“That’s good to hear.” He’d never had an arrest record. Hernandez had searched those first. Somehow, Leo had never gotten tagged for any type of crime—or at least not under his real name. “Why am I here, Paige? You look beautiful, by the way. But then you always did.”
She’d loved this man once, with all the passion a sixteen year old girl could. It had nearly torn her in two to leave him. Now, she looked at him and felt very little. He was still attractive—there wasn’t an ounce of weight out of place, his hair was still rich brown though a lot neater now, he was still beautiful—but there was nothing, no immediate visceral connection. Not like she’d always wondered.
She’d not loved a man the same way since. And she’d wondered about that for years. Wondered if she’d had her once chance for a real, lasting kind of love and had lost it before she was even technically an adult.
Now she knew that that wasn’t it.
She wasn’t sure if that pleased her or not.
Because if she’d hadn’t loved Leo that way back then, was she ever going to be able to love any man that way?
Her attention shifted to the man who’d yet to say anything. Mick. Dear God, what was she supposed to do about him now?
He glared at her, his usual glower. Paige immediately relaxed. At least Mick remained consistent. She remembered the things he’d told her, how he’d always felt different from the rest of his family because of his difficulties expressing himself. She felt a rush of compassion for the little boy he’d been, growing up in the shadow of a man like Malachi. Sometimes Malachi was too good to almost seem real. He always knew what to do, what to say, what the other person was feeling.
She’d had a crush on Mal when they’d first met—how could she not? He was beautiful inside and out—but she’d realized very quickly that there would never be more than friendship between them. All that lack of flaws would have driven her crazy.
She knew it bugged Jules sometimes, too, and had watched her friend pick fights with him just to make Mal lose his cool. To make him appear more human. More flawed.
Like his brother. Was that why Mick had run toward the military as soon as he’d graduated high school? To escape the inevitable family comparisons? Poor Mick.
No wonder he glared at the world all the time.
Paige took the seat closest to him. Across from Leo. “We have a few questions for you, Leo.”
“About what?” He had tensed, became guarded. Did he know what they suspected?
“How did you end up in Arizona?” He’d practically owned the streets of Dallas back then. What had made him leave that life behind?
“After you and Carrie left, Ceci and I took some of the girls with us and left the state. Some stayed with Miles. We tried to convince them to leave, but you know we prized free choice.”
The brothers had—on one condition. That no one choose to do anything that put the ‘family’ in danger. That was the cardinal sin, and one everyone feared making. That’s what Leo had told her the day he’d made her and Carrie leave. That Miles would think she’d committed that sin. “What happened that day?”
“We took the younger three of the girls with us. We set up shop in New Mexico until we’d built up enough funds. After that we bought out a small company in Tuscon.”
“It’s not small any longer. And you’re not going by Buckham-Butelli anymore.”
“No. Too much of a connection with the past. With Miles.”
“Where is he?” They hadn’t found any record on Miles for the last five years. Before that he’d been in and out of prison on a variety of charges. Each one escalating. Until he’d just disappeared five years earlier.
“I don’t know. We don’t communicate. And haven’t in twelve years.”
“Since that day?”
“Yes. We left. You left. Miles stayed in Dallas with Heather, Amy, and a few of the others.”
Amy. The one Miles had been beating when Paige had returned to the ‘family’. And Leo had left her behind with his brother? How could he have done that? “Where were you three days ago?”
“In Tucson. With Ceci and with the rest of the board of my company. We took it public six years ago.” He smiled at Paige, the same expression he used to give her years ago.
It didn’t have quite as much charm as it used to; at least not with her.
Mick wouldn’t have left a young girl with an abuser. Neither would any of the other men she respected. Why had Leo? “Why did you leave Amy with him?”
“She refused to leave.” He hesitated, then looked at her across the table. “Look, I tried. Ceci tried. And short of tying the girl up and taking her against her will—robbing her of her free choice—we couldn’t make her go. I didn’t like it. Ceci cried over all of you for months after we lost you all. Does she know you’re here? I sure as hell didn’t. I always wondered…”
“I’ve not spoken with her yet. My partner is interviewing her soon. Leo, you have to know what we’re looking at here. Heather’s body was found. One of thirteen victims, all with the same tattoo. Elizabeth, too. I’m sure you know which tattoo I’m referring to. She’d been drugged and had her throat slit.”
She watched for it, and there it was. Shock. Surprise. Suspicion. “And you think I had something to do with it. Do I need an attorney?”
“Maybe.” Paige looked at Mick. Fought the urge to touch her knee to his. She needed that connection, as the truth of her relationship with her past became even clearer to her. There was a darkness to Leo that she had never seen before. A lack of something intrinsic. Was he a sociopath? Was he capable of feeling?
At sixteen she’d thought he loved her as much as she loved him. But maybe he had just taken advantage of the situation? She was there, she was infatuated, and she was available? Had he used her?
A twenty-three-year-old man and a vulnerable sixteen-year-old girl.
He probably had taken advantage of her. Why hadn’t she ever realized that?
What was it he and Miles and preached? That you always had to pay for something?
