by Shayla Black
“You know you can’t.”
“I sure as hell can.” Liz sat back. “I won’t work again, according to that asshole, but maybe I don’t have to. Maybe I can take up the hobo life. I like trains.”
“You like trains that have first-class accommodations.” This was not their first conversation about Liz’s professional future. “Sweetie, I don’t think they have a bar in hobo-class seating.”
“Okay, that’s terrible,” Liz admitted. “Maybe I can marry an incredibly wealthy foreign leader and get him to nuke Zack. Only Zack though.”
“Throw Roman in. It won’t be hard. They’re always together. I swear those men would have been far happier if their sexuality had permitted them to marry.”
“I called Zack a spineless moron in front of the whole staff.”
Shit. “And what brought that on?”
“I was testing a theory.”
“He’s not going to fire you.” They’d been over this before.
Liz groaned. “I know. What is he doing and why?”
“I suspect he’s hiding something. This is likely a way to keep you close so he can watch after you, all the while maintaining distance in the world’s prying eyes. Zack thinks he’s in danger and he’s trying to both protect you and stay clear.”
“Why wouldn’t he just tell me that? We’ve been friends for years, Gus. Years. I’ve been his advisor on everything from campaigning to dealing with his father to how to avoid war with North Korea. I don’t understand why he would stop talking to me. It makes no sense at all.”
“Because he’s male and that means his brain is unfortunately wrapped up in his dick, and his thought process depends on which one is getting the most blood flow.”
“Well, I’m sure it’s his dick that’s making all the decisions right now.”
She knew what Liz thought. Gus wasn’t so sure. “I find it interesting that he’s gone from being dateless to taking out more single girls than The Bachelor in a few weeks.”
Liz’s face fell. “He told me he was sick of not having a love life. He was ready to move on from Joy, and waiting until after he left office would be too much of a hardship. He also said he never meant to hurt me, but he doesn’t have romantic feelings for me. I’m apparently like a sister to him.” She gritted her teeth. “A sister.”
Bullshit. “Do you want me to push this? I can fix this if you need me to. I might have to burn a bridge or two…but I can.” She had some sway with Zack. Of course, if he was covering up the secret she suspected, then she didn’t really know Zack at all.
Zack couldn’t be the one who had Mad killed. God, she prayed he hadn’t.
If she was wrong, if her faith in him was misplaced, it would rock everyone and shatter everything she and her loved ones had held dear for decades.
Liz shook her head. “No. Leave it. I’m going to stop fighting him and simply do my job. I’m not going to hate him. And one day I won’t feel anything for him at all. That’s the goal.”
“And if he’s doing all of this to protect you?”
“Then he can’t possibly trust me,” Liz said sadly. “And something more meaningful between us would never have worked. Zack was a stupid, girlish dream on my part. I need to wake up. I don’t know who he’s turned me into. A shrew. I can’t believe I yelled at him like that.”
Maybe what Liz needed was a distraction. “You could help me out.”
Liz leaned forward, her voice going low. “You’re still looking into Maddox Crawford’s death?”
Gus glanced behind her, making sure they were alone. “Yes.”
“Okay. Tell me what you have. You know I thought this was a wild-goose chase, but I have to wonder. So much is happening behind closed doors now.”
“It’s like they’ve battened down the hatches and we’re left on the outside,” Gus agreed. It wasn’t the first time she’d found herself watching that door close with Roman and her brother and their friends on the other side. Now their wives were part of their inner circle, too. Somehow that hurt more than it should.
Liz sat up suddenly. “We don’t need them. And you know what? We can’t trust them anyway. Share what you know and we’ll figure out the rest. Did my source at the FAA give you anything?”
Gus hesitated. Maybe this was a mistake. This investigation could get dangerous, and she wasn’t sure Liz could handle more proof that Zack might be dirty. She sighed. Break her friend’s heart or provide the distraction Liz needed? Not an easy choice.
