by C. J. Miller
“Lucia, for crying out loud. Don’t get trigger-happy on me.”
Surprise had her lowering her gun. Jonathan Wolfe, her partner from her former team, lifted his head and knocked back the hood of his sweatshirt.
“Why are you following me? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” Lucia asked.
Jonathan shook out his arms. “No, but I almost crapped myself. I was told to follow you and keep an eye out for whoever might be stalking you.”
“The Bureau sent you to stalk my stalker?” Lucia asked, not amused by the FBI’s plan and why she was left out of it. “Why didn’t Benjamin tell me?”
Jonathan rolled his shoulders. “You weren’t supposed to know. The section chief’s assembled a task force. We’re trying to trace the bombing to someone and we don’t have any decent leads. From what was left of the bomb, we know it was triggered remotely. We suspect someone was watching and waiting to trigger it.”
To hear her remote bombing theory confirmed did not make her feel better.
“Benjamin didn’t want you to change your routine, which you would if you knew we were watching you.”
“You were stuck with me, then?” she asked.
“I wouldn’t call it stuck with you. We all want this guy found. If we let someone attack one agent and get away with it, it sets an ugly precedent.”
Cash extended his hand and introduced himself to Jonathan.
“Don’t tell Benjamin you made me. I’m supposed to be good at this. It’s been a long time since I had to follow someone on the street,” Jonathan said.
“You’re good at this. I’m better,” Lucia said. She turned to pick up her groceries.
“Hey, Luc,” Jonathan said. Something in his voice had her turning slowly and meeting his stare.
“I think it was crappy what happened to you.”
Meaning her promotion to white collar to push her off the team. “Thanks.”
“I wasn’t part of that decision.”
His words made her feel a little better. She had more to say, but not in front of Cash. What had happened was embarrassing and the past, no matter how rotten, was over.
* * *
“How’d it go with Dr. Granger?” Benjamin asked from three desks away. He strode to Lucia’s desk and leaned against it.
Lucia was eager for some normalcy, like checking her email and catching up on any case notes that had been added. “He was thorough.” She’d had pelvic exams that had been more comfortable. “I told him about my concerns about Preston Hammer. He said he would follow up.”
“Then you’re cleared for work?” Benjamin asked.
“I’m here, aren’t I?” Lucia asked, typing her password into her computer. Her words were sharp, but she didn’t want to sit through another interrogation.
“While you were gone, we drew straws. You drew the short one,” Benjamin said.
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Shocking. What do we have? An overnight stakeout?” Copies of files to be made? Paperwork from the seventies to be sorted?
Cash was watching her and hadn’t said anything. Her senses tingled. Something big had happened.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“We got a hot lead on Clifton Anderson. He wasn’t working one con job in the city. He had two going. The one at Holmes and White may be over, but he’s running an underground gambling ring in the city.”
Excitement coursed through her. It was the lead they’d been waiting for. “That’s the short straw? Going to one of his underground casinos?” She considered that great luck. She needed to be in the action. The closer she got to Anderson, the closer she was to finding the stolen money.
Benjamin laughed. Cash rubbed his jaw.
“The casino Anderson is running is invitation-only. He’s lying low, but he’s definitely still involved in it. We hear it’s too much money to walk away from.”
Something didn’t sit well with what Benjamin said. “He stole hundreds of millions from Holmes and White. How much does he want?”
Cash tapped a pen against his palm. “He’s greedy, so it could be that he’s looking for his final big score and then he’ll slip away.”
Slip away out of their reach and take the money with him. Lucia wouldn’t let that happen.
“Maybe something went wrong with the Holmes and White deal and he either can’t access the money or he’s worried he can’t get away with it clean,” Lucia said. If the money was tied up, that made it more likely they could put their hands on it before Anderson did. “Who gave you the lead?”
Cash raised a finger. Of course. Cash had contacts and connections.
“I called Georgiana first thing this morning and got nowhere. I also called a buddy who gave me the info,” Cash said.
“Tell me how to find this underground casino.” Lucia had a few informants in the city that liked to gamble. Perhaps she could lean on them and find out if they knew anything.
“Cash will work his contacts until he secures an invite. Once he’s in, we’ll bankroll him at the casino, but we want a couple of people to go with him as backup.”
Backup, like security detail? Not as fun, but it could still be a great way to catch a break in the case. “What’s my role exactly?” Lucia asked, taking the file folder Benjamin extended to her.
She inwardly groaned when she scanned the mock profile. Lucy Harris, Cash’s floozy girlfriend. It wasn’t the first time she’d played the part of a girlfriend, but it would be the first time she’d played it alongside someone she wanted to sleep with. Keeping emotional control during undercover ops was critical to their success.
Could she and Cash pull this off?
“Is that a deep enough cover?” Lucia asked. She could go under as a fellow gambler.
“Anderson knows Cash went to prison, but they have a history. Cash’s father and Anderson go way, way back. They grew up in the same neighborhood and ran scams from the time they could walk.”
