by Judi Lind
“Who’s Willie Hebert?” The chief looked confused, as if he truly didn’t know what Noah was talking about.
“It doesn’t matter,” Keely said quickly. Noah hadn’t mentioned the dead man in his recitation to Reseda. She knew that only his anger at Kapinski for putting her into jeopardy had caused him to blurt out the man’s name just now.
Reseda tapped the desktop with a pencil. “Ms. Travers, if you are attempting to conceal the murder of an American tourist at the La Posada del Sol, don’t bother. I know all about Mr. Hebert.”
She blushed. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant.”
His pencil tapped faster. “And, of course, you and Mr. Bannister were in no way responsible for Mr. Hebert’s death?”
“Certainly not! We should have told you. He broke into our room with a gun, but we got away. We think he was looking for the plates.” She paused for breath. “Anyway, the next morning when we returned, he was dead. We had nothing to do with it.”
Reseda chewed on his upper lip for a while, then said, “I may be a fool, but I’m inclined to believe you. In fact, Captain Suarez of the Ensenada police has a woman, purportedly Mr. Hebert’s wife, in custody. She, of course, also denies any involvement in his death. But Captain Suarez finds it interesting that she didn’t report him missing. So, for the moment, I’ll accept your story. Go on, please.”
To give herself time to absorb Reseda’s startling news, she continued questioning Kapinski. “You said you wouldn’t hurt me, but you wanted those plates. Are you telling me that you aren’t involved with that counterfeiting syndicate?”
“Oh, Keely, I’m so embarrassed. Of course I’m not a counterfeiter.” Tears in his eyes, the older man explained in a broken voice that he’d received a report of their troubles in Ensenada through official channels. Fearful they might be inmates in a Mexican jail, he’d touched bases with Noah’s partner in Washington.
Not knowing Kapinski’s relationship with the Travers family, Noah’s partner had let it slip that Noah’s prime suspect was Mike Travers. The man said that Noah was convinced Travers was the informant and was using either one or both of his daughters to cover his own reprehensible tracks.
“That’s ridiculous! My father is an honest man.”
Kapinski nodded sadly. “I know that, but after Bannister’s partner got through listing all the circumstantial evidence they’ve piled up, I knew we’d never be able to prove his innocence.” He stopped as his eyes filled and his voice grew husky with unshed tears. “Your father is like a brother to me and I’d do anything to keep him from suffering anymore.”
Noah said slowly, “Including setting yourself up as the culprit to deflect suspicion from Mike.”
“Anything,” Kapinski said forcefully.
Suddenly Keely understood that the police captain had offered himself as a sacrifice to save her father. Her own eyes damp with tears of overwhelming gratitude, she jumped out of her chair and threw her arms around Kapinski’s bulky frame. “Oh, Chief! How could I ever have doubted you? I’m so sorry. But…but my dad is innocent. I’d bet my life on it.”
Kapinski dabbed at his eyes and patted her shoulder. “Me too, honey, me too.”
Keely straightened up and turned to Noah, her hands on her hips in an unconscious show of her determination. “You say my father’s guilty, and we know he isn’t. Seems to me that we’re at an impasse, Bannister.”
“Seems like.”
“Then let’s settle this once and for all.”
Noah rubbed at the dark blush of whiskers along his jawline. “And I suppose you’ve come up with a plan?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
She hesitated, staring at the three men. Would they go along with her scheme? Everything she held dear depended on her ability to convince these men to help her. But if her plan failed, all would be lost.
Taking a deep breath, Keely laid out her plan.
They would leave the package containing the real engraving plates in Lieutenant Reseda’s custody. Chief Kapinski would return to San Diego and leak word of their whereabouts to several people in the department.
“Maybe he could even say that Noah was arrested in Ensenada. That way the informant would think I was alone. Easier prey.”
“You mean set yourself up as bait, don’t you?” Noah asked in an incredulous voice.
“Do you have a better plan?” she countered. “Hear me out.” She continued with her rough outline.