“Don’t you hold out on me, Gus. If I’m going to stay here and survive, I have to be able to help someone. You’re my closest friend. Don’t push me away, too.”
Damn it. Liz knew exactly how to get to her. “All right. Yes, I’ve been looking into Mad’s crash and I’ve found a few things that don’t add up. Did you know Zack personally asked for all the details of the FAA investigation? While it was active?”
“Mad was one of his best friends. I know it doesn’t look good to have the president stick his nose into an active investigation, but it’s understandable.”
“Twenty-four hours later, the FAA abruptly changed their initial determination from likely criminal action to pilot error.” She switched seats to move closer to Liz. The Secret Service was always around somewhere, and unfortunately they played a part in creating this complicated web. “I talked, off the record, with your friend there and she says the unofficial gossip is that Zack requested that they close the investigation.”
“Why?” Liz looked stunned. “I know that Mad called Zack’s private line the day before he died. They were arguing about something. I didn’t hear much, but I think it was about Gabe’s sister. She worked for Mad for a while or something.”
Or something was right. She knew what the rest of them were trying so hard to keep from the public. Gus had known all along because she’d played fairy godmother to those two. “I convinced Mad to give Sara a job at Crawford. She needed some intern hours to finish her MBA and I convinced her that working at Crawford would be more impressive than working at Bond Aeronautics.”
“The rumor is she’s pregnant,” Liz murmured quietly. “I suppose Mad was… Well, Mad had earned his reputation, maybe even more than the rest of his friends.”
“Mad was in love with Sara for fifteen years. And his reputation might have been well earned, but there was so much more to him. He was such a good friend. I’ve never known anyone more loyal than Mad.”
“You had an affair with him, right?”
Ah, the gossip mill. “I wouldn’t call it an affair. Mad and I understood each other. We were close friends and when we weren’t involved with anyone else, we would go to bed together. I enjoyed Mad a lot, but I wasn’t in love with him. And he wasn’t in love with me. We cared about each other. Mad helped me through some dark times.”
“That’s why you’re so determined to figure out what happened.”
“Yes. Even if I don’t like the answer.”
“I might hate Zack right now, but I still find it hard to believe he had anything to do with Crawford’s death. And why would Zack kill Mad over Sara? I would think he would rather have had a shotgun wedding than a funeral. He wasn’t even seeing her at the end of his life, was he?”
“No. He’d broken it off with her a couple of weeks earlier. I was out of the country at the time. I called him, and he wouldn’t say anything except that their split was for the best and he would talk to me when I came home. He died before I got back.” Gus wished every single day that she’d cut her trip short and raced to his side. “The last couple of times we talked, he seemed on edge. He was definitely more secretive than usual. Maybe even a little paranoid.”
“But he didn’t tell you why?”
“No. He refused to go in depth over the phone, even to discuss why he’d broken things off with Sara. He just kept reiterating that their relationship hadn’t worked out. But I didn’t believe him because I’d seen them together. And I know something no one else knows. Something I haven’t told anyone, s
o I expect you to keep it secret, too.”
Liz nodded. “My loyalty is all to you now, Gus. We’re in this together.”
They were the outsiders. Despite the fact that she hated how Liz had been made to feel, it was good to have someone she could count on. “I helped Mad pick an engagement ring for Sara two weeks before he broke up with her. He wasn’t even thinking about separating from her then. He was in love and he was planning a lavish proposal. Something changed, and it wasn’t his heart.”
“That sounds familiar,” Liz muttered in frustration.
“Yes, I think whatever caused Mad to dump Sara is what caused everything else to turn upside down. If we figure out why Mad was killed, I suspect we’ll figure out what Zack and the others are hiding. And why he’s suddenly decided you’re like a sister.” Gus rolled her eyes.
“I can’t go down that path,” Liz insisted. “I’ll be your investigative right hand because I want to help you, but I won’t keep gnashing my teeth about why Zack no longer wants me. The answer to that question is meaningless, but I’ll work with you however necessary to find the truth about Mad’s death. I know how it feels to lose a friend, one I had complicated feelings about.”
