TRUTH OR LIES

by Kylie Brant

  "You did. I've been looking forward to it."

  Her calm manner seemed to take him aback. He grabbed her roughly, pulled her against him. She could feel the gun in his coat pocket. "You don't wanna be playin' no games with me, Angel Eyes. 'Cept the ones I tell you to."

  "No games," she gritted, trying for a smile. "I bought a special wine after your last call. I was hoping you'd make it before I left on my vacation."

  "What I got planned for you, baby, is gonna be better than a vacation."

  Revulsion shook her as he grabbed her breast, kneaded it roughly.

  She managed a laugh, then pressed lightly on his shoulders. "What's your hurry? Can't we have some wine first?"

  He stared at her suspiciously. She must have been a better actress than she'd thought because he relaxed a little. "Okay. Yeah, sure. Why not?"

  Inwardly quaking, she went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of white Zinfandel. As she turned and opened a drawer under the counter, LeFrenz reached forward, gripped her hand tightly. "What are you looking for in there, Angel?"

  "Corkscrew."

  He pulled the drawer out further and looked down at the instrument in her hands. "Okay, then." Stepping back, he motioned for her to continue. "Let's get that bottle opened."

  Her hands were trembling so badly it took twice as long as it should have to remove the cork. "Glasses are in the third cupboard to your right," she said. And when he had his back turned for that split second, she shoved the corkscrew under her shirt into the waistband of her pants.

  He watched her narrowly as she poured them both some wine. "I thought you were putting me on when you told me you were looking forward to me coming here. I thought you was scared of me."

  "Did you?" Her throat was dry, but when she tried to take a sip of the wine, she nearly choked. "Maybe I was at first. A little. Then it started to get … exciting." She could barely force the word out. "There's not much excitement in my life, Jonny."

  "That's about to change." LeFrenz's gaze traveled up and down her figure. "Lose the shirt."

  Shae froze. "What?"

  "The shirt. Let's get started on that excitement right now." He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her roughly to him. It would be only an instant before he'd discover the corkscrew. Shae tensed, got ready to use it.

  The doorbell rang. The familiar noise was so jarringly out of place, so unexpected, they both stared at the door. In the next moment Shae's fingers went in search of the corkscrew, determined to use the distraction to her advantage.

  Then a voice sounded, calm yet commanding. "I know you're in there, Jonny. Open the door."

  LeFrenz's face went completely white. He swung his head from side to side, as if looking frantically for a way out.

  "Now, Jonny. Before the situation gets too far out of control."

  To Shae's stunned amazement LeFrenz finally obeyed, going to the door and pulling it open to admit a man she'd never seen before. One wearing a gold shield around his neck and holding a gun steadily on LeFrenz.

  "You know the drill," he told him.

  "I din't mean to—"

  "Save it," the man barked. "Against the wall, hands behind your back." He frisked the man, finding the gun and sticking it in his waistband. Pulling out a pair of handcuffs, he said, "Are you all right, ma'am?" he asked, never taking his eyes of the sullen LeFrenz.

  "I…" She was beginning to shake with shock and adrenaline. "Yes."

  Expertly the man secured the handcuffs around first one of LeFrenz's wrists, then the other. "Damn lucky for you that I got a tip from one of LeFrenz's buddies that he was on his way over here." He cuffed LeFrenz on the side of the head. "How'd you happen to make it by the two cops out front, huh, Jonny?"

  "Came in the back with the kid," he muttered.

  "Bad idea, Jonny. But I think you're beginning to realize that you misjudged the situation, aren't you?"

  A pounding started on her door. "Shae, are you all right?"

  Her body heaved with relief. "Cade!" She skirted around the police officer, making sure to give LeFrenz a wide berth, opened the door and walked into his arms. Her system was on overload, her mind grappling with the rapid-fire events of the past quarter hour.