Cash didn’t appear upset by what Benjamin was saying. No hint of the emotion he’d felt the night before showed.
“Cash was also married to Anderson’s estranged daughter.”
Lucia hoped she hid her shock. Cash’s late wife was Anderson’s daughter? Cash’s son was Anderson’s grandson? Why hadn’t he mentioned that to her? It hadn’t been in the file Benjamin had given her earlier.
“If you’re his son-in-law, what’s your relationship now?” Lucia asked Cash.
“My late wife wasn’t part of her father’s life. She didn’t keep me from seeing him, but she made it clear she didn’t want him in her life,” Cash said.
“Does Anderson carry a grudge about that?” Lucia asked.
“I guess we’ll find out,” Cash said.
“Did he help you with the con that landed you in prison?” Lucia asked.
Cash said nothing.
“He doesn’t have to answer that,” Benjamin said.
His silence was an answer. Anderson had been involved but Cash wouldn’t sell him out.
“Maybe Cash can approach him looking for a big score,” Lucia said, not liking the idea of putting Cash close to the fire, but knowing it could work if Cash could take the heat.
Or as long as he could stand the heat and not get burned.
Anderson was smart. He vetted the people he worked with. It wouldn’t take long for Anderson to work his contacts and find out that Cash was working with the FBI. “What will Cash tell Anderson about his release and working with us?”
“A modified truth,” Benjamin said.
“I’ll tell him the pay is lousy and for the right price, I’ll get as dirty as he needs,” Cash said.
Lucia didn’t like it. “It’s dangerous.” She didn’t want their lead to negate the need for proper preparation.
“Worried
about me?” Cash asked, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
“You can handle yourself,” Lucia said, worry still nipping at her. At least she would be with Cash as his backup. “Now score us an invitation. I’m in the mood to gamble tonight.”
* * *
Lucia and Cash rifled through the FBI’s costume closet. The outfits were meant to be less cowboys and superheroes and more prostitutes and gangbangers. Lucia found some items that could work for the part she was playing.
“Anderson knows you. Would he really believe you’d be into a woman who dresses like this?” Lucia held up the sparkly purple minidress.
“I think any straight man would be into a woman who dresses like that. Especially when that woman is you,” Cash said.
He didn’t sound hot and bothered, which was exactly what his words made Lucia feel.
She held up the dress. “It looks like a box of glitter exploded on it.”
“Sexy.”
“I guess that tells me something about your taste,” she said, only half joking and taking another dress off the rack.
“It tells you something about how I feel about you,” Cash said.
Lucia stopped. For a moment, the closet felt still and small. “Careful, Cash. People might hear us.”
“Just getting into character,” he said and winked at her. “Does it bother you that you’re attracted to me?” Cash asked, holding up a pair of thigh-high brown boots for her.
She shook her head to the boots.
It did bother her that she was attracted to Cash. Her hormones were overriding common sense. “You’re a handsome man. You know how women respond to you. You don’t know how to turn it off when you should. Like when you’re with me.” A feather boa? Did anyone wear feather boas?
“It’s not a one-sided thing. Being near you brings out something in me. It’s not every woman who responds to me the way you do. How you look at me, how you laugh, how you touch me.”
He was implying an intimacy that wasn’t, or shouldn’t be, there. She wasn’t playing an active role in the attraction. “Is this appropriate for your girlfriend to wear to an underground casino?” she asked, holding up a black dress.
“I prefer the purple one,” he said.
She returned to the racks. She wouldn’t lie to him and deny she found him attractive, but they didn’t need to harp on the point.
“Have you slept with Benjamin?” Cash asked.
Lucia whipped her head around to look at Cash. “What?”
“I thought I saw something between you and him.”
“You did see something. Respect. I don’t know whether to be insulted or angry you asked me that,” Lucia said.
“You don’t have a boyfriend and you should. I want to know why,” Cash said.
She hated that question enough at family gatherings. She didn’t need it from him. “You’re the king of figuring people out. You tell me.”
Cash looked her up and down, his gaze traveling slowly over her. “You find reasons to reject people, like using your rules to keep them away. It’s easier for you to reject them, than give them the opportunity to reject you. Giving someone a chance to get to know you is hard because you could be hurt.”
He’d struck a nerve and she felt it. Cash was good at digging around and finding information about someone. She wasn’t giving him the chance to dissect her psyche. The staff psychologist had done a thorough enough job of that earlier in the day. “I don’t reject people.” And yet she didn’t have many friends or any long-lasting romantic relationships. She pulled a pink dress from the rack.
“You’re not impulsive because you don’t want to make a mistake again. You want to be in your father’s good graces without sacrificing who you are and what you want. You want to be with a good man, but you fear he’ll let you down. You end it before he gets the chance to.”
His words hurt, giving away how close he hit to the truth. “Maybe you have a future as a relationship counselor,” she said.
“It matters what your parents think because they’ve never given you approval for anything you’ve done,” Cash said.