Joy. Like everyone who knew the woman, Liz had loved her, but she’d also loved Zack. Hell, Gus had complicated feelings about Joy herself.
Joy might have married Zack, but their union had been more of a friendly partnership. The man Joy had really loved was Roman.
I’m the world’s worst wife. I can’t stop thinking about him. He makes me feel special.
Liz slid a hand over hers. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned Joy. I know how hard it is for you to think about her.”
Gus let the sorrow wash over her. Embracing that and shoving aside her jealousy was the only way to deal with her complicated feelings. “I loved her. She was like my sister.”
“And yet you never told her about you and Roman.”
By then, it hadn’t mattered. She’d seen how madly in love her friend was. “I think she suspected. But the information would have done nothing to help her. It would only have made things between the two of us difficult. And you know I wouldn’t want to come between lovers.”
Liz shook her head, blonde hair tumbling. “Never lovers. I know for a fact they never even kissed.”
Like she suspected that Liz and Zack had never kissed. But the pretty blonde didn’t understand what Roman’s platonic adoration had meant. “He respected Joy. He thought she would be his perfect wife, which meant never giving into passion because the woman on his pedestal is some fifties housewife with perfect hair, a placid smile, lovely pearls, and a voice she never raised above conversational tones. I loved Joy, but if she’d ever married Roman it would have been a disaster. He would have walked all over her and she wouldn’t have liked keeping up with him in bed.”
“I’m sorry I brought it up. I guess I thought that since so much time has gone by, maybe you and Roman would get close again.”
Oh, they’d gotten close, and she’d needed the reminder about why he was suddenly willing to get close to her again. He was horny and she was convenient. That was all she’d ever been to him—an easy lay within easy reach. Joy had been the Madonna. Gus had no illusion; she was always going to be the whore.
Roman hadn’t wanted her child. Would he have welcomed Joy’s?
She shook off that thought. She didn’t think about the night she’d miscarried. Not ever. Except once a year when she got drunk off her ass and Mad held her hand while she cried.
Who would hold her hand this year?
“There’s nothing between me and Roman. There wasn’t anything back then, either. It was all hormones and forbidden thrills.”
Liz raised a brow at her. “Maybe for him, but not for you.” When Gus didn’t reply, the other woman accepted the subject change with grace. “So, what’s our plan? What can we do to investigate while we’re in the UK? Don’t we have to wait until we’re back in the States?”
Gus was relieved she had something other than Roman to focus on. “No, we definitely have details to dig up while we’re here. I visited the airport Mad used on his last flight.” She pulled out her phone, flipping through some of the files she kept there. “There was nothing in the security footage from the airport itself. Shockingly, the CCTV footage was taken by the FAA and now it’s mysteriously gone missing.”
“Shit.”
“But I’m smarter than that. That airfield is remote and there’s only one gas station near it. So I paid to get their security footage for the twenty-four-hour period preceding Mad’s crash. There were three cameras. I found this on the one that covers the cash register. Look familiar?”
She showed Liz the slightly grainy photo. It showed a young man wearing a baseball cap, pulled low on his head, but the camera angle was perfect to reveal his insanely chiseled jawline and those eyes no one could mistake.
Liz gasped. “That’s Matthew Kemp. He’s on Zack’s detail.”
She’d double-checked her assumption, using facial recognition to verify the match. “It is. So what was a Secret Service agent doing in close proximity to that airplane not four hours before Mad took off? Especially when the records show that Matthew Kemp was in DC that day working on pre-security for a fund raiser?”
“That’s a great question. Tell me what I can do to help you find the answer.”
“Well, I heard a rumor that Mr. Kemp and one of his peers have the night off and that they plan on hitting a nearby pub.” Gus had intended to go alone, but it would be so much easier if she had a wingwoman with her. “I thought I might arrange to bump into Kemp, get to know him a bit, figure out some way to look at his phone and see who he’s been calling.”
