She collapsed into the large chair, the one she had occupied when Reece first saw her. She shook her head in dismay, her troubled expression saying as much as her words. “You make it sound so simple and straight forward, almost like a game of cops and robbers. But the truth is that I’m feeling more isolated and apprehensive with each passing hour. You seem to be so confident and in control. I really admire that. As for me, my insides are tied in knots and what isn’t knotted is quivering so much that I’m surprised you can’t see it. I wish I was a braver person.”
He kneeled down next to the chair, clutching her hand in his. “I think you’ve exhibited extreme bravery, especially in such unfamiliar circumstances. Just making the attempt to escape from your abductor is a sign of how brave you are. And having actually succeeded…well, that speaks for itself.”
Once again his heart went out to her. Had he been pushing her too hard? Had his zeal to bring down Frank James and clear his own record overshadowed what was more important—the fact that her life was in danger?
He pulled her into his arms. “I don’t know, Brandi…maybe it would have been better if I’d called Joe to begin with. He could have given you official protection. It wouldn’t have felt as if we were digging a hole that we might not be able to climb out of. You would have been safe rather than sitting here in a mountain cabin hoping that no one finds you.”
She mustered as much of a confident smile as she could. “What? And miss all this excitement? At least now I’ll have some interesting stories to pass on to my grandchildren someday.”
Her smile faded. “And don’t forget…until we were able to examine those photographs we didn’t know why any of this was happening. It would have been the word of some apparently neurotic female with a vivid imagination and an ex-convict against that of a police lieutenant. Would an FBI agent have believed us? Even one you knew personally?”
He caressed her shoulders and stroked her hair. His words were a mere whisper. “I may have handled this entire mess badly, but I’ll always be grateful that our paths crossed.”
Once again she saw the honesty in the depths of his eyes and felt the warmth flow through her body. When this nightmare was over she had to do whatever she could to make sure they had a future together. She could not allow him to slip out of her life.
He brushed a loving kiss across her lips, then stood up. “It’s going to take a while to get the cameras properly situated outside, everything installed and the monitoring set up in here. I need to get the cameras in place before it gets too dark to see what I’m doing.”
“Do you need some help? I don’t know much of anything about electronics beyond how to program my VCR and turn on my computer, but at least I can hand you things as you need them.”
He held out his hand and helped her up from the chair. “Let’s get to work. I want it done as quickly as possible just in case…”
He didn’t finish his sentence. He didn’t need to. He knew they were both thinking the same thing.
AS SOON AS REECE DROPPED Joe at the restaurant, Joe called to be picked up. They immediately returned to the FBI office and Joe checked on the progress they had made with the tracking.
“It didn’t take him very long, Joe. We lost the GPS tracking on your cell phone about ten minutes after he dropped you off.”
Joe Hodges looked up from his computer where he had started a search for any unsolved crimes involving the use of a .25-caliber Beretta Bobcat pistol. “I’m not surprised. I didn’t think that would last very long. Was there anything significant about the location where he stopped?”
“Nothing that jumps out at me. It was a parking lot at an office building.” A hint of a sarcastic chuckle escaped the agent’s throat. “I’m surprised he didn’t pick another grocery store.”
Joe shot his colleague a harsh look. His voice held a stern warning. “Don’t for one moment underestimate Reece Covington. If you do, he’ll end up making you look like a fool. Grocery stores are good choices. They’re neutral locations that don’t stand out. All types of people and cars, constant activity of coming and going, easy to blend in with the surroundings. Grocery stores and their parking lots are ideal locations for meetings. I suspect the office building was simply a matter of convenience. He wanted to search the car and that was the first place he found where he could pull off the street and do it.”
“At least finding your cell phone seemed to satisfy him for the time being and he apparently stopped his search. The tracking bug is still in place and transmitting.”
“Where did he go after he found the cell phone?”
“He stopped at an electronics supply store. From there he seems to have made several stops at a weird assortment of places.”
Joe shoved back from his computer and rolled his chair over to where the other agent was studying the tracking map on his computer screen. “Weird? In what way?”
“There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to his stops. Small businesses, private residences. It’s almost as if he’s driving around aimlessly and stopping on impulse.”
Joe checked a list of the locations. He shook his head in resignation as he grudgingly acknowledged Reece’s clever maneuver. “As I said, don’t underestimate him. He’s done it again, grabbed the upper hand when we thought we had it. Two years in prison certainly didn’t take the edge off his ability or his inherent knack for survival. You say he stopped at an electronics supply place? I’ll bet he purchased a meter to sweep for any type of a transmitting device. He found the bug and rather than destroying it, he attached it to some kind of a delivery truck. Since it’s still transmitting, we think it’s still hidden in his car. He goes on his merry way and we track some poor delivery driver all over town.”
“How come you’re letting Covington call the shots? We could have taken him into custody on the spot.”
“On what charge?”
