by Lucy Farago
“Go figure, the first time JJ is on someone’s payroll and he was still pulling a con. So how do I fit into this?”
“You know two of your father’s cohorts.”
She folded her arms tightly over her chest. “He had a few.”
By her tone and defensive body posture, none that she wanted to see again. He guessed if she were ever to talk, they wouldn’t be eager to see her either. But outing them would out her, and she’d never do that. “Luther and Molly Keyes.”
She turned and leaned against the hood. “Those two still alive? I thought for sure they’d do something stupid and end up dead.”
He went around the car and joined her. “We had surveillance on the house in Tweedsmuir. They’re aware your father contacted you but not why.”
“And what makes you think that?”
“We bugged his house … and his car.”
“So that’s how you knew.”
“It’s also how we knew to check his bank accounts. The guy had money everywhere.”
“Come on.” She pushed off the hood. “If you’re going to screw a girl, you need to buy me that cup of coffee.”
“Are we going into the terminal?”
“Unless you want to take me back to town?” She grinned, flashing white teeth.
“Sorry.” Time was ticking. The Keyeses were getting ready to leave town. She was going to blow, but he had no choice. He went around to the trunk and opened it. Shannon followed and, furrowing her brow, looked inside. He braced himself.
“What … the … fuck?” she asked through gritted teeth.
He had to give her credit. She’d mellowed over the years. The Shannon he’d known would have hauled off and punched him. He withdrew the suitcase and closed the lid. “Anything that’s not here that you need, the agency will buy.”
“You broke into my condo and packed my luggage?” she said, her breathing labored as she attempted to control her temper.
“We should have you home in a few days.” If things went according to plan … She’d be back in Vegas and out of his life again. Damn, how stupid of him to regret it.
“Are you all crazy?” she screeched. “You can’t make me do this.”
They couldn’t, but without JJ their case was heading for the crapper, and in his heart he believed Shannon wanted to make amends for the shit she’d helped JJ with. He could have just asked for her assistance, but that would have taken some finessing and they didn’t have that much time. Plus, he hadn’t seen … spoken to her in thirteen years. She’d abandoned him. Everything they’d felt for each other, like JJ’s scams, had all been bullshit. Then again, one look at Noah and she could’ve run the other way. He’d prepared for that reaction. What he hadn’t expected was the one she’d given him. She’d been surprised but genuinely happy to see him—until he’d handcuffed her. He’d played it wrong but had no choice but to proceed with his assignment.
“Try to keep an open mind.” Lame, but he had to try.
“The FBI is blackmailing me. Open mind?”
“Is this about not wanting to help? Or not wanting to return ho … to Tweedsmuir?”
“Both.” Folding her arms, she glared at her suitcase. “I worked hard for that condo. How the hell do I explain the feds to security? You had no right.” Then she leveled her evil stare on him.
He had to admit when he’d been fourteen it’d scared the hell out of him. “Actually, my name was on your pass list.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“Maggie put me on,” he said, resisting the urge to take a step back, out of arm’s length.
“She wouldn’t blindside me like that.” She wasn’t convinced. He had to wonder why.
“I told her I wanted to see you and was afraid you wouldn’t agree to it.” Maggie’s capitulation had been easy; too easy. While the two of them had always gotten along, Maggie’s loyalties were to Shannon. But she claimed Shannon needed closure and seeing him would do her good. He hadn’t known how to take it.
“That woman is too soft.”
Yes, and it was why it had been even more shocking to learn she and Shannon had left Tweedsmuir. He wouldn’t have put a stunt like that past Shannon, but Maggie… . What had really surprised him was that they’d left him out of it. “She seemed to think it would do you good to see me,” he said, hoping she’d elaborate.
“Buy me that coffee and maybe, maybe I won’t be arrested for killing someone for real.” She started to walk away then stopped, glancing back at the car with a puzzled expression.
“Something wrong?” He looked between her and the rental car.
“What isn’t wrong?” she said and resumed walking.
He peeked at his watch, debating whether to tell her their flight left in two hours. He’d figured slapping cuffs on her in front of her staff wouldn’t win him brownie points. So he’d waited. Luckily, he’d been able to snag two seats on the late-night flight back to the East Coast. Perhaps a stiff drink was a better idea.
Inside the terminal he considered going directly to checkin but instead guided them toward a doughnut kiosk and ordered two coffees. Legally, he couldn’t make her go. Ethically, he didn’t want to force her hand. Personally, he hated himself for not having a choice. “Now that we have coffee …” Which in hindsight might not have been a good idea, considering she might be tempted to throw it in his face. “The Keyeses know you. They’re working out of the old Thompson house. We want them to believe you and JJ were working together.”
There were no seats in this part of the airport so he took the opportunity to keep them walking toward checkin.
“Then what?” she asked.
“Then they make contact with the big boys and convince them you were helping JJ and you were bringing in people open to larger, off-the-books profit sharing.”
“By people you mean you? You want whoever JJ was working for to think you’re open to defrauding the IRS? How?”
“We’re bringing something they want to the table. An overseas company to help hide their money.”
“It can’t be that easy.”
