Lacey’s heart flip-flopped. Nick’s tease felt so familiar, so like the man she’d married and shared a life with. “This moment feels very real. But how can it be real?” Her eyes dipped with the sinking question her heart.
“Don’t tell me we’re back to that same question. Do you want to approach it philosophically, existentially, or mystically?” Nick flashed Lacey a playful smile and poised his chin on his fingertip as though in deep thought.
“You’re still teasing.” Lacey bit at her lower lip, then raised her open hands to the ceiling. “God, I can’t believe I’m having this discussion, much less sitting here in my kitchen with you. In the space of less than a week, my son has been hospitalized and kidnapped. My sister has been shot at and abducted. And my dead husband has suddenly reappeared. For all I know, you’re a stress-induced hallucination. You know the Aegar family, we do flip out.”
Nick’s smile drew serious. “Wait right here,” he said and left the kitchen. Seconds later he returned with a CD he popped into the player. Holding out his hand to her, Nick pulled Lacey into a gentle embrace as strains of a love song softly drifted around them.
Lacey nestled close into the warmth of Nick’s neck, easily shuffling with him around the kitchen floor in time with the music. So close she could hear his breath, so close she could feel his heart steadily beating in his chest, Lacey felt transported away from her fearful reality to a place where things were as they were meant to be.
“Our love is real, Lacey. There’s no need to question. You didn’t just conjure me out of nothingness. You’re not crazy.” Nick’s face nuzzled her hair, and Lacey felt the tremendous and undeniable substance of his love for her. “I’m as real as the sunshine, the rain, your breath. Just let the knowledge of us live inside you without worry or doubt. It will only grow.”
Lacey wanted to believe, and knew parts of her accepted his presence as true. Now she knew her misgivings were founded not in doubt, but in self-protection. She looked up into Nick’s eyes knowing she begged for something she suspected he couldn’t give. “I’ve missed you so much,” she breathed. “When you left, my heart broke. I can’t go through that again.”
As the song ended, a radiant silence enveloped them, punctuated by the rhythmic sing-song of crickets chirping outside the window.
Nicholas drew her face up to his. His eyes looking deeply into her eyes, he paused inches from her lips. “You have to trust me, Lacey. I didn’t come back just to mess you up. Things don’t work like that.”
“But I want you to stay. Say you’ll never leave again.”
“I love you, Lacey, and that love is why I’ll always be with you. As long as you want me here, I’ll be here.”
Her heart beating wildly, Lacey closed her eyes and felt Nick’s lips delicately touch hers. Passion swelled inside her, as his kiss coaxed her into a swirling, mindful bliss. She couldn’t imagine ever wanting him to go, so it was settled.
• • •
“Watch her. I don’t want any more excuses. This thing is already way out of hand.”
As though she heard it from another room, Cummings’s voice penetrated Sterling’s consciousness. Straining to open her eyes, she felt blinding pain throbbing inside her head. It was all but more than she could bear as it nearly drowned out her memory and all her thoughts.
Then she remembered. Realization and resolve flooded her. I’m not letting these bastards win.
With effort, she raised her eyelids. The room spun around her. “Damn it!” she managed to exclaim, putting her hand to her head to stop the spinning.
“Don’t try to move. You’ll be all right if you just stay still.”
Sterling focused her will and the whirling stopped. Her gaze landed on Jerry’s thin face. His hollow eyes peered at her as he sat slumped in a chair near the cot. “What do you want?” she asked angrily.
“I’m making sure you don’t do anything stupid again.” He sighed. “You know this wouldn’t be happening to you if you’d left everything alone.”
“What is happening to me? And what do you mean leave things alone?” It hurt to form the sentences, but Sterling had to persevere.
Jerry nervously looked away. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to you. I’m just doing my job. That’s all I’ve ever done.”
“Well, not exactly all you’ve done,” Sterling ventured. “What about Pamela? And what about Sara?”