Using the fake package as bait, Noah and Keely would wait in Rosarito and see who came after them.
“Absolutely not,” Noah said, tossing his head. “It’s too dangerous. You’re proposing to be a sitting duck for a murderer. I can’t allow it.”
“It’s not your decision to make,” she stated calmly.
He continued to shake his head. “There are too many holes, too many things that can go wrong.”
Keely refused to relent. It wasn’t foolproof, she admitted, but it was the best they had.
“At least this will prove once and for all that my father is innocent. And we stand a pretty good chance of finding the murderer.”
Noah’s gaze bored into her for an endless moment, until at last he stood up. “Well, Chief. While you and I have been operating on testosterone, Keely’s used her brain. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to give her plan a try.”
She smiled up at him gratefully. Knowing that he still believed in her father’s guilt, she was even more touched that he was trying to keep an open mind—willing to be convinced.
Perhaps even more poignant was his faith in her professional ability. By agreeing to her plan, he was placing the success of this entire operation squarely on her shoulders. If she goofed, all his work for the past two years would disappear down the proverbial porcelain bowl.
She vowed not to let him down. Both of their futures depended on her identifying and apprehending the real informant.
The chief rose to his feet. “Okay, I’m game.”
The three of them turned and faced Lieutenant Reseda. They were in his country, under his jurisdiction. If he decided to hold them or press charges, it was all over.
He returned their stares for a protracted moment, then nodded slowly. “All right, Ms. Travers. Let’s try your plan.”
As the three men huddled over the desk ironing out the details, she suddenly felt weak and frightened inside.
She was betting everything on her father’s innocence. Keely knew her plan was a gamble—a desperate gamble.
She only prayed it would work.
Chapter Fifteen
Keely and Noah headed up to their room shortly after Lyle Kapinski left.
Both of them were quiet, pensive, as if neither wanted to broach the subject of what would happen tomorrow. Because, Keely thought, tomorrow it would be all over. One way or another, they’d know the truth.
Once the chief leaked word of her “dilemma” in Mexico, the real criminal in the department would surely make his or her appearance. As her father always said, turn on the lights and watch the cockroaches scuttle.
If all went well, the new day would bring an end to the speculation about her family’s involvement. Would the real killer prove Rosie’s innocence, or add weight to the evidence of her guilt?
But tomorrow held another bittersweet promise. This was the last night of her assignment with Noah. Would he give her a polite kiss goodbye in the morning and head back to D.C., or would he want to continue the fragile relationship they’d started this week?
Tomorrow would tell its own story. Tonight, all they could do was wait.
When they reached their hotel room, Noah pulled off his shoes and flopped onto the bed. He lay with his arm over his eyes, shielding her from whatever he was feeling.
Keely kicked off her sandals and curled up in the armchair, watching him. Whatever he was thinking about must have been taking considerable concentration, she thought, watching his jaw muscles work as if he were chewing on a buffalo hide.
She got up and walked over to the wi
ndow. It was hot, terribly still. As if the night, too, were waiting for something to happen. She stood looking out at the moonlight dancing on the ocean, and suddenly felt as alone as a single fish in that great stretch of endless sea.
So lost in her own thoughts that she didn’t hear him get out of bed, Keely was nevertheless not surprised when she felt his presence directly behind her.
“Come here,” he whispered against the back of her head, and slipped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. They stood joined for a long while, until slowly he turned her around to face him.
He took her against him and hungrily kissed her.
Her hands skimmed over the broad plane of his back as she clung to him, desperate to somehow make him hers—if only for the night. She pressed against him and felt the hard strength of his excitement.
Her knees wobbled and she began to tremble as his mouth continued to claim hers. He whirled her in a circle and walked her backward to the bed.
He smiled slowly and lifted his eyebrows. “Do you know what I’m thinking right now? What I want more than anything in the world?”
