“If Drake was murdered, someone could be after Riordan now.”
“I’ll put an APB out on him. He shouldn’t be hard to find. But why?”
“I wish I knew. The only thing that connects all the dead is Rose Van Alden.”
“Van Alden? From Maddox’s flash drive?”
“Yes. Van Alden was Frank Lowe’s great-aunt. Van Alden’s will instructed the sale of her property to Waterstone, which resulted in a huge planned community. Drake, Mancini, and Riordan were all principals in Waterstone. Now Lowe, Drake, and Mancini are dead. Assassinated?” Mitch ran through everything he knew. “What if that’s what this was all about? What if Lowe tipped off Taverton about something to do with that original sale?”
“Big enough to kill a prosecutor to keep it a secret?”
“I’m not a finance guy, Meg. Can you put someone on it? Someone who understands land deals. And definitely get a warning to Riordan. He might want to come in for protective custody.”
“Unless,” Meg said, “he’s somehow a part of this. Do we want to tip him off?”
“So don’t. He’s a sitting congressman, we’re concerned about his safety and want him in protective custody until we find this assassin. I’m sure you’ll come up with something good. Maybe just put a couple agents on him at his house. But if he’s not involved, and he ends up dead, there’ll be hell to pay from Washington.”
“You got that right. I’ll take care of it.”
Mitch hung up. He’d brought Hans Vigo with him to the Mancini triple homicide. It was time for a fresh pair of eyes and ears. If he laid everything out for the senior agent, maybe Hans would see something new. If nothing else, he could help with motive. For a guy as laid-back and pleasant as Hans Vigo, his understanding of criminal psychology was eerie. “Hans, I need to run something by you.”
Meg bypassed the bureaucracy and called a friend at Quantico to pull Congressman Riordan’s private cell phone number. This was a matter of life or death, she could justify the intrusion into his privacy.
A man answered. “Hello.”
“Jeffrey Riordan?”
“Yes. Who are you? I’m busy and this is a private number.”
“Congressman, I’m Supervisory Special Agent Megan Elliott with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I’m calling because we have reason to believe that your life is in danger and I’d like to send two agents to your location to bring you into protective custody.”
There was a long silence, but he hadn’t disconnected.
“Congressman?”
“Why do you think I’m in danger? Has there been a threat against me?”
“In the process of investigating an unrelated matter, we’ve pulled files on Waterstone Development. Today two of the principals of that company were murdered. You are the third principal, and therefore we feel that there is sufficient threat until we can determine that the cause was unrelated to your connection with Judge Drake and Mr. Mancini.”
“I see. I’ll keep my eyes open. Thank you for the warning.”
He hung up.
Meg stared at the phone. That conversation was nothing like she expected. Rage, maybe-she’d dealt with assholes in Congress before. Fear, yeah-she’d had one congresswoman who’d been terrified over threatening letters she’d received. But complete dismissal?
She straightened as she realized that Riordan hadn’t expressed any shock or asked questions about Richard Mancini’s murder. While the media was all over Judge Drake’s more public death, no one outside of law enforcement knew about Mancini. Grant had found the bodies less than an hour ago while following up on the lead from the Lora Lane murder.
Damn, Riordan was an elected official. That meant politics, and one reason she’d transferred from the Washington D.C. field office when this promotion came up in Sacramento was because she was sick and tired of politics.
She should have known it didn’t matter-politics influenced everything. She called her boss and clued him in on the situation. “I’ll handle the flack,” he said. “Go ahead and put two agents on him 24/7. We’ll use the protective custody argument to surveil him-we have ample cause there-and I’ll contact the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
“We’re already on thin ice with Collier. His attorney is foaming at the mouth that we didn’t properly extradite him from New York.”
“I’ll handle the lawyers. I’ll be there in thirty minutes. In the meantime, we need to protect our asses. If Riordan is innocent and ends up dead, we’ll have just as many problems as if we didn’t jump through the damn legal hoops.”
Meg had just issued the surveillance order on Congressman Riordan when her cell phone rang. “Agent Elliott.”
“This is Nelia Kincaid.”
“Ms. Kincaid, this isn’t a good time. I’m pleased Mr. O’Brien is out of surgery, and-”
“It’s about Claire. I’m worried.”
“What happened?”
“Tom woke up thirty minutes ago. Claire wanted to see him when he was awake, so I phoned her at her home. There was no answer. I called her office, because I know she wanted to work-she hasn’t come in.”
“I’m sure she’s sleeping. There were heavy drugs in her system with harsh side effects. But I’ll call my agent and have him check on her.”
“I’d appreciate it.”
Meg dialed Cliff Warren’s cell phone, with a tingle of worry. She’d met Claire, and while she’d tried to appease Nelia Kincaid, Meg didn’t think Claire would sleep through a ringing phone in the middle of an investigation where she had a vested interest.
Cliff didn’t answer his phone.
Meg called out to her secretary. “Bonnie, call Sac PD and have them drive by Claire O’Brien’s house and check in with her. Send two agents to follow up.”
Meg dialed Mitch. “Mitch? Are you still in Midtown?”
