Switched

by HelenKay Dimon

  He wanted her free and innocent. Knowing him shouldn’t shift her life that drastically. Right now he had to believe she wore a mask. The emotion he saw didn’t match the woman he knew.

  He guessed that her insides were crumbling at the thought of a dead guy lying nearly at her feet. She hadn’t killed him, but blood had flooded all over her the past twenty-four hours. The way she picked up the gun showed spirit, but the way she almost dropped it reflected the real her. She should never touch one outside of a shooting range or sporting club.

  He ached with the need to put her back in the coffee shop, chuckling at silly internet sites. But she did slide right into the kick-butt role and his life with ease. That he would have to assess later, if he could find a moment when someone wasn’t trying to kill him.

  Aaron lifted his arm, trying to work out the kinks and muscle strain. Next time he’d let the guy sail over the balcony and skip the bruised shoulder.

  Dropping into the seat directly across from Max, Aaron took out his gun and balanced it on his lap. The move bordered on dramatic, but he liked the feel of threatening a guy who didn’t think twice about threatening Risa.

  Aaron leaned forward. “Do you know why I’m letting you live?” Max was gagged, but he didn’t even so much as blink, so Aaron continued. “Because you’re going to tell me who hired you.”

  Max shook his head. Disappointment kicked Aaron in the gut. He’d hoped this would be smooth and easy. He wasn’t sure why that would be the case since nothing else in this case had gone like that, but a guy could hope. Especially when what he really wanted to do was climb back into bed with the woman standing over his shoulder.

  Aaron removed the gag. “You yell or try to move and I’ll shoot you in the head. Don’t doubt that I will.”

  “You aren’t the type.”

  “You are sadly mistaken. A man pushed to the edge can do many things he never thought possible. And killing a kid like you was never that far out of my range to begin with.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “That’s right. Now it’s your turn to talk.”

  “I don’t know anything. I did what I was told and pocketed the cash. There’s no trail to anyone.”

  Aaron dropped back in his chair amazed at how much information the kid volunteered. Apparently no one told him that sort of thing was a dead giveaway. Whenever anyone used ten words to say two, the thing buried underneath was worth digging up.

  “See, that’s the wrong answer. The same answer that gets you killed.”

  Max’s gaze traveled from Risa to Aaron and back again. “I’m unarmed.”

  “But you’re not innocent, are you?” Risa dropped that gem.

  Aaron knew her mind had gone back to the comment about having an audience for their lovemaking. That one made him want to spit, but he guessed a woman would really take offense.

  He gave Max a man-to-man look. “You shouldn’t have mentioned the bedroom thing.”

  He shook his head. “I didn’t see anything.”

  Risa snorted. “A few minutes ago you were all about describing it and making me feel uncomfortable. It’s too late to change that story now.”

  “I didn’t mean—”

  “And you’re a sick puppy.”

  “Max, here’s what you need to understand.” Aaron slid his hand over his gun, highlighting the weapon for Max without saying a word about it. “No prosecutor would bring charges for your death after what we’ve been through tonight. A home invasion on the night of a newsworthy attack is only going to end in sympathy for us. Big sympathy.”

  “But I’m unarmed,” Max repeated.

  “You won’t be when I’m done.” Aaron had Max’s gun secured. Aaron had never planted a gun after the fact in his life and he was not going to start now, but the kid didn’t need to know the particulars. Just because he didn’t have a conscience didn’t mean Aaron didn’t. “Between the evidence that already exists and the stuff I plan to plant, it won’t take a genius to tie you to the bombing.”

  Risa leaned against Aaron’s chair. “And then you’re in huge trouble.”

  There was some comfort knowing he could say this stuff, that she would back him up without rehearsing, but that he didn’t have to rush later to explain. She got that this was a bit. She was not someone who would do and say these things for real. She took it in stride as he poured on the acting, too.

  Max continued to stare at both of them.

  He must have decided Risa was the softer pitch because he aimed his new set of pleas at her. “Ma’am, please.”

  “She’s not going to help you.” Aaron knew that down to his bones. Max had taken the wrong tact. He’d been one more guy to take a shot at her on a day when her patience was blown.

  Big mistake.

  “She’s done having men grab her. I know I could go a nice long while before I see it again.” Just the thought of it made the top of his head blow off.

  “I didn’t touch her”

  “Your friend did. Not sexually, but he put his hands on her and scared her. And then there’s the part where you promised to kill her. So let’s try this again.” Aaron decided to up the ante.

  He’d never kill a man for the joy of killing, though it was tempting tonight. No matter how much he might want to be that guy, he wasn’t. He played by the rules. He’d entered the security field because he truly believed people had a right to feel safe in their lives and he wanted to provide that safety.

  “Please, I can’t say anything.”

  Aaron almost rolled his eyes. Gone was the tough guy who sat in the chair and tormented Risa with mental images she wouldn’t soon forget. He’d silently dared them to touch him. He was whining like a baby now.

  “Begging isn’t the answer, Max. You just need to tell me the truth.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “I’m getting tired of him saying that,” she mumbled.

