Deadly Rumors

by Cheris Hodges

  “Can you stop? I’m working a case with the FBI, looking for the remains of a murder victim. And I’m fine. Just wanted to check in on you and my sister-in-law.”

  “Well, we’re doing very well. You’re going to be an auntie.”

  “What?!” she exclaimed. “This is awesome. When is she due?”

  “Around December first. And it’s not twins.”

  “Maybe next time.”

  “When are you going to take some time off and come to Charlotte? We’ve actually expanded down here and have a huge contract with the city for reviving one of the historic neighborhoods on the south side.”

  “That sounds great.”

  “Zoe, are you really safe?”

  “Didn’t I just tell you that I was?”

  “I just feel like something is going on and you’re not telling me everything.”

  “Zach, don’t start this. I can take care of myself and I’m fine.” There was no way that she was going to tell him about the explosion at her office. She knew her brother, and he would be in New York before she could blink.

  “Well, you need to get your butt to North Carolina, sooner rather than later, so you can have some of this barbecue that I’ve become a master at making. I’m almost a real Southerner.”

  “Ooh, that doesn’t even sound right coming out of your mouth!”

  “Don’t knock it until you try it. Charlotte is an amazing city. Clean streets, craft beer, and the second-largest banking center in the world. I don’t even have to fly back and forth to New York for funding.”

  “Are you ever coming back to New York?”

  “Yeah, if my sister stays in one place long enough for me to come visit.”

  “Well, just so you know, I’m heading to Las Vegas in the morning.”

  “Damn, Zoe! Let some grass grow under your feet for a minute.”

  “Still working my case.” She sighed and decided she needed to tell him who her client was. “Zach, Carver Banks is my FBI liaison.”

  “Are you freaking kidding me? Why are you helping that prick do anything after the hell he put us through?”

  “Zach, he was doing his job, and we wouldn’t have gone through any hell had you not brought that—”

  “Don’t remind me. Why would you take this job?”

  “Because he needed my help, Zach. That’s why I do this, to help people.” Zoe could feel him rolling his eyes through the phone. “And don’t give me that look.”

  “Whatever. This guy is bad news, and I know this is about more than helping him. You and Agent Banks have something going on, don’t you?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “You know I’m the last person you can lie to. Be careful, because I’ve already told him if he hurts you that he’s going to have to deal with me.”

  Zoe shook her head. “And this is why I don’t tell you who I’m dating.”

  “I have to take care of my little sister.”

  “Five minutes. You are five minutes older than me! Get over it.”

  “Nope. Five minutes makes me the older brother, now you deal with it.”

  Zoe looked up. Carver was coming her way with a small bottle of orange juice. “Zach, give Chante my love and I’ll talk to you soon.” Hanging up the phone, she crossed over to Carver. “Thank you for this.”

  “No problem. I guess I should greet you with orange juice all the time.” Carver smiled and sipped his coffee. “So, how’s your brother?”

  “Still thinks you’re a piece of—”

  “Got it.” Carver laughed.

  Zoe opened her orange juice and took a swig. “Have you made your hotel reservation?”

  “Not yet. I’m going to head to the FBI office first, then book the room.”

  “Want me to drop you off?”

  Carver shook his head. “I can take a cab. I’ll meet you later for that dinner you owe me.”

  “Sounds good. I’m going to head back to my office and see if the landlord has gotten a cleaning crew out there yet.”

  “Why don’t you wait for me and we’ll go together?”

  “No. I can handle it. Thanks for the offer, though. See you later.” Part of her wanted to give him a hug and a goodbye kiss, but Zoe headed for her car. She couldn’t get too cozy with him, especially since Vegas was going to be the end of all of this.

  Chapter 16

  When Carver arrived at the satellite office, he wasn’t surprised to find it empty, no staff there. But all of the equipment was, and that was all he needed. Sitting at one of the computers, he logged on and looked for all references to Smallwood.

