Judd continued. “I asked you about the tattoo because Finley has one on his arm. When he asked for witness protection, he offered to give up Parnell, and Parnell’s boss, in exchange. He took one look at you and freaked out. He said you were sent here for him.”
Painfully aware her past had officially come back to haunt her, Chloe wore a slight grin as she closed her eyes and gave a small shake of her head. It wasn’t a grin that would indicate any kind of happiness, it was a grin that said she wasn’t at all surprised that the thought of crossing her would be as bad as crossing her father. Because she was his daughter, and had once been known for abruptly and sternly putting people in their place when the need arose, people automatically knew that if and when Matthew sent her anywhere, it was worse than sending Crescent, even though she never had to, and never would, physically harm anyone.
Dennis turned to Chloe. “What about the other guy? Parnell’s boss?”
David. She felt like a thousand daggers had just been thrown into her chest. The thought of David being pursued and investigated by anyone made Chloe sick to her stomach and furious at Finley for even attempting to say his name aloud simply for something as selfish as trying to get away with murder. There was no way she would allow David’s name to slip through Finley’s lips and into the FBI’s hands.
“My father is the boss,” Chloe stated with a scoffing laugh, avoiding the truth while not quite telling a lie. Her voice, her posture, and her eyes said it was an undeniable, undisputable fact, and she knew everyone in the room believed her.
Clearly frustrated and defeated, Hunter hit the back of his chair and it spun at a forceful velocity. It took him a few minutes, but he had finally cooled down. When he turned to Dennis, Chloe ached at the desperation and silent pleas he was giving his oldest friend, who could offer no comfort at the present moment. It was obvious Hunter wanted both Matthew Parnell and Mack Finley in custody and both with a lethal injection in their arms. The desperation came from the fact that Hunter knew there was no way he would get both. It would be one or the other.
“Sorry, man.” It was all Dennis could say.
“There has to be more than that,” Hunter said. “Finley could have seen her and decided that she would be the perfect excuse to change his mind. Don’t look at me like that! There has to be more! The only thing we have on Parnell is her story. It’s not even testimony. We have these files in front of us, but we have no evidence to point to Parnell. He cut off someone’s head and we have no fucking evidence!”
Chloe’s head snapped up and she stared at Hunter in silent shock.
Judd cleared his throat and told her, “There was a woman identified as Sasha Wheeler recently found in Vegas.”
The immediate recognition on Chloe’s face and the slow nod of her head at the mention of Sasha’s name didn’t go unnoticed by anyone in the room. Every nerve in her body seized up and she froze in horror, imagining the torture that Sasha must have gone through. What could Sasha have done to make him cut her head off? Very slowly, the fear she had felt about confronting her father was replaced with disgust and eager determination to see him rot in his own filth.
“I will get you proof,” she said quietly.
Nobody heard her over Hunter’s rant to Dennis. “Other than her,” Hunter waved his arm at Chloe, “all we have is Alice’s testimony. We’ll need more than that, and Finley won’t talk now because he’s afraid of her! And she can’t make up her mind whether or not she’ll testify against him.”
Chloe raised her voice as she stood and leaned against Hunter’s desk. “I will get you your goddamn proof!” Hunter looked at her like he was just noticing her for the first time and she lowered her voice. “I told you that I was going back to Boston. I will get you whatever you need to convict him and every other man responsible. I know what RICO is, and I know that all you need is proof he was responsible, not just for the murders, but for all of his activities in the Family. All he did was give the order, but he did give the order. I know it, Alice knows it, and that jackass in the other room knows it.” She gave Hunter a hard, sincere look. She wanted her father stopped just as much as he did. “I will get you what you need.”
The room fell silent as everyone focused their eyes on Hunter.
“I will get you what you need.” She was trying to assure him, but she knew she was failing.
Hunter turned to Dennis. “Finley will get protection.”
Dennis shrugged his shoulders. “If he testifies, more than likely.”