“It’s taken months of planning and has been anything but easy. Look, JJ was the one depositing their piece of the pie into different bank accounts. It took us a while to figure who those accounts belonged to. When we did, we brought JJ in and cut him a deal. He agreed to tell them he’d found an overseas business open to outside investors. JJ was our contact. Now we need you to take his place.”
She took a sip of coffee, eyeing him over the cup, then grimaced. “This stuff is disgusting.”
He sipped his. It wasn’t that bad. “There’s a better shop inside the terminal.”
Shannon dumped her cup into the nearest trash bin and went back to glaring at him. “Don’t think I didn’t notice where we’re standing. You’re lucky the airport is busy today. Then again, this is Vegas. All kinds of weird things happen and people think it’s normal.”
She was never sexier than when she was threatening him. That was so wrong and yet … He couldn’t imagine how judges managed to stay impartial with her as one of the attorneys. He took her arm and led her to a spot where they weren’t surrounded by bustling travelers. “I’ll give you everything you’ll need once we’re on the plane. You’ll have information they’re not aware of. It will appear as if your father treated you as a confidante.”
Shannon scoffed. “My father didn’t trust anyone, including me.”
“You’ll have to convince them otherwise.”
“How the hell do I do that?”
“Come on. You didn’t become one of the best attorneys in Nevada without mastering the art of bullshit. You were great at it as a kid. I can only imagine now.” She’d fooled him, hadn’t she? Made him believe she loved him.
“What exactly am I to convince them of?”
“The Keyeses? That everything is continuing on as normal. You’ll tell them to stay in New England while you oversee things from Nevada. Then, once you leave, one of our agents will pretend to be you.
We’ll keep the money flowing until we’re ready to arrest them and shut down that end of the operation. Once our people are in place, we won’t bother you again.” She could wash her hands of him forever.
“So who’s the bigger fish? This sounds like money laundering.”
“You don’t need to worry about that. Once you get us that intro, your part is over.”
Shannon scowled. “Did it ever occur to you that if I didn’t kill JJ, they did? Or one or both of the Keyeses?”
He would never put her in that kind of danger. “We’re monitoring what the Keyeses are doing. At the time of JJ’s death, they were under surveillance. And because of the way he died …”
“You said he was shot.”
“Yes,” he said, suddenly feeling awkward about revealing how JJ had died. Dickwad or not, the dude was her father.
“Are you going to make me drag it out of you?”
He’d lose this battle, so better to have her think he trusted her. “I said he was shot twice, once in the femoral artery.”
“The leg?”
“Yes, and a little higher.”
Shannon’s eyes widened. “You think he screwed around with some woman? Crime of passion?”
He didn’t know what women saw in him, but he had plenty around to do his bidding. “Maybe.”
“Well, if you’re thinking that, it could easily be a scorned husband.”
“Either way we’re ruling out his present business acquaintances.” He’d have been killed execution style if he’d made an enemy of those people. He glanced at his watch. He could flash his ID and fly them through security, but he doubted Shannon would appreciate it. “Look: I would never risk your life.”
“Oh, ’cause you think my dad is in league with the Boy Scouts?”
She was right, but they’d have her in and out of there before she was ever in any real danger. “Once we get our intro we’d no longer need you. The Keyeses know you by your father’s surname, Lewis, and in a few weeks they’ll be behind bars.” Which made him wonder if she’d changed her name to elude her father … or him. “When did you change your name?”
The question seemed to throw her and it took a few seconds for her answer. “I didn’t. When I enrolled in university I got a copy of my birth certificate. Joyce is my mother’s maiden name and the legal one she gave me. My father was listed as unknown. I don’t know how she did it, but she got the schools in Tweedsmuir to enroll me as Lewis.”
Was it possible JJ wasn’t her real father?
“I know what you’re thinking, but on one of her more coherent days she told me she married my dad a year after I was born. He was going on trial for something, and as you know, a wife can’t be compelled to testify against her husband.” She laughed. “Even their marriage was a con. But she swore he was the only man she ever loved,” she said, blinking her eyes. “Now can we get back to the issue at hand?”
“That introduction I keep talking about it, it’s tomorrow. The team could try showing up alone, but we believe they’ll get suspicious. JJ was supposed to contact them yesterday to confirm. By now they know something is up. We need you to be the go between. Tell the Keyeses you have everything lined up. Have them contact higher up and pass you the phone. With their support they might not get antsy about trusting you.”
“That’s it? That’s all you want?”
That was all the agency wanted. It was all he should want too. He nodded.
“Then you leave me alone?”
“Talk to the Keyeses. Convince them JJ brought you in. They’re in a panic about tomorrow. JJ was the middleman, but they know enough not to upset these people. We suspect they’ll be more than happy to relinquish the power. They were never more than foot soldiers. Without him they’re a tad lost.” The pair weren’t very bright. Which was why JJ used them even though he didn’t appear to trust them.
Shannon seemed to consider his request, although he’d not given her much of a choice. To her it would sound exactly as he’d intended: a veiled threat. He hated himself for putting her through this. Regardless of what his team thought, Shannon was a good person. He’d seen her client list. But he knew she’d never, ever return to Tweedsmuir. Not of her own volition. She’d not only run away from him but something far worse—her shame.
