Perkins straightened, the camera in her hand. “What arrangement I have with the Federal Bureau of Investigation is none of your business.” She pulled the badge from her jacket pocket and set it on the table. “But, for the record, that badge is real.” She turned away from Emma, giving the other woman her back, as she readied the camera on a tripod.
Something that might have been regret moved over Emma’s face, but she shook it off and said, “What is the camera for?”
Mint slid the bacon in the oven. “We’re going to record your statement for the FBI, and then we’re going to forward it to our contact there.” He waited for her judgement on that, but she apparently had none. “That way the FBI has all the information we can get them, and we can keep you safe here. Where you aren’t exposed.”
A frown crinkled her brow. “You think the FBI wouldn’t protect me?”
“I think you’re going to be protected here, where Aaron Jones has to go through me and Perkins. And where the blackmailer doesn’t have the resources he would need to get to you and hurt you or kidnap you.”
“Assuming it’s a he.”
Perkins straightened, turning slowly toward Emma so as not to spook her.
Mint didn’t react. “What makes you say that?”
Emma pressed her lips together.
“Tell me.” He kept his voice soft. Neither he, nor Perkins, moved toward her. Letting her have her space but maintaining their positions between her and the door. She definitely looked like she was about to bolt at any second.
Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, completely blowing him off. “I’m just saying.”
Mint studied her. After a minute of letting her get increasingly more agitated, he said, “Ready to give your statement?”
She nodded. He knew she was worried about Kerri. She’d also faced down Aaron Jones and was feeling all the guilt of her finger on the trigger of the gun that’d killed the senator. And even though he wasn’t sure he still had the full story on that, it was for the FBI to figure out.
Mint wasn’t going to placate her. He needed her strength, which meant she needed to hang on a little longer. After that, she could fall apart all she wanted.
It occurred to him that it was possible he was only reacting like this because she’d obviously seen the scars on his back. Getting defensive to keep his emotions from being involved. And if that was what he needed in order to stay sane and not allow the specters of the past to swallow him up, then it was what he would do.
Mint’s phone rang. He swiped to answer the call and said, “Malone.”
Out the corner of his eye he saw Emma turn to him, but all his attention was taken up by what his teammate on the other end of the call said.
“I’ll be right there.” He hung up and said to Perkins, “Get the statement done. I’m going out.”
She nodded. Didn’t ask what he was going to do. “Sure thing, boss.”
He wasn’t her boss, but Mint didn’t have time to quibble about that.
His teammates had found Kerri.
Chapter 9
Aaron crouched, making his way between trees to the house where he’d left the waitress. Carly, Kimmy. He couldn’t remember her name. Didn’t much care what it was.
Nothing but a means to an end. And that means had been satisfying. Somewhat. But now it was over.
He’d have to move up the timetable. The waitress would die—a statement for Emma. Aaron was serious. The man he worked for was serious.
She hadn’t done what had been asked of her.
In more ways than one.
Movement by the house caught his attention, and he stopped. A man in a dark jacket moved toward the house, gun out. Creeping closer with intention. Aaron didn’t move. He’d seen that man in the crosshairs of his rifle—knit cap and glasses. It really was a shame he hadn’t managed to hit the big guy. Seemed he was intent on causing Aaron all kinds of trouble. Getting mixed up in business that was between Aaron and Emma Burroughs.
He and Emma had a connection. So strong, it was almost spiritual. They had held the gun together. Breathed together. Pulled that trigger together. A beautiful moment.
Two other men joined him. One went around the back. The interfering man hit the front door with the sole of his boot and went inside. Then, nothing.
Aaron didn’t wait around for whatever they were going to do next. He’d been blown. Game over. Rage had him curling his fists. Blinded him enough he swayed into a tree and had to grit his teeth at the pain. Like taking a punch you didn’t know was coming. Bested.
The cool breeze cut into him, ruffling his clothing. Making him aware he needed a shower. He smelled like smoke from the motel fire. Among other things. Gone were the days he’d been Rachel Harris’s assistant, dressed to impress in Washington DC. Now he was in a nothing town in Colorado, crawling around the woods just to get stuff done. It was enough to make him cry. Or stab someone.
He needed some kind of release. If he let things bottle up like that inside him, it never ended well. He would explode—as his last psychotherapist had discovered.
He should have killed the waitress hours ago. Getting close enough to Emma to figure out what she was doing had been more important. In the end, he’d let the frustration over the appearance of this interfering guy get the better of him, and he’d started shooting.
Never mind that she’d been talking to a woman FBI agent. That wasn’t what he’d told her to do. And it was far too coincidental that the guy’d had someone that close to this town only a few hours after he’d explained the plan to little Emma.
Aaron needed another way to secure her. And if the waitress wasn’t enough incentive, then he would have to get more personal. Hit her where it would hurt more.
Soon as he got to his car, Aaron made the call.
It went straight through, no secretary. This was a burner phone the man kept on him at all times. He required immediate updates whenever the situation changed.