“I didn’t kill Pamela. I loved her.” Jerry’s pale eyes warmed for a fleeting second, then went blank again. “At least I thought I did. But I guess it was just a job for her, too.”
Sterling cautiously propped herself up one elbow, hoping the room would stay still. “What do you mean?”
Jerry glanced nervously at the closed door behind him, then shrugged his shoulders. “I guess it doesn’t matter. They’ll probably kill you. It’ll soon be over for you. You’re the lucky one.” He let his head sink into his outspread hands.
“What do you mean?” Sterling pressed again, ignoring his comment about her own impending death. Clearly, Jerry was having sinner’s remorse and she grabbed the opportunity to learn as much as she could.
“You were right. I adopted an assumed identity years ago and I went to work for these guys. All I could think of back then was the money. They put me in the jobs I needed to be in to get them what they wanted — turning their drug money into clean, untouchable money. They even arranged for my marriage to Sara.”
“So Sara was in on the scam from the beginning?”
“No. Sara doesn’t know anything. They thought it would be safer that way.” Jerry turned to her, his face sorrowful with pain. “They gave me things I could never have gotten on my own.”
“Even Pamela.” The ugly truth was all coming into place now. Nothing in Jerry’s life was real, except the pain inflicted on others.
“I thought she really cared about me. We had so much fun and I felt so alive when I was with her.”
“Let me guess, you started to think you could have a real life, without the drug dealers’ backing.”
Silently, Jerry nodded his head.
“That’s when they took the pictures of you two together, thinking they could blackmail you into staying in line.”
Again, he nodded in agreement. “At first I thought the private investigator who took the pictures was hired by my wife, but it didn’t take much detective work to find out it was your agency she hired. My wife isn’t very good at deception. She wrote a check to you from our joint checking account. Pamela found out more information and turned it over to them. They threatened me, but I knew they needed me. I believed in the love between Pamela and me. I told them to shove it,” he said, hanging his head again.
“That’s when they taught you a lesson. They not only killed her, they framed you for the murder. Then they killed Dewberry hoping to hide their connection to Pamela’s murder.”
“It happened too fast. I panicked. I tried to take care of things myself, because I thought if I had that money I could make a new life.”
“So that plan was what I messed up for you?” Sterling choked back the sarcasm that welled in her throat. “You would already be on your way to a new life, minus your wife but with a load and a half of money?”
“It seemed like a decent plan.” Jerry shook his head. “But they found me.”
“Now you have to finish this job or they’ll turn you over to the cops.” More questions haunted her. “Was I right about the memory card?”
“Yes. I needed the memory card and the decryption key to access the hidden accounts from work. I kept the key at work. The one you found was a spare, but after the murder, I couldn’t go back to the bank. The key at home was the only one I could get to. And I didn’t realize until it was too late that I’d inadvertently left my planner at home that morning.” Jerry sighed heavily. “I’m such an
idiot.”
“You knew I had the book and the key, but how? A good guess?”
“No, I was watching my house, waiting for an opportunity to get the spare key and planner. When Sara wasn’t around, I went inside. That’s when I realized you must have taken my things.”
“You were following me. You saw me visit Sara.” Complete realization dawned in Sterling’s slightly less groggy mind. The warning flags that kept going up had everything to do with alerting her to the hidden threats around her. And nothing to do with Ben, she thought soberly. “It was you in the sedan. I don’t understand why you tried to run me down in front of Pamela’s condo?”
“That was really stupid.” Jerry shook his head again, sadly. “I saw you go into Pamela’s condo and tried to sneak in behind you. But I heard someone coming, that stupid cop, so I had to hide. I watched you and the cop. I thought … oh … I don’t know if I was thinking at all. I just knew I had to get that key and the planner. And I saw you’d found the envelope of pictures. I knew if you put it all together, you’d eventually connect me with the dealers. I knew I’d be finished for sure.”
