TRUTH OR LIES

by Kylie Brant

"Did you have any guests last night?"

  "No."

  Leaving the bottle of water on the counter, he pushed away, began to stroll around her apartment. She didn't know whether to be glad to be released from that unwavering gaze or to be annoyed as he picked up the book she was reading, looked at it, laid it down again. She decided she could feel both emotions at once.

  "What time did you go to bed?"

  She shrugged impatiently. "I don't know. Eleven. Eleven-thirty."

  He looked over his shoulder at her. "Which was it?"

  Stopping to think, she said, "Eleven-thirty. Conan O'Brien had just started." Looking past him, she noticed he'd picked up the mail she'd dropped on the table inside the door. Annoyance definitely took precedence now. "Do you mind?" Striding toward him, she snatched the pile from his hand.

  Eyeing her soberly, he asked, "Has LeFrenz contacted you?"

  "No. Why would he?"

  The twist of his mouth was mocking. "I don't know, Angel Eyes, why would he?" When she remained stubbornly silent, he went on, "He's got a thing for you. He wanted to see you yesterday. That's why he made your presence a condition of cooperating. He's still in serious condition. He'll need a doctor's care. Pick a reason."

  "No, he hasn't contacted me." Her tone was icy. "He'd have to be crazy to do so. He has no reason to believe I'd give him any help."

  Tremaine studied her, as if looking for answers she hadn't given. "I can attest that he's crazy. He's also—" A small noise issued from the loft. The chill that came into his eyes then had her shivering. "Who's here?"

  Her mind didn't seem capable of functioning. It had been too long since she'd last had experience lying to cops. And yet somehow not long enough. "No one."

  Her answer had his mouth flattening. Turning, he began crossing to the staircase, drawing a gun from the back of his waistband. She could only follow helplessly. "Detective. Tremaine. You don't have permission to invade my home like this." Her words didn't halt his progress. Taking the steps two at a time, she joined him in her bedroom, watched as his narrowed gaze took in the unmade bed, her nightgown tossed on top in a crumple of silk.

  And then settle, as hers did, on the hinged set of bars swinging freely outward from the opened window. He went to it, looked at the pull-down fire escape that had been released to clatter to the ground. Then, his face hard, just a little mean, he looked back at her. "Your 'no one' just jumped out your window and went down the fire escape. Better start giving me a name, Doc. Or be prepared to come downtown so we can do this more formally."

  * * *

  Chapter 4

  « ^ »

  For a moment Cade's metamorphosis to steely-eyed cop hurtled her back to the past, and she was twelve again, holding the line against the detectives who'd come to the door in search of her father. No, he's not here. No, I don't know when he's coming back. And no, you can't search the house. Not without a warrant. The memory of the bitterness and bravado she'd felt then was still fresh, a slice of the past that never seemed to lose its sting.

  But she wasn't twelve anymore. With effort, she shook off the recollection. She didn't feel any particular compunction about protecting a man who'd never been much of a parent. But there was a very similar reaction to a cop, Tremaine this time, encroaching on her home and demanding answers.

  She went past him, leaned out the window to retract the fire escape. Closing the window, she carefully locked it before shutting the hinged set of bars and turning the key to secure the lock on it. With a tinge of irritation, she replaced the key in the drawer of her bedside table, where her father must have found it.

  When she turned back to Tremaine, she saw no lessening in the tension in his expression. "Come on, Detective. You can't honestly believe that I had Jonny LeFrenz in here. Or that a man who was still in I.C.U. twenty-four hours ago could be fit enough to scramble down a fire escape and race through an alley to make his getaway."

  His tone was unrelenting. "All I know is you didn't want me in your apartment and you lied about being alone. If it wasn't Jonny LeFrenz who jumped out your bedroom window, who was it?"

  Still unwilling to answer that question, she countered, "Why would you think I'd help the man, anyway? From everything you've said, he's a dangerous criminal. What possible reason would I have for allowing him up here?"