The entire reason she’d joined their little gang was because they’d made it clear she and Carrie owed them for their safety. And they hadn’t been in a position to leave from Dallas those first few weeks.
Had she paid for Leo’s good will in a way she hadn’t realize?
Just the very thought of that left a distaste in her mouth.
Mick’s hand wrapped around hers under the table, shocking the utter hell out of her. She never would have expected him to offer her comfort, to even understand that she needed it. Before.
She risked a glance at him, knowing how close to breaking down—again—she was.
He looked so different from Leo. Mick’s suit was just a little too tight around his shoulders. It needed to be altered to fit him properly, didn’t it? His tie was perfectly straight. Not a stray piece of stubble was on his strong jaw. His eyes were dark blue and hard when they looked back at her.
The only sign that he wasn’t a total misanthrope was the warm fingers he had wrapped around hers. Paige squeezed his in return.
She had an insane urge to throw herself against his chest and just hide her face there, away from all the bad parts of the world. Hide there until the storms of this whatever it was passed them both by.
But she knew she couldn’t do that. “You need to give us names so we can verify. When was the last time you spoke with Heather?”
“The same day I last spoke with you. The family fractured that day. Something was broken in Miles, and I didn’t see it. Until he was ready to turn on you. Heather stayed. Amy. Megan and Elizabeth. That was it. The rest came with Ceci and me. Other than you and Carrie. How is she, by the way?”
Paige tensed. Had he been the one to target Carrie? Did he know the shooter had hit Carrie’s sister instead? “She’s doing well. Really well. She’s sold some software recently.”
“She always did have a gift. Tell me…how did you end up in the FBI? I’d figured you’d more likely end up
an extremely wealthy thief. You had the skills.”
“Exactly. I had the skills to get places I wasn’t supposed to be. Wasn’t that one of the things you wanted from me back then?”
His eyes narrowed and he leaned back in the chair. “One of the things. There were definitely other things, though. Remember?”
A jab? Was he going to bring that up in front of Mick? Did he think that would bother her? “Vaguely. A girl never forgets her first. Even when there are other…far better…experiences. Of course, a real woman never forgets her last.”
***
Mick fought the urge to snort at the guy’s expression. Paige definitely knew how to get straight to the man’s ego, didn’t she?
That he had been Paige’s last just amused him more. What had she seen in this little prick? The guy was reasonably good-looking, he obviously had some money now, but there was nothing outstanding about Leo Butelli. “The names, Butelli.”
“It’s Bowman now. Legally. Leo Buckham-Butelli died twelve years ago. Left him in the ashes of Dallas.” The son-of-a-bitch shifted in the chair. “I’ll have my secretary forward you the names. Or better yet, ask her yourself. Since she’s here somewhere. Unless you’re thinking she has something to do with Heather’s murder, too?”
Mick pulled the evidence envelope off the table and slipped the photo from the sleeve. “These other people. Names and possible whereabouts?” Three in the photo were dead. One was right there in front of them. And Paige was beside him; Carrie Lorcan was safe in the hospital with her new baby. There were still others out there. Possible targets. Possible killers, if he followed his brother’s profile.
Possible threats to Paige and Carrie.
“That’s Ceci, of course. I believe you’re more likely to know her exact whereabouts today, don’t you? The others…Amy, Megan. And my brother Miles took it. But you already know that, don’t you, Paige?” He looked at Paige. Mick did, as well. There was an expression in her eyes he couldn’t quite identify. A sadness and a regret, maybe?
“Elizabeth was killed, too. Did you know that? How long had she been with you before Carrie and me? Two months? How old was she, fourteen? Just fourteen. She never made it past twenty-six.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. But I didn’t have anything to do with it. I would have thought you knew me better than that.”
“If not you, then who?”
“Miles, possibly? Someone we pissed off, who couldn’t take it?”
“And finally started killing people twelve years later? Carrie and I were only with you for two months, if that. And half that time I was either too ill to do anything or we were training for whatever score Miles wanted to take. That’s rather thin, wouldn’t you say?”
“Then it’s my brother.”
“You say that so easily.” Mick could never imagine speaking so casually of his own brother in such a situation. Butelli honestly didn’t seem to give a rat’s ass about his brother. And that surprised him, from what he’d read about the two in the files. They’d been close, almost inseparable for years. Leo Butelli had even been discharged from the military to care for his brother when his brother had been wounded in a car accident. That wasn’t exactly apathy.
What the hell had happened between the two? Mick stood, then pulled Paige to her feet by the hand he still held. Butelli’s eyes landed on their clasped hands. Speculation Mick had no difficulty interpreting was on the man’s face then. Mick pulled Paige into the hallway. “Why don’t you go interview the secretary? And send Mal in here. I could use his opinion on something.”
“What? What are you thinking?” She pulled in a deep breath, but she never stepped away from him. “Mick…can this get any more awkward?”
“I think it could. If you still had feelings for the guy. But we both know you don’t. He was a bastard twelve years ago. He never should have touched you. You were the same age as Reynolds’ younger daughter, right? What kind of twenty-something year old man would mess with a girl like Gracie? I don’t care how long you’d been out there on the streets, he never should have put his hands on you, baby. Ever.”
