“After nearly fifteen years?” Mikaela asked.
“Yes, after what happened to Sophia and Tony, Repetto’s boss kept him under pretty strict watch. You see, we all knew he was guilty of a whole host of financial crimes, which is what we were investigating him for in the first place, not to mention the murders, but we didn’t have enough proof to convict him. So Anton Perelli did the best he could and he kept Repetto on a pretty short leash these past fourteen years.”
“But when Perelli died a few months ago . . .” Mikaela stated the obvious.
“Exactly,” Joe said. “When Perelli died, Marguerite and I thought Repetto took that as a sign that he should pick up where he left off.”
“Which was where?” Drew asked.
“Using his authority as an agent to manipulate local businessmen and financial markets for his own monetary gain,” Joe answered.
“But Marcus and Carly were still a loose end,” Mikaela surmised.
“They were, at least in Vince’s mind. Why else would they be put into witness security unless they knew something, right?”
“And so he needed to take care of that—of them—before he could really get back to his old business,” Drew said.
“He contacted Marguerite under the guise of looking into old, cold cases—which the murders of Sophia and Tony are,” Joe continued. “He asked her a lot of questions, several about the kids.”
“Wait,” Carly interrupted. “How would he even know Marguerite was the deputy assigned to our case? Isn’t that supposed to be confidential?”
Joe looked chagrined at the question. “That was probably Marguerite’s and my fault. After she placed you with her aunt, she and I met for dinner one night so she could update me. I didn’t want the details, I didn’t want to know where you were or who you were living with, but I did want to know you were okay.”
“Considerate of you,” Marcus bit out.
Joe’s eyes flicked to Marcus and then came back to Carly. “One of Repetto’s friends happened to come into the restaurant at the same time and saw us. He told Repetto about it and Repetto asked me if she was the marshal assigned to the kids. I told him it had been a date, but I don’t think he believed me. At any rate, she was his best lead to try and find you, and so when he was ostensibly researching the old case, it was her name he pulled out of his contacts to reach out to.”
“So what happened? If you were tracking Repetto the night he killed Marguerite, how did he get to her?” Mikaela asked.
“Because he was tracking me too. I’d gone down to DC to meet with Marguerite. By then we had a system for communicating. She’d call my office line and ask if it was a different number. I’d tell her it was the wrong number but then I’d take the number she’d given me and find a place I could call her back from. The night before she died, we met at some packed college bar in Georgetown and she told me about Repetto fishing around. I’m glad she did, because I got a call from him the next day and he gave me pretty much the same story.
“I didn’t tell him anything but agreed to meet with him since I was already in town. I wanted to see his face, hear him ask me in person.” At this, Joe paused and his brows dipped. Then he shook his head. “Repetto is an interesting guy. He’s not, well he’s smart but he’s one of those guys that’s almost too smart for his own good. His ego gets in the way of what he’s trying to accomplish.”
“And?” Mikaela cut in.
Joe lifted a shoulder. “And I was right. When I talked to him in person, he was definitely not on the up and up about what he was doing. I left the meeting and knew he’d probably either follow me himself or have someone else do it for him. So in turn, I called in some favors and activated the tracking device on his phone. When he started to head down to the park that night, I knew it couldn’t be good.
“That night, that night Marguerite was killed,” Joe paused, then ran a hand over his face and closed his eyes for a long moment before he spoke again. “It took me longer than I’d hoped to find someone to take my place in my hotel room so I could sneak out without whoever was following me knowing. I had a friend dress like a hotel repairman. We switched clothes and he stayed in my room while I walked out. By the time I got to the warehouse where Repetto had taken her, it was already too late. She was dead and he was gone.”
“Then how did she end up here?” Marcus demanded.
Again, Joe closed his eyes. Then he took a deep breath. “I brought her.”
“You what?” Mikaela demanded.
Drew turned to get Ian’s take on the story. The sheriff’s only acknowledgement was a single raised eyebrow. It seemed he and Ian were in agreement that the tale was just bizarre enough to be true.
“I moved her here to Windsor,” Joe repeated. “I know I shouldn’t have, but I needed to let Michael, I mean Marcus, and Carly know. I couldn’t call them out of the blue and, because Repetto was following me, I couldn’t come here in person and talk to them, to you,” he said, looking at the siblings.
“But you did come,” Carly pointed out.
“I borrowed a friend’s car, turned off every device that could possibly be used to track me, then yes, I did come. But I only had ten hours to deal with the situation, that was it. In the morning, Repetto was expecting to see me at the DC office in a meeting with his new boss to discuss how our two teams could work together. My stand-in worked in the hotel room, but he couldn’t go to my meeting for me. Once Repetto knew I was gone, I was pretty sure he’d figure out a way to come after me. And then, if I was here, after you.”
“So you brought Marguerite’s body up here and threw her down a hill to what, warn us?” Carly’s voice echoed in the room and didn’t hide the horror and disbelief she obviously felt. They’d assumed that the body had been a warning, but one from someone already depraved enough to have killed Marguerite. Not one from someone who had considered her a friend.
“And how did you know to come here? I thought you said you didn’t want to know the details of where we were living,” Marcus said.