His voice was deep, his tone short. “Yes?”
Aaron gave him a rundown of the situation. He waited out through the swearing and reprimanding. Nothing he hadn’t heard a hundred times before. Then he asked, “Should I find out who they are?”
“I want everything you know, and I want it now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“If they know anything about my operation, I need to know.”
Aaron’s stomach turned over. This man would drop him in a heartbeat—tossed aside in a way he knew he would never have another safety net. That was what his employer did when he was done with someone. If you were in, you were in for life. If you were out, it was because you were either dead, or dealt with in a way that meant you’d never breathe a single word about him to anyone. Because you no longer possessed the ability to speak.
Aaron never wanted to reach the day he was no longer useful. He said, “I’ll find out who they are.”
A pause. “You think I don’t know who they are?”
“Well—” his brain froze. What was he supposed to say?
The light chuckle on the other end didn’t reassure him. “It’s only a matter of time before Double Down sinks their teeth in. The question is, whose flesh will be in the snap of their jaws? It’s time for you to decide if you’re going to live up to the promise of usefulness I saw in you.”
“You can count on me.”
“Clear up this mess. I want to know what they know and who they’ve talked to.” He paused. “But I’ll deal with Double Down.”
“Yes, sir.”
The call ended.
Aaron lowered the phone, his hand shaky. He wanted information on what Double Down—whoever they were—were up to? Aaron could do that. He could also snap his own trap shut on Emma Burroughs. If the man wanted results. If he wanted Aaron to prove his loyalty. Then Aaron was going to do exactly that.
And he would not fail.
Aaron knew the blackmailer wouldn’t care about collateral damage, even if that m
eant Double Down lost some of their own. And even if that meant the company then stepped up their involvement.
He’d tried one tactic using Kerri. He could do the same with another person Emma cared about, hope for a better result.
Or he could make a statement she would in no way misconstrue.
Aaron drove to the edge of town and parked down the street from a tiny yellow house. A light was on in the kitchen, the man of the house home. The wife worked the late shift. The grandson—who they looked after—was at a friend’s house.
A smile curled Aaron’s lips.
Emma would fall in line, or she would pay the consequences.
Chapter 10
Mint walked down the hall at the hospital to the doorway where Perkins stood. She lifted her chin as he approached, and Mint slowed. He looked in the room. Kerri was unconscious, lying on the bed hooked up to machines. Emma sat beside her, holding the waitress’s hand and talking too low for him to hear.
“How is she?”
“Lost a lot of blood,” Perkins said. “They sewed up the cut on her abdomen. Other than that, two broken ribs and a lot of bruises. Defensive wounds on her hands and arms. Dehydrated and malnourished.”
“She managed to fight back.”
Perkins nodded. “Or at least attempted to defend herself.” She sighed. “Please tell me you got this guy.” She looked about ready to explode and punch something. Hopefully not him.
Mint said, “No sign of him.”
“And no idea what he’s going to do next.”
“That’s why we have her.” He pointed to Emma in the room.
Perkins shot him a look for that comment. He knew how it sounded, but he wasn’t going to take it back. Emma was talking. It wasn’t like she could hear him.
“The guys are on the hunt for Aaron Jones. I’m going to sit down with the sheriff in an hour and explain our involvement.” But he wanted to talk to Emma first. Get more from her about her involvement and why Aaron had targeted the senator in the first place.
Rachel and Bradley, the senator’s niece and nephew, had originally thought that their uncle could be the blackmailer. Especially considering their cousin Lincoln’s involvement with Bradley’s wife, Alexis. They now knew he wasn’t the blackmailer. This was bigger than any of them had thought. There was an epidemic spreading in Washington. Key people in government, business and finance were falling prey to the tactics of someone out for their own ends. Whoever the blackmailer was didn’t care that some of his victims had committed suicide rather than have their secrets exposed to the wider world.
Double Down had decided to uncover this poison before it spread even further. And that meant Emma. It also meant Aaron. Mint was as convinced as he could be—without proof—that Aaron knew who the blackmailer was. Or at the least, that he had a direct line to whoever it was. The senator—Rachel and Bradley’s uncle—had done something to warrant a death sentence. Mint figured the blackmailer wanted him gone, and so he’d sent Aaron in to do the deed. How Emma ended up caught in that sticky web, he didn’t know. She could be involved just as easily as she could be an innocent bystander.
He wanted to believe she was innocent. But that kind of wishful thinking wasn’t going to help him get to the truth. If she was connected to the blackmailer, then he had to divorce his feelings from the situation. They needed answers, not for him to make friends with her.
Which meant that Mint had to resist the urge to keep watching her as she sat with her friend.
Perkins said, “Want me to go help the guys?”
“Because you want out of babysitting duty?”
“Hey,” she said, smiling, “I never said that.” Then she leaned toward him, conspiratorially. “I actually kind of like Emma Burroughs.” She paused, like maybe she shouldn’t have admitted that. “She seems like good people.”
