match with this detective, he was going to end up soaked. From his years on the force and then as a PI, he knew that the cops always won.

  Hamilton turned to one of the officers. “Go up and get the stuff.”

  At least the detective was being magnanimous.

  “Yes, sir,” the uniform answered.

  The man went into the house, and Max waited tensely until he reappeared with Olivia’s suitcases and his duffel bag and set them down on the ground. The first man had already come out with Max’s laptop.

  “And now we’re going down to police headquarters.”

  Max knew they were in for several hours of interrogation; it was standard procedure. And he also knew it was going to be worse because he was involved. In the eyes of many cops, Hamilton included, there was nothing worse than a PI who thought he could do a better job than the police and who fucked up a case with his own investigation. Well, he took that back. Maybe the worst thing was a former cop who had gone over to the PI dark side. But Max knew his only alternative was to cooperate. And now he was regretting his decision to lie about what he was actually doing here because Olivia might tell a different story at headquarters.

  He knew they wouldn’t drive him and Olivia up to headquarters together, and he caught her arm as they waited for more cars to arrive so that they could all be separated.

  “Bodyguard,” he said, hoping she caught the import in his voice.

  She nodded, and he prayed that the story they told was going to match.

  More cars roared up the driveway, and she was led off to one. He was escorted to another, and Jack and Shane were each put into separate vehicles. As Max was driven to headquarters, he considered what his friends were going to say. Shane would tell them about the phone being stolen. He knew that Max had been lured away by the false text messages. But that was all he knew about what had happened before he’d arrived. Jack knew only what Shane did. But there was one factor that he was sure they weren’t going to share with the cops. In addition to the readout from the surveillance cameras on the laptop, the video had been transmitted to Rockfort Security headquarters. They wouldn’t have to wait until the cops released the computer. They could watch the video and see if there was anything they could figure out from the pictures.

  Fifteen minutes later, they pulled up at the modern redbrick police headquarters building on one of the hills above the river valley where Ellicott City had first been established. By the time Max arrived, he saw Olivia disappearing into the building under escort and knew there would be no chance to confer at headquarters. They were all being taken to separate rooms, where they would each tell their separate stories.

  Max cooled his heels in an interrogation room. After glancing at the one-way mirror on the opposite wall, he sat down at the scarred table and stretched out his legs. Pretty sure Archie Hamilton was making him wait until everybody else was done, he folded his arms on the table, leaned over, and used them for a pillow. A few minutes later, he was sleeping.

  ***

  “Wake up!” Hamilton barked.

  Max lifted his head and looked at his watch. He’d been here an hour and a half.

  As he took in the detective’s annoyance, he stifled a smile. Probably Hamilton had thought Max would be bored to tears—or sitting with his stomach churning, wondering if he could make his story match Olivia’s.

  “You know the drill.”

  “Yeah.”

  Hamilton pulled out a chair opposite him. Instead of speaking immediately, he opened a folder he’d brought with him and consulted his notes.

  Max kept himself from starting the conversation.

  Finally the detective looked up. “What are you really doing in Howard County?” he asked.

  “I told you. Acting as bodyguard for Olivia Winters.”

  “That’s not what she says.”

  “Well, it’s the truth, so I don’t know why she would have said otherwise,” Max answered, hoping Hamilton was using the standard law-enforcement technique of lying in the hopes that he’d change his story.

  Again the detective was silent, and Max thought that he looked more like Archie Bunker than someone named Archie Hamilton. Finally, he sighed.

  “Okay, I guess that’s close enough.”

  Max nodded.

  “And what about the engagement story?”

  “That was to make it look logical for me to be spending all my time with her.”

  “Why didn’t you just say you were her bodyguard?”

  “She didn’t want any publicity,” he answered, hoping she’d remembered he’d said that at the reunion meeting.

  After listening to the explanation, Hamilton said, “You mind gi
ving me your account of what happened this evening?”

  “Like I said before, I got a series of text messages that I thought came from one of my associates—Shane Gallagher. He said he wanted to meet with me away from the house. After I left, a woman in Ms. Winters’ high school class came rushing over. She said she was being stalked and that only Ms. Winters could save her.”

