Linc nodded, putting his finger on the name Earl and tapping it. “I’m going over to the police department.” He’d call Washington and get their computers to check on all the company representatives that John and Brie had checked in the past five years to see if an Earl showed up.
“Okay, go ahead,” Brie said. “I’m staying here to clean up.”
* * *
After working six hours nonstop, Brie sat at the kitchen table. Slowly, her home was taking on a familiarity once again. Her mind returned to Linc and his keen interest in her problem. Every time she thought of him, her body felt like a simmering caldron of fire. Brie tried not to think of the obvious, that she was possibly falling in love with Linc. There was nothing not to like about him, she decided, feeling serene for the first time in nearly six months. He was honest, hardworking and loyal, attributes she applauded.
* * *
Linc came back four hours later. He entered the room, a look of triumph on his face.
“We may have struck pay dirt,” he said, sitting down next to her on the couch. “Earl Hansen, the representative from Carter Fuel and Oil, was coughed out by the computer.”
“Oh, Linc, he couldn’t possibly be a suspect!”
“Everyone is at this point, Brie.”
Brie shook her head, not wanting to believe it. “Linc, he’s a dear, sweet man.” She grimaced, seeing the implacable set of Linc’s jaw. “He used to bring me wild-flowers from around the corner of the office,” she muttered defensively. “How can a man who is that thoughtful and sensitive be contaminating fuel oil?”
He reached over, capturing her hand. “Believe me, little cat, people will do anything with enough reason,” he murmured. Linc saw the genuine distress in Brie’s eyes and felt badly.
“What are we going to do?”
He held her cool, damp hand in his, trying to soothe her. “I think I’ll pay a visit to Carter Fuel under cover of darkness, take a few samples from their underground tanks and get the oil analyzed. If they are mixing PCB with good fuel oil, it isn’t going to be in their office records, you can count on that.”
“And if the PCB shows up?”
“Go to the authorities and have them arrest Earl and Frank Carter.”
Tears gathered in Brie’s eyes. “Earl is innocent! He just isn’t the kind of man who would do something like that, Linc.”
His mouth tightened. “Don’t forget, John was murdered, and someone tried to kill you, too,” he told her quietly. His words had a chilling effect on Brie. He hated shattering her illusions about people.
“All right, then I’m going with you.”
“What?”
Brie got up. “I said I’m going with you.”
“No way. This could get dangerous, Brie. How do we know Carter doesn’t have a security guard who patrols that place at night?”
“Carter has a huge German shepherd that’s loose within that fenced area.” She gave him a slight smile of triumph. “And I just happen to know the dog, Captain, very well. If I’m along, I doubt if he’ll bark or attack you when we go over the fence to get those samples.”
Linc chafed, he didn’t want Brie along. But a dog was harder to fool than a sentry, and dogs barked, alerting everyone.
“Besides, Linc, if Carter does have PCB in the fuel oil, how do we know it’s in the underground tanks? Why couldn’t it be in any one of the five trucks in his garage?”
She was right. That would mean taking several samples and spending a lot of time collecting them. The possibility of getting caught was doubled because of the time factor. If Brie did come along, that time could be cut in half. “Okay, you’re coming along,” he said gruffly, standing. “First let me contact the police.” In reality he’d contact Cramer at ATF, apprising him of everything, in case something went wrong. That he had to put Brie in a potential line of fire agitated Linc. It would be so much simpler if he could walk in with a search warrant. If he did, Carter would get suspicious, legally stall for time, then remove any evidence before they could get their samples. And then where would they be? Dammit!
* * *
Brie crouched next to Linc, her heart hammering away in her throat. She checked the time on her watch: three o’clock. Linc had made her get into her dark blue uniform and wear a long-sleeved black sweater beneath it to cover her arms. Then he had produced a tin of black substance and she had had to smear it all over her face until only the whites of her eyes showed. She wore a thin black knit cap over her hair. Linc had on a different outfit: a body-molding black nylon suit. He looked frightening, Brie thought. This was the military part of Linc Tanner with which she was now dealing. Every piece of equipment he carried on his person had a use, including the 350 magnum in the black shoulder holster. A shiver crawled up her spine. When she questioned his expertise, he muttered something about learning it in Vietnam. She believed him.