“I’m in, I’m out?” she finally asked.
“In, out,” he confirmed.
Her complexion paled, a sign she’d acquiesced. He’d gotten what he wanted. So why wasn’t he happier?
Chapter Three
During the five-hour flight Noah filled Shannon in on the finer details of their plan. What she didn’t understand was why JJ had gotten involved with these people. He was the scourge of the earth, ready to steal a balloon from a crying baby if he had to. But his cons had, for the most part, been on a smaller scale. Send a kid to camp, fake charities, shit like that. The fewer people involved, the less likely to get caught. Big boats and fancy cars weren’t his thing. JJ preferred luxury hotels, steak every night, high-priced hookers, and staying low on police radars. It was why he kept coming back to town. He’d never made enough to sustain his lifestyle. It had been her reason to help with his last con. It would have given him enough money to leave her alone and Shannon enough evidence to hold over his head should he dare return.
Noah handed her an envelope with a passport, a credit card, and a driver’s license, in which her last name represented a life she’d left behind: Shannon Lewis. She gave the flight attendant her empty juice cup, then closed the tray and slipped the ID into her purse under the seat in front of her. “You used my real passport and driver’s license picture,” she said, keeping her voice low so as not to be overheard. “My, my, what the federal government will do to get its man. Did you guys move on this the moment JJ was shot?” If they hadn’t, they’d worked miracles in a very short time.
“We knew he’d been in contact with you.”
“And the credit card? Do the feds get to stamp their own?”
“Like I said earlier, buy anything you need” was all Noah said, which forced her to wonder what he wasn’t saying.
She’d sworn never to be manipulated again and here she was, a pawn in someone else’s game.
The feds had manufactured every detail of her supposed life in Nevada, her location the one truth JJ had confessed to the Keyeses. He’d told them where he’d found her. She didn’t think for a minute he’d kept everything else quiet for her benefit. He didn’t want anyone blackmailing his daughter but him. The Keyeses weren’t very bright, but they could smell money. If JJ had told them she was a lawyer, guaranteed they’d be making a trip to Vegas asking her to bankroll their tables. But he hadn’t.
Now she was an accountant who had access to people with money. Wouldn’t Wendy laugh? Her friend—and her accountant—made a habit of pointing out Shannon’s lack of mathematical skills. She only hoped no one asked her to fill out a spreadsheet because the only thing Shannon could spread was jam on toast. Even that she didn’t do in her own kitchen, a room she barely set foot in. She reclined her seat, closed her eyes, and prayed she hadn’t agreed to something she couldn’t handle.
“Shannon?”
She peeled her eyes open, realizing she’d fallen asleep, her head resting on Noah’s shoulder. “Oh, sorry.”
“It’s fine. It reminded me of all the times you fell asleep watching television with me.”
“Yeah, not a good memory,” she said, trying to blink the cobwebs away. “You used to get mad.”
“The last thing a guy wants is for his girl to fall asleep when she’s with him. Then, after I learned how shitty your life was at home, I was touched.”
She wanted to ask what the hell he was talking about, but that look on his face reminded her so much of when he’d first admitted he loved her that she was left speechless. Warmth she hadn’t felt in years enveloped her chest, making it hard to breathe. No one except Noah had made her experience that kind of emotion.
“Can’t fault a girl who trusts yo
u enough to sleep in your arms,” he said, laughing, maybe a little embarrassed by the memory.
Besides Maggie, he was the only other person she did trust. She’d loved him with everything she had, but now was not the time to admit it. “Are we landing soon?”
“I think so. I have a car waiting at the airport. You’ll drive out and meet up with the Keyeses. Here’s your new cell.” He handed her a phone. “My number is programmed already. Remember, the house is bugged. Give them the story we went over. I arranged a room for you at Mrs. Toblestone’s boardinghouse. If we’re spotted together, don’t worry. My parents joined my sister in San Diego shortly before I graduated from college, so no one in town knows I’m with the agency.”
The pilot announced their descent. She glanced out the window at the serene landscape, so different from Vegas and yet far more disconcerting. She was going back to a town she hated. “People know we dated. They’ll talk.”
“Do you plan on letting anyone know you’re in town?”
“No.” Not if she could help it.
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem.” He pushed his seat upright and returned his attention to her. “When you’re on the phone with these people, keep the Keyeses in the loop. You’ll be doing more than JJ did with his flunkies. It will appear as if you trust them and they in turn should trust you. Allow them to hear the conversation. I can’t expect that it will go exactly as we discussed, but I’ve given you enough alternatives to possible questions. Sound confident. Don’t take no for an answer, and when all else fails—”
“Mention money. Lots and lots of money.”
He grinned. It brought her back to all the times it had been real, the times his beautiful smile had actually reached his gorgeous eyes. Unlike now. “You can do this. I know your record in court. Think of this like one of your cases.”
She patted her bra. “Technically, this is a case.” And she wasn’t giving the twenty back.