“Well, we could bring him in to answer questions—”
“No good. Timing is too critical right now. If we had pushed him he would have dug in and we wouldn’t have gotten a thing from him. However, I have to admit that I don’t like the idea of a loose cannon running around, possibly interfering with what we’re doing.”
“Do you want to continue tracking the vehicle?”
“No. Have someone retrieve the bug from the vehicle without the driver knowing it. What I do want is a list of everything Reece purchased at that electronics supply store. That might give us a lead as to where he’s hiding and what he has planned. It might even help identify the woman who was with him. My theory is that she’s the friend he mentioned at our lunch meeting, the one who he claimed was being stalked and was then abducted by Frank James. And if that’s a fact, then it deepens our puzzle. Why would Frank stalk and abduct this particular woman? And then the million-dollar question: what does an organized crime boss have to do with Frank stalking some unknown woman? How does Mitch Mantee fit in? So far, I can’t make any sense of this.”
“You don’t have any idea who the woman is?”
“None whatsoever. I thought about trying to do a match with Washington state driver’s license pictures to see if I could identify her, but that’s going to be a daunting task. Caucasian female in her early thirties…there have to be thousands of them, and it’s something I have to do personally since I’m the only one who saw her and can make the identification. And even at that, she was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. I don’t even know what color her eyes were or what they looked like. It’s not something easy like matching a photograph of her against driver’s license pictures where the computer can run a comparison check.”
Joe shook his head as he mumbled more to himself rather than addressing his comments to anyone in particular. “I wish to hell I knew exactly what it was that Reece stumbled across and what that woman has to do with it.”
“Have you come up on any kind of a ballistics match on what Covington gave you?”
Joe returned to his computer screen and clicked the print b
utton. “So far, two unsolved homicides involving that type of weapon. Both occurred in Rocky Shores even though neither victim lived nor worked there. That put the investigation in Frank’s jurisdiction. I’ll have to do a comparison to the specific cartridge and casing Reece gave me, but I’ll bet it’s a match.”
Joe glanced at his watch. “I have a racquetball game with Frank at four o’clock. I still have a few hours yet.”
Chapter Ten
“How goes the search?”
The voice startled Frank James. He quickly minimized the information on his computer screen so that it was no longer visible, then turned toward his office door. An immediate wave of relief washed over him when he saw who was standing in the doorway.
“I’m still coming up blank. I thought he had his vehicle well hidden, but finding my way through that maze was a piece of cake compared to how well he’s hidden the ownership of any real estate.”
Frank’s visitor glanced back over his shoulder at the policemen in the squad room, then closed the office door so he could talk to Frank in private. “It’s possible that he doesn’t own any real estate. He might be renting something, maybe a room somewhere that includes utilities. Since you haven’t turned up any bank accounts for him, it would have to be on a cash basis. That’s going to make it extremely difficult to come up with something.”
“Good point.” Frank furrowed his brow in a moment of concentration. “I thought about his driver’s license providing a current address, but he was only in prison for two years. I checked to make sure, but it only confirmed what I suspected. When he got out his license was still valid so he didn’t need to apply for a new one. It shows his address as being his home on Mercer Island, but he sold that while he was out on bail waiting for his trial date, which gave him a nice chunk of money so that he doesn’t need to worry about any income for a while. But without any known bank accounts, I don’t know where the money is. I’ve checked cell phone records and Internet accounts and came up empty. Either his cell phone is hidden behind the same series of veils as any real estate, or he’s using a series of disposable cell phones with a constantly changing phone number.”
“Well, we both know that Reece is a clever man—very resourceful and resilient. Look what it took for you to finally get him out of your way. Not only did you have to set him up and frame him with false evidence, you had to commit perjury on the witness stand in order to get his P.I. license yanked and put him in prison. And even at that, he was only in for two years. He did the smart thing by insisting on doing his full sentence rather than accepting parole. He walked out the prison doors with no strings attached and disappeared into thin air.”
“You know—” Frank leaned back in his chair “—we could use the same tactic in getting rid of him again and at the same time get rid of the Doyle woman. When we find him, I’m sure we’ll also find her. He kills her and we get him. If we stage it at her house here in Rocky Shores, that will put it in my jurisdiction so I’ll be able to manipulate the evidence and control the investigation. Just like last time.”
“That’s all well and good, but first you have to find him. And when you do, you’ll have to figure out some way of getting him and the woman both into custody and transported to her house without anyone in the department knowing about it other than your tight circle of hand-picked men. That’s going to take some critical timing.”
“Yes, I know.”
“But first, find him.”
Frank watched as his visitor left the office. He checked his watch. He had a racquetball game with Joe Hodges in a couple of hours. There wasn’t anything specific he could put his finger on, but the entire situation with Joe showing up made him uneasy. And then there was the problem of his arm. Even though it was only a flesh wound, it was still giving him twinges of pain. Would it be better to call off the racquetball game? Claim a work conflict? Or muddle through and see what kind of information he could pick up about Joe’s true purpose for being there? Whatever he decided to do, he would have to do it very soon.