“There goes the cruiser,” Linc whispered, nodding to a Litton police car that crawled by the facility, which sat at the edge of town. “He won’t be back for another hour. Okay, go get Captain.”
Brie gave him a frightened look, felt his hand gripping hers and rose. They had been sitting for a while near the brush along the creek behind the fuel oil company. They had made sure no one was inside the compound and that the police cruisers passed by at regular intervals. She was amazed at what Linc knew about this sort of activity and was a little in awe of him as a result.
She stumbled going up the sandy incline. Quickly recovering, Brie walked with a confidence she didn’t feel toward the fence. Captain was on his feet, his hackles rising, his huge yellow eyes becoming wolflike slits.
“Captain!” Brie called softly, whistling to him. “Come on, boy! It’s Brie, remember?” What if the German shepherd didn’t recognize her? He had always followed her around when she visited before. Brie crouched down by the wire fence, calling the dog. Sweat popped out on her upper lip and her mouth went dry when Captain began an ominous growl. He approached her in long, graceful strides. It was a moonlit night, and Brie could see the feral glitter in the animal’s eyes. She shoved her hand through the wire and held it out to him, wondering if he was going to bite her. A choked sound came out of her throat as Captain opened his mouth, revealing his white fangs.
“Captain!” she called more firmly.
The German shepherd halted a foot from her.
“What’s the matter with you? You know who I am. Brie, remember?” She worked her hand farther through the fence, the flesh pinched by the wire. “Now come here! Come on!”
Captain hesitated then gave a friendly wag of his tail. Relief surged through Brie as she felt Captain’s welcoming tongue on her fingers. She slowly got up on wobbly knees, the dog whining and remaining where he was. In a moment, Linc was at her side.
“Grab his collar and keep him occupied.” Linc put down a small satchel, then pulled out a hypodermic needle filled with a clear liquid.
Brie’s eyes widened as she saw him sink the needle into Captain’s hindquarter. Moments later, the dog slowly sank to the ground. Brie uttered a cry.
“You didn’t kill him, did you?”
Linc threw the satchel over the fence. Gripping her by the waist, he said, “No, he’ll be unconscious for about an hour if I’ve guessed the dose correctly. Okay, up you go. Remember, swing one leg clear.”
The six-foot-high fence was no problem with Linc’s help. Brie jumped to the dusty ground and watched as Linc took the fence like a black panther. He gently picked up the dog and placed him in the shadows, making sure he was in a comfortable position.
Brie’s mouth was dry, like the ground they treaded lightly upon. Her heart was hammering without pause. Each sound, no matter how far away, made her freeze. They reached the garage, and began to take samples from each of the five trucks. Linc, collecting from the underground tanks, was out in the open, visible to anyone. Would they be discovered?
Her hands trembled and she spilled some of the oil from the last truck over her gloved hand.
She placed the cork in the plastic test tube and quickly made her way out of the garage, quietly closing the door behind her. A hand closed around her mouth, and Brie struggled, a scream strangling in her throat.
“Quiet!” Linc hissed into her ear, dragging her against the building.
Her breast rose and fell sharply. Linc slowly loosened his hand, and Brie gulped in several breaths of air. Then she froze. She heard it too. Men’s voices, two of them. She twisted to look up at Linc’s hard, sweaty face. What should they do? The sounds of the chain-link fence padlock being opened and the gate swinging wide grated on her exposed nerves. Linc pulled her behind him, signaling her to stay silent.
Brie had never felt so helpless. Or in so much real danger. Haz-mat incidents were nothing compared to this. She saw Linc slowly unsnap his holster, draw out the lethal-looking magnum and hold it ready. They were crouched at the far corner of the building with the fence and stream directly behind them. Brie saw two policemen enter the area, their flashlights moving through the darkness. They had mistimed the cruiser. She shrank against Linc as the officers walked up to the office door, tested it, then went back to their cruiser after locking the gate.