“Ugh,” Chloe said with disgust. “This Finley guy is irrelevant. I can promise you right now that if my father knows Finley has even thought about talking to you, he won’t be breathing long enough to even see trial.”
All eyes in the room set on Chloe, each one of them with curious and suspicious expressions, which she wasn’t deterred by at all. She let out an exasperated sigh. “Oh, come on. With everything you know so far, do you honestly think my father will let anyone mention his name under oath?”
“What about this other guy Finley told Doug about?” Dennis asked. “Finley said Parnell has someone he reports to.”
“I told you…” Chloe began as she whipped around on Dennis, but then abruptly stopped. Her blood turned to ice and her breath caught in her throat as she saw Jack Lawrence casually leaning against the doorframe, listening to the entire exchange.
Jack gave Chloe a stern look that told her, in no uncertain terms, they did not now, nor ever, know each other, and casually said, “Please, continue.”
Chloe poised herself and turned back to Dennis. “I told you, he is the boss.”
“Says you,” Hunter sharply said.
Chloe whirled on Hunter, fury in her eyes. “You know what? Fuck you!” She thrust her arm out behind her, pointing in the direction of the conference room. “He will tell you the exact same thing. And before you ask, I don’t know what his reasons are.”
“I bet she can get him to tell us what we want to know,” Jack said. Chloe looked at Jack with widening eyes and he returned her stare with a look that said, Trust me. “And my guess is that she can do it without saying a word.”
“Seriously?” Judd asked, doubt in his voice.
Jack walked into the room, addressing everyone. “My money is on her that she can get him to tell the truth about whether or not this Parnell guy reports to a higher power. Everything that you know so far, you only know it from this woman. From what you’ve been told, does it sound like Parnell tolerates any kind of insolence? Including lying?”
“Jack,” Dennis said, “you were sitting behind the glass. You saw how he reacted when he saw her.”
“I did, but there is something that you all seem to be forgetting. Mack Finley worked for Parnell, who is apparently the boss of a very powerful organized crime family. Because of that, I also see that Finley knows the consequences of lying to a Parnell.” He cocked his head in Chloe’s direction. “And it seems to me that Finley is more afraid of the daughter than the father. Look at her. She’s not going to threaten his safety or his life. She won’t even be in the room. If you want to know whether or not Finley is telling the truth about this other guy, then she’s the only one who will get it out of him. He has no idea why she’s here, but if he’s terrified of her just by being in the same building, then let him think she’s going back with news that won’t get him killed.”
Judd, Dennis, and Hunter all exchanged questioning looks as they considered what Jack was saying. Chloe sat back down in an effort to stop her knees from shaking.
“Lawton and Fowler will be in the room with Finley and Doug.” Jack turned to Chloe, giving her a look she knew all too well—the look that said she already knew what to do no matter what he said next. “She will stay here.”
“And do what?” Hunter asked, looking between Jack and Chloe.
“Nothing,” Jack replied simply.
Knowing what Jack was expecting of her, Chloe was back in her old life. Her body language and expression didn’t give away any
emotions and she had a tight rein on her composure.
There were no other options available. Judd and Dennis nodded as Hunter stood in disbelief. Finally, Hunter threw his arms in the air in defeat.
“Excellent!” Jack said with a smile, giving everyone in the room a satisfied look, then locked eyes with Chloe. She was poised and ready, her eyes telling him that she understood. Jack gave her a sincere smile, almost like he had missed her over the years and it was good to see her again. He rested a hand on her shoulder and said, “Five minutes.”
As he walked out of the room, Jack gave her shoulder a light squeeze to confirm the smile did, indeed, mean that he was happy to see her healthy and whole, and that they would definitely be speaking later.
***
Mack Finley didn’t trust the confidence Hunter and Judd seemed to exude as they entered the room and took their respective seats at the table. Finley had stopped trembling, but was still nervous, his eyes roaming toward the door every few seconds.
“Where do we go from here, gentlemen?” Doug asked.