  The shrug he gave was anything but nonchalant. "Maybe you didn't have a choice. Maybe you knew him before he showed up in the hospital. Or maybe you're just one of those women who have a things for bad boys." His gaze turned speculative. "Unless you have another explanation for that letter downstairs from the Louisiana Federal Penitentiary."

  Her fingers curled into fists. It took more effort than it should have to keep them at her sides. She'd known as soon as she'd seen the long brown envelope in his hands that the return address wouldn't have escaped him. She felt a surge of resentment, so sudden and fierce it nearly choked her. She didn't owe this man anything, least of all an explanation. She wasn't in the habit of airing her family's dysfunctional secrets for the entertainment of strangers.

  And that was exactly what Detective Cade Tremaine was. Although he'd recently been popping up in her life with unsettling frequency, the fact remained that she knew nothing about him. Except that he was a cop. He was in her apartment uninvited. And he was asking questions she'd much prefer to leave unanswered.

  He must have read the obstinance on her face. "You don't seem in too big of a hurry to give me answers, Doc. Maybe I'm gonna start drawing my own conclusions."

  "Go ahead," she invited, tossing her head. "Start with the conclusion that I don't want you here. That I resent your intrusion into my life and my home, and the way you seem to assume you have the right to demand answers to questions that are none of your damn business."

  A shutter seemed to come down over his eyes. "Somehow your privacy doesn't stack up all that high against a dead cop and a drug dealer back on the street, instead of the cell where he belongs. One way or another, I will get answers to my questions." He bared his teeth in something less than a smile. "But if I have to get uniforms here to canvass the neighbors, I'm not going to be near as patient as I've been so far."

  Shae had never much cared for the helplessness that came from dealing with cops. And she'd always hated the man responsible for putting her in those situations. But there was another part of her, an equally strong part, that recoiled from having policemen talking to her neighbors about her. The one thing she'd always been careful to maintain since she'd been an adult was her privacy.

  "I haven't seen Jonny LeFrenz since you questioned him that day," she said flatly. She walked past Tremaine to the staircase. She'd much rather be having this conversation downstairs than in her bedroom. Turning back, she saw that Tremaine didn't seem in any particular hurry to follow her. He remained where he was, standing too close to the side of her unmade bed for her peace of mind.

  "Have you had any contact with him at all since then? Has anyone talked to you about him?"

  She responded to the rapid-fire questions succinctly. "No and no."

  It was impossible to tell from his expression whether he believed her. It didn't matter. All that mattered was finishing this and getting him out of her bedroom. "And the man who left through your window?"

  "What makes you think it was a man?" He didn't blink, just looked at her with that implacable stare. Suddenly she tired of this whole scene. She released a breath, and with it, some of her stubbornness. "It was my father."

  Although he still didn't change expression, she had the feeling she'd managed to surprise him. She had no doubt that he'd be even more surprised by what a phone call to headquarters would no doubt elicit on the subject of the man. With a note of futility sounding in her voice, she invited him to do just that. "Dodging the police is an art form for Ryan O'Riley. You can call it in if you don't believe me."

  There was a pang in her chest when, without a word, he reached for the phone on her bedside table to do just that. But before she could ex
amine that emotion, it was quickly followed by dismay as he sank down on the side of her bed after placing the call.

  Amidst the tangle of her lace-edged sheets, he appeared utterly foreign, utterly male. His lean hard frame should have seemed out of place in the deliberately feminine decor she'd chosen, but instead, he looked as if he'd just risen from that very bed after spending a particularly restless night. As if he'd just sat down for a moment after dressing to say goodbye to the woman he'd left sleeping there.

  Her cheeks burned at the inescapable mental image. She didn't do morning-afters, not ever, so it wasn't experience that had supplied that particular picture. It was Tremaine himself. He seemed a little too comfortable in the intimate setting, enough so that he didn't spare a glance for the slip of nightgown she'd left carelessly heaped in the center of the bed. Or for the pile of clothes she'd slipped out of last night, the black bra and scrap of matching panties, lying much too close to his feet.