Linc turned, looking at Brie. Despite the blackness on her face, he could see the strain in her wide eyes. Without a word, he slipped his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close, needing her warmth. He helped her stand, realizing she was shaky. So was he. He always trembled after the danger was past. Keeping his hand on her elbow, he guided Brie to the fence and helped her over. As they were walking down to the bank, they heard Captain groan and flail around. Brie halted, watching the dog to make sure he would be all right. Linc waited patiently. He knew how much she cared for animals, and as Captain groggily got to his feet, shaking himself unsteadily, Brie looked at Linc, gratefulness evident in her eyes. He smiled and placed his hand on the small of her back. He led her toward the stream and to the van parked in a grove of cottonwoods.
* * *
“What’s next?” Brie asked tiredly as Linc swung the van into the driveway of his apartment building.
He glanced at her. “A shower and bed for you. I’ll take these over to the Canton police and have them analyzed by their lab.”
Bed and sleep. Both sounded wonderful. Brie realized she felt more than exhausted. She didn’t want to believe that Earl Hansen would do something as horrible as mixing PCB in people’s fuel oil. “It has to be Bach Industries, Linc, not Carter Fuel.”
“I hope you’re right,” he murmured. “Come on, I’m going to grab a shower, change, then leave.”
* * *
Linc quietly unlocked the door and slipped inside. The sun had been up since six-thirty, and he’d greeted it with bloodshot eyes at the police station. It was almost eight o’clock before he’d returned home to Brie. While he dealt with the details of this investigation in the past hours, he had thought of her—and their fragile relationship built upon lies and deceit. Linc had already seen the tears in Brie’s luminous eyes, her belief in mankind eroded.
Linc stood in the bedroom doorway, drinking in Brie’s sleeping form like a man dying of thirst. Only he was aching to take her into his arms where she belonged. He walked to the bed and gently sat on the mattress. When he pushed back several strands of hair from her brow, she stirred, and a tender smile pulled at his mouth. You respond so beautifully to just the slightest touch, he told her silently. Linc leaned over to place a warm kiss on her parted lips.
Brie awoke in his arms, and with his name on her lips, she pulled him down upon her. She welcomed his kisses down the length of her neck and over her collarbone. Nestling his face against the soft firmness of her breast, inhaling her feminine scent, he groaned.
“This is the way it should be,” he said.
With a sigh, Brie murmured, “Always.”
Linc rose up on one arm, keeping a hand resting on her hip, drowning in her slumberous green eyes. “Are you awake enough to talk?”
Brie nodded, feeling the sweet ache of wanting Linc. “Yes. What time is it?”
“A little after eight,” he murmured, running his fingers through her hair.
“Did you find out anything?”
“Plenty. One tanker you took a small sample from has a level of more than fifty thousand parts per million of PCBs. That’s extremely high levels, not to mention illegal.”
Brie struggled to sit up, the covers falling away to reveal her white silk nightgown. Disappointment clouded her features. “Now what?”
“Well, we illegally obtained those samples, so we can’t use them as evidence. So now we have to get a search warrant. Of course, Carter will fight that.”
Brie pushed her hand through her hair, trying to wake up. “Linc, what if we go talk with Earl? My gut says he’s just not a criminal. Maybe if we can get a confession from him or something…” Her voice trailed off.
“It’s worth a try,” Linc admitted slowly. “If we could get Hansen to turn in evidence to us, he might be able to plea bargain his way out of this mess. I don’t know. I’m not the attorney general.”
Hope sprang to her eyes. “You mean, if he testifies that Carter is doing this, Earl might not have to go to jail?”
Linc nodded. “Whoa. As I said, I’m not an attorney. I can’t promise him or you anything, Brie.”
She slipped out of bed and put on her floor-length robe, her eyes alight with excitement. “Let me get dressed, then let’s drive down to see him.”
