“What?”
“Lillian said all of his stuff is gone and that it’s like he just grabbed his things and jetted.”
“Why would he do that?” My mind was already racing through the possibilities. Guilt? Or maybe he had to get ready for this big transaction that was going on tonight.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Wasn’t it just last night that you confronted him about his business card being found at the crime scene?”
“I’ve got to call Parker.” Parker was my former boyfriend. He was now with the FBI and about to have a baby with his new girlfriend. I was so glad we weren’t together anymore. So. So. Glad.
“Hey Nancy Drew. What’s going on?” Nancy Drew was Parker’s favorite nickname for me.
“What do you know about auto theft rings?” I didn’t waste any time with being polite, not when there was so much on the line.
“Okay . . . ” I could imagine his expression. Eyes wide with incredulity, lips smirking, and shoulders tight. “What do you want to know?”
“How do they operate? What do they do? Anything.”
“I’ve never worked one of those cases, but I know there’s big money to be found in some of those crimes. The thieves usually steal high end cars and, depending on whether or not it’s local or international, they have dealers set up to buy the cars and get rid of them.”
“Where are they sold internationally?”
“West Africa is big right now. But other places too.”
“India?”
“Yeah, India. What’s going on?”
I gave him a brief overview of what had happened. He let out a sigh. “These people can be dangerous, Gabby. I’d stay out of this one. Where are you anyway?”
“Wealthy—I mean Healthy—Springs.”
“Oh, getting fancy with your new job now, huh?”
“Uh, well, not really. That’s a long story.” I didn’t want to explain all of my failures to my ex.
“I’d let the local authorities know and then stay out of it. You don’t want to get in the middle of something like this. People will kill not to be discovered.”
I nodded and hung up. I was totally getting in the middle of this.
CHAPTER 35
“You see anything?” Deanna asked.
I pulled down my binoculars. “Not yet.”
Riley was being quiet beside us. He was probably thinking about all of the legal trouble we could get into. It was better if I didn’t think about these things.
We sat behind a boulder in the woods. To one side of us was a hardly-used service road that led to the abandoned maintenance shed; on the other side was the shed itself.
After my phone call with Parker, Riley and I had split up to collect supplies. I’d gone to get some snacks and lots of Mountain Dew. Riley had gotten the binoculars and flashlights. We’d returned the moped, Deanna had found us, and we’d given her the update.
She’d shown up here at our stakeout and told us she’d taken the night off in order to help. Then she’d muttered the, “I could get in so much trouble for this” mantra.
Hopefully, the trouble these car thieves got into would overshadow any potential trouble we could get into.
“Someone’s coming,” Riley mumbled. “Listen.”
We quieted. Sure enough, something rumbled in the distance. We waited and watched as the sound got louder and louder. Finally, an eighteen-wheeler came into view. A big container was on the back of the truck.
I could picture it clearly in my mind. Fill up the container with stolen cars with switched VINs. Take the container to a port, ship the cars overseas, and make a ton of profit. Meanwhile, the cars are gone, along with evidence of the theft. Brilliant plan.
The truck went past and turned by the maintenance building. It then backed up to a set of garage doors. Because of the angle of the building, I couldn’t see what they were taking on or off.
“Who do you see?” Deanna asked.
I focused the binoculars. Ah ha! Bill the valet stepped out of the building. He was in on this. Of course he would know which cars to steal. As a valet, he could probably even have copies of the keys made. I just didn’t see him as the ringleader of this whole operation, though.
I kept watching. I fully expected Ajay to step outside. Maybe even Derek. For all I knew, they were each in on this. Both exerted a certain amount of power. Power mixed with devious plans could quickly turn violent.
“By the way, if we’re caught, I want you both to run,” I announced, still looking through the binoculars.
“And leave you?” Riley’s voice held disbelief.
“Yes, and leave me. I don’t want the two of you to get killed.”
“I’m not leaving you, Gabby.” He stared at me like I was crazy.
“I seriously don’t want you two getting hurt on my account.”
“But we should all go separate ways if we’re caught,” Deanna chirped. “Maybe they won’t catch all of us. Why should all three of us die?”
Riley’s eyes widened.
Deanna shrugged. “What? It’s true. I’ve watched Criminal Minds before. I know how these things work.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so instead I watched as the garage door opened and nice cars were driven onto the truck. I counted at least eight. I had no idea how they were fitting all of them in, but apparently they had a way.
This was a huge scheme. The person behind this was set to make major bucks. They had to have connections with the hotel, influence at the garage, knowledge of the ports, and an idea of how to get overseas sales. They also had to be a genius at covering things up, otherwise, how had they managed to get away with all of this? It would almost need to be someone like—
A branch broke behind me. Before I could turn, I heard, “I thought I told you that you were no longer welcome here.”
I flung myself around. “Bentley?”
He held a gun, pointed at me, with a smirk on his face. “I think you lost your shoe.” He held up my flip-flop, the one I’d lost that night as I ran from the masked man in the breezeway.
This wasn’t exactly how I saw my Cinderella story turning out.
I licked my lips. “You’re the one behind all of this?”