  He found a file marked HARRINGTON and figured it was about Natalie. When he opened it up and saw the references to Zoe and her “interference” in the Singletary investigation, he was confused. Why hadn’t anyone told him about this? He saw the author of the report was W.C.

  “Wendy,” he muttered. Carver printed a copy of the report, then kept searching. He needed to find out what happened when Smallwood talked to Natalie after her arrest. There had to be some kind of clue as to where Singletary was. How was he always one step ahead of the FBI? What had been Wendy’s role in all of this? Because from what he was seeing here, Smallwood and Zoe had been working with each other. Why didn’t she tell him about this?

  Maybe that was why Smallwood had wanted to keep her alive and authorized the operation. But Wendy, who’d been his right hand, seemed to be against Zoe’s interference.

  Why is she pretending to help if she’s undermining the investigation and ignoring what Zoe has to offer?

  * * *

  “Wendy, you’re starting to disappoint me. Why is that bitch still breathing?” Singletary huffed.

  “She and Carver must have a four-leaf clover glued to their feet. I’ve been trying to track where they’re going, but she hasn’t shown up on any flight lists since she got back to New York . . .”

  “All I hear are excuses. I’m tired of excuses!”

  Wendy pulled the phone from her ear and groaned. She wanted her money and she was tired of Joe and his demands. What was he doing other than waiting on her to feed him information about the FBI’s investigation into his organization? Part of her wanted to just turn him in. Maybe if she did that, her career would get an uptick. If she was the one who brought down the country’s most notorious sex trafficker, there was no way she wouldn’t get the promotion she deserved.

  But Joe would have no problem killing her. Maybe she needed to do the job he wanted her to do. Still, Zoe Harrington seemed to have nine lives. No matter what Wendy threw at her, she dodged it. Carver was her lucky charm and she was going to have to kill two birds with one stone. She could get her revenge on Carver for tanking her career and get paid for it.

  She placed the phone back to her ear. “Joe, I’m going to handle it.”

  “Six days.”

  “I got this.”

  “You’d better.” The line went dead and Wendy tossed her phone across the room. She needed to get back to New York, but how was she going to make that happen? Wendy was stuck in DC working on cyber-crimes, and she didn’t have a legitimate reason to go to New York since the office had already been cleared out.

  Maybe Carver could. Wendy picked up her FBI-ISSUED cell phone and called him.

  “Agent Banks.”

  “Hey, Carver, it’s Wendy. I just wanted to check in on you and Zoe. How’s everything going?”

  “We’re still alive. Do you have a lead on Singletary?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Let me ask you a question,” he began. “Do you think Singletary has someone else on the inside? Now, if Smallwood was working with him, who would be doing it now?”

  Wendy sighed. “That’s a good question.”

  “I need to interview Natalie Harrington.”

  “Natalie was killed two days ago. There was a fight at the prison and she got stabbed in the chest.”

  “What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “She was in prison, what was the
point? You’re flying all over the country trying to keep this woman alive. I didn’t think it mattered.”

  “Wendy, Natalie was our only link to Singletary. Why wasn’t she in protective custody?”

  “That’s something you have to ask the Department of Corrections. I don’t know, and that wasn’t our job.” She blew into the phone and Carver gritted his teeth. He was pissed off and he couldn’t deal with her any longer.

  “I have to go.” Carver hung up and wondered if Singletary had ordered Natalie’s murder because she’d spoken to the FBI. And if that was the case, why hadn’t Smallwood put her in protective custody?

  This isn’t adding up at all.

  Carver rose from the computer and headed for the file room. He needed answers, and it was starting to seem as if Wendy was a part of the problem and not the solution. Carver didn’t find anything pointing to a connection between Smallwood and Natalie or her cooperation in the investigation.

  There were no interview transcripts or anything. But as he dug deeper, he found something strange—a picture of Wendy and Singletary.

  “It’s been her all along! How in the hell did we miss this?” He had no clue who he could trust right now. One thing Carver knew for sure, he had to get to Zoe right now, because there was no telling who was after her.