“I’m at Mancini’s, yes.”
“Cliff Warren isn’t answering his phone, and Claire isn’t answering hers.”
“I’m on my way.”
Thirty years ago he’d made a mistake that had cost him his soul.
Fifteen years ago he’d made another. But when you knew you were going to hell, protecting the new life you’d so carefully built seemed crucial.
But he knew now that it was over.
He finished digging Claire’s grave. Burying her was burying his past. He could start fresh. He’d have to leave the country; a new identity in America wasn’t going to help him this time.
He couldn’t go back to his true identity, or the new one he’d created. He’d be too easy to find. He’d taken the identity of a dead man to stay close to Claire, but it was only a matter of time before the FBI put it all together. Fifteen years of watching her, protecting her, loving her-all gone.
He was both angry and relieved.
Now he could kill her. Though he didn’t completely understand it, he’d stopped trying to figure out Claire’s deep connection to him. He’d known the day he’d seen her photograph before killing Taverton and Lydia O’Brien that Claire was his fate; but he also accepted that there was no rational explanation. Just like he knew the runaways he killed were all pale imitations of Claire.
And wasn’t Claire just a pale imitation of Bridget?
He couldn’t kill Bridget again. He wished he could. He dreamed of it, tried to re-create it, but her death had happened too fast, without thought. When he stood over her dead body he wanted to do it all over again. Experience every sensation again. And again. For everything Bridget had done to him, and everything she hadn’t.
Killing Claire would satisfy him more than the runaways. Like Bridget, he’d loved and protected Claire for years. And like Bridget, Claire never returned his feelings. She never would. Just teased him, took other lovers and rubbed them in his face. The damn Fed was the worst, the way she was all over him at the Fox amp; Goose. Touching him. Kissing him. Sliding her body over his, her breasts rubbing against his chest.
He’d sacrificed everything for her, and she’d ne
ver give him what he needed most from her. But he could take it. He could take everything, including her last breath.
After she was dead, he’d disappear. He didn’t have much time. It wouldn’t take the FBI long to discover Claire was missing. The truth would come out.
Claire needed to die before then.
He had his police scanner on, listening for odd chatter. If they figured it out, they would demand radio silence-in case he was listening. Radio silence was as good as announcing they were coming for him.
The sound of an approaching car disturbed his work. He jumped off the backhoe and looked into the newly dug grave. It was deep enough. He walked quickly toward the house, rounding the corner at the same time Jeffrey Riordan stepped from his car.
“You fucking lunatic!” Riordan screamed at him. “You screwed up everything. You killed Hamilton and Richie. Now the cops are all over my ass.”
What was Riordan thinking, coming out here to confront him? Bruce Langstrom was a hired assassin. Riordan knew that; he’d paid him enough money over the years. Did the idiot really think he was just another employee he could jerk around?
Riordan had a gun in his hand.
As if that would do him any good.
FORTY
Claire had the worst hangover of her life.
She couldn’t open her eyes, her tongue was thick, her mouth dry. All she wanted was a gallon of water and sleep. In the back of her mind she imagined she’d heard a gunshot, but it was quiet now. She was alone.
As she became more alert, she dismissed the idea that she had a hangover. She hadn’t been drinking. She’d been drugged.
The first sign that something was really, really wrong came from her sense of smell. She wasn’t in her house. She breathed deeply, struggled to open her eyes-but every time she opened them, they closed, the strain too much. And everything was blurry and out of focus, all light and dark with no form.
Maybe she’d passed out and Dave had taken her to the hospital. She’d been sitting on the couch talking to Bill. They’d just had lunch. .
There were no hospital sounds. Total silence. This place smelled clean-Pine-Sol and bleach and some other fruity fragrance that made Claire’s stomach turn. But definitely not the antiseptic scent of the hospital.
When she tried to speak, only a moan escaped. Every limb felt heavy, but her mind awakened as a faint sense of panic pumped adrenaline through her body. She continued breathing deeply, trying to regain full use of her eyes and body. It seemed to be working. She still felt sluggish, but at least she could open her eyes and focus on her surroundings.
A bright pink wall. She’d had a bright pink wall when she was a kid. In the old house, the house where her mother was killed.
She turned her head and saw white furniture with pink and green flowers. Her heart raced. This was her furniture! Or it used to be hers. Hands fisting in the comforter, trying to push herself up, she saw the myriad brightly colored pillows on the bed.
And the bear.
As if in a trance, Claire sat up on the bed and struggled to stand. Unsteadily she crossed to the rocking chair and picked up the teddy bear. It was brown, a plain, ordinary stuffed bear, but she’d had one just like it growing up. She’d had it for as long as she could remember. It was well-worn, like this one. It was missing an eye. Like this bear.
She turned it over and stared at the embroidery on the paw. At one time, the thread had been bright pink. It was faded now.
She dropped the bear as if he burned her hands. It had been months after her mother had been killed when she realized Bill hadn’t brought the bear when he packed up her old room. She’d asked him to go back and look for it; he did. He said there were no teddy bears in the house. She had cried over it, certain that someone who didn’t like her dad was punishing her. Stupid to cry over a stuffed animal.
