by Lisa Hughey
No one had been looking at Brianna for actually supplying drugs until Hamish learned she’d been his brother’s pusher.
Unfortunately, the British government had been unwilling to track down Brianna Walsh now Beatrice Winter and charge her with drug dealing.
But since she’d moved to the US and committed crimes here, she’d broken her agreement with the British government. If he could find her, he could bring her in and make her face justice.
Hamish purposely kept relaxed. But it was hard.
Jillian eyed him speculatively. “She didn’t have an accent,” Jill said suddenly. “You sure this is the same woman?”
“She’s a very accomplished actress,” Hamish gritted out. She fooled everyone.
Jillian stepped toward him, her shoulders tense. “Still not a crime.”
“She’s a criminal.” Hamish wanted to snarl and snap, but he kept his voice even. His mouth was set in a grim line. He took another step toward her as if he could convince her with his sheer bulk.
“You still haven’t told me what she did?”
He knew that if he told them about his brother’s journal, they wouldn’t help. He needed to start with well-documented facts and hope he could sway them with those.
“She comes from an Irish mob family. About two years ago, she testified against them in a rather large trial.”
“Name?” Kita barked.
“Brianna Walsh.”
Kita began banging on her laptop keys.
“That doesn’t make her relocation to the states illegal. She just wanted out from under her family’s oppression,” Jill argued, taking another step toward him.
Kita glanced from Hamish and to Jill, clearly picking up on the tension between the two.
“We all know that families can be difficult.” Jill crossed her arms, drawing his gaze to the modest vee in her blouse. Just the shadow of cleavage stirred something dark and needy within him.
Hamish jerked his gaze back to her face. “No one is disputing that fact.”
She had caught him looking at her breasts. He flushed. He wasn’t about to back down, in fact he took another step closer.
“Having a shady family isn’t a crime.” Jill narrowed her eyes. Her gray gaze darkened to the color of the stormy sky.
“True. But basically she burned her family in the UK, got a new identity, moved to the US, and did the same thing all over again.”
“What did she have to gain by testifying against the drug rehab centers?” Jill said.
“They never recovered the money,” Hamish snarled, his temper finally getting the best of him.
“You said that last night but there was nothing in her background that suggested she stole money.”
“And how would you be knowing that if all you did was PR and social media for her?” Hamish snapped back.
Jill blinked, and he could see that moment where she wanted to shift her gaze away, instead she held his defiantly. “You’re right. We don’t know anything about her finances or her skills.”
He could tell the admission cost her.
“Last night?” Kita broke in.
They ignored her.
How many times did he need to repeat this? “She was the accountant, the money woman for her family. She knows how to conceal money, how to launder money and how to get away with it.”
“She worked in marketing for the America’s Recovery Centers.”
“But she had an affair with the Finance Director.” Hamish fisted his hands. “I’m guessing she had sex with him to gain access to the accounting system where she siphoned off funds.”
With each point, he’d walked closer to her until they were mere inches apart. Heat rose between them.
The air vibrated with tension and a hint of sexual arousal.
“And then she tipped off the authorities that the centers were a scam.” Jill tilted her head as if examining the idea for flaws.
Finally, he was making some headway.
“Um, this is all very compelling, but what makes you think she has disappeared?” Kita’s question broke the strange tension between the two of them.
Hamish looked away from the magnetic force field of Jillian Larsen.
He refused to step back as if ceding ground was the same as giving up. Jillian clearly felt the same way as she continued to stand too close to him.
“Her last known address was Florida, and the last contact was here in DC. With Adams-Larsen.” Hamish clenched his fists and stared accusingly at Jill. “Why is that?”
“I have no idea.” Jillian shook her head as if releasing from a trance and finally she stepped away from him. “Even if she was part of a crime family in the UK, she came to the US legally. So why is the National Crime Agency suddenly after her?”
Hamish’s heart banged against his ribcage. If they called his boss, he’d be busted. “New information has come to light.”
“What kind of information?”
“I am not at liberty to discuss it,” Hamish said.
Jill rolled her eyes. “So all we have is your word, Officer Ballard?”
Hamish stiffened. “My word is golden.” He’d built a reputation for being a solid investigator with temperament like a bulldog. He didn’t let go until he cornered his prey and brought them down. That was how he approached problems, by banging away at them. And it had always worked. Until this year.
“Well, I’m sorry, but that isn’t good enough for me,” Jill said. “And you have no proof of your accusations. If you really want to clear this up, you need to speak with Beatrice.”
“I’ve been trying to find her for months. She is missing. And I think Adams-Larsen knows where she is.”