  * * *

  Zoe pulled up at her office and watched the crews cleaning the debris from the explosion. As she got out of the car, she heard someone call her name. When she turned and saw Lewis, she forced a fake smile.

  “What happened here?” he asked.

  “I have no idea. Sorry I haven’t had a chance to get in contact with you. I’ve had some issues with my phone, and as you can see, I don’t have an office to work in.”

  “Things aren’t looking good for you.” Lewis smiled and Zoe rolled her eyes.

  “Why are you here, Lewis?”

  “Well, we did have a meeting. Guess that’s not going to happen.”

  Zoe bit down on her bottom lip to keep from snapping at him. “Lewis, I have some work to do. Unless you want to help with cleanup, we can reschedule once I get the office reopened.”

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  Zoe started for the door and nodded. Lewis stood close to her and brought his lips to her ear.

  “Did you think you were going to get away with ruining people’s lives and no one would come after you, bitch?”

  Zoe shoved her elbow in his stomach and Lewis crumpled to the ground. “That’s what this is about? Payback? You sorry son of a bitch! Had you done your job, there wouldn’t have been a reason for me to investigate you guys.”

  Slowly rising to his feet, Lewis spit at Zoe. “But I was your partner. We were supposed to be different. You could’ve had my back!”

  Lewis lunged at Zoe and she quickly sidestepped him. Sticking her foot out, she tripped him. Lewis fell on his face and Zoe drew her gun.

  “I’m giving you five seconds to get out of here.” Zoe cocked her gun. “Five.”

  “This ain’t over.”

  “Four.”

  Lewis rose to his feet and took off. Zoe took a deep breath. No mystery who set the bomb now. Holstering her gun, Zoe unlocked the front door to her office. She was happy to see that the back door had been boarded up. When she heard a knock at the door, Zoe grabbed her gun—just in case Lewis had come back—and crossed over to the door.

  “Who is it?” She pointed the barrel of the gun at the doorjamb, then opened it with her other hand.

  “Whoa!” Carver exclaimed, holding his hands up. “Why are you pulling guns on people?”

  “I had a run-in with my old partner earlier. I’m sure he’s the one who set the bomb.”

  “Why do you say that?” Carver stepped inside and glanced around the office.

  Zoe sighed and leaned on her desk. “Well, he threatened me. We got into a fight and it all fell into place.”

  “You were a great detective, huh? Do you think we need to look into this threat that you think Lewis is?”

  She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. “No one would really give a shit about Lewis and I’m pretty sure he would have enough people cheering him on. Anyway, I never made detective. That was part of the reason why the NYPD and me didn’t work out. Sometimes I felt as if that job was another failed relationship. I loved it, but the job didn’t like me much.”

  “Why? I think you were a hell of cop.”

  “You’ve met me and you know I don’t hold my tongue for anyone. That’s where the problems began.” Zoe smiled. “Have you thought about what you want for dinner?” She glanced at her watch. “And what time are we leaving for Vegas in the morning? Finding your Jessica Dolan is pretty much the highlight of my life right now. You have my full attention.”

  Carver licked his lips and Zoe’s thighs shivered. Even at a time like this, that man still touched part of her that had his name written all over it.

  “If I tell you what I really want, I might get shot or punched, so I’m going to say let’s get some Chinese.”

  “Really? I’m buying you dinner and you just want Chinese? You better take advantage of this moment. You never know when it is going to happen again.” She winked at him. Though she wasn’t going to tell him, if he wanted to have her for dinner, she’d be happy to serve it up.

  “All right, what do you suggest?”

  “I don’t know. Neptune Diner?”

  “I love that place. Haven’t been there in years.”

  Zoe smiled. “We have something in common. Getting out to Queens can be hell sometimes.”

  “Since we’re flying out of Queens in the morning, why don’t you stay with me tonight?”