He rotated his arm, mimicking the motions he would use while playing racquetball. Nope, it wasn’t going to work. He reached for his phone and dialed Joe’s number. A moment later he had the FBI agent on the phone.
“Joe, it’s Frank. About our racquetball game for this afternoon…I’m afraid I have to postpone it. The assistant D.A. wants to have a meeting about a case that’s coming up for trial, and I’m one of the key witnesses so I have to be there.”
“No problem. We all know that business comes first and when business is putting the bad guys away we can’t let it slide in favor of personal matters. Maybe next time I’m in your neighborhood we can reschedule it.”
“Sounds good.”
Frank kept up with a few minutes of casual conversation before terminating the call. Even though he had made his decision and Joe seemed to accept the cancellation without any problem, the situation continued to leave him with an uneasy feeling. Something was wrong.
Or was it just a case of rattled nerves? He knew he was playing a dangerous game by not disclosing his struggle with Reece and losing his backup pistol. He had to make that right before anyone found out about it. It was the type of mistake that could cost him his life if it got to Mitch Mantee.
Frank returned his attention to his computer search for anything that might lead to Reece Covington. The more he searched, the higher his frustration level rose. Two years in prison and the loss of the P.I. license hadn’t changed anything. Reece was still in his face and making things difficult for him. Somehow Reece Covington had to be stopped.
Permanently.
REECE AND BRANDI FINISHED the outside installation of the cameras and set up the monitoring on the dining room table. Reece added an alarm system to wake them when images triggered the monitoring during the night.
After satisfying himself that everything was in proper working order, he turned his attention to other matters. “I’m starving. How about you? We didn’t have much of a breakfast and skipped lunch.”
“Me, too. I’m definitely hungry.”
He heard the upbeat tone in her voice, but knew it only masked the anxiety etched on her face. He pulled her into his arms, his voice dropping to a seductive whisper. “The dining table seems to be unavailable. How about an intimate little dinner for two in front of the fireplace?”
“Sounds terrific.”
He brushed a tender kiss across her lips, then reluctantly let go of her. Nervous energy coiled inside him like a tightly wound spring. The sound of thunder announced the arrival of the storm that had been lingering just off shore for a couple of days. “I think we’re in for another bout of rain.”
“Will that ruin the cameras or interrupt the transmission back here for monitoring?”
“Not as long as it’s just rain, but a big-time lightning display could play havoc with it. If the power goes out, I’ll kick on the emergency generator. It will supply enough power to handle the monitoring equipment and also the refrigerator so the food doesn’t spoil. Other than that, we’ll be reduced to fireplace, candles and a couple of kerosene lanterns for light and a battery-operated radio for news.”
“Sort of like camping, only with a roof and a comfortable bed.”
A soft chuckle escaped his throat. “And don’t forget the real bathroom with hot and cold running water and a flush toilet.”
They went to the kitchen and fixed a quick meal. After they ate, Reece went to the floor safe and took out his 9 mm pistol and the holster. Legally, he wasn’t allowed to have it in his possession, but the unusual and dangerous circumstances dictated otherwise.
Reece saw her apprehension as Brandi stared at the pistol. “Do you have any experience with firearms?”
She wrinkled her brow for a moment as she pulled up the memories from long ago. A hint of a tender smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “Well, yes and no. Many years ago my father and I would have the occasional father and daughter day, as he liked to call it. We would go out in
the country for target practice. We’d shoot at paper targets and tin cans with a rifle and a revolver he owned. Once he took me trap shooting…you know, the clay disks and a shotgun. I wasn’t any good at that. I didn’t like the way the shotgun recoiled into my shoulder.”
She shook away the memories from the past as she pointed toward Reece’s 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. “But I’ve never even held one of those, let alone shot one.”
His voice told her what she already knew. There was no mistaking the seriousness that covered his features. “Perhaps a quick lesson is in order.”
“What about the other one, the pistol you took from Frank and put in the safe?”
“I don’t want to use that unless it turns out to be a dire emergency. The package I mailed to Chip includes the location of the safe and its contents. I don’t think anyone searching the cabin will find the safe. Chip can pass that information on to the FBI in case something—”
She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. A moment later his arms folded around her. Once again she felt his strength and determination flow to her, touching her senses and soothing her nerves.
She finally managed to find her voice. “What happens next? What are we going to do now?”
“We’re going to call Joe again. By now he’s figured out that his tracking bug hasn’t been tracking us. He’s also had plenty of time to check the ballistics on the spent cartridge and shell casing against any unsolved crimes using that type of pistol. We’ll see what he has to say, how honest he’s going to be with me, then decide from there.”
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? Page 15