“I thought back then there was a connection. Something right and special and unique. Now…I’m not sure if I was just being stupid.”
“Naïve. There’s a difference.” He remembered what it had been like with his first. How he’d been so passionate, and so foolish back then. “First love can do that to you.”
“I’m not even sure what love is, anymore, Mick. I’ve certainly never felt it.”
He immediately thought about his brother. Jules. Al and Seth. “No, but we’ve certainly seen it. Jules and Mal come to mind right away.”
“But maybe that kind of love isn’t for me. I thought…maybe I was just too stupid to realize…”
Nothing had ever infuriated him more. Didn’t she see what she really was? How beautiful, kind, wonderful. How…if he was ever brave enough to want what Mal had she would be the first woman he even thought of. She was just that special.
And that knowledge, more than anything, had Mick stepping away from her. “You were young. We all make those kinds of mistakes. But you can’t let it influence who you are now. You’ll find someone to love you like that. I know you will.” But the idea of her with some other man, loving and laughing, stabbed him in the gut. Would he be around when that happened? Would he be forced to watch her fall for some other guy? See her look at that man with the expression that she’d shot at him in his bed last night? Would Mick be able to resist bashing the guy’s brains in if he hurt her?
Or worse…would Mick be able to look at the guy with anything other than envy for what he had, or regret for what Mick had pushed aside?
“Will I?” A bitterness he’d never heard from her had crept into her voice. “I’m not sure I even want to try. Maybe I’m better off on the outside, Mick. I can’t get that feeling out of my head.”
“It’s fear. You can’t keep letting fear control you, or you’ll never have that control for yourself.”
Fear. Fuck it. He had let fear control him for almost four years now, hadn’t he? He sank the fingers of his left hand into the silky hair she’d left down that morning. Mick pulled her against his chest. Before she could pull away he kissed her long and deep. When he pulled back they were both breathing heavily. He closed his eyes, placed a kiss on her forehead, and stepped back. “Get Mal in here. I want to play brother-vs-brother against this guy. And I want Mal to check him out.”
“Is he a sociopath, Mick? Tell me the truth?”
“I don’t know. Mal will have a better shot of figuring that out than I will.” And with Paige out of the room he could go for the bastard’s jugular. Rip into him for touching Paige when he’d had no business even looking at her that way. “Go.”
***
He was up to something, wasn’t he? There was a hint of restraint around his words that certainly hadn’t been there in his kiss. She’d never thought he’d kiss her in the middle of the PAVAD hallway. Not in front of anyone who’d walked by—or the cameras that monitored almost every inch of the building. Someone somewhere had to see him kiss her. Didn’t he realize that?
It was just a matter of time before the rumors started flying all around the building—they always did, even in a place like PAVAD. Would it put his position with I.A. in jeopardy? Did he realize that?
She didn’t want to cause him any trouble. That was the last thing she wanted to do. “I’m going.”
She had so much running through her head that she had to think about. Mick. Leo. Miles and the others. Agent Lake and her sister. What was she supposed to make her top priority now? The thirteen dead women—they weren’t just a separate case anymore, were they?
They—all of them, dead girls, Lake, her sister, Leo—it all tied into one horrible nightmare centered around her. That was what she needed to find a way to deal with. And fast.
She went straight to Mal’s office. She’d give him his brother’s message, then she’d find Georgia. She wanted the
other woman at her side when she spoke with Ceci.
Georgia had been a good friend to her for the last three years or so. And Paige valued her no-nonsense way of looking at things. And Paige just needed a woman’s opinion. Other than Al who would naturally want to take both Paige and Mick’s side in anything.
And Ceci…Paige wasn’t sure how she felt about the woman who’d stayed with Leo this entire time. Ceci had only been a year or two older than Paige. And she hadn’t been with Leo much longer than Paige had when they’d disbanded. She had never learned the other woman’s story; Ceci had been sweet and wholesome. Paige had never understood why the girl had made the choices she had. And she’d never asked.
If the Butelli rule number one had been free choice. Number two had been respect the privacy.
But Ceci had stuck with Leo to this day. There had to be a reason for that.
Mal was in his office, and he looked up when Paige knocked. “Your brother wants you in Conference 3B1. He’s got Leo in there now and wants your opinion.”
“Of course. How are you holding up?”
“I’ll be fine, Mal. Once we find what happened to Ariella Avery. And find out who killed Heather and the others. Once this is over and life returns to some kind of normal.”
“The beauty of normal, baby, is that a new one can form over the callus of an old one. You’ll be ok. You’re strong, you know. Probably more than you know.”
“I hope you’re right, Mal. I really do.”
***
She thought about his words as she walked back up the stairs toward conference room 3B4, where Ceci waited. She’d never known Ceci’s last name. Not back then. And somehow she though that Tate was an alias, as well.
Leo Bowman. Ceci Tate. Why had they felt the need to change their last names? People who did that were hiding from something. Would she be able to get those answers from Ceci?
How did she connect to a woman she hadn’t seen in a dozen years? Who may or may not be partnered with a sociopath?
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