“You screwed everyone,” Leah said softly. “Your investors, your wife, and…Ravstar.”
“Oh, Ravstar had it coming. I knew the instant Rayansh told me what they were doing. Patrick’s an idiot. But you can’t blame me for seizing the opportunity and making bank. It didn’t change anything other than my fortunes.”
“Your wife thinks you’re dead.”
He shrugged. “You have any idea what it’s like to live in a loveless marriage? Take my word for it, we’re both better off with me dead. Unless you plan to play hero, in which case she’ll be working the drive-through window at Burger Barn. It’s your call. I don’t really care. Not my problem anymore.”
“She’ll come after you with everything she has.”
“Come after me? Please. I’m a ghost. I’ll be gone by the time you’re at the airport, and I’ll have disappeared for good. The only one you’ll hurt is Heather. You think you’re going to teach me a lesson? You’re a sweet girl, Leah, but you’re fighting way above your weight on this one.”
They ate in silence, Leah furious at Richard’s condescending tone. Every bite of fish tasted like cardboard to her. When she was done with her plate, she pushed it aside and glared at him.
“You think you’re the smartest guy in the room, don’t you?”
“That’s a funny term. Only other time I’ve heard it was from a DA who couldn’t make anything stick. Am I ringing any bells?” He shrugged. “Look. You got your big story because of me. I heard you telling Heather you were investigating Ravstar, so I sent you the goods. You should be thanking me, not getting in my face about things that are none of your business.”
A thought occurred to Leah. “Terra Megatrends. That’s a CIA operation?”
“I’m not going to say it is, but if the government wanted to slip hostile actors intel and have them believe it’s the real deal, Terra Megatrends might be a great way to do it.” He smiled again, infuriating Leah. “You have no idea what you’re involved in, Leah. Don’t take this the wrong way, but you should get on your plane, fly back to California, and enjoy the praise of having done a bang-up job. Revealing the truth won’t do anyone any good, and will just land you in seriously hot water you don’t want to be in. The CIA protects its own, and like it or not, that’s me. So you want to spill the beans, you screw Heather royally, and you put your future in serious jeopardy. I’m not saying they’d disappear you if they thought you knew the truth, but I’m not going to promise they wouldn’t.”
“So you’re blackmailing me,” Leah said.
“Quite the opposite. I’m the invisible man either way. Nothing you say or do will affect me. You’d only be hurting Heather and yourself. I’m just trying to give you all the information so you don’t mess up. You decide to be a hero, you know the score. I’ll still be gone, and anything that happens will be on you.”
He flipped some Belize dollars onto the table and stood. “It’s been a hoot, Leah. Nice work on the story. I wish I could say see you around, but trust me, you won’t.”
Richard turned and walked out of the restaurant, leaving Leah to watch him depart, feeling as powerless as at any time in her life.
~ ~ ~
Joey stood in the shade of a bicycle rental shop, his Panama hat pulled down over his brow and his shirt half soaked through with sweat. He’d followed the girl from California, on Angelo’s orders, and had hit pay dirt when the mark had walked up the pier and taken her to lunch. He watched as Richard sauntered up the street, dodging golf carts that served as transportation in San Pedro, and then followed at a safe distance, ignoring the rough wooden handle of the fileting knife sheathed at the small of his back as it chafed against his skin.
Chapter 45
Emeryville, California
Leah was dragging when she arrived at work; her whirlwind trip to Belize had drained her in more ways than one. Richard’s revelations had forced her to make a harsh choice: tell Heather the truth and subject her to the risk of having committed insurance fraud if she didn’t confess that her husband was still alive – a certainty, given her situation – or bury what she’d discovered and take her secret knowledge to the grave.
She prepared her coffee in a daze, wishing she could ask Adam for advice yet not wanting to share what she knew for fear of an inadvertent slip. In the end it would be the toughest decision she’d ever have to make, and it was hers to grapple with on her own. She could rationalize staying silent by telling herself that it wasn’t she who was defrauding the insurance company, it was Richard, but that did little to assuage her guilty conscience. The fact was she knew what she knew, and if she didn’t say anything, she’d be just as complicit as Richard, at least in her mind.
Back at her desk, she answered a few congratulatory emails on her Ravstar article from colleagues, including her editor in El Paso and her mentor in New York. She’d already taken a warm call from Simon before she’d left on her trip, who’d been celebratory about her scoop. But as always after putting an article to bed, she felt deflated and aimless, her focus of the last weeks now in the past and the future directionless until she found something new that grabbed her attention. Such was the nature of her job and her personality, and she knew the only way to proceed was to power through it.
Her computer pinged, signaling an email had arrived, and she opened her inbox. There, a message announced that an automated alert she’d set had one new story that was relevant. She clicked on the link and almost choked on her coffee when she read the headline.