  After a brief conversation, he hung up the phone, rose to face her. "If your father is Ryan McCabe O'Riley, there's a warrant out for his arrest."

  "What a shock." This time she did leave the room, not waiting to see whether he'd follow. She was already seated on the couch, legs crossed, when he descended the stairway to survey her.

  "You don't seem surprised."

  "The police have always displayed more interest in my father than I have." She made a lazy gesture. "If the uniforms hurry, they may be able to pick up a trace of him before he disappears."

  "He's wanted for fraud, the desk sergeant said." Tremaine crossed to the couch and sat next to her, instead of choosing a chair several feet away, as she would have preferred.

  "He has difficulty distinguishing the fine line between businessman and crook." She shrugged as though it didn't matter. Wished it didn't. "And before you ask, I couldn't give you any information on him even if I wanted to. Today was the first time in four years I've spoken to him."

  He glanced toward the loft, then back at her. "In that case, I should apologize for my timing."

  Rather than the speculation she'd expected, there was genuine sympathy in his eyes, in his voice. Uncomfortable with it, she rose. "Well, we can't all grow up with Ward and June Cleaver. Now if you're satisfied that I'm not harboring your runaway gangster, I have a ton of things I still need to do today."

  As a hint, it was far from subtle. But it failed miserably. He stretched his arms out along the back of the couch, giving the appearance of a man who meant to stay awhile. "I'll admit that you don't have LeFrenz hiding in your bedroom. I'm even willing to bet that you spent the night just as you claim. But there's still the little matter of Jonny's fixation on you."

  He must have read the impatience and frustration on her face, because he went on, "You may not know him, but I do. He's a two-bit dealer who has always managed to avoid hard jail time."

  "I've treated dealers before, Detective. I've also worked on murderers and child molesters." Her voice was stony. "We provide care to anyone who needs it, whether they're upstanding citizens or not. I've never had one of them contact me outside the hospital."

  "After last night, the stakes are even higher for LeFrenz," he countered. "Besides the death of that kid he sold drugs to, he's going to face life or execution. The State of Louisiana doesn't take well to cop killers. So he's automatically more dangerous, because he's got more to lose than usual if he gets caught. He also has a very powerful friend. It took money to arrange that escape. You have to wonder who wants him out of police custody and why."

  "This is all very interesting," she drawled, in a tone that said it was anything but. "But it has nothing to do with me. If LeFrenz has that much at stake, the last thing he's going to do is come out of hiding to contact me. I was cooperating with your interrogation. He's got no reason to trust me."

  "You're thinking logically, in terms of what makes sense to you. You're not thinking like a man who has always taken everything he's ever wanted. One who sees no reason to deny himself anything." He gave her a moment to digest that before adding, "And based on the way he acted at the hospital, what he wants right now is you."

  She rubbed her arms, where an involuntary shiver had prickled her skin. Tremaine was reaching, she told herself firmly. He had no evidence to suggest such a thing, only supposition. But she couldn't shake the idea that twice today she'd had unwelcome visitors in her apartment. If LeFrenz wanted to, what would prevent him from being the third?

  As if he'd read the thought, Tremaine said, "You need to call a security consultant and take a few extra precautions around here."

  "I will." She meant it. And if the extra precautions kept her father from entering her apartment illegally, she'd consider that a bonus.

  "Good. You need to be careful at the hospital, too. Do you drive?"

  "Of course."

  "Start taking taxis. It'll be more expensive, but at least you won't have to worry about having a stowaway waiting for you in your back seat or about having to cross a dark parking lot at night." His tone was brisk, as if handing out such stark advice was commonplace for him. "Don't go anywhere alone, and when you're home, don't let anyone in. I'll still be working the case, so I'm not going to be able to look out for you around the clock."

  "That's okay, I'll…" His meaning hit her then, and she swung around, narrowed her gaze at him. "Who asked you to look out for me?"

  "No one. But I'm going to be sticking close, in any case. I'm betting that sooner or later, LeFrenz is going to come looking for you. And when he does, I'll be around to nail him."