  Zoe raised her right eyebrow. Was he serious? “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “It’s going to cut down time on driving to Far Rockaway in the morning, and we can cover more ground in Vegas.”

  “If you as much as put one finger on me . . .”

  “I will be a perfect gentleman, tonight.”

  “Tonight, huh?” Zoe shook her head. “Okay, fine. I just have to go home and pack.”

  “I left my bags at your place, so do you mind if I catch a ride?”

  She shook her head. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  Carver’s plan was to stick to Zoe like white on rice until he got in touch with the Shadow Team. It had been six years since he needed his brothers and sister of intelligence. Though they worked for different agencies, ranging from the CIA to the Department of Justice, they had one thing in common: They were all ex-Marines. The four of them—Carver, Kenneth Long, Sarah Greene, and Raymond Tyler—enlisted at the same time.

  As their careers took off, they’d made a vow to have each other’s backs, no matter what. He sent Sarah a text telling her to call him on a secure line. He gave her his cell phone number and waited.

  By the time Zoe pulled into her driveway, Carver’s phone rang. “I have to take this,” he said. “I’ll be in shortly.”

  Zoe nodded and got out of the car.

  “Sarah?”

  “What’s up, Carver?”

  “I’ve got problems and I need help.”

  “The whole team?”

  “Yep. Have you ever heard of Joseph Singletary?”

  “Yes, I’ve been tailing that slimy son of a bitch for three years. He’s real active these days, and I think I have a line on his inside link with the Bureau.”

  “Delvin Smallwood, right?”

  “No. Smallwood was on our side. He believed someone on his team was feeding information to Singletary. You were even on that list for half a second. Agent Covington, though, we’re trying to tie her to Singletary, and Smallwood’s murder.”

  “She was there and she said that—”

  “I know the story she told, but the bullets that were fished out of Smallwood were government issued. And from the angle he was shot, it wasn’t friendly fire.”

  “She’s been playing us all along. I found a phot
o in the satellite office of Covington and Singletary. But I don’t get how she can help him.”

  “Wendy needs help, like mental help. Her sister was kidnapped a year before she joined the Bureau. The girl was fifteen and treated like a runaway. She was found sexually assaulted and strangled in a creek out in South Carolina.”

  “I worked that case.”

  “Yes. Her death was linked to the airman who’d raped and killed three women. Amber, Wendy’s sister, was the last victim. Wendy never really got over it. It really affected her work in the Bureau, at least that’s what Smallwood told me when he asked us to do a parallel investigation into Singletary.”

  “Damn. Why didn’t he let her go?”

  “Smallwood wanted to fire her. But the girl has skills with the computer, and that saved her job. Can you get me that picture?”

  “Yeah. One more thing—Zoe Harrington.”

  “I wonder why she never applied here? She’s good. The night she was arrested, she gave Smallwood more intel on Singletary’s investigation than we’d gotten over the previous twelve months. She told him that when she set out to clear her name, that’s when she found out about Natalie’s link to Singletary. She had a file that she refused to share with anyone, and Singletary wanted to get that file badly.”

  “I’m not surprised, she was pretty pissed with us back then.”

  “What’s changed?”

  “I’m keeping her alive. That’s the main thing.” He didn’t want to tell Sarah everything about his relationship with Zoe. In the Corps, she and Monica had been best friends, and Sarah warned Carver about mixing business and pleasure. He’d thought for a long time that Sarah blamed him for Monica’s death, but she hadn’t. Her response had been that they were at war and death was around every corner. She’d thought of Carver as a brother and respected the fact that he trusted her to be a member of the Shadow Team.

  She and Monica had been two of the few women who worked in Marine intelligence, and not many of their male counterparts respected the fact that they could do their jobs. When Monica was killed, Carver went to bat for Sarah when a faction of the squad wanted to kick Sarah out of the group.

  “Well, now I’ve got to keep both of you alive. I’m going to get in touch with the boys and we’re going to track what’s going on.”