  Cade squeezed her once, hard, then set her away. "Detective Quentin. I don't know what you're doing here, but I'm damn glad you are." In an aside to Shae he said, "The detective here leads the city's narcotics task force. Last night he took down the guy who killed Brian."

  "Tremaine." The other detective nodded. "Sorry as hell about your partner, but at least the scum responsible for it is dead."

  "Seems you were right about one of the guys you were watching," Cade remarked conversationally. Hands shoved in his coat pockets, he seemed incongruously relaxed. "Did you find out anything that points to why he did it?"

  "Not yet, but we'll be shaking down the rest of the gang for information."

  Cade's gaze skated to LeFrenz. "Jonny. The deal I offered in the hospital still stands. You give up the head of your organization and maybe the D.A. can work something out."

  Shae frowned. Why in heaven's name was he offering the man a deal? Especially now.

  LeFrenz's jaw worked, but he said nothing. "I'm sure he'll flip once I get him downtown," Quentin said. He holstered his gun and shoved LeFrenz toward the door. "Let's go."

  "I'm afraid I can't let you leave with him."

  Shae never saw Cade reach for his gun, but it was in his hand now, pointed at the other detective, who looked as incredulous as she felt.

  "Tremaine, what the hell are you doing?"

  Cade smiled, a grim stretch of the lips. "Making sure he makes it downtown and doesn't pull a miraculous escape. Or even wind up with a bullet in his head. Drop your gun. Both of them."

  "Have you lost your mind? Is that it? Post-traumatic stress from your shooting?"

  "Drop the guns."

  Quentin must have read the purpose in his voice, because with quick vicious movements he did just that. "You're going to feel pretty stupid about this when you explain it to our superiors."

  "I'm willing to take that risk. If I'm wrong, I'll even apologize. Shae, pick up his weapons."

  "Tremaine, there's stuff you need to know," LeFrenz said, his gaze sly. "Stuff I can help you with."

  "Shut up, Jonny!"

  At Quentin's thunderous order, puzzle pieces clicked into place for Shae. Memories came flooding back of the papers Cade had found belonging to his partner. The man's theory that the drug market was being reorganized. And that the people at its helm are cops.

  Her comprehension came moments too late. LeFrenz threw himself at Cade, knocking him off balance. Quentin bent down as Shae went to Cade's aid. And then her blood congealed when she saw the task-force detective straighten, a small gun in his hand. Operating on sheer instinct, she reached for the corkscrew and flew at him, jamming it as hard as she could into his gun hand. She was shoved violently away, tripped and slammed her head against the table. The last thing she heard before unconsciousness claimed her was the sound of a lone shot.

  The hospital door was pushed open and Cade peeked his head inside. "Is it safe to come in yet?"

  Although her heart leaped at the sight of him, she wasn't done being angry. "Where have you been? And the only answer I want to hear is that you've been downstairs signing me out."

  "You're a strict conversationalist." He strolled through the door. "I also hear you're the worst patient this floor has seen in a decade."

  Because the statement was most likely true, she chose to ignore it. "I don't have a concussion and I want to go home."

  "You could have a concussion, and you've been admitted for observation," he countered.

  Shae glared at him, suspecting that he had had something to do with convincing the attending physician to admit her.

  "I just got some good news." Pulling a chair close to the bed, he turned it around and straddled it. "Quentin's hanging tight, but LeFrenz is spilling his guts. And he's named Quentin an
d three others on the task force as being behind the drug reorganization."

  She sobered immediately. "So Quentin was responsible for you being shot and Brian killed?"

  "Sounds like it." The look on his face was savage enough to have her shivering. "There's a special kind of hell reserved for cops who turn on their own kind. You can be damn sure that Quentin and the others will pay. It was his idea to turn I.A. on to Brian in the first place. Freddie, one of Brian's snitches, got wind of some of what was going down and tried to sell the information to Brian. Brian couldn't prove it, but the deeper he dug, he must have started to get the impression there was some truth to it."

  Shae frowned, already growing confused. "But I thought the snitch set you both up."

