“Tony Mercer ordered a hit on Jason’s girlfriend, an L.A.P.D. officer. A cop, Matt! Cops killing cops…. It can’t go on. You know that as well as I do. Do you think that everything you and the Vartarians are doing is just going to be ignored?”
“I knew it! Who’s inside? Who is it?”
“I don’t know who might be a traitor. I just know that people aren’t stupid, Matt. They see patterns as well as I do. If I could figure this out, so could any number of detectives.”
“It’s a temporary distraction. You’re the last loose end.”
“Good luck with that.”
He looked through her belongings that he’d spread out on the table. Her wallet. Extra ammunition—but her gun wasn’t here. Candy wrappers and two uneaten energy bars and a bottle of water. He flipped open her notebook and slammed his hand down on the chart she’d sketched out based on the information she’d compiled.
He didn’t have her CDs. Which means he hadn’t found the key.
You hope.
Hope—she had to hold onto something.
Then he took out his phone and turned it around. She stared at the photo he showed her. She recognized the photo. It was of her closet. “You broke into my apartment?”
“It’s all gone, Scarlet. We took everything you had and burned it. But we have pictures, and you’ve been talking to someone. Who? Because nowhere in your apartment did you have the name Greg Vartarian written down, but you have it in this notebook.”
“So he is in charge. I thought he might just be a name to wield around, like the Dred Pirate Roberts.”
Matt didn’t answer.
“I also didn’t have your name written down, but I guess I can add it now.”
He pushed the table into her ribs. She winced, but didn’t cry out. “You think this is a game? How did you get this much information? Who do you think you’re dealing with, Scarlet? Do you think I don’t know about the Special Operations investigation? John hasn’t talked to me in nearly four months! We used to go out for beers all the time, but nothing in four months? That tells me you told him something, and he’s looking into Ben. He and his little task force headed by Kyle Richardson and Seth Brozik.” Matt laughed. Scarlet thought she’d kept the surprise off her face, but she hadn’t. Yet, why was she surprised? Matt wasn’t an idiot. She didn’t know who Brozik was, but if Matt knew he was working with Richardson, he must be one of the good guys. She hoped.
She didn’t say anything. Maybe she was doing a little too much hoping and not enough planning on how to get the hell out of this mess.
“They wouldn’t have had anything if not for you and your damn investigation. I know how L.A.P.D. works. Even Special Operations couldn’t start an undercover investigation without some evidence. And that had to have come from you and your buddy Jason. Because everything was working just fine until you exposed Mercer. Now, tell me—who told you about Greg?”
“You think I couldn’t have figured it out myself? I’ve been hitting myself, trying to figure out who is in charge. I just didn’t get the vibe that Diana was the head honcho. So I started looking at her immediate family. Ben… maybe, but he has to keep his nose clean, he’s a prosecutor. Peter… sure, but he’s a politician, so he has the same issues as Ben. And truly, I’ve seen him on television, and he’s not all that bright. I see them as being the beneficiaries of the organization. Diana’s father is dead, so that leaves her dear Uncle Greg. Philanthropist. Mild-mannered accountant. All-around good guy on the surface… except to raise an army of criminals, he must be a criminal. Just a smarter one than most.” She raised an eyebrow. “Unless he’s too old to run it. Passed it onto someone else. Maybe you? Isn’t that what Christina meant earlier? That you’re not part of the family yet?”
“You have no idea the mess you’re in.”
“You have no idea how hard you’re going to go down.”
He reddened. “If that happens, you won’t be around to see it.”
Her stomach tightened painfully. She saw the truth in Matt’s eyes—he would kill her himself. She’d never seen this side of him before. That wasn’t completely true. She’d seen him in court, seen him talking about his job and had seen those dark, hard eyes… but she thought that was passion for what he did. But it wasn’t. It was hatred.
“Maybe you want to be in charge. You’ve never been a follower, Matt. You’ve always wanted power. Used to talk about running for D.A. Is that the plan? Put you in a higher position in the court? Greg isn’t getting any younger. Maybe you’re screwing Diana just to take over the organization.”
“Maybe I already have,” he whispered.
She shook her head. “If you were, you wouldn’t be sitting here trying to figure out if there’s a mole in your operation.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.”
She wasn’t. She was taking a guess. Matt wasn’t in charge, but he wanted to be. Desperately. That was his personality—he hated taking orders from people. It was his biggest complaint as a deputy D.A.
“The more people who know about a business like this,” Scarlet said, “the more at risk you all are. You know that, Matt—you’re not stupid. If I can figure out the connections, other people can, too.”
“But no one cared until you started pushing and pushing—”
A knock on the door made Scarlet involuntarily jump. Matt smiled. “You should be scared, baby,” he said. He rose and left the room.
Yeah. She was scared. But Matt also made a mistake. He didn’t know her as well as he thought.
She stood and turned around. Fumbled with the side compartment of her backpack. Winced as her wrists burned, but she didn’t stop until she was able to clasp the bobby pin with her fingers. Then she quickly sat back down and willed her heart to stop racing. She didn’t know how much time she had.
Scarlet started to pick the lock on the handcuffs.