Mint waved her away from the doorway, a couple of steps across the hall. “You don’t think Emma might be a party to all this blackmail business?”
“No way.” Perkins shook her head. “There’s no way she’d be able to hide that.”
“Okay.” Had he just needed his colleague to confirm what he’d been thinking? It didn’t mean they had any evidence. “Anything come of recording the statement for the FBI?”
Perkins said, “I got it sent to Walker. I’m waiting to hear back. The crux of it is, Emma showed up to talk to the senator and caught Aaron there. She got away by the skin of her teeth, actually. She was lucky.”
“And the fact he’s still chasing her?”
“Cleaning up loose ends, I’d guess. Especially considering he wants her to take the fall for the murder. Though,” Perkins said, “she says the senator was alive when she left the room. She was in the hall when she heard another shot, not directed at her. I think that’s the shot that killed him.”
“So she can’t testify that she saw Aaron Jones kill the senator, because she was fleeing the scene.”
Perkins nodded.
“Darn. That would have wrapped it up nicely.” Mint tapped his fingers against his leg while he thought it through. “So all we have is her word against his. All the evidence will say they were both there.”
“And any gunshot residue on the clothes they were wearing will indicate they were both in the vicinity of a shot fired.”
He chewed on that for a minute, then said, “You covered the murder in the statement for the FBI?”
Perkins nodded again.
“So we need her to tell us what she knows about the blackmailer.”
“If she even knows anything.”
Mint blew out a breath. “I’m banking on the fact she does. Even if Aaron Jones didn’t get her there on purpose, she was in all of the senator’s financial dealings. She might not have known exactly what she was looking at, but if we can ask the right questions she might be able to connect some of the dots together. Help us get closer to an answer.”
Perkins nodded. “I’ll go help the guys, you sit her down. I think having both of us there will put too much pressure on. Like we’re ganging up on her.”
“Okay. Keep me posted.”
She wandered away down the hall, and he went back to the room where Emma sat with Kerri. He had less than an hour before the sheriff cleared up the scene where they’d found Kerri. Then the sheriff would be here, asking Mint a whole lot of questions he was going to have to be careful answering. Especially if he wanted to keep himself, his team, and Emma out from under suspicion. Now that Emma’s face had gone national, it was only a matter of time before someone realized who she was.
His phone beeped. Mint checked the email and found a note from Steve, along with a link. Emma’s mother, who was apparently a conservative radio talk show host, had apparently gone live on social media with a plea for her daughter to turn herself in to the authorities. So they could clear up what she called a “mistake.” The woman was convinced it was nothing but a miscommunication, and that her daughter couldn’t possibly be involved.
Mint wondered what planet she lived on, where the innocent were pure and righteous. Where everything was black and white. He, of all people, knew that even the most outwardly upright person could have the blackest soul.
And he had the scars to prove it.
The end of Steve’s email had a quick note.
Did you find out what was in the envelope?
The envelope he’d seen. Of course. With everything that had happened, he’d forgotten about it.
He knocked on the door to get Emma’s attention. When she turned to him her eyes were puffy, and she looked more exhausted than she had the last few days. The woman needed about a month of good nights’ sleep. And if he could have gifted that to her right then, he would have done it. Even if it meant going against every procedure the company— and he— had in place.
“We need to talk.”
**
The look on his face was something Emma wasn’t sure she wanted to dwell on. Still, tell that to her exhausted, fragile heart. For some reason,
being tired meant she had less of a handle on her emotions. Less ability to shore up her safeguards and keep herself from feeling so much. Because standing by Mint, even when they were just walking to the waiting area, made her feel safe. As much as she didn’t want it, she’d acknowledged his strength. The fact that he protected her.
She sighed. He didn’t care about her. She’d heard what he said, and she knew even before then that she was only a means to an end for Mint and his company. Double Down, Perkins had called it.
The woman was almost a female version of Mint. Both of them had so many walls up it was unlikely she’d be able to break through, even if she had years—and if she even wanted to. Emma wondered if the rest of the company was like that. Maybe it was a condition of their employment that they be guarded and brooding.
“Soda?”
Emma shook her head. They sat in a corner, and she leaned her head back against the wall.
“Sorry. I know you want to rest, but this is important.”
She glanced at him. His gaze on her softened, making her wonder what he saw in her. It would take a strong woman who knew who she was to crack through all he’d built around himself. It would also take a concerted effort, and a good amount of time. He pretended to engage, but she wasn’t convinced he actually felt anything. He was that guarded.
Effort and time. Neither of which Emma could handle right now. Not with all the craziness happening in her life.
“I know you went over everything regarding the senator’s death with Perkins.”
Her throat closed up, and she had to swallow past the sensation. Everything? It was good he thought that. Perkins, she wasn’t so sure. Emma figured the woman knew there was stuff she was leaving out. Things which would come to light eventually.
The longer she could put that off, the better.
Everything that could’ve gone wrong, had. And she didn’t exactly know how to fix it.
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