  "He did." Memory clouded Cade's face. "LeFrenz found out what Freddie was up to and tipped off Quentin. They paid him to set up the ambush, then LeFrenz stashed Freddie away and kept him high until he could be useful again."

  "Why would Quentin set I.A. on Brian? What was the point once he was dead?"

  "To make him less credible."

  "You mean, no one was going to put much stock in information gathered by a dirty cop."

  "Exactly." Cade nodded. "He was starting to feed I.A. material that would point to me, too. I guess he figured if I was busy defending myself from an I.A. investigation, I wouldn't have time to look at him. They have a huge shipment planned for the day after tomorrow. He was desperate that nothing mess that up."

  "The business that LeFrenz spoke of," she murmured. She thought for a moment. "So how did he know LeFrenz had come to my place? Did he follow him?"

  "He knew about Jonny's obsession with you." He made a disgusted sound. "Hell, he probably picked that up by accessing our reports. He couldn't afford to get rid of LeFrenz, not before the shipment. So he was keeping close tabs on him. Most likely he monitored the radios, found out that a body had been found with LeFrenz's I.D. and figured Jonny was going to make his move."

  She shook her head in disbelief. "My life used to be pretty uneventful." The last several days had set that particular description on its ear.

  "It's back under your control now," he told her, his face sober. "I know how important that is to you."

  Her gaze met his, then skated away. "It is, yes." At least it always had been in the past. "When I was a kid there was so little I could depend on that I got used to counting on nothing at all. And on no one." For a long time she'd thought that was the wisest way. Certainly it had been the easiest. Right now her heart was hammering so hard she was certain he could hear it. Her palms went damp as she searched for the words that would make him understand.

  "My father came to see me yesterday." Her smile felt more like a grimace. "Had to throw him out before he fleeced the entire hospital staff, but he said something that made me think." She moistened her lips and discreetly wiped her palms on the hospital sheet. "He reminded me that I've never taken a chance on anything in my life."

  "Easy enough to figure why." As if he couldn't stay still any longer, he pushed up from the chair to roam the room. "We're all a product of our environments in one way or another. Only way to face that is head-on."

  Shae waited, but he said nothing more. She wasn't surprised by his silence. She'd recognized from the start that the man had complication written all over him.

  "You see things in black and white," she murmured, feeling a thread of panic. "It's all or nothing with you." It was like standing on the edge of a precipice, survival instinct battling with an overwhelming urge to fly.

  "That's right." His eyes glittered when he strode back to lean over the rail of her bed. "All or nothing. So choose now, Shae. Which will it be?"

  She reached up, linked her fingers with his and leaped. "All."

  His eyes slid closed for a moment, his grip tightening around hers as if in relief. "Thank God. I have a habit of pushing too hard when things are important." He opened his eyes and looked at her, and the light of emotion in them made her heart expand. "And nothing is more important than you, Shae. I guess I realized that about the first time you kicked me out of your apartment. I love you." When she would have spoken, he rushed on, "I know that under normal circumstances, that's likely to send you running, but there's nowhere to run right now. I'm willing to give you space, time, whatever you need, but I'm not willing to let you push me away when I get too close."

  "You were quicker than me. I didn't know I loved you, or at least," she corrected herself, "I didn't admit it to myself until I heard gunfire right before I blacked out. I lost consciousness afraid that you'd been shot again." The memory made her voice shaky. "I love you." It wasn't as difficult as she'd imagined to say the words, even with her throat, her heart, full. "I'm not promising it's going to be easy or quick. But for the first time I'm going to take a chance on something in my life, reach out for it, and that's going to be you."

  "I'll be there," he said softly, bending down to brush his lips over her cheek. "And I'll be here. All night."

  The words lacked the power they'd once had to alarm her. "I won't sleep," she warned him, her arms going around his neck.

  His lips moved to her mouth, lingered there. "I'm counting on that."

  * * * * *