“Is your client going to continue with any kind of statement?” Hunter asked. “We can’t go to the Marshals with what he’s given us so far.”
Doug turned to Finley for the answer to that question, but Finley’s eyes were focused on the door looking out into the lobby, which was currently empty.
“What about her?” Finley asked, gesturing toward the lobby with his chin.
“Who?” Judd asked, looking behind him to verify she wasn’t there, then turning back to Finley. “The woman from before? She’s nobody.”
“Bullshit she’s nobody!” Finley said. “I know who she is!”
“Is he right about who she is?” Doug asked Hunter.
“I can tell you with absolute certainty that the name on her identification is not Parnell,” Hunter said. “So, do we continue or call it a day?”
They were all looking at Finley, waiting for an answer, while he stared straight ahead into the lobby. Within seconds his muscles began to tense and his eyes began to widen, but he was able to keep his hands from shaking. Chloe walked through the lobby toward the elevators and glanced in Finley’s direction as she casually pushed the button to call the lift. Finley’s eyes were frozen on Chloe. She had a hard and malicious stare burning into the back of his eyes that said if he had one working brain cell swimming in that head of his, he would keep his mouth shut, go back to his cell, and cut out his tongue.
Without much enthusiasm, Doug looked through the door into the lobby, but only saw the elevator doors close.
Doug turned back to his client. “What do you want to do?”
“I’m done,” Finley spat out.
Doug started to pack up his pens and pads of paper into his briefcase. “All right.”
“And what about the man you claimed to be Parnell’s boss?” Judd asked.
Finley wasn’t completely stupid. “I said I’m done.”
Chapter 37
Kimberly manned the reception area while Alice took a long lunch so she and Reggie could take Charlie and Samuel to the dentist. When the elevator doors on the tenth floor opened, Evan Crescent and Tucker Wilson stepped into the lobby of Keller and Keller and were greeted with warm eyes, a wide smile, and a conservatively dressed young woman who was the epitome of what Chloe called “first impression professionalism.”
“Can I help you?” Kimberly asked, a little too perky, while she looked Tucker up and down and thought to herself, Wow.
“Good afternoon,” Crescent replied in a pleasant voice. “I was wondering if it would be possible to see Ms. Renee for a few minutes.”
“I’m sorry, we don’t have anyone here by that name.”
Crescent and Tucker exchanged a look, then Crescent turned back to Kimberly. “You’re sure? Average height, late twenties, red hair, blue eyes…”
“Drop dead smile,” Tucker added with a flirtatious grin.
Kimberly returned Tucker’s flirtatious grin and addressed him. “Um, I’m sorry, there’s no Renee here. Maybe she’s on another floor of the building?”
Tucker leaned against the partition boxing in the reception area, his eyes quickly scanning the work area of basic office necessities and personal photographs, all the while flashing his gleaming white teeth at Kimberly. “She told a friend of ours that she just started here a few weeks ago. We very well could be on the wrong floor. We probably should have tried calling first. You know how attorneys are with their schedules. They never know when they might have a free minute for someone to just stop by. I’m really sorry that we wasted your time.”
Tucker winked at Kimberly and she turned to a puddle of goo, her cheeks flushing and her grin threatening to become permanently fixed to her face the way it was. “Oh, no,” she said like a schoolgirl being hit on by the high school quarterback. “You’re not wasting my time.”
“We should go check another floor,” Tucker said, reaching forward and placing a hand over Kimberly’s, “but I really appreciate your time.”
Kimberly was desperately trying to think of something that might keep Tucker in front of her just a few more minutes, and that thought came to her just as Crescent pressed the elevator call button.
“The only person I can think of would be Ms. Riggs. She’s only been here for a few weeks, but she’s not an attorney and, sadly, not here today.”
Tucker’s gave Kimberly a slight bow from the waist. “We must be on the wrong floor, but thank you for your courtesies.”
As the elevator doors opened, Tucker gave his winning smile to Kimberly and winked at her. “Thank you, ma’am. For future reference, I’ll remember what floor you work on.”