Sterling thought for a moment. There seemed to be so many pieces to this story, yet they all fit into one sorry life. Jerry’s life of sordid ambition. “So was it you who took a shot at me the other night?”
“I didn’t do that. It was Cummings. Like I said, I was trying to take care of this whole mess without them,” he said, gesturing toward the other room. “But they were getting impatient for me to make the account transfers. Then they caught wind of the problems and figured out I didn’t have what I needed to move the money. Cummings decided to try to scare you. He thought you’d turn the stuff over to the police and then he would have been able to get it back, from the inside. There’s always somebody on the force willing to make a buck. But you don’t scare easy, I guess. After Cummings tore up your apartment looking for the stuff and not finding anything, he decided to give you one more chance. He had no choice. It wasn’t like anyone knew where to find what I needed. I guess someone could have tried the bank, but with the attention on me, it could have gone really bad.”
Sterling stayed silent. She marveled at the workings behind the scene that kept Jerry and others like him in motion. The threats, manipulations, and deceptions that seemed so unreal yet remained very real for those involved in the crime world.
“So anyway, that’s when I called you,” Jerry continued. “I never really wanted to hurt you or the little boy.” He slid onto the cot beside her and directed solemn eyes at her.
“What are you going to do now?” Sterling was almost beginning to feel sorry for the guy.
“I don’t have any choice. I’ve made my bed and I have to lie in it. They’ve finished with me here. They’ll give me another identity and I’ll start up somewhere else. I’ve been such a damn fool. I’m just sorry I’ve hurt so many people. Most of all, Sara. She deserved better. She always has, I just didn’t have the balls to do her right.”
“It doesn’t have to end like this, Jerry.” Sterling slowly moved closer to him. Pain pulsed against her skull, but she strained against it. “You can salvage a life if you turn yourself in. With what you’ve got, you could work a deal and put these guys where they belong.”
“It’s no use.”
“Jerry, how can you say that?” she asked, shaking his shoulder. “Think of Sara. You’re right, she deserves to see you, face-to-face, and hear the truth. And think of how many lives you can save just by taking these guys off the streets.”
“I can’t.” Turning a hard, empty expression to her, Jerry pulled a gun from his pocket, and aimed it at his head. “No matter what, I’m a dead man. I’ve been dead for a long time, I just didn’t know it.”
“Jerry, no!” she screamed, wrestling with the gun.
The door blew open. “What’s going on in here?” Cummings shouted.
The gun went off, splitting the air into a million tiny pieces.
“Rutherford, you idiot! What the hell are you doing?” hollered Cummings.
Sterling didn’t wait another second. Startled by the door, Jerry paused, and in that split second, Sterling gained the upper hand. Almost without effort, she grabbed the gun away, then stood to face them.
“All right, hold it right there,” she ordered, aiming the gun at Cummings. Her heart pumped loudly in her ears and her head throbbed, threatening to send her into a dizzy fall.
“Take it easy, Aegar.” Cummings took a slow, deliberate step toward her. “Let’s just think rationally about this. You’re not going to pull that trigger.”
“Don’t test me,” she threatened, circling around to the doorway. “Jerry and I are walking out of here.”
Cummings chuckled. “Rutherford’s not leaving. He’s one of us.”
Sterling swallowed hard. “Jerry, c’mon. Let’s go.” Sterling motioned Jerry toward the door. Staring soulfully up at her from the cot, he sat motionless, and the gravity of her situation dropped like an anvil into the pit of Sterling’s stomach. She was alone.
From behind, an arm from someone new in the room suddenly reached roughly around her neck. “Drop it,” a gravelly voiced ordered.
Sterling held on, loathe to release the only leverage she had going for her.
“Hey, Sterling. Now’s your chance to meet the man who changed your life,” Cummings boasted.
Chapter Sixteen
Sterling’s mind whirled as the pain pounded. What did Cummings mean? she wondered, stunned. The gun dropped from her limp hand.