“Even if we did do some PR work for her, we don’t divulge our client’s personal details,” Jillian said.
“If you have any information regarding her whereabouts, you need to tell me.”
“I’ll have Kita look into it.” Jill smiled tightly. It was a clear dismissal.
“Every minute that you stall me is another minute where Brianna Walsh aka Beatrice Winter gets away with murder.”
“Murder?” Jill jerked back. “What are you talking about?”
Hamish shook his head. “Nothing,” he muttered.
“Are you saying she killed someone?” Jill persisted.
“She duped everyone,” Hamish said.
“While this may be true, it has nothing to do with Adams-Larsen. Unless you have proof she murdered someone.” Jill frowned. “Then we can alert the authorities.”
Hamish couldn’t say more without giving himself away. He needed to find Brianna yesterday.
“Give me a few hours to look into these new accusations.” She dismissed him. “I’ll give you a call later.”
Since Hamish knew she had an appointment in a little while, he let her dismissal slide. He planned to follow her to Deanna Womack’s office and to see if she went anywhere else. He could listen in on her conversations in this office. He’d probably learn more that way as it was since she wasn’t about to admit to a thing.
But he wasn’t giving up. Ever.
Chapter 6
Jill pulled into a guest spot at the US Marshal’s office in Arlington, Virginia and turned off her car.
The tick tick tick of the engine settled in her chest as she centered herself and got ready for this meeting. It seemed inconceivable that Dee had known that Beatrice was actually from the UK. She had told Marsh and Jill that her office had a leak regarding a witness. And after looking at Beatrice’s case, they had agreed to relocate her. But now Jill had to wonder if there was more behind Dee’s request.
Jill smoothed her hand over her pencil skirt and checked the rearview mirror for any flaws in her makeup. Going back into her old office was always unsettling. Even though it had been years since she left, there were still people around who remembered her. Despised her. Hated her might even be a more accurate depiction.
Most days, that didn’t bother her at all. But for some reason this mo
rning, her heart tattooed a funky beat in her chest.
Jill took a deep breath and exited her car. She strode confidently to the entrance and opened the door without hesitation. The motto etched into the glass—Justice. Integrity. Service—reminded her of all the things she’d publicly rejected in order to save her lover.
Her gait was unconcerned and casual as she approached the security desk.
“Jillian Larsen here to see Deanna Womack.” She smiled at the guard, a kid who barely looked out of high school, and waited him for him to call up to Dee’s office.
Within a few minutes, Dee’s new administrative assistant clicked and clacked her way to the security desk. “Ms. Larsen, come this way.”
Based on the glacial attitude of the young woman, Jill’s reputation had preceded her. She gave the infant girl, who looked as if she’d never made a difficult choice in her life, a cool smile and strode in front of her toward the elevator. Jill punched the number for the proper floor, silent as the elevator doors slid closed.
The impersonal building crammed full of government workers made her grateful for the welcoming and intimate work environment of Adams-Larsen. The elevator doors opened to the smell of stale coffee, ink from the copy machines, and the faint underlay of gun oil. The ringing of telephones, rustle of papers, and the chatter of multiple conversations in the large open space assaulted her ears.
The murmurs and clacking of computer keys faded as a hush fell over the office floor.
“Jill, how…good to see you.” Bob Miller, her partner on Dominic’s case, was still bitter that she’d rejected him. He’d never gotten over the fact that she’d chosen Dominic over him. She was pretty sure he’d toasted her dismissal with a growler of Atlas IPA.
“Hey!” Alex Saunders, Kita’s new boyfriend, who she had moved in with after two weeks of dating, came up to Jill and grabbed her by the elbows. He leaned in for a quick hug and then stepped back. They had bonded over a tense situation last month when Kita had been kidnapped, and Jill and Alex had to come up with a plan to save her. Except Kita had managed to save herself.
“Good to see you, Alex.” With Alex’s gesture, the office resumed its normal hustle and bustle. Conversations quickly regained their prior volume. People were still watching, they were just being more discreet about it.
“If you’ll come this way,” Dee’s admin said snippily.
Jill had been freezing out judgy people like this girl for years.
“See you later, Alex.” She winked at him.
After running the gauntlet between the elevators and Dee’s office, her stomach twisted although she should would sure as hell never show any discomfort to these people. She had perfected the carefree, nonchalant attitude years ago, and the minor annoyance of judgmental former coworkers couldn’t rattle her.