Kimberly’s schoolgirl smile and blushing face were permanent as the elevator doors closed behind them.
***
Crescent stared at the mirrored walls of the elevator as Tucker took his cell phone out of his pocket, dialed a number, and waited. It took two heartbeats for someone to answer. “It’s me. We don’t have her yet; however, we did find someone else. She’s a receptionist at a law firm.”
He hung up the phone and said to Crescent, “He’s on his way.”
Chapter 38
At Jack’s insistence, Chloe checked into the hotel suite he had reserved for her. She took advantage of the balcony, sitting outside as the sun went down, admiring the city and thankful for a breeze. Unexpectedly, she wasn’t as worried as she thought she would be. Besides, the more she thought about it, she was sure that Alice was right and Jack wanted her side of the story before deciding whether or not he would be placing a phone call. Jack didn’t particularly like her father, and she thought, maybe, there was a chance he might be able to help her in her quest to stop him. Then again, he might not.
She felt absolutely nothing; no fear, no joy, no anger, no guilt, no pain, no confusion. At that moment, she was just simply there, unfeeling and emotionally drained. She didn’t want to think anymore, she just wanted to sleep. There were three things she knew absolutely had to happen: she had to get to Boston, she had to make sure Alice and her family were safe, and she had to say goodbye to Hunter. But before she could do any of those things, she had to talk to Jack.
A few hours later, she showered, made herself as presentable as she could, and took the elevator to the top floor. Jack opened the door to his suite with a warm and welcoming smile, embracing her tightly. He broke the hug and escorted her into the room with a hand on the small of her back.
“It is so good to see you, Renee, although, I will admit you were the last person I expected to see when I woke up this morning.”
She undoubtedly knew Jack was being sincere; she could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, and feel it in his touch. Her wall of safety had been reinforcing itself around her all afternoon, and as much as she wanted to let go of everything and enjoy spending time with an old friend, she couldn’t get too comfortable. Just because she wasn’t afraid didn’t mean she wouldn’t be careful. Their night together had just begun, and s
he was sure it would be spent as an intense question and answer period.
“Well,” she replied with the same smile, “I came close to wetting myself when I saw you, so we can call the surprise even. It’s good to see you too.”
“How has it been for you all these years? You’re doing okay?”
Aside from adding eight years and a few pounds, physically, she was fine. Chloe kept telling herself that there was nothing to be nervous about, but she could feel the prick of an ominous feeling between her shoulder blades. Something was up, but if Jack had any malicious intent, she would have felt that warning run through every nerve in her body.
“I’ve been doing what I’ve had to. Thank you for asking.”
Jack stopped just before entering the dining room and turned to Chloe, gently placing both hands on her shoulders. “Renee, it’s no secret I detest your father and would do everything in my power to not help him find you.” She tried to suppress a smile, which didn’t go unnoticed by Jack. “I want you to know that I have not called, nor do I intend to call, Matthew.”
Relief seeped out of every pore in her body and she gave Jack a thankful smile. “I appreciate that.”
“That being said,” Jack smiled as he turned her toward the dining area, “there is one person in particular I couldn’t wait to call, and I don’t think you will be disappointed.”
Chloe froze and her eyes widened in shock and elation as the room went dark around her and she stared into the eyes of David Lundy. She didn’t know how to react as David stood up from the head of the table and approached her with a wide, toothy smile and open arms, laughing with happiness, ecstatic to see her. He was still a few years away from eighty, but he moved like he was twenty, almost running toward her. His hair had greyed slightly, and he had a slight pouch to his gut, but otherwise the years had been good to him.
David grabbed hold of Chloe and pulled her into him, his arms wrapping tightly around her, almost squeezing the breath out of her. It took her all of five seconds to realize how much she had missed David over the years and wondered if she had been wrong about not going to see him all along. Tears threatened to fall, but she forced them down, melting into David’s embrace and returning the hug with mixed feelings of suspicion, relief, and love.
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