He stepped closer and scowled. His forehead glistened with beads of sweat. “You couldn’t just leave it alone, could you? You had to keep pushing and pushing.”
Riley nudged me behind him. “We can talk this out.”
I barely heard him as facts clicked together in my mind. “You’re stealing these cars because you want to buy your family’s business back.”
“You’re smarter than I thought,” he mumbled.
Why did my brilliance always hit me about five minutes too late?
“You recognized Jackie from the investigation, which stemmed as far south as Georgia, and were afraid she’d figure out who you were. So you followed her. You knew the whole time that she hadn’t really been kidnapped. As soon as you saw your opportunity, you killed her and made it look like Clint was guilty.”
“It’s too bad your nosiness is going to get you killed tonight.” Bentley still had that gun pointed at me.
“You planted that necklace in my hotel room so I would get kicked out. Only, Ajay didn’t take the bait. He didn’t press charges like you’d hoped.” Bentley had probably had my suitcase stolen also, for that matter, and then erased the security footage.
He sneered and stepped closer. “And you somehow found a way to stick around and continue to cause trouble. Now things are really going to have to get ugly. I want all three of you to get on that container.” He pointed with his gun toward the maintenance building.
I glanced at the truck. I pictured the three of us in that big metal box . . . for weeks and weeks on end as we traveled across the ocean with no food, no water, no air.
We’d die.
Of course, that was probably part of Bentley’s plan. When someone was already in this deep, what were three more murders?
“No
way.” I shook my head.
He cocked his gun and aimed it at Deanna. “Then your friend dies.”
I glanced at Deanna. Her eyes were as wide as saucers. We should all run in different directions. He can’t get all three of us that way.
Did she remember her own advice? I was the one Bentley wanted—not Deanna or Riley.
I gave her a slight nod.
Then I came up with my diversion. I pointed at Bentley’s feet and screamed. “Snake!” I remembered Deanna mentioning off-handedly that he hated the creatures. My knowledge of useless facts sometimes came in handy.
Bentley looked down, and that gave us just enough time to split. Only Riley didn’t split from me. He stayed by my side.
We darted through the woods. The nighttime was dark around us. I could only imagine one of those gulches appearing out of nowhere, and Riley and I nose diving to our deaths.
A bullet screeched by. Riley reached for my hand and pulled me along faster.
Wilderness surrounded us. Trees stalked us. Blackness closed in.
My legs burned. My lungs screamed for air. My life flashed before my eyes.
Riley’s grip on my hand was the only thing that kept me sane. I felt hunted, like a deer in open season. No matter how fast we went, Bentley was always just a few steps behind.
Thankfully, he was a horrible aim. He fired bullets like some people hurled insults. The ammunition hit trees, hit the ground, hit the air.
Finally, Riley pulled me behind a thick patch of trees. My heart thudded in my chest as I gulped in deep breaths of air. Bentley would find us. It was only a matter of time.
I just needed to catch my breath, gather my surroundings, tell Riley how much I really did love him.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Bentley chanted, not terribly far away and sounding more and more diabolical by the moment.
Where was Deanna? Safe, I hoped.
A noise floated toward me. The waterfall. That meant the gulch was close. One wrong step and . . .
Riley squeezed my hand. We were going to have to run again. Soon. We had no choice.
But before we could, a stick crunched beside us. Bentley stood there. Winded. Sweaty. But as devious as ever.
“Perfect. I can make this look like an accident. Just like I did with Maurice,” Bentley muttered.
“Let me guess—he was the bellhop who died in the kayaking accident,” I said, buying time.
Bentley smirked again. “I didn’t give you enough credit.”
I took a step back. Could we dart away? Or would his bullet find us if we did?
Bentley made a tsk sound. “I know these woods. I grew up wandering around exploring them. If you run again, I’ll find you. Either that, or the wilderness will do my job for me, and you’ll fall to your death.”
“Not so fast.” Ajay stepped out of the darkness. He aimed the gun in his hands at Bentley. “You’re not going to get away with this.”
“An Indian dignitary is going to stop me?” Bentley snorted. “Really? Is this the best you all can do?”
Ajay scowled. “You killed my wife.”
Bentley stared at him unflinching. “The only woman I killed so far was Jackie. You weren’t married to her, were you?”
Ajay didn’t back down. “Your actions have had far reaching consequences that had led me here to investigate.”
I stared at the men in the stand off. How was Ajay involved exactly?
Riley tugged me back as the tension between the men deepened.
Suddenly, Bentley’s gun fired. Right at Ajay.
A figure appeared from the shadows and plowed into Ajay, knocking him out of harm’s way. I held my breath, waiting, watching everything play out.
My stomach sank. Deanna. Deanna had just saved Ajay’s life. Like any good woman with a crush, she’d never given up on her belief in his innocence.
I prayed she’d be okay. That they’d both be okay.
Riley pulled at me again, and I stepped back. We took off in a run through the woods.
With every step, the blackness felt deeper, darker, like a death sentence.
Then there was that gulch. It was close. Too close. I prayed for our steps. I prayed for help, for wisdom, for anything God might be willing to offer us at the moment.
