She tried to move, but failed. She didn’t think she was restrained, but she could feel very little, like every limb had been filled with lead. This was the worst hangover of her life and she hadn’t even had a drink. A hangover plus a drug overdose. She’d thought they’d given her some sort of depressant at first, but now she wasn’t so sure.
She rolled over and winced as pain shot through her side. Was something broken? She wiggled her fingers and toes and didn’t think so, just severely bruised. Plastic crunched beneath her. But the floor wasn’t hard. She rolled again and realized there was a plush carpet beneath the plastic.
Scarlet turned and maneuvered herself to all fours.
She tried to stand, but her head spun and she collapsed again, out of breath as if she’d sprinted a mile.
Deep breaths. Calm down. Be smart.
She had no memory of anything after Matt locked her in the trunk. She’d been drugged, passed out. An hour could have passed, or three hours, or longer. Her stomach turned and she froze to avoid puking, yet there was nothing in her. Her tongue was thick and dry. She would sell her soul for a glass of water.
“She’s finally coming out of it.” The voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a long tunnel. Crunch, crunch on the plastic. Why would there be plastic on the carpet?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know they’re going to kill you and they don’t want to get the carpet dirty.
She looked up to where the voice was. Her vision was still blurred, but she’d recognize her captor any day of the week.
Matt.
“Bastard,” she whispered.
“Good evening, sunshine,” he said dryly.
“Get her talking. Now.”
A woman.
“Yes, dear.”
Matt was being sarcastic. Did the woman know that? Scarlet did. She could tell by his tone.
“Hector,” Matt said, “are you ready?”
“I need her sitting upright, Mr. Hamilton.”
Mr. Hamilton? Scarlet almost snorted, but her ribs hurt too much.
Matt grabbed both her arms and pulled her up and into an armchair. Her vision returned. Everything was too bright and slightly out of focus, but she could see the room. A private home, large, with a huge picture window. Wherever they were, she could see the sun dipping into the ocean. The ocean? Where the hell?
Diana Vartarian lived in the Malibu Hills. Matt had brought her to Diana Vartarian’s house? Were they desperate? Scarlet squinted and the attractive woman across the room came into focus. Though she’d never met the head of Armor Plus, she’d seen her photo enough to recognize the dark-haired criminal.
The room was huge-—a great room or living room. He handcuffed her to the chair. “You’ve proven to be somewhat of an escape artist.”
“Do this now,” Diana said. “I let you talk me into this, Matthew. I hope we don’t regret it.”
“If we don’t find out who’s ratting us out, we have to cut everyone and rebuild. Do you know how much time and money it will cost us?”
“If they track us here, we’ll go to prison.”
“No one is looking for us.”
“They’re looking for her,” Diana said.
“I’m ready,” Hector said.
Ready for what? “Water,” Scarlet gasped.
Matt tipped a water bottle against her lips. She drank, coughed, drank more. Her head felt weird. It hurt, but more than that it felt… foggy. Her chest hurt, her heart was beating so fast she could hear her blood swoosh behind her ears.
She pictured Alex, lying on the concrete after being knocked down by Miller. Did John get the call she’d made? Did he trace it in time? Was Alex already dead?
A cry escaped her throat. Why couldn’t she have said I love you? Why couldn’t she have given him that before they were both killed? Was she so damn selfish she couldn’t just tell him a little white lie?
Or maybe it wasn’t a lie. Maybe she did love him. How could she possibly know? What did love really mean? Matt told her he loved her, yet he tried to kill her. He would kill her before the day was over. Or have someone do it. He wouldn’t feel remorse or guilt. She was a problem that needed to be solved. Had he ever loved her? How could she have trusted someone like him, someone with so little regard for the law or others that he worked for bad guys while publicly standing for truth and justice?
She wished she could do it all over. She was so fucked up. She was a thirty-four-year-old single woman with an obsessive personality. She couldn’t let things go. If she’d just forgotten about the ambush, she wouldn’t be here. Alex wouldn’t be in danger. Neither would Krista. Moreno & Hart Investigations would actually be in the black. Why couldn’t she just put the past in the past? Why did the truth matter when it was only going to end in bloodshed?
Yet… how could she just walk away and accept a criminal enterprise doing whatever they damn well pleased? Maybe if she didn’t know that Armor Plus and the Vartarians were behind the murder of a cop. Maybe if she didn’t know that they had corrupt cops on their payroll… maybe she could have pushed it aside. But Officer Gina Perez was dead because she was doing her job, and there was no way that Scarlet could sit aside—turn her back—on that crime. The murder of a cop… the murder of anyone. Most cops were good people—they did their jobs, they protected and served a public that was largely ungrateful for their service. That made the bad cops that much worse because they fed the violence and distrust. They had to be stopped. Every last one of them.
So maybe she couldn’t have let it go. Ever. John and Kyle had a lot of information—if her death gave them the final nail in the coffin for Vartarian and their gang of bastards, she wouldn’t die in vain. Justice would be served, and her death would have meaning.
But she didn’t want to die. And she sure as hell didn’t want Alex dead. But if her death meant something… she could be at peace with that.