Everyone had been quick to believe that she was so unprofessional that she was lax about security because she was having an affair with her witness and let him get killed. Then she had the temerity to leave without censure and start her own successful business. She understood why people hated her. What she didn’t understand was how many people she worked with, people she had considered friends, were quick to believe her so negligent.
That had been eye-opening.
None had cut so deep as the contempt of her father.
What no one seemed to understand was that Jill had loved Dominic. Or at least she thought she had. But she had let him go to save his life.
“Jill.” Dee smiled and came around her desk to shake Jill’s hand.
Dee’s grip was tight, tough. In her mid-fifties, she was an original badass who had worked her way up to a supervisory position. Jill had always admired her for forging the path in what used to be primarily a man’s profession. At one time, Dee had been her mentor. As such, Jill had studied her relentlessly, wanting to emulate her.
“That will be all, Leticia. If you would close the door on your way out.”
Jill sat in the uncomfortable chair across from Dee’s desk and waited for her former boss to speak.
After the door thumped closed, Dee said, “So why did you want to see me?”
Jill hesitated. Did she really want to reveal Hamish’s name and his story? It might be prudent to hold that in reserve. “There’s this guy.”
“You really want to put your trust in some guy?” Dee said. “Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?”
Ouch. That hurt. Her affair with Dominic and falling in love with him had not been the smartest move, but he had never betrayed her trust. And the cynical derision in Dee’s voice was new.
“Strike that. I have a few questions about Beatrice Winter and I was wondering if you could answer them.”
Dee’s brows crimped. “I thought that was a done deal.” Her gaze shot to the closed door and then she seemed to relax.
“Yeah, her relo is closed. I just was wondering if there was any new information on the money.”
“The money? What does that have to do with Bea?” Before Jill could answer, Dee said, “The executives are still insisting they don’t have the money and never did.”
“But no one has found it.” Jill tapped her index finger on her lips. “Is it possible that Beatrice took the money?”
Dee started. “I certainly hope not.” But there was something there. A small warble in Dee’s voice so slight that if Jill hadn’t explicitly been listening, she wouldn’t have heard it. She studied her old mentor. Dee’s impassive face was hiding something, piquing Jill’s curiosity even further.
“How did you vet her before sending her to us?” Because maybe she and Marsh hadn’t asked the correct questions when Dee had come to them. The truth was they had owed her for finagling Jill’s dismissal and Dee had played on that outstanding debt. She had also over the years sent some clients their way if they didn’t meet the parameters needed to qualify for WitSec.
Dee’s eyes narrowed. “Same as always.”
“Is there any chance that Beatrice wasn’t a US citizen?”
“Of course she was.”
But Jill wasn’t so sure. Hamish Ballard might be her adversary because he threatened to expose Adams-Larsen, but he believed what he’d been saying about Beatrice. And because of that unshakable belief, Jill needed to know that Dee hadn’t sold them out.
Jill had had some reservations about Beatrice, but she’d pushed them aside because Dee had asked, and Marsh had been handling it.
“Where are you getting these crazy ideas?” Dee frowned at her as if concerned by her mental state. “She was a marketing specialist.”
“Just something that came across my desk.” No way was she going to share that the something was a five-foot-ten hunk with a Scottish accent and a serious case of hard-on for their client. “And it had me wondering.”
“What does Marsh have to say?”
Marsh? Why was Dee asking about Marsh? As if Jill didn’t have the credentials to be investigating.
Maybe Dee had begun to buy into the fictional story that they’d put out saying that Marsh had been the one who rescued Jillian from herself. The truth was they had rescued each other.
“Marsh was a little too close to our subject.” Jill remembered the electric tension the moment Beatrice walked into ALIAS’s Georgetown office. Marsh had been enthralled with their client, absolutely smitten by her.
“We rushed her relo through pretty quickly,” Jill said. “And now, little details are nagging at me.”
“So where is she?”
Jill couldn’t believe Dee had asked. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
“Is she somehow making trouble for you?” Dee asked.
“Nope. Not at all.”
There was a slight sheen of sweat on Dee’s forehead. But it was cool sixty-five degrees in this office. She tended to run hot and always kept it quite chilly. The sweat could just be because she was warm. But Jill didn’t think so. Was Dee hiding something?
“That’s good to hear.”
Jill said, “I just want
ed to make sure that everything is clean and clear with her case.”
Dee laughed, the sound a slightly nervous chuckle. And Jill knew that something was totally off. “You would know better than me. I turned over all her files to you.”
Files Jill could no longer find. Shit. “Okay, well if anything relating to her case comes up, can you loop me in? I just want to make sure that we didn’t overlook something that could come back and bite ALIAS in the ass.”
“Will do.” Dee’