“That could be dangerous.” Liz looked nervous about that possibility.
“Absolutely, but I only need you to distract him while I download his device. I have spiffy items from my friend in the NSA. The kind of gadgets that probably won’t ever hit the marketplace, if you know what I mean. And if he catches me…” Gus knew she was no ninja, so she’d given this some thought. “Well, I’ll tell him that I was so interested, I couldn’t wait to leave my contact info on his phone in the hopes he’d call. I’ll bat my lashes and flash cleavage, if I need to. He’s a man with an ego; he’ll believe it.”
“Zack and the others have a dinner tonight. I was told to stay here.” Her lips curled up and a stubborn light hit her pale eyes. “But I think a change of clothes and a touch-up of the hair is in order. We should definitely have some fun tonight.”
And maybe catch a killer.
CHAPTER FOUR
Roman paced the library at the manor house, looking out the window over the empty front drive before glancing again at the clock. Three o’clock in the fucking morning. Three! Did the woman sleep? Gus had been up early this morning for a critical meeting, so she should be pretty fucking tired, and yet she wasn’t tucked in her bed like a good girl. Nope, Augustine Spencer was traipsing around London—no idea exactly where—partying the night away. Goddamn it.
“I’m going to put a tracking chip in her.” Zack paced the room. If he kept it up, he’d wear out the carpet. “I can do it, too. I’m the motherfucking president of the United States. If I want someone’s location pinpointed at any hour of any given day, I’ll make that happen. And if I tell someone to stay put, she’d goddamn better stay put.” He stared out the window, his face tight with worry. “I’m only trying to protect her.”
He’d never seen Zack quite so angry and off balance. If he hadn’t been horrifically pissed at Gus, Roman might have found the situation amusing. It wasn’t often his pal dropped his presidential demeanor, but when Liz was involved it seemed to happen more and more lately.
“I know. When all of this is over and she’s happy, healthy, and alive, she’ll thank you.”
“I suspect after the past few days that we might be done.” Zack’s laugh held no humor at all. “I’ve loved that woman for years, and now she hates me. I�
�ll never get to kiss her even once.”
“Well, I know what that’s like.”
Zack turned, his eyes narrowing. “No, you don’t.”
He should let it go. Zack was on the edge, and Roman knew now wasn’t the time to poke at a touchy topic likely to lead to a verbal brawl. But he wasn’t in the mood to swallow the argument down. “Of course I do. You know I loved Joy.”
“Are we finally going to do this?” Zack took a long drink and then set the crystal glass down with a smack. “Maybe we should. Fucking honesty is long overdue.”
Was Zack tipsy? He rarely had more than one drink. Perhaps two, if the day was almost over and he knew he could go straight to bed. Tonight he’d had several. Roman had watched him all night at the dinner with the American ambassador and several of the PM’s senior aides. He’d been seated next to a gorgeous woman and hadn’t paid a bit of attention to her. He’d spent the entire night sipping Scotch and checking his phone as though waiting for some vital communication.
Had he been trying to text Elizabeth all night? Was the president of the United States behaving like a lovesick schoolboy?
“I think we should get you to bed. I’ll call Connor. He and I will find Liz and Gus.”
Zack sighed. “You didn’t love Joy, you big moron. Oh, I know you would have married her if I hadn’t, but you didn’t love her and that was exactly why you would have married her.”
Roman gritted his teeth. “That’s not true.”
“Oh, face it, man. This is your last chance and you’re fucking it up.”
“Last chance?” But he knew deep down what Zack meant, and Roman didn’t want to talk about it. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about it.
“With Gus, damn it.” Zack kept coming at him verbally, glaring at him as if he’d turned part idiot. “I loved Joy as much as I could. But she was not the woman for me. Or for you. She was smart and kind and patient—everything most men could want from a wife. And I didn’t feel any passion for her at all. She didn’t feel any for me. I don’t know if Joy was even capable of that.” Zack clammed up, then glanced down at the table where his drink sat. “This woman is going to drive me crazy.”