  He stopped, took a breath, and then continued. “Apparently the guy had told her to come to the house so he could kill both her and Ms. Winters at the same time.”

  “And you weren’t doing your bodyguard bit.”

  Max kept his voice even as he said, “I was lured away, by the perp. He went to the trouble of stealing my partner’s cell phone so he could make it look like the messages were legit.

  “You looked at the tape?” Max asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “And it confirms what we’ve said?” It wasn’t really a question. He wanted Hamilton to acknowledge that he’d seen the action.

  “As far as it goes.”

  Max wanted to ask what that meant, but he kept the question to himself as Hamilton started asking the same questions over again, probably hoping he could shake Max’s story, but he answered the same way he had earlier, and he hoped the way Olivia had answered.

  Finally, the detective got tired of going over and over the same ground and getting the same results.

  “You can go,” he said.

  Max stayed where he was.

  “What?” Hamilton demanded.

  “We don’t have to be working against each other,” Max said.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Neither one of us wants another murder out here.”

  “Yeah, so you guard the model, and I’ll investigate the case.”

  Max struggled not to sigh. He’d hoped he could make peace with the guy. Apparently Hamilton wasn’t having any.

  “You had an interesting reputation when you were with the Baltimore PD,” Hamilton said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means you poked your nose into cases that weren’t yours.”

  Max figured any rejoinder would be the wrong answer. Without saying anything else, he exited the room and strode down the hall to the lobby, where he found Olivia, Shane, and Jack waiting for him.

  “Are you okay?” Olivia asked.

  “Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

  “While you were still waiting, a uniformed officer gave us a ride back to the farm,” Jack said. “We’ve got our vehicle, and yours.”

  “Great.”

  They all walked out of the building to the parking lot, and Max was surprised to find that it was full dark. He’d been at the damn police headquarters for hours, when he should have been doing something constructive, like finding evidence that linked Claire and Angela’s murders so they could get the guy who had tricked him into leaving the farm. He understood the feeling of urgency. He wanted to make up for his failure earlier in the day. Not just his leaving Olivia alone, but his reason for rushing away. He hadn’t trusted Olivia because he was putting his own spin on her behavior.

  Shane broke into his dark thoughts with a welcome piece of information. “And we’ve got the video.”

  “Did you look at it?” Max asked.

  “We were waiting for you.”

  “We can’t go home,” Olivia said.

  “And we need to keep you safe,” Max said to her, “now that we know that you’re a target.”

  “Then where are we going?” Olivia asked.

  “We’ve booked you a suite under an assumed name, at one of the local hotels. The Marriott Courtyard,” Shane said

  Max nodded.

  “You can follow us over,” Shane said.

  He and Olivia climbed into his SUV. She leaned across the console toward him, and he leaned toward her, putting his arms around her and holding her tight, his hands stroking over her back. There wasn’t time to say much now, but he needed to hold her, and she seemed to feel the same.

  “Thank God you’re okay,” he repeated what he’d said at the farm.

  “You, too.”

  “Nothing happened to me.”

  “I’m sure Hamilton—um—how would you say it, tried to crack you.”

  Max laughed. “He tried.”

  There was a lot more he wanted to say. But it would have to wait until later.

  Easing away, he started the engine.

  “Thank you for sticking to the bodyguard story,” he said.

  “I could see it was important to you. But why?”

  He sighed as he pulled out after Shane’s SUV. “Some cops hate having anyone poking into their investigation. Hamilton’s one of them, and in this case, he and I have a history.”

  “Like what?”

  Max hated dredging up old business, but since he was working for Olivia, he didn’t see that he had a choice.

  “I was with the Baltimore PD, and he was here in Howard County. The two departments were working on a case involving major thefts from businesses in the area. I thought it was a relative of a delivery man, and Hamilton didn’t agree. One night the relative broke into a Columbia warehouse that was supposed to be empty at night—except for the security guards who patrolled the industrial park. But the warehouse manager was there, and the thief shot him. Not fatally.”

  “And?”

  “And Hamilton got reprimanded for not following up on my lead.”

  She laughed. “I guess that would make him hostile.”