Joe blinked several times, but didn’t back down. “I didn’t throw her body down the hill. I laid her on the side of the road. I knew you both lived up here in Columbia County because Marguerite did tell me that much. I also knew you were both in law enforcement. I’ve done some work in Riverside and I knew neither of you worked there, so I picked the next biggest town in the county. When I got here, a state trooper drove by me and I followed him up that dirt road. It was shift change time, so I figured he was going home and if I laid the body out where he would see it, she would be found quickly.”
“Generous of you,” Marcus snapped.
“Look,” Joe said as he let out a deep breath. “I know it probably seems callous, but I can assure you that Marguerite would have wanted me to warn you in any way I could even if it meant moving her body. You needed to know that what happened fourteen years ago wasn’t dead and buried, and while I regret doing what I did, I did the only thing I thought I could do at the time.”
“And you couldn’t have bothered to tell us before now?” Carly asked.
“Like I said, I’ve been in DC for meetings and am supposed to be teaching a course at Quantico next week. I also wanted to keep an eye on Repetto while trying not to let him figure out that I know what he’s done and what he’s planning to do. But I still needed you both to be on alert.”
“So then, why now?” Drew asked. “Why today?”
“Because I talked to one of my new agents yesterday and she started telling me about a colleague of hers who is based in the Albany office but had called her to ask about the team. We happen to have an opening so she was asking me if she should encourage him to apply. Of course, when she gave me his background, I knew he wasn’t interested in my team, but that he was probably a former colleague of yours asking around on your behalf,” he answered.
“You expected us to sit back and do nothing?” Marcus asked.
Joe dipped his head, acknowledging his mistake. “My intent was to put y
ou on alert. Of course, I knew you would look into it, how could you not, but I hadn’t expected you to have the resources you apparently do to have gotten as far as you have in this investigation. I thought I would have a little more time to figure out what Repetto’s next move was and then figure out how to safely contact you both.”
“How do you know what we’ve figured out?” Drew asked.
“You all knew who I was and, more importantly, no one asked who Repetto was when I started talking about him. Since Marcus and Carly,” he still stumbled over the names a bit, “only knew him as Vince Archstone and me as Joe Kincaid, I know you at least know we were undercover fourteen years ago. You also didn’t seemed surprised by anything I said regarding the investigation being about an FBI agent and not about Sophia or Tony. I don’t know everything you know, but I know you’ve probably figured out more than I’d given you credit for.”
Everyone sat in silence, absorbing the information and the new twist on the situation. At least it appeared they now knew who was responsible for the murders of Marcus and Carly’s mother and uncle as well as that of Marguerite Silva. They would, of course, verify the story, but if pressed, Drew would bet Franks spoke the truth.
“How did her body get down the hill if you so carefully laid it out?” Mikaela asked, the suspicion still strong in her voice.
“The disturbed ground,” Carly answered, surprising everyone. She turned to Marcus and continued, “Remember, I mentioned that an area on the road right above where we found Marguerite had been disturbed more than the area around it?”
Marcus nodded, but it looked like it cost him a lot to do it.
“My guess is that a wild animal came along, after Joe laid her out. A bear, probably, since they are opportunistic feeders. Plus, a bear would be big enough to inadvertently push Marguerite over the edge as it investigated,” she said.
“And when Marguerite began to roll down the hill, the animal probably would have been startled enough to thrash around, possibly creating the disturbed area you saw,” Drew finished.
Drew thought the explanation was as good as any—Franks had looked quite taken aback at the thought of Marguerite being found down a hill.
“So how do we know Repetto isn’t on to you now?” Marcus asked. The words he used were an implicit sign that he was starting to accept what Joe had told them, even if his tone suggested otherwise.
“Because I have a cabin in Maine, and when it became known I wasn’t feeling well, it made sense that I take a few days off to relax. I flew into Portland, rented a car, and met up with a friend who is now happily ensconced in front of the fireplace at my cabin. I took his car and drove down here. I’ve also left all my belongings, including my phone, computer, and clothes in my cabin, in case there were any tracking devices on them. My friend bought me a change of clothes, some toiletries, and new phone. I also have his credit cards so I can book a room down here if I need to stay.”
“You’ve certainly thought of everything, haven’t you?” Marcus muttered.
“I haven’t,” Joe said.
“You haven’t?” Carly repeated.
He shook his head. “I haven’t figured out how we’re going to catch Repetto. I couldn’t bring him down the first time and it nearly killed me to see the man who killed Sophia walk away. I’ll be damned if I let him slip through my fingers this time.”
Marcus and Carly were too involved in the case to make a decision about whether or not to trust Joe Franks, so Drew shared a look with Mikaela and Ian. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were all in agreement.
“Well, Joe Franks,” the marshal started. “I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear a few of us in this room would like to verify your story.”
“Of course,” Joe said.
“In the meantime, I’d like for you to accompany my marshal back to the hotel we’ve checked into,” Mikaela added.
He stood to leave, but his eyes lingered on the siblings, as if, now that he’d found them again, he didn’t want to let them out of his sight.
“And if what you’ve said checks out,” the marshal continued, “we can share what we’ve learned and then figure out together how in the hell we’re going to bring that bastard down.”