That’s when Riley disappeared. I screamed. I didn’t mean to. Didn’t want to draw attention to us. But . . .
“Riley?”
“I’m . . . here.”
I glanced down. Riley. Only his upper body remained above the cliff. He held on to a crevice in the rocks to keep from falling to his death. I dropped to my knees and grabbed his wrists. I locked my legs against a tree.
Even in the dark, I could see Riley’s eyes boring into mine. “Gabby, run before Bentley finds you.”
“No.” I didn’t even have to think about my response. No way was I leaving Riley.
“Gabby, please. He’s going to shoot both of us.”
I squeezed his wrists tighter and pressed myself harder into the tree. “I’m not letting you go.”
Tears rushed to my eyes as the words slipped from my mouth. Not tears of regret or fear. Tears that symbolized my love for Riley. He’d stepped in front of a bullet to save me before. No way was I walking away now. Love like his didn’t come around more than once in a lifetime.
“You’re willing to die for him then?” someone said beside me.
I looked up and saw Bentley standing above me, his gun only inches from my head. I pulled myself together for long enough to nod, despite the cold fear that rushed through me. “Yes, I would. You see, I’ve learned something lately.”
Bentley sneered. “Humor me. What is it?”
My muscles ached. The tree cut into my skin. My fingers felt cramped and slippery at the same time.
It didn’t matter. I wouldn’t let go of Riley. I’d hold on for as long as possible. I was still praying for a miracle.
“I’ve learned that the happiest people in life aren’t the ones who are always looking out for themselves. They’re the ones who put others before themselves. Take you, for example. You may be richer than ever, but you’re more miserable than most of the population.”
Bentley’s sneer turned into a scowl. “I don’t have time for this little lesson in morality.”
Riley slipped farther down. I was losing my grip on him. If a bullet didn’t kill him, this mountain would. I felt powerless to do anything.
As I glanced down, two eyes caught my gaze. Not Riley’s.
No, it was a critter.
A snake, I realized, drawing in a quick breath. A real one this time.
“What are you doing?”
I nodded toward the creature. “Sn . . . snake.”
“I’m not falling for that one again.”
I stared at the slimy little menace. “No, really, it’s a snake.”
Bentley shook his head and scoffed. “Sure, it is. You must really think I’m an idiot.”
Just then, the snake slithered. The motion was just enough to distract Bentley and cause him to yelp.
I swung one leg around until they collided with his knees. He fell to the ground, only inches from the snake. He stuttered and gasped as he stared face to face at the creature.
I swung my head toward Riley. “Riley—”
“I’ve got this,” he said, his voice smooth, even, solid.
I glanced at him, looking for the truth in his gaze. He nodded.
Hesitantly, I let go of his wrists for long enough to grab Bentley’s gun. The man was frozen with paralysis as he stared at the snake. I figured the little Lucifer could handle Bentley for a moment.
I forgot my fear of heights and grabbed Riley’s arms. I’m not sure how it all happened, but I pulled and he pushed and somehow his entire body ended up on the mountainside. Safe.
Before I had the chance to say anything to him, the snake coiled and rose up at Bentley. He jumped . . . and slid toward the cliff.
Not again.
“Help me! Pl
ease,” Bentley said.
Riley and I glanced at each other. Was this just another scheme? I couldn’t be certain.
But I couldn’t let the man die, either.
Riley took one of his arms and I took the other, just as the police surrounded us. They stepped in to help Bentley, and I didn’t object. My arms felt like they might fall off.
But I still had enough strength to throw them around Riley. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
His arms wrapped around me, and he squeezed tight. His breathing still came out in quick puffs, and I could feel his heart racing against mine. “I’m glad you’re okay. That was awfully brave, what you did back there.”
“Not brave. I was just following my heart.”
“You always follow your heart. That’s what I love about you.”
I pulled back, and we shared a smile. “We’ll talk later?”
He nodded.
As the police took Bentley away, I glanced around and spotted Deanna. I rushed toward her. The darkness made it impossible to see if she was hurt or not.
“Are you okay?”
She held up her hand. I thought I saw blood there. “Just a flesh wound.”
“Oh, Deanna. You could have been hurt.”
She wagged her eyebrows mischievously. “I’m going to have some great stories to tell the girls tomorrow.”
I smiled. She was probably already trying to think of how she could work this to her advantage. One of the officers examined her arm.
My gaze focused on another figure putting his gun back into its holster a few feet away.
“Ajay?” I asked.
He stepped closer. “I am working with Interpol on these car thefts. I had permission from Interpol Washington to be in the country, on the contingency that I share any information with law enforcement officials here.”
“So you were here investigating the whole time. That whole story about your wife was just made up.”
“Not completely. She did die in a car accident, only it happened in India. The man who hit her was driving a stolen car. It came from America, just as I suspected.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You are a brave woman, Miss St. Claire.” He looked back at Riley. “You are lucky to have someone so strong and beautiful. She reminds me a bit of my wife. I have confidence that you two will have a relationship like we did—only without the tragic ending.”
Dirty Deeds Page 22