She had a pretty good idea what he was leading up to, but feeling suddenly giddy and girlish, she tossed her head, needing to hear him say the words. “No, what?” she breathed.
His lips tipped again, in the sexiest, most enticing grin she had ever seen. “I want to make love to you. Slowly, deliberately and with complete attention to…all the details.” His fingertips flicked down her arms and tiny bumps of gooseflesh quivered in the wake of his touch.
With a tortured groan, he dropped his hand to the scoop of her blouse. He untied the small white cord that held the peasant blouse on her shoulders. As the fabric loosened its hold, he used his fingers to trail along the edge of the cotton, teasing her tender flesh and sending hot rushes of desire racing through her body.
Lowering his head, he kissed her deeply while his hand slipped beneath the fabric. He gently caressed her breast, his fingertip finding and teasing her sensitive peak.
Keely knew that she was taking a great risk. When they’d made love before, it had been a spontaneous joining, a curiosity even, to rediscover a past that had eluded them. This was different. This was deliberate. A conscious decision on her part. And it could break her heart.
But her traitorous body was past caring. In a desperate sudden need to feel his naked skin against her own, she smoothed her hands up the broad expanse of his chest and prized open his shirt. Her searching hands glided along the firm planes of his heaving chest, down to the taut muscles of his stomach.
At her touch, Noah’s kisses grew hungrier, so hungry that she shuddered in luxurious anticipation. Her entire being existed only for his touch. “You are the most beautiful, most desirable woman I’ve ever known,” he whispered against her neck. “God, I could never get you out of my system. Never.”
Her last doubt deserted her as his words touched and thrilled her. She wanted to melt into him, to allow the liquid center of her femininity to meld around his hardness. Her need suddenly a living, gripping entity that threatened to take over her soul, Keely pressed against him.
Noah pulled back then and stared at her in the moonlight, his expression at once demanding and unfathomable. Then, wordlessly, he reached down and knuckled the tender flesh of her lower lip and Keely felt the delicious beginnings of a dull throbbing that wanted, no, demanded, him.
With a few deft movements, he had skimmed her blouse and skirt aside.
With an enticing slowness, his fingers slipped beneath the silky wisp of her bra, sliding the strap down her shoulder.
Cupping her face in his hands, he lowered his lips to hers in a kiss of incredible sweetness, as he gently lowered her onto the bed.
Her senses were aflame as his fingertips gently grazed the soft flesh of her thighs. She quivered and squirmed on the bed, until at last he raised up to meet her lips with his. Her need threatened to overwhelm her and, with trembling fingers, she reached for him, but he grabbed her wrists and held her arms above her head while his lips continued their exquisite torture.
In that moment Keely understood that no matter what divergent paths their tomorrows might take, she would always have this night. But if she lived a million years, no other man would ever make her body sing with such glorious abandon. She felt a moment’s loss for the empty nights of her future, but she would always have this moment to remember, to cling to.
He was gentle, yet thorough, and she thought she might scream with her need. If they only had this one night left to them, he seemed determined to give her a night she’d never forget. When at last he took her, she felt an explosion from the very depths of her soul.
In that moment Keely knew with a sorrowful certainty that no other man would ever thrill her as Noah did. She wept softly for all the years they’d lost. Both in the past and possibly in the future.
THE NEXT MORNING Keely went downstairs to breakfast alone. Nodding pleasantly to the headwaiter, she chose a patio table overlooking the ocean.
She sipped the strong Mexican coffee and nibbled at a local specialty, lobster machaca, a delicious blend of scrambled eggs, vegetables and chunks of succulent lobster.
She broke off a piece of tortilla and was scooping a spoonful of the egg mixture onto the flat bread when a shadow fell across the table. She looked up.
Lieutenant Dale Cabot, her former boyfriend and superior in Vice, was standing beside her. “Hi, Keely. Mind if I sit down?”
Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out a chair and called to the waiter. “Can I have a cup of coffee over here, pardner?”