• • •
Drew didn’t want to leave Carly, but he needed to talk to Ian. He followed the sheriff, Mikaela, and Joe out to the porch. Ian and Mikaela were deep in discussion, so, rather than interrupt, he left whatever would come next in the hands of the sheriff. Keeping an ear to the house, where he could hear Marcus and Carly moving around, he watched Mikaela climb into her van as Mario, who’d been standing guard outside, slid behind the wheel of Joe’s car with Joe in the passenger seat.
Ian came back up and stood beside Drew on the porch as the two cars turned around and left. He’d just started to ask Ian about the plan when Marcus opened the door to join them. Carly’s brother glanced at Drew and Ian then turned his back on them and promptly walked to the edge of the porch. Seeing the rigid set of the younger man’s shoulders, Drew knew his own questions would have to wait.
“Do you believe him, Ian?” Marcus asked, not turning around.
Ian shot Drew a quick look before he leaned against the porch rail and answered. “Mikaela will get some additional details from him when they get back to the hotel, and we’ll have Naomi check out the story, and Brian if we need him.”
“That’s not what I asked,” Marcus said. “I asked if you believe what he told us?”
Neither Drew nor Ian underestimated how important Ian’s answer was to Marcus. Marcus was looking for someone to blame and wanted to know if he’d found his man.
“We don’t have any evidence to back up his story yet, but yes,” Ian said. “I believe him.”
Marcus’s hands formed fists over the porch railing as he leaned against it. And for a long moment, he remained silent. Then abruptly, he turned. “Evidence. It’s all about the evidence, isn’t it?”
The rhetorical question went unanswered.
“If he’s telling us the truth, we know who killed my mother and my uncle. Or at least who had them killed. And we know who killed Marguerite. But we’re not going to be able to do a damned thing about it until we have evidence, isn’t that right?”
Ian paused before speaking. Drew suspected that the sheriff already had a ready answer, but took a moment because he knew how important his answer might be. Marcus was on the edge of spiraling into a dark place where revenge takes hold of humanity and destroys it.
“We’ll find it,” Ian said.
Marcus shot him a disgusted look then turned his attention to Drew. “I wish I lived in your world right about now,” he said, no doubt alluding to the commonly held notion that the CIA operated outside the law.
“We have our own rules too.”
“Marcus, we’ll find what we need to,” Ian repeated.
“After nearly fifteen years?” Marcus asked with disbelief. “If they haven’t found anything yet, they sure as hell aren’t going to find it now.”
“They haven’t been looking,” Drew said.
“And they didn’t have people like Vivienne and Naomi,” Ian added.
Marcus glared at them both for a long moment before shaking his head. “I can’t . . . I’m not going to deal with this right now. I’m going back to the lab,” he added, then pushed between them and made his way to his car.
Drew looked at Ian, who was already pulling out his keys.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” the sheriff said. “I’ll call Vivienne and we’ll all meet him at the lab.”
“What about your son?” Drew asked, wondering how they’d find a sitter on such short notice.
Ian gave him a ghost of a smile. “My folks live half a mile away and like nothing better than to take him in whenever Vivienne and I get called in.”
Though Drew thought that sounded pretty appealing, he said nothing. He could hear Carly moving boxes around in her living room and wanted to get back to her.
“You should go in,” Ian said with a nod toward the door. “I’ll touch base with you both later tonight,” he added, then made his way to his SUV.
He was already walking through the door when he heard the sheriff’s engine start. “Carly?” he said, closing the door behind him.
Sitting on the living room floor again, she appeared to be sorting through the items they’d already looked at and dividing them into piles.
“I’m going to give a bunch of this stuff away,” she said, without looking up.
He watched her for several moments, then moved to sit down.
“Don’t,” she said.
He froze. “What?”
She closed her eyes and her hands, holding a stuffed hippo from her childhood, dropped into her lap. She took a few deep breaths and as she did, he stood still, uncertain what to do.
She opened her eyes and met his gaze. “I need to be alone right now.”
“Carly,” he started to disagree, but she cut him off.
“Please don’t, Drew. I know you mean well and I know you want to be here and that means something to me. But right now, I just need to be alone—and I need you to let me be alone, because I don’t have the energy to fight you on this. So please . . .”
She wanted him to go. He didn’t want to. He hadn’t even considered leaving her alone, not after what she’d just heard. But when he looked at her sitting alone on the floor and felt the slow thud of his heart in his chest, he wondered if perhaps he was being selfish. He wondered if his reason for staying was for her benefit, or his. If it was for hers, why should he second-guess what she’d just asked of him? And if his reasons were more selfish, well, his feelings hardly mattered at the moment, did they?
Either way, he should go. He should do what she asked even though he was loathe to do it. He didn’t like how the thought of leaving her seemed to punch a hole in his gut. Nor did he like the distant, efficient look in her eye. And he wasn’t happy that, when he thought she most needed someone, when she most needed a friend, she was pushing him away.
But it was what she had asked of him. And she had asked so little that, even though this didn’t seem to be the right time to ignore his instincts, he was going to do just that. He nodded.
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