Chapter Seven
Krista sat in her office with the door closed—she had to get away from all the testosterone in the Moreno & Hart offices. None of it was going to find Scarlet.
Scarlet had been grabbed before eight that morning outside Indio. Krista didn’t have the exact details, but Scarlet’s Jeep had been found stripped and dumped at a rest stop.
When Alex had come to her house early that morning, they only had the bare bones of information, but over the last few hours had developed more leads. But even with some answers, Scarlet was still missing.
Sheriff Deputy Donald Boyle was sitting on ice in his department once the CHP learned he had pulled Scarlet over early that morning. Boyle claimed he’d given her a warning for a broken taillight and sent her on her way. But Kyle Richardson was suspicious and immediately drove out to Riverside County to ask questions—which the deputy now refused to answer. The conversation had gone way above any of them, and Richardson was threatening Boyle’s boss with federal involvement.
But the one thing they didn’t have was time. Krista feared the more talking and positioning they did, the greater chance that Scarlet would turn up dead. If she turned up at all.
Krista had done everything she could up to this point. She and R.J. had found the witness, Riley Campbell, who was right now working with Richardson’s people on a sketch of the man seen running from the warehouse. Riley sincerely wanted to help, and Krista hoped what she came up with would lead them to Scarlet.
But it was a long shot.
R.J. walked in.
“I closed my door for a reason,” Krista said.
He closed the door behind him and walked over to behind her desk. He rubbed her shoulders. “We’ll find her.”
“I know.”
“You don’t sound so convinced.”
“They’re going to kill her. My guess? They want to find out how much she knows, who she told, if she has any evidence stashed. Then they’ll kill her.”
“I’m not leaving your side until we find her. But there is good news.”
Krista rubbed her eyes. “I’m not in the mood for games,
R.J.”
“I’m not playing games. We have a little time—if they wanted her dead, they would have shot her and left her at the rest stop.”
Krista shuddered. R.J. kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t mean to sound so callous. Scarlet is too stubborn to die like this. We will find her.”
“I really hope you’re right,” she said. “But we don’t know where she is, who took her, or how long she has.”
“Richardson has gone over and above what I thought he’d do. The CHP is letting him take Scarlet’s Jeep into evidence. It’ll be here any moment.”
“I should never have turned off my phone last night.”
“Stop. There’s no reason you should feel guilty. About this or anything. If Scarlet thought she was in trouble, she would have called your house phone.”
R.J. was right, but that didn’t really make Krista feel better. “What about that cryptic message Scarlet left you?”
“I have no idea what she meant,” R.J. said, but it was clear he’d been thinking hard about it. “It means something. It’ll come to me.”
Krista should have been there for Scarlet. They were both pursuing their own leads, but they should have talked—shared information. Something.
“I know what you’re thinking, babe. But Scarlet left town yesterday morning. Quick research trip I’ve done a thousand times. So have you, so has Scarlet. You couldn’t have prevented this. Stop beating yourself up.”
“You didn’t have to explain to Scarlet’s brother that we’ve been working around the task force because they shut us out. The look on his face—God, R.J., between John and Alex, I don’t know who’s going to hate me more if something happens to Scarlet.”
He kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her. “No one blames you. Scarlet convinced you to work this angle, and when you two told me about it, I thought it was a smart plan. We found Riley Campbell, and Scarlet got information out of Gabe. We’ll find out exactly what happened at that warehouse three and a half years ago. If Richardson hadn’t insisted on keeping Scarlet out of the loop, maybe we’d be in a different place now.”
R.J. was right—but Krista couldn’t blame Richardson, not completely. They were cops, Krista and Scarlet private investigators. They had other concerns. They just didn’t understand Scarlet’s obsession with finding the truth.
Her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number and she jumped on it, hoping it was information about Scarlet. Maybe Scarlet had escaped. “Hello?” she answered, almost breathless.
“Is this Krista? Krista Hart?”
“Who’s this?”
R.J. edged closer to listen.
“Diego Hernandez. I rent Scarlet Moreno her apartment above my bar. Someone broke in last night. At first I thought it was the bar, but nothing was taken. Then my bartender tells me that Scarlet’s place is trashed. I tried calling her, but she’s not answering.”
“Do you know what’s missing?”
“No—I don’t even know what she had. It’s a total mess, and now I’m worried.”
He had every right to be worried.
“Call the police, file a report.”
“I—uh—I think you might want to come and check it out yourself. I’ll file a report and everything, but there’s something you might want to see.”
“What?” She wasn’t in the mood for twenty-questions.
“I think it’s a threat. Painted on the wall. Where’s Scarlet? Is she okay?”
A threat? But they already had Scarlet…. Though if they broke in last night after the bar closed, they hadn’t grabbed her yet. What did Scarlet have in her apartment… Shit! That’s how they must have found her. She kept all her notes on the Vartarians in her closet. Could she have put something in there about visiting Gabe?
“I’ll be there as fast as I can, but call the Newport Beach police, okay?”
“Yeah, sure thing. Thanks, Krista.” Diego hung up.
Before Krista could say anything to R.J. about the call, there was a quick knock at her door, then Alex came in. “The tow truck is here with Scarlet’s Jeep. And so is Gabe Stone.”