  “After that, I tried to stay out of his way, but I couldn’t avoid having some other dealings.”

  “He said he’d arrest you if you interfered in this case.”

  Max’s head whipped toward her. “He told you that?”

  “Yes.”

  Max cursed.

  “Doesn’t he want to solve the murders?” Olivia asked.

  “Of course he does, but he doesn’t want any help from me.”

  “And he’s not going to make your job easier.” She shook her head. “Of course, he thinks you’re just a bodyguard.”

  “He may not believe that.”

  “But you’re not going to let that stop your investigation.”

  “Right.”

  Shane had pulled into the parking lot of the Marriott Courtyard, a beige stucco building, and Max parked a few cars over.

  Shane strode to the driver’s side of his SUV, and he rolled down the window. “Wait here,” he said. “Jack and I will go in the front and open the side door for you. It’s locked at night,” he added.

  When Shane came to the door, they got out of the car and hurried inside, then to a nearby elevator.

  After unlocking the door to the suite, Shane handed the key card to Max and gave another one to Olivia.

  “But I hope you’re not going far by yourself,” Max said.

  “No,” Olivia answered.

  They all went into the suite, which had a living room and an adjoining bedroom with a king-sized bed.

  “I can take the sofa,” Max said.

  Olivia didn’t object, and they all sat down in the living room area.

  “We’re just to your right,” Shane said, gesturing. “We’re all registered under assumed names.”

  “Because?” Olivia asked.

  “Because the guy who attacked you knows that Max works for Rockfort Security. He knew who I was. He knew that stealing my phone would be a good way to con Max.”

  “Unfortunately,” Olivia agreed.

  “We’re all staying in Columbia until we solve this damn thing,” Shane said.

  “Even if Hamilton is checking up on us?” Max asked.

  “No question,” Jack answered.

  He had brought in a laptop, and Max looked at the machine. “The tape from the surveillance camera is on there?”

  “Yeah. It was networked to the laptop at Olivia’s house.”

  “Does Hamilton have access to all your notes?” she asked.

  Max laughed. “If he wants to
spend hours trying to figure out the password.”

  Jack set the machine on the coffee table, and they all squeezed onto the sofa.

  Shane queued up the tape, found the current date, and began to play, scrolling the morning and early afternoon.

  When he got to the afternoon, he slowed. First they all saw Max come out of the house and head for his car.

  Nobody said anything, but he kept his gaze fixed on the screen, unwilling to look at anyone else in the room and feeling like a grub under a rock. If he had stayed at Olivia’s where he was supposed to be, none of this would have happened. Well, Claire would have showed up, but the perp wouldn’t have attacked with Max in the house, since he would have gone to a lot of trouble to get rid of him.

  Again Shane sped up the tape, but not as fast as before. He slowed it down again when a car came bouncing up the rutted gravel road.

  “That’s Claire,” Olivia murmured.

  The car lurched to a stop in front of the house, and a woman got out. Her skin was pale, her hair was a mess, and her eyes were wide.

  Jack paused the picture for a moment, and they all gazed at the distraught woman. “She looks like she’s been holed up in her house. And finally got forced out.”

  “We don’t know exactly what happened,” Max interjected. “I’d like to go over there, but Hamilton is going to make sure we don’t get inside.”

  “Or arrest us if we do,” Jack added.

  Jack started the tape again, and Claire hurried up to the front porch and disappeared under the overhang.

  “She banged on the door, and I let her in,” Olivia said.

  “Let’s see what else happens outside,” Shane said.

  They kept their eyes on the screen as the view of the outside stayed static for several seconds.

  “Okay,” Max finally said. “I see something flickering at the left-hand edge of the picture.”

  “Too bad we can’t change the view,” Jack muttered.

  The flickering continued, and finally a man walked into the frame. He was wearing a dark shirt and pants, and his head was covered with a knit cap. He was also wearing leather gloves. The clothing covered almost anything that could have identified him, and he had already put on the gas mask and was adjusting it as he walked.

  Max made an angry sound as the guy stood for several moments watching the house, then started walking again. He had a knapsack slung over one shoulder, and as they watched, he reached inside and pulled out a canister.