Tourist murdered in robbery gone wrong – San Pedro, Belize. An American tourist identified as Richard Davenport died of stab wounds from an attempted robbery in San Pedro, sometime between four and seven p.m. His body was found by fishermen, washed up on the beach by the Concha Loca resort. He was identified by fingerprints and dental records.
Leah sat back, dazed. She was still sitting and staring at her screen with a blank expression when Adam stopped by.
“Leah, are you okay?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh. Um, yeah. I guess so.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just…I just spaced out for a minute.”
“You sure?” he asked, concern in his voice.
“Yeah. I’m fine. But…I have to run an errand.”
“After your last home run, I don’t think anyone will say anything if you’re gone for a little while.”
Leah gathered her purse and phone and rose. She printed the article and scooped it up from the printer on the way out the door, and was behind the wheel, returning to Concord, within minutes.
The steps to her apartment had never felt more difficult to climb, and when she knocked on her door to a flurry of baritone barks, her heart sank at the news she was about to deliver. She unlocked the door and was greeted by Brutus, who was as enthusiastic as ever to see his new friend, and planted the expected kisses before dropping to the ground and returning to the couch, where he’d taken up residence.
Heather looked up from where she was preparing something to eat in the kitchen and smiled at Leah. “Hey. Didn’t expect to see you this late. You taking the day off?”
Leah shook her head and caught sight of Heather’s suitcases by the bedroom door. “No. You packing?”
Heather looked away. “I’m thinking maybe we’ve been away from the house long enough. Marco stopped calling, so I think he got the message, and nobody’s broken in…”
Leah held up the article in her hand. “I’ve got some news, Heather.”
“More news? It’s been quite a week for you, hasn’t it?” Heather asked. She carried her plate and glass of orange juice to the tiny dining room table and took a seat.
“I’m afraid this isn’t good news,” Leah said, and set the paper down beside Heather’s plate.
Heather read the article and the color drained from her face. She reached for her juice and knocked the glass over, her hand shaking, and cursed under her breath.
Leah’s eyes locked on Heather as a flash of insight hit h
er with the force of a blow.
“You knew, didn’t you?” she asked, her voice soft.
Heather’s face seemed to melt like wax exposed to a flame, and her mouth worked like a beached fish, no sound coming out.
Leah nodded slowly. “When were you planning to leave?”
“I…as soon as the insurance paid out,” Heather whispered, clearly in shock.
“Why, Heather? Why…all this? Why suck me into your scheme?”
Heather eyed Brutus and studied her trembling hands. “It…Richard learned the FBI was looking into his past a few months ago, and he knew what they’d find. So he came up with…a plan. He knew Marco’s people would come after him once he was charged, and even if they didn’t, that his career was over once they filed. So…he liquidated everything and moved it offshore so it would be out of their reach, and then blackmailed the CIA into helping him fake his suicide.”
“For the insurance money,” Leah stated flatly.
Heather wrung her hands. “He checked, and after two years it would have to pay out, even on a suicide. It was two years and two months old when he came up with the idea. When his car exploded, he kicked it into high gear – he knew he had to disappear immediately.”
“Why involve me?” Leah demanded.
“That was his idea, Leah, not mine. He’d heard rumblings that everything wasn’t going well at Ravstar, and he needed someone credible to expose them. After he got the engineer’s file, he knew he could make a fortune betting against them, but he had to be able to time the bad news.”
“So I was his contingency plan?” Leah spat.
“I…I’m sorry, Leah. I…I didn’t think it would hurt anything to go along with him on that. And I really did want to see you again, to reconnect.”
Leah frowned and shook her head. “Sure you did. Right before you took off with your insurance check.”
“But now…he’s…he’s dead…which means the money…”
Leah gave a grim smile. “You don’t know where he put it, do you?”
She shook her head, suddenly looking ten years older than she had minutes before. “No.”
“Then this whole thing was about cheating the insurance company and trading behind his investors’ backs?”
“The FBI would have finished him, Leah. They had him dead to rights. The CIA promised they’d try to exert pressure, but no guarantees. He saw the writing on the wall and seized a chance when he had it.”
“With your help,” Leah said. “Did he tell you he spoke with me yesterday?”
Heather nodded mutely.
“So all that about turning your cell phone mic on was BS, wasn’t it? He knew I was investigating Ravstar because you told him the plan was going perfectly, didn’t you?”
Another nod. When she looked up at Leah, Heather’s eyes were brimming with tears. “And now he’s dead.”
“Where were you planning to meet him?”
“Costa Rica. We figured between the two of us we’d have fifteen million. We could have a nice life.”
“Cheating on each other,” Leah spat.
Heather’s teary gaze turned into a glare. “We put that behind us. Neither of us was perfect, but we decided we could make it work with a fresh start somewhere away from all this.”
“And you weren’t concerned he would double-cross you?”
She shook her head. “Not with five million reasons for him to be honest.”