  The sheer audacity of the statement had her gaping at him, while a little sprint of alarm tore up her spine. "If you think I'm going to live my life under armed guard because of some crazy intuition of yours, you're seriously deluded."

  He gave her a crooked smile, further distracting her. It softened his face, lent it the charm she knew he was capable of and almost diminished the resolve in his expression. Almost. "Relax, it won't be for long. Just until LeFrenz is picked up again."

  "No," she pronounced firmly, with a sense of déjà vu. Was it only twenty minutes ago that she'd been telling her father the same thing? "I'm not going along with this, and there's no point, anyway. I'm rarely home. Even if LeFrenz did come calling, he probably wouldn't find me here."

  "Your father did."

  Her mouth opened, snapped shut again. The irrefutable logic of the remark elicited a snarl of feelings best left untangled. Steering clear of them, she reached for calm. "Look, if LeFrenz is as smart as you claim, he's got to realize that you'll be expecting him to show up here. Which means I'm the one person he'll steer clear of."

  Judging from the unyielding expression on his face, he remained unconvinced. "I didn't say he was smart. But he is an arrogant punk who's gotten away with murder. He'll contact you all right, eventually. And when he does, I'm going to be here."

  His words and the accompanying visual image sent a sneaky blade of panic slicing through her. It was ironic that that the thought of being accosted by an escaped suspect had less impact than did the thought of spending days in Tremaine's presence. "That won't be necessary. If I should hear anything from LeFrenz or see anything suspicious at all, I'll call you right away."

  He couldn't possibly know just how huge a concession that was for her. Certainly he didn't appear impressed by it. Folding his arms over his chest, he merely arched his brows. "Good. Your cooperation will make my job easier. You probably won't have to look hard to find me, though. I don't plan to be too far away."

  There was no reason his words should have sounded so much like a threat. Should have felt so much like one. They shredded her control, already frayed from the events of the day. "I'm not going to live my life in fear, Tremaine, either from LeFrenz or from the police." Movements made jerky by agitation, she rose again, strode to the door. Yanking it open, she stood next to it in an unmistakable message, one she was almost surprised that he seemed to read.

  Slowly he stood, followed her to the doo
r. But he didn't -go through it. Not yet. Instead, he stopped much too close to her and said soberly, "I'm going to put two plainclothes policemen on you until we have LeFrenz in custody. Don't worry," he continued as she opened her mouth to protest. "You won't know they're there, and hopefully neither will LeFrenz. We want to draw him out, not scare him off."

  His proximity made her want to rear back, to maintain a safer distance between them. Pride stiffened her spine, making it impossible. "Nice to hear that using me as bait doesn't interfere with your high-minded ideals to serve and protect. But then, I've never known a cop who wasn't willing to do whatever it took to solve a case." The words were no less than the truth, and they had an immediate effect on him. His face hardened, and once again he was the steely-eyed cop from the trauma room.

  "Then you won't be surprised when I tell you that I'm determined to track LeFrenz down. It's just a matter of time. But you're wrong if you think I'll risk you to do it."

  Once again he'd managed to surprise her. She stared at him for a moment, wide-eyed, and he took a step closer, brought his face nearer.

  "He was wrong about one thing, you know," he murmured. "LeFrenz."

  Shae could only look at him, fighting the urge to flee, the temptation to move closer. He continued speaking, his shaman's voice as soft and sensuous as rumpled velvet. "Your eyes aren't blue, they're gray. The color of the sky right before dawn. But you do look like an angel. Just not the saintly kind."

  Then he moved past her out the door, leaving her to stare blankly at the wide expanse of his back as he walked away. It took far longer than it should have for her to close the door behind him. And even longer to remember to secure the locks again.

  Once he got to his car, Cade lost no time calling in the order to the station. He'd been dead serious when he'd told Shae he wasn't going to take chances with her safety. But he'd never fooled himself into thinking it would be an easy sell to his lieutenant, who was heading up the task force hunting for LeFrenz and his accomplice.