  Aaron agreed. To bring a quicker end to the game, he borrowed a strategy from Lowell. If that idiot could make people jump, surely Aaron could do the same. After all, he had three weapons within two feet of him. That had to be an encouragement of some sort for Max.

  Aaron fingered the trigger. “You have five seconds to give me a name.”

  “Or?” The snotty tone had disappeared. This one sounded more like a kid ready to pee his pants.

  Good. “You won’t live to hear six.”

  “I… But…”

  “You’re going to tell me what you know and then you’re going to make a call to your boss and say I’m dead.”

  “If I don’t?”

  “I promise to call an ambulance for you.” Risa hesitated a beat to the perfect effect. “Eventually.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Angie sat by herself on one side of Lowell’s big black desk. He hadn’t looked up or even acknowledged her presence since his secretary ushered her inside.

  The office buzz said everyone had been interviewed and accounted for. Mark was the only recorded death and there would be a memorial service for him later that week and a funeral in a state far away, held by people she didn’t know.

  Brandon would be home from the hospital in a few days and Sonya had already called thirteen times. The number would likely double by noon. She was a worrier, but this time she had reason.

  For the first time ever, Angie felt a twinge of sympathy for the other woman. But Angie felt worse for her predicament. Sonya would get her hair done and be fine. Angie had to deal with the numbing possibility of a criminal record.

  No one thought the incident had changed Lowell. Changing him was impossible. When his old secretary had died, a woman he’d spent hours with each day for a decade, Lowell had taken off exactly one hour. That was his mourning for a special woman in his life.

  She knew all the stories, but since she hadn’t heard one word from him since they left the center, she thought

  something had shifted. Their relationship had ended. His silent declaration of the same was clear a
s he signed paperwork in silence.

  After a sleepless night and a morning filled with enough dread to keep her in the bathroom throwing up, she wanted this part over. Palmer had assured her he’d taken care of it. Despite wanting to hang around McBain’s condo last night, she’d left when Palmer told her to. Actually she’d stayed out of sight in the parking lot hoping for more information or at least a hint of what happened, but it never came.

  Trusting his word without more proof seemed impossible. His betrayal of Lowell made hers look like a schoolgirl joke. Depending on Palmer now to get her out of this mess seemed foolish. But what choice did she have?

  After a single knock, the betrayer in question walked in. Palmer donned his security blazer and gray flannel pants. She wondered how many of those uniforms he owned because the one from yesterday wasn’t good for anything but the trash can anymore. This one looked exactly the same, even shared the same crease marks.

  Palmer stepped up to the desk but didn’t sit down. He stood in his usual stance with his hands linked behind his back. It managed to be both threatening and deferential.

  “Sir, there is a situation we need to discuss. I am afraid it is of some urgency and can’t be put off until a later meeting even though it’s not on your agenda.”

  Angie’s heart jumped to her throat and lodged there. This was it. The double cross that would end with her in jail.

  Lowell kept signing. “Go ahead.”

  “While necessary, it also is of some delicacy. Perhaps we should discuss it first and then see if it is something you wish to share with staff.”

  Palmer waited, but Lowell didn’t stop working. “Today, Palmer.”

  Stress pulled across Palmer’s cheeks. “Very well. I know you wished to comb through the details of last evening. Specifically, you were looking for clarity on the McBain situation.”

  “You are using a lot of words to say whatever it is you’re trying to say. Get to it.”

  “I received some terrible news earlier this morning about McBain.”

  Hope sailed around the room. With those few words, Angie felt a curtain of tension lift. The debilitating fear stopped pounding her. While the world didn’t shift back into control, there was a path back to normalcy.

  She didn’t have the time or inclination to mourn McBain. His snooping had caused this, caused every bad thing that had happened. With him gone, the office would run as it had before. If she was lucky and bided her time, she might even work her way back into Lowell’s good graces.

  She had the perfect slinky negligee to make that happen. Even Palmer admitted she was a favorite. Someone in her position knew how to stay there. They could ride out this bump….

  She’d insist they did.

  Lowell finally lowered his pen and leaned back in his big chair. Like everything else in the office, it was oversize and made solely for his comfort. “What are you talking about? You are talking in circles and making grand statements. What exactly is the issue with Aaron?”

  “I’m afraid there was an accident involving Aaron and his girlfriend. A case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, though they didn’t cause this. All they were doing was sleeping and the condo was robbed.”

  Angie fought back the urge to smile. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep any amusement from showing on her face. This wasn’t the time for glee.

  Lowell frowned as he glanced out the huge window behind his desk. Snow fell heavy now. From this floor, they could see the Christmas lights and garland in the courtyard of the building.

  He turned back to them with a blank expression on his face. “When?”

  “Last night. The wounds were fatal.”

  Lowell tapped his pen against his open hand. “It wasn’t in the paper.”

  “I, uh…” Palmer verbally faltered, but his outward appearance never changed. “The news likely came well after the deadline.”

  “And you know it from whom?”

  “A source at the police station. He owed me a favor and knew about my previous check on McBain.”