Krista ran out of her office just in time to see John Moreno pin Stone up against the wall.
“She trusted you!” John said. “You betrayed her. My sister nearly died because of you, you fucking bastard—how dare you show up here. Did you have something to do with her kidnapping? Did you tell anyone where she was?”
“John—” Gabe said, his face white, pain and anger evident.
“I called Gabe,” Krista said firmly. “Right after Alex told me Scarlet was missing.”
“I caught the first plane out,” Gabe said.
“It’s your fault!”
R.J. grabbed John by the arm. “Let him go,” R.J. said quietly.
“She’s my sister.”
John’s voice was so quiet, so full of anguish, that Krista’s heart broke in half. She spontaneously turned to John and grabbed both of his arms. “We are not going to let Scarlet die.”
He stared at her and she saw something she never had… brotherly love. For a moment, she was so angry at Scarlet that she would risk her life when she had such a close family. Krista loved her parents, but as an only child, she had never quite understood Scarlet’s relationship with her brother. But here, now, she finally understood.
John nodded, straightened his spine, and suddenly, Detective Moreno was in front of her, all business.
“Stone,” he said, no-nonsense, “what do you know?”
Gabe looked pained. “I gave Scarlet a key. It goes to a box I hid in my old house—I don’t know if what I had was important, but it kept me alive for the last three-plus years.”
“Do they know she had the key?”
Gabe shook his head. “I doubt it. They wouldn’t even know what to look for, but if they found the key and knew what it meant, they would have already sent someone to kill me. I—I told my wife. Most of it. Sent her and the kids away for a few days.”
He glanced around the room, but if he was searching for sympathy or understanding, he wasn’t going to get it here.
“I don’t think any of you understand how far the Vartarians’ reach is,” Gabe continued. “How many people owe them something. How many people are willing to turn their backs or break the law for protection or money.”
Alex stepped forward and Krista feared R.J. would have to break up another fight. “Why did you turn Scarlet over to them? For protection or profit?”
“I didn’t—not today.”
“But three years ago you did. You set Scarlet and Krista up. You have no idea what she’s been through trying to put the pieces of her life back together.”
R.J. snapped his fingers. “That’s what she meant.”
It took Krista a second to catch on. R.J. had played a voice mail Scarlet had left after she’d tried to call Krista early that morning. Krista hadn’t understood the message, either, but they’d both agreed that it was Scarlet’s way of giving them information. “The tunes?”
R.J. nodded, a half smile on his face, and he ran outside. Krista followed, John and Alex right on her heels. R.J. had already put on gloves and was searching the CD player. When it was empty, he opened the center compartment of the Jeep. Inside was a bag of evidence that had been sealed by the CHP when they found the car. He pulled out a white CD case.
“The Beatles?” Alex asked.
“It’s the only group Scarlet and I agree on,” R.J. said and opened the thin box.
Taped inside was a key.
“She knew she was in trouble,” Alex said.
Everyone looked at Gabe.
He nodded. “I’ll take you to my old house.”
“I have to go to Scarlet’s apartment,” Krista said. “Diego called, said someone broke in, trashed the place, left a threatening message or something. He’s calling Newport Beach P.D., but I need to check it out.”
“I’ll go with you,” Alex said. “It’s my jurisdiction, and we need to know what w
e’re up against here.”
Krista still wasn’t 100% certain about Alex. While she suspected he’d been working with John and Richardson all along, Scarlet had seen him coming out of Armor Plus headquarters—and then he lied about it.
“What?” Alex asked. “What’s the fucking problem? Scarlet is missing, her apartment’s been trashed, and you’re looking at me like I’m the one who did it.”
“Watch it,” R.J. said, looking dangerous.
“You lied to Scarlet. She saw you coming out of Armor Plus headquarters.”
Alex opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked at John. “Shit.”
Krista raised an eyebrow. She was right, but she wanted to hear him said it.
“I should have told her everything from the beginning,” Alex said.
John cleared his throat. “That’s not on you, Alex. That’s on me.” He looked from Alex to R.J. to Krista.
“Explain,” Krista said.
“I brought Alex into the investigation before Thanksgiving. Richardson, Brozik, and I agreed that Scarlet was getting too close, but the feds didn’t want us bringing in a civilian. I tried—believe me, because I know my sister—but the feds have someone inside and they’re running a tight ship, especially since L.A.P.D. had a couple bad apples. We needed Alex because he wasn’t L.A.P.D. And—honestly—to keep an eye on Scarlet.”
“Which I couldn’t do,” Alex said. “Not just this morning, but that woman sees through bullshit better than most, and I didn’t want to lie to her any more than I had to.”
“After she was nearly killed clearing Jason’s name,” John said, “I couldn’t let her get hurt again. So if there’s anyone to blame, it’s me. I should have known as soon as she mentioned Gabe that she was going to confront him.”
“Why didn’t you?” Krista demanded. “You and your task force could have dragged his ass here.”
“Because we had no evidence that Gabe was involved!” John glared at Scarlet’s former partner. “If Scarlet found something, she’d tell us.”
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