The entire room she now stood in had been designed exactly like the room she’d lived in when she was fourteen. One pink and three blue walls. On the back of the door was a corkboard, but instead of the collage of photos she’d kept, there was only one.
It was of her. A snapshot that looked like the pictures she’d had in her old room. Her and her best friend, Amy, who’d been killed by a drunk driver when they were freshmen in college. Amy had been the only one of her childhood friends who’d supported her unconditionally all those hard years.
This wasn’t right. Where was she? Who knew about her old life?
She turned the doorknob. Locked. She was locked in this room. Heart thudding painfully, she pulled and pushed and kicked and couldn’t get out.
There was only one window. She ran to it, pushed open the blinds. The light had changed-it had to be five or six in the evening. How long had she been unconscious? How long had she been held captive? What had happened to her friends and the bodyguard?
The landscape was unfamiliar. She was on the second floor of a house in the country, but there were no other houses she could see, no landmark to tell her anything about her location. It was mostly flat, but with some small hills and large trees. Not the mountains, not quite the foothills.
She tried the window. Nailed shut. She pounded on the glass. She’d have to break it to escape.
She looked around the room for a weapon, for anything she could use to defend herself or break this window. There was nothing. While at first it looked just like her room, it was a fake.
The drawers didn’t open on the dresser. The closet was empty. Could she break the mirror and use the glass as a weapon? It wasn’t thick enough; she wouldn’t be able to wield the shards in her hands with enough force to hurt someone.
The door opened.
She swung around. A wave of relief rushed over her. She ran to Dave’s partner and hugged him.
“Phil! Thank God. What happened? Where am I?”
He hugged her back, but he wasn’t talking. She slowly pulled away.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice cracking. She swallowed and took a step back. Her temporary relief was replaced by fear.
He stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Claire, but it’s over.”
She kept backing up until she was against the wall. He followed.
Phil put his hands on her shoulders, touched the ends of her hair. “Fate brought us together fifteen years ago, but it’s time to move on.”
Claire had no idea what Phil was talking about, what drugs he was on, why he was so creepy-
Fate brought us together fifteen years ago. .
— but she knew she had to get out of here now.
She kneed him hard in the groin. Her lack of strength from whatever drugs she’d been fed prevented her from causing him debilitating pain, but she had the element of surprise on her side.
Hands clasped, she brought her arms up between them and hit him dead-on in the face as he stumbled back from the blow to his balls. Now she had the room and momentum to kick him in the stomach. She pivoted, kicked him again, and he staggered against the bed.
It all took only seconds, and then she was out the door. Running.
She heard the echo of the gunshot at the same time her calf burned in pain. She fell to her knees and tried to crawl.
Phil pulled her up by her hair. His eyes were narrow, furious. His face full of hate and rage. This couldn’t be the Phil she’d gone to Kings games with, who had taught her to shoot at the police range with Dave and Eric. This couldn’t be. .
“What happened to Bill and Dave? The others? What did you do to them?”
“They’ll be waking up soon enough, but they’ll never find us. At least not until they find your grave.”
She screamed at the top of her lungs. Phil didn’t show any reaction. “No one can hear you, Claire. Not where we are. I’m sorry it has to end like this, but I have no choice.” He pulled handcuffs from his rear pocket and cuffed one of her wrists. “I’ll bandage your leg. I don’t want you to bleed to death.”
“Why not? You plan to kill me, right? Why? What did I ever do to you?” She tried
to sound tough, but she was terrified. She didn’t see a way out. She was injured and Phil was insane.
He didn’t answer her question, instead grabbing her under the arms and dragging her into another bedroom. A larger room, all white and too clean. A large-screen television was on the wall. On the screen was a still shot of her from years ago. In her old bedroom at Bill’s house, a shot from above.
A camera in the ceiling.
She whimpered, then swallowed her fear. She couldn’t let him know how scared she was. But she couldn’t stop her body from shaking violently.
Focus, Claire! You have to get out of here. Dave will find you. Someone will find you. Get to a road, get anywhere away from this fucking lunatic!
Phil secured the handcuff to a post on the bed. She pulled, but it was locked tight.
“Don’t do that, or it’ll get tighter. You should know that.”
“Bastard! Let me go.”
Her eyes went from him to the picture of her on the television screen. It wasn’t a photograph. It was a still shot from a tape.
He leaned over her and whispered in her ear, “I’ve been watching you for a long time.” He pressed a button on a remote on the nightstand and the image moved.
He’d had a video camera on her. He’d taped her. Oh God, how long? He’d been watching her, filming her. . On the screen she was undressing, oblivious that she was being recorded.
“You were so beautiful,” Phil murmured as her bra came off. She tossed it in the laundry and pulled on a T-shirt that barely covered her butt.
Claire’s face reddened; she was hot and embarrassed and angry.
But more than the anger, cold terror froze her body.
“I’ll get the first aid kit.” Phil left her restrained on the bed watching her younger self reading a book on her bed.
He was going to kill her. And Claire had no idea how she was going to stop him.
FORTY-ONE
Playing Dead pb-3 Page 33