Leah sighed and stood. “Get out, Heather. Now. I can’t believe I went to the mat for you. I should have known better.”
“I didn’t mean for anything to happen to you, and nothing did. Except you got a great story. So nobody got hurt.”
“You involved me in insurance fraud.”
Heather’s shoulders slumped, and then the familiar look of cunning returned to her eyes. “Not anymore. He’s dead. Murdered. So there’s no fraud, really. Just…a timing issue.”
“Good luck selling that to the insurance company. Get out of my house, Heather. Now. I mean it.”
Heather rose unsteadily. “I’m sorry for everything, Leah. I’d hoped you’d never find out. I didn’t…I didn’t think any of this would happen…”
Leah looked away, so furious she was afraid she’d attack her former friend. She watched as Heather collected her bags and fastened Brutus’s leash to his collar, trembling with rage. Heather seemed to sense her mood, because she didn’t try to apologize any more and merely set the spare apartment key on the dining room table before hoisting her suitcases. When she was at the door, she tried a smile that looked patently fake, which Leah met with a frigid stare.
“Goodbye, Leah.”
Leah didn’t say anything. Heather left, carting her suitcases awkwardly, and Leah slammed the door behind her and looked around the apartment, feeling violated in every way she could imagine. Heather had used her without regard to the consequences and had actively participated in a criminal scheme with her douchebag husband, involving Leah because it suited their purpose.
If it got any lower, Leah didn’t see how. She carried Heather’s untouched plate to the kitchen and brought a roll of paper towels to clean up the juice that had pooled in the center of the table, performing the task mechanically, her mind a million miles away.
Chapter 46
When Leah arrived home from work the following day, she was met by Brutus, who was sitting obediently by her front door, his leash lashed to the handle and a half-full water bowl beside him. Leah’s eyes widened in surprise as he leapt to his feet, bottom working madly, and whined a greeting. Leah looked past him and reached for an envelope tacked to the door. She opened it and unfolded the single sheet of paper inside, and recognized Heather’s neat script.
Leah, I know you’ll never forgive me, and I don’t blame you. All I can say is I’m sorry. Maybe there is justice in the world after all, because the insurance company denied the claim, citing that Richard wasn’t dead when I filed it, and threatening to press fraud charges if I refiled because of his murder.
Apparently they have access to the internet, too. Unless you sent them the article.
I’ve got to see if I can track down Richard’s money. I know it’s a long shot, but I’m headed to Belize to claim his belongings – maybe there’s a clue in them. There’s nothing left for me here, so I’ll try to start a new life elsewhere. I’ve burned every bridge, so nothing to lose.
I really never intended for you to get hurt. I’m so sorry, Leah. Please accept Brutus as my apology, and if you can’t forgive me, at least kiss him every night and know that his love is unconditional and real.
Keep writing. You have a gift. I’ll be watching from afar.
Heather
Leah eyed the big dog, who cocked his head and regarded her expectantly.
“Et tu, Brutus, huh? Should have known she planned to stick me with you when she left your feeding tray here,” Leah said. Brutus whined once as though in agreement, and offered a wide dog smile, tongue lolling out one side of his mouth. Leah moved to untie his leash with a shake of her head.
“There’s no way you’re sharing the bed, you understand? Just the couch. I’m completely serious.”
<<<<>>>>
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Turn the page to read an excerpt from
Silver Justice
Excerpt from Silver Justice
Chapter 1
“We found it.”
Assistant Special Agent in Charge Silver Cassidy grabbed the radio hooked on her belt, thumbed the transmit button, and raised it to her mouth.
> “Where?”
“The sick bastard threw it down the garbage chute.” Special Agent Seth Thompson’s ironic tone was unmistakable even over the radio. “Seven floors. It’s hard to recognize it as a head now. Bumpety bump bump.”
“Nice. Forensics will go crazy for this one,” she said, glancing at the group of agents standing near the bedroom door.
She caught a flash of her reflection in the hallway mirror and paused to plump her dark brown hair. The morning had been a whirlwind, between the early call on the latest murder and trying to get her daughter to school before heading to the crime scene. She knew she looked tired and harried, having had no time for makeup or hair gel in the rush.
That was fine. As the head of the FBI task force hunting this serial killer, Silver didn’t need a glamorous look or a ready-for-the-cameras presentation in order to be taken seriously. She was the no-nonsense presence representing the Bureau leadership on the investigation, so everyone at the crime scene gave her a respectfully wide berth.
A generally good idea before she’d imbibed her second cup of coffee.
Static burped at her from the two-way again.
“You got anything more up there?” Seth asked.
Silver paused, considering possible responses as she turned towards the floor-to-ceiling glass of the living room, taking in the West Side apartment’s magnificent view of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. Some people knew how to live.
A Girl Betrayed (A Leah Mason suspense thriller Book 2) Page 26