Acting as nonchalant as if they had planned the meeting, he reached into the bread basket and pulled out a roll. He smeared butter onto the sweet Mexican bread and accepted a mug of coffee from the waiter. “So, Keely, where’s the boyfriend?”
Having suddenly lost her appetite, she pushed her machaca aside and leaned back in her chair. “He’s, uh, tied up right now, Dale. What are you doing here?”
He munched on the roll and wiped a smear of buttery crumbs from his lips with the back of his hand. “I’m here on a mercy mission. Chief sent me to bring you home.”
She ran a fingertip around the edge of her cup and eyed him thoughtfully. Her mind wouldn’t accept the reality that Dale Cabot, the man who’d pledged his love for her, was a murderer. Perhaps the chief really had changed his mind and sent Dale to retrieve them. She had to know for certain. “I don’t understand. How did you know where to find me?”
He swallowed the rest of his roll. “I told you—the chief sent me to escort you, and the package, back across the border.”
“I see. I’m on vacation, Dale. I don’t really need an escort.”
“Sure you are,” he grunted. “And I’m sure Bannister’s having a real good time in the Ensenada jail.”
There it was—the confirmation she’d needed. If the chief had changed his mind, he would never have told Dale that Noah was in jail. There would have been no reason to. The only reason they’d started that rumor was so that the informant would think Keely was alone and vulnerable.
And Dale Cabot had taken the bait.
She started to push her chair back, but he reached out and clasped his hand over hers. “What’s your hurry? Finish your breakfast.”
“I—I’m not very hungry.” Her skin crawled beneath his palm, as if a snake had suddenly slithered over her flesh.
“Sit down, finish your coffee. Traffic’s a bitch at the border right now. We’ve got lots of time.”
Although Keely’s every instinct urged her to flee, she slowly sank back down.
Dale drained his mug and waved it high in the air, signaling to the waiter for more coffee. “How about you, want some more?”
“No. Thanks.” To keep her voice civil required monumental effort. This was the man who’d brought so much pain and grief to her family. He’d known all about Rosie’s gambling—thanks to Keely’s shared confidence—and had used the information to snare Rosi
e into helping transport illegal goods. Then he’d planted false rumors about her father. Maybe he’d even had a hand in Rosie’s death.
The thought that she’d danced with him, even allowed him to kiss her, caused Keely to shudder in repugnance.
“What’s the matter? You cold? We could go up to your room for a while.”
“No!” she answered quickly. Just the mental image of being alone in a room with Dale Cabot made her feel claustrophobic. “I mean, I’m fine.”
He leaned forward and plucked a daisy out of the small bud vase in the center of the table. He pulled off a petal. Then another. “She loves me. She loves me not. Why don’t you love me, Keely?”
“I, uh, I really don’t think this is the appropriate time or place to discuss—”
“I always loved you,” he interrupted. He picked off another petal. Then two. “She loves me. She loves me not. I always treated you well, Keely. Not like Bannister. Yet you always wanted him. Why is that? You know, I don’t understand you sometimes, Keely.”
Dale didn’t understand her! Sometimes she didn’t understand herself. The unvarnished truth was that she was holding out for bells and whistles, a man who made her toes curl when he kissed her.
Noah Bannister curled her toes.
But she couldn’t say that to Dale Cabot. He was nervous, tapping the tabletop and plucking at the flower. She saw him suddenly in a new and frightening light. He was a man on the edge, one who might explode with very little provocation.
Rather than push him further, she changed the subject. “You never told me why the chief sent you. My vacation isn’t over yet. I was going to stay on for a few more days.”
“Sure,” he snorted, squashing the daisy in his large hand. “Sure you were. You were gonna stay until you could bail Bannister out of jail.”
“Dale, my relationship with Noah has nothing to do with you. So why should I cut my vacation short?”
He stood up and threw a wad of crumpled bills onto the table. “I wasn’t going to tell you until we were across the border, but your father’s been taken ill. Chief says you should come right away, and bring the package.”