Was it wrong to want their approval? “I would like a relationship with someone my parents approve of and who I enjoy being with,” Lucia said. She could have both, though it hadn’t been the case to date.
“Guess that takes me out of the running.”
He’d spoken so plainly to her, it stung. When it came to relationships, she was a failure with a capital F. Lately, her career had been in the D range. Not much to be proud of. “Now that’s where you’re mistaken. You were never in the running, Cash.”
“Ouch,” he said.
She’d intended the words to hurt. She wanted him to stop analyzing her and stop trying to force a conversation she hated. “You can console yourself with any of the dozens of women who fall at your feet.”
“No one falls at my feet,” Cash said.
Lucia rolled her eyes. “Maybe I don’t know anything about your personal life, but you don’t know much about mine, either.”
She wouldn’t tell Cash the most difficult secret she harbored. Her career was rocky and her time with the FBI marred by her transfer. On paper, it looked fine, but everyone knew the chief of the violent crime unit had wanted her out.
Now, she had to play by the rules. One screw-up or even a hint of one, and she could be relegated to permanent administrative duty or fired.
Chapter 5
Frustration was burning a white-hot hole in Cash’s chest. Adrian was still refusing to speak to him and Helen had asked Cash not to call for another week. She promised she would talk to Adrian and help him understand what had happened. His son was a tough little boy, but he was fragile, too, and he’d been hurt, surviving cancer and then losing his parents. It wasn’t fair, but then life wasn’t. It was a lesson Cash knew Adrian had learned too young.
Cash needed some space from Lucia. He’d been staying with her and believing that he could somehow make it work as a regular guy, an FBI consultant with a checkered past, but he was still a man, a man attracted to a woman who seemed to want to keep boundaries.
Since he wasn’t certain of where those boundaries were, he’d best not go anywhere close to them. If he made a mistake with Lucia, if he got on her bad side, he was endangering his future with Adrian.
It was yet another way that being a felon would follow him for the rest of his life. He’d need to keep his distance from people.
The time he’d spent in prison should have hardened him. Sadly, he hadn’t shaken off the need for a real connection. He missed his son. He couldn’t call his father, not out of the blue when they hadn’t spoken in years. He had to be careful around old friends, since he was working them for an invite to one of Anderson’s exclusive casinos.
Lonely. It was the best word to describe what he was feeling.
He stopped at Lucia’s place, grabbed a few essentials he’d left and fled. Taking the stairs down, he passed Audrey and a group of her friends who were on their way to Audrey’s condo.
One of the women stopped and grabbed his tie. “Where are you going?” she asked.
He could smell liquor on her breath. He removed her hand from his clothes. “Out.” He looked at Audrey. “Nice seeing you.”
“You know Audrey?” the woman asked.
Audrey stopped on the stairs and gave him an assessing look through narrowed eyes. “Where’s Lucia?”
“At work.”
She’d stayed late at the office to review Clifton Anderson’s case file and catch up on some paperwork. Cash told her he planned to stop by her condo. To avoid unnecessary drama, he hadn’t mentioned returning to the Hideaway that night.
“Come party with us,” the other woman said to him. She was leaning on the bannister, letting her hair fall across her face.
In another life, he’d be up for a party to blow off some steam. But lingering meant possibly running into Lucia. He didn’t want to face her again until he’d had time to clear his dark thoughts. “Not tonight. Thank you for the invite.”
“You’re welcome to come over and have a few drinks,” Audrey said. “We went to a club opening and there were entirely too many people for our liking.” She stepped down to the stair he was on and smiled up at him. “You look like you could use a friend.”
Friend. Cash missed having one around. Returning to the depressing Hideaway was the last thing he wanted. He didn’t have anywhere else to go except a bar and he didn’t have money to drink. His curfew was a couple of hours away. “For a few minutes.” Maybe listening to someone else’s conversation would take his mind off his problems and shake off his bad mood.
A few minutes in Audrey’s condo turned into twenty. With a drink in one hand, Cash lounged on the comfortable furniture. Her style—abstract, modern designs, clean lines, black and white floor to ceiling—was different than Lucia’s.
Audrey and her friends reeked of money. Fifteen years ago, he would have been enjoying every moment of this and trying to edge himself into their crowd.
For a few hours he could forget he was a felon, out of touch with his son and the people who mattered. The people in this room didn’t know he was a convict or that he was being used by the FBI to track a con man. He was surrounded by four beautiful women. They’d drawn him into the conversation and were hanging on to his every word.
One of them had to be more attractive than Lucia. One of them had to hold his attention. One of them had to make him forget about Lucia.
But no one held a candle to her. Instead of enjoying the women around him, he made comparisons. He thought about how Lucia would look wearing similar outfits. How she would have something interesting to say. How much he’d want to sit close to her and kiss her.
Audrey strode over to him. “A minute of your time, please?”
Cash rose to his feet, murmured his apologies to the women and followed Audrey to her balcony.