  “Hmm.” Lowell continued to play with his pen, twisting it between his fingers and stopping only to tap the end against his desk.

  She’d never seen him play with the things around him like that before. He wasn’t a man in constant movement. He could sit for hours, poring over reports or analyzing documents.

  Palmer hesitated, the confusion obvious in his frown and pursed lips. “While this sort of thing is not your preferred activity, we could make memorial arrangements. Once Mark’s service is behind us, of course. I have no idea about the girlfriend, but that should be easy enough information to track down.”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay, then.” Palmer looked at her, then at Lowell.

  He understood the discomfort. The longer this conversation dragged on, the more her confidence faltered. What had started out as a flash of great news was turning into a cryptic talk that had her stomach churning.

  “I’ll leave you.” Palmer got the whole way to the door before Lowell stopped him.

  “One thing.” With the utmost care, Lowell placed the pen on his desk blotter. “I believe your information is faulty.”

  Her heart’s roller-coaster ride speed up. One minute relief lifted her up and the next despair dragged her down.

  Palmer didn’t move. “Excuse me?”

  “None of this is true.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I talked with Aaron ten minutes ago.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  The bathroom door on the right side of the room opened and Aaron and the woman Angie guessed was his girlfriend slipped out. They looked surprisingly rested and very much alive.

  Lowell nodded in welcome. “Aaron.”

  Angie’s mind spun, refusing to land on a logical space. “Who is this?”

  Aaron shifted his weight until he stood slightly in front of the woman. The protective posture was clear. He would throw down for her against any of them.

  “Risa Peters, the woman who was nearly kidnapped twice.” He glanced at her. “Is that the right number?”

  She closed one eye as if thinking the ridiculous question through. “I think it was actually three times. Four if you count last night, but that was more like a murder attempt.”

  Aaron waved the comment off. “Technically, that’s a different thing.”

  Palmer shut the office door again and took up his position next to the desk. “What are you two talking about?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought I was clear.” Aaron brushed his hand down Risa’s arm. “This is the woman your men tried to grab when they were supposed to grab Angie.”

  She ran through a visual checklist. Small breasts. Too-dark hair. A corn-fed country look. This Risa person looked nothing like her. “That’s nonsense.”

  Risa shrugged. “If it’s any consolation, I don’t think we look alike, either.”

  “Of course not.” Aaron winked at her. “I much prefer you.”

  “Thanks.” Risa looked pleased at the idea, though Angie did not know how that was possible.

  Palmer shifted position until he hovered near the side of the desk, aligned with Lowell. It was a physical as well as verbal show of loyalty. “I don’t know what you’re doing here. This is not a game. People died yesterday.”

  The amusement faded from Aaron’s face. “And one more died last night. And if you keep playing this game and covering your tracks, I don’t know how many more reports we’ll have to make to the police. The good news is we probably won’t destroy another conference center.”

  “Who else died?” Lowell asked.

  “Remember Max?”

  Lowell paged through the paperwork on the edge of his desk. “He died at the center. Palmer took his pulse and delivered the bad news. That was the report, Mark and Max.”

  Angie knew when to jump off a train. “I remember that. It was both of them.”

  “Well, then, Max miraculously rose from the dead. Trust me,
I know because he showed up at my place ready to stage a home-invasion-style murder early this morning.” Aaron’s furious glare shot to Palmer. “That was on your orders, right? Kill me. Kill Risa. After some work, the evidence would have pointed to me. Problem is, it wouldn’t have ended there. My partner would have picked up the charge, knowing I wasn’t guilty. Your killing spree would have had to keep going.”

  “While it’s impressive you’re trying to throw the scent off you, it’s too late. You are not the only one who was up late last night.” Palmer slipped an envelope out of his inside jacket pocket. “I found some things.”

  Angie sensed this was coming. A few minutes ago she would have welcomed Palmer shifting the blame for everything to McBain but this was a miscalculation. Aaron had just played his hand. Palmer was walking into a trap and dragging her right along behind him. She fidgeted in her chair, thinking to slip out while the accusations were flying.

  Aaron clearly had other ideas. He walked over and stood behind her chair with his hands close to her shoulders.

  “I had a feeling you’d been busy last night,” he said to Palmer but could have been talking to any of them.

  Palmer turned to his boss. “McBain has been the threat all along. He sent the warnings to get you to hire him and when he realized you were about to let him go, he devised a plan of revenge.”

  Lowell drew in a huge breath, then let it out with a loud sigh. Phones rang in the hallway and muffled conversation filtered through the door. No one said anything inside the room, waiting for any response from Lowell, but outside the signs of business life bustled around them.

  Finally, he swiveled his chair to face Aaron. “Exactly as you said. He went for you.”

  Aaron looked apologetic. “Unfortunately, yes.”

  “What are you two talking about?” Palmer asked.

  Lowell shifted his chair back. “Aaron told me about the plans.” He stared straight at Angie for an extra second. “Both of you.”

  Palmer’s cool demeanor slipped. He waved his arms and his voice rose. “It’s his way of throwing the trail off him. He is telling you what really happened and acting like I’m setting him up. Don’t fall for this.”