Exhaustion was lapping at Linc. The bed felt so good to him right now. All he wanted to do was crash for a few hours. “Okay, little cat. Get dressed, and we’ll go have a chat with your friend.” He scowled. “But you realize that Earl could have been the one who tried to have you killed?”
Brie halted at the bedroom door, the possibility sinking in. “Y-yes, I realize that, Linc.” Her fingers curled around the doorknob. “I just don’t want to believe he would do such a thing.”
Linc lay down, arms crossed on his chest after Brie had disappeared into the bathroom. She had every faith in the world in that untarnished heart of hers. How he hoped for her sake that Earl was innocent. But wasn’t that one of the many facets of Brie he loved? Her view of people, that they weren’t all bad or had ulterior motives.
But would she be able to feel that way about him after the case was solved? After she knew who he really was, and how he’d lied to her? Throwing an arm over his eyes, he sighed loudly. In the past week, he’d fallen in love with her. Once he’d made up his mind she was the victim and not the killer, all the held-back feelings in his heart rampaged through him.
Linc knew their love hadn’t stood the test of time in order to become stable enough to ride out problems. His lies were more than a problem, though, and he knew it. God, let her be understanding with me. Please. I need her, want her.
Dragging his arm off his eyes, he stared numbly at the white ceiling. He didn’t know he was going to fall in love with Brie. And neither did she. Love was the wild card, and when she knew the truth, there was every possibility of it being destroyed. No! He’d just found her. If Carter Fuel and Oil turned out to be a red herring and the investigation had to continue, when could he tell her? And how? Linc decided that there was no good time to inform Brie he was an agent. When he did, all could be lost. No, it was best to keep his cover until the case was solved. Maybe, by that time, their love for one another would have grown enough to take the traumatic shock in stride instead of getting destroyed. He certainly hoped so.
* * *
“Mrs. Hansen?” Brie called, knocking at the screen door of the small, single-level dwelling. She cast a glance at Linc, who stood there stoically. She knocked again. It was ten-thirty on Saturday.
Flora Hansen walked to the door, her thin body covered in a cotton shift that had been washed and worn many times over, the colors faded from the material. Her hazel eyes held a look of confusion as she stood looking through the screen at them. “Yes?”
“Hi, I’m Brie Williams, Mrs. Hansen.
And this is Linc Tanner. We’re with the Hazardous Material Bureau of the fire marshall’s office. Is Earl home?”
Flora frowned. Although she was probably in her early fifties, she looked nearly ten years older. Her hair was almost white, in need of a combing and some care.
“Well, yes, Earl just got home. May I see some identification, please?”
“Of course,” Brie murmured, pulling out her badge and holding it up to the screen. Brie had decided that they should come to see Earl in civilian clothes so they wouldn’t scare him any more than necessary. She wore a silky, short-sleeved orange blouse and a white cotton skirt with sandals.
“Flora?” It was Earl’s voice floating through the house.
Flora turned. “There’s some people here to see you.”
Brie watched Earl’s face turn ashen as he approached the door.
“Brie? What are you doing here?” he asked in amazement.
Linc stepped forward, his hand moving to the handle of the screen door. “Mr. Hansen, we need to talk with you privately for a few minutes. Would you like to come out here on the porch?”
Flora knew when she was being politely asked to leave and did so, but only after settling her paper-thin fingers on her husband’s pudgy arm. Earl’s eyes rounded, but he did as Linc suggested. Linc motioned to the porch swing, taking an old chair that was in need of sanding and a new coat of paint.
“Sure. What’s the problem, Brie?” Earl asked, sitting down, clasping his hands between his legs.
Brie swallowed, her heart aching for Earl. The man was so frightened, his darting brown gaze moved back and forth between her and Linc. She deliberately kept her voice soft and opened her hands in a gesture of peace.
“Earl, we need your help.”
Earl flinched visibly, color draining from his florid features. “About what?”
“About the PCB we found in truck number three, Earl.”
He reared back, as if struck. He turned to Linc and waited and watched. He licked his lips then mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “PCB?” he whispered, his voice cracking.
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