“Hook her up, Hector,” Diana Vartarian said. “Matthew, we can’t wait any longer.”
Matt put the water down on a small table, then sat on the edge of a sofa next to her. Hector put a blood pressure cuff on her, and attached little wired pads to her fingers. Then he and Matt put straps across her chest. She looked over at the table next to Hector and recognized the equipment—they were giving her a lie detector test.
Her body was numb and tingling. Her chest hurt. She thought maybe her rib was cracked. Hector inserted an IV into her arm.
“What. What are you doing?” Her voice sounded far away.
“We’re going to get the truth, and then you’re going to die,” Diana said.
“The drugs are to make it harder for you to beat the test,” Matt said. “Hector is one of the best technicians, it would be difficult for you to deceive him, but the drugs will make you far more conciliatory. I’d planned on doing this at the warehouse, but when Diego took that cop, I wasn’t confident we weren’t being set up.”
“If you hadn’t delayed—” Diana began.
“That was out of my control,” Matt said, “and you know it.” He was angry, and not with Scarlet. Could she use this disagreement to her advantage?
“Alex,” she whispered. Diego? Had he said something about Diego taking Alex?
“I always knew you had a thing for cops,” Matt said. “Get it going, Hector. We need to take care of this mess, and the faster we get answers, the faster I can take care of the problem.”
Scarlet giggled. Problem. She was the problem. Why was she laughing? They were going to kill her, no doubt, as soon as they were done interrogating her. She felt loopy, completely stoned. She’d gotten stoned once. She’d been seventeen, a high school senior. She and her best friends, Amanda and Carrie. What were they doing now? Amanda went to college far away, like Texas or something. She never came home. Scarlet had seen Carrie a few times after high school, but she got married. Scarlet went to her wedding, but Carrie wasn’t the same person. Neither was Scarlet. Carrie had kids now. Three? Maybe four. Lived where? Santa Clarita? T
housand Oaks? Some suburb where all soccer moms ended up some day…
Scarlet had no friends. She had Krista, that was it. Well, she had Alex and Jason and her brother and Diego… maybe not. Maybe none of them cared. What had she done for any of them? What had she done for anyone but herself? Maybe she didn’t have any friends.
Diego. Diego took the cop… that’s what Matt said. Diego had betrayed her. Something on the tip of her memory disappeared when Hector asked in a monotone, “What is your name?”
She tried to turn to look at him, but he was partly behind her.
“Scarlet Moreno.”
She hadn’t wanted to say that. She’d planned on saying something else… but the thought came and left her mind immediately.
“What is your birthdate?”
“June second.”
“How old are you?
“Thirty-four.”
Why was she talking? What drugs were they feeding her? She didn’t think that truth serums worked. She blinked rapidly, trying to control these odd feelings surging through her body.
“Is John Moreno your husband?”
“No.”
That was silly. John was her brother.
“Is John Moreno your brother?”
“Yes.”
“Is he your older brother?”
“No.”
“She’s ready.”
“Let’s be done with this quickly,” Diana said. “You have the questions?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Do it.”
“Scarlet,” Hector said, “are you aware of a law enforcement officer currently working undercover within Armor Plus?”
She frowned and closed her eyes. She knew there was one, but she couldn’t rat him out. She didn’t know who. She couldn’t. But if they knew there was someone, they might find him. Her head ached.
“She’s fighting it,” Hector said.
She opened her eyes. The light was so bright she had to close them again. Pressure on her arm … then she started to sweat.
Matt’s voice cut through her head as she fought whatever drug they were giving her. “Scarlet, do you know who the undercover agent working within Armor Plus is?”
“No.”
“Is there an undercover agent working within Armor Plus?”
She didn’t answer.
“Answer the question!”
“I don’t know,” she said. Sweat poured off her body and she wanted more water.
“But you think there is an undercover agent?”
“Y-Yes.” No! What was she doing?
“Did anyone tell you about an undercover agent?”
“Richardson,” she mumbled. God, she didn’t want to say anything! She didn’t. But it hurt, it hurt and she couldn’t stop herself.
“Detective Kyle Richardson with Special Operations?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know who the undercover officer is?”
“No.”
“She’s lying,” Diana said.
“I don’t think so,” Matt replied. “Scarlet, is John working with Richardson?”
“Yes.” Her brother. Her baby brother. Would they hurt him? “Don’t touch him. Don’t you fucking touch him or I’ll kill you.”
Matt slapped her. “You’re hardly in a position to make threats, darling.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Did your partner, Krista Hart, contact you regarding the individual who shot you?”
Scarlet bit her tongue. She would not talk about Krista.
“Oh, come on, Matthew! She knows it was Mitch. Her partner talked to the witness. The girl is under police protection. She spilled her guts.”
“Mitch deserves it,” Matt said. “He should have taken care of her when he had the opportunity instead of dicking around.”
“Your ex-girlfriend’s foul mouth is rubbing off on you, Matthew.”
“Bitch,” Scarlet said just because.
Matt slapped her again.
Okay, maybe that wasn’t a smart idea. But they’re the assholes who injected her with some sort of truth serum.