Tossing her to the cot once again, the newcomer joined Cummings’s side. “What’s wrong with you, letting this little fluff of a woman get the slip on you?” he asked, roughing up Cummings’s head.
“You waited long enough to help out,” Cummings complained.
“I was busy.”
Sterling peered up at the man. Obese, about five foot eleven, a thick shock of gray hair framed his lined and worn face. She put him at mid-fifties. He was known to law enforcement as an established criminal, drug dealer, you name it. He was one of the men pictured in the snapshot she’d taken of the now-deceased private investigator, Dewberry.
“Digger. I’m not surprised you’re involved in all of this. Wherever there’s stink, there’s a maggot.”
“Mind your mouth.” Cummings threatened her with the back of his hand.
“Don’t worry about it,” Digger mumbled. He rubbed the side of his nose with his finger and pointed low-lidded eyes at her. “But I’ve had more than enough of you, Ms. Aegar. You’ve caused more trouble than I would ever have imagined. And it will soon be over. But think of it this way. At least you’re not leaving any children behind.”
A coldness crept into Sterling’s chest. Her gaze met the man’s steely eyes and grimaced expression. Her words came out slowly. “What do you mean, exactly?”
“It’s sort of a long story, but I guess you deserve to hear the short version of it.” Digger hauled his large body into a chair. “I was just getting the business started in town when I ran into your father, so to speak, fourteen years ago. He wouldn’t come on board, so he had to go.” His fingers formed the shape of a gun and Digger pointed at her. “Bang, bang.”
Sterling tried to shake off the disorientation in her head, wanting to claw out the man’s eyes. Gathering all her wits, she lunged for him, hatred compelling her.
“Whoa, whoa.” He chuckled as Cummings grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back. “Something tells me you’re just like your old man. Fighting for truth and justice, the whole bit. No under the table stuff for the Aegars. The whole lot of you don’t understand the way things are. Not even Aegar’s son-in-law had the stomach for doing business. But when I offer a cop a place on my payroll, I don’t take no for an answer. Too bad your dad couldn’t understand that. Too bad your brother-in-law didn’t learn from it
.” Digger shrugged nonchalantly.
As he laid out the awful truth in front of her, the man’s eyes gleamed like the Cheshire Cat’s in the night.
Feeling as though she’d just been punched in the gut, Sterling swallowed hard, fighting the rising nausea. “You’re telling me you killed both my dad and Lacey’s husband?”
“No, no. Just your old man. Cummings here popped your brother-in-law. I’m getting too old for that kind of stuff.” The man’s grimace widened, exposing yellow, candy-corn teeth.
“You’re a liar,” Sterling charged. “You’re trying to mess with my mind. Nicholas was killed in a traffic stop gone bad.”
“That’s what the official report said. But hey, they don’t call us professionals for nothing.” Digger cackled again. “Like I said, no one turns down an offer from me to do business together. And you, you should have kept your nose out of my business. But I guess stubbornness runs in your blood. Okay, enough of the history lesson. Come on, Rutherford. We’ve got to be somewhere. Cummings, take care of her.”
“You’ll never get away with this,” Sterling hollered, as the man headed out the door. Cummings grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, sending the room spinning again.
“Looks like I already have.” Digger turned back to Sterling and shot her a self-satisfied grin.
“That’s where you’re wrong, scumbag.” It was Ben. He stood straddle-legged, his .38 pointed at Digger’s head. “Let her go, chump,” he ordered Cummings.
Sterling’s heart raced, as much in elation at seeing Ben’s face as in fear for his life. The cloud of wooziness subsided as hope took hold.
Cummings snickered, provoking Sterling’s stomach to churn viciously. “I guess we have a stand-off here. Question is, whose trigger is fastest?”
“Shut up!” Ben stepped closer, keeping his aim tight on Digger. “You really want to find out? Or maybe you’d just like to face the witness to Pamela’s murder.”
“You don’t have any witness,” Cummings argued.
Dancing with Detective Danger Page 17