“Is Alex Bishop a part of the investigation into Armor Plus?”
She frowned. She didn’t know. Didn’t Alex just tell her something? At the warehouse?
I’ve been working for John and Kyle since Thanksgiving.
“Scarlet, answer me!”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. Sweat beaded on her forehead and began to drip down her face. Her stomach churned.
She heard Hector arguing with Matt behind her chair, but couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying. Matt walked to the other side of the room and turned his back on them.
“Scarlet,” Hector said in a calm, reasoned voice, “did you see former detective Gabe Stone in Arizona last night?”
“Y-yes.”
“What did he tell you?”
“N-nothing.”
There were beeps and Hector said, “She’s lying.”
“Of course she’s lying!” Diana snapped. “I don’t need your stupid machine to tell me that. Scarlet! What did he tell you? What did that traitor tell you?”
“Key,” Scarlet muttered. “The key to everything.” Had she said key? Her head spun.
“What does that mean?” Diana said. “What exactly did he say?”
Scarlet felt a slap across her face. She opened her eyes and saw Diana Vartarian right there, right in her face. If she had any strength in her arms, she could have strangled her. She wanted to. She wanted to hurt this woman.
“He doesn’t know what the pictures mean,” Scarlet said.
“He told you about the pictures? Did he give you the pictures?”
“No.”
“Hector, is she telling the truth?”
“It’s inconclusive.”
“Where are the pictures? Where is the notebook?” Diana demanded.
“The key,” Scarlet whispered.
“He gave you a key?”
“Yes.”
“Where is the key?”
“I hid it.”
“Where did you hide it?”
Scarlet didn’t say anything. She bit her tongue. Blood pooled in her mouth.
Diana slapped her twice. “Where did you hide the key?”
Scarlet moaned and spat out the blood instead of swallowing it.
“Argh!” Diana exclaimed.
Before Scarlet realized what was happening, Diana had a gun to her head. Matt rushed over and put his hand on the barrel, pushing the gun away. “Don’t.”
“You still love her? Is that it?”
“I never did.”
Scarlet’s gut twisted again. She didn’t want Matt to have loved her—not this… this traitor… but she’d believed him. She’d believed him and he’d been lying to her all along.
“But,” Matt continued, “we need that evidence. It will destroy all of us.”
How?
Gabe hadn’t recognized anyone in the photo. He didn’t know the names in the notebook. How could any of it damage Matt and the Vartarians?
“Scarlet,” Hector said in his soothing voice again, “where did you hide the key that Gabe Stone gave you?”
“Beatles. Disk.”
“That makes no sense!” Diana screamed.
“I think she means she put it in a CD case,” Matt said. “Dammit! There were no CDs in her backpack. I specifically ordered them to bring him all her belongings.”
“You should have specified everything in the Jeep,” Diana said with a sneer.
Through slitted eyes, Scarlet watched as Diana crossed the room and picked up her cell phone. Whoever she called wasn’t answering, and she became increasingly angry.
“Matt, get what you can from her and kill her. If you don’t, I will cut you loose.”
“Don’t threaten me, Diana,” Matt said. At that moment—if she hadn’t realized earlier that day—Matt was in charge. Diana may have thought she was in power, but it was clear that Matt had the authority in the room. Diana
didn’t counter him. Instead, she walked back over to him and touched his face.
He grabbed Diana’s wrist. His expression wasn’t as calm as hers. For a split second, Scarlet thought he’d kill Diana right then and there. Then he said, “Find Jim and figure out exactly what is going on, including where the Jeep is and her CDs. If the vehicle is in evidence, Jim will know how to retrieve it.”
Diana walked out.
“Someone is going to die for this mistake,” Matt said.
“Who are you?” Scarlet asked, partly to herself.
He touched her face. Looked at her. She focused on his eyes. Eyes that were as dark and cold as his heart. But once… at one time he meant more to her. Once, he’d said he’d loved her.
Now, he was going to kill her.
“What did Stone tell you about the photos?” Matt asked quietly.
Her heart raced.
“Who was in the photos?”
“People,” she whispered.
“And?”
“A law clerk.” She coughed. “Water. Please.”
He didn’t budge. She stared at the water bottle on the table. He followed her gaze, picked up the bottle, and slowly drank the rest.
“I hate you,” she said.
He leaned into her face. Kiss her lightly on the lips. Whispered, “Tell me about the task force. I know something is going on. You said Kyle Richardson and John were part of it.”
Had she? Her thoughts were all confused.
“Scarlet, is there an L.A.P.D. investigation into Armor Plus?”
“Yes,” she muttered
“Is there a federal investigation into Armor Plus?”
“Yes.”
“The truth!” Matt demanded.
Hector interjected, “She believes it’s the truth.”
“We would have known,” Matt said. “Our contact in the L.A. FBI would know if there was a federal investigation.”
“Deep cover,” Scarlet murmured. “Need to know.”
Hector asked, “How did you learn about the witness, Riley Campbell?”
“Traffic stop. No one questioned the driver. We thought she knew something. She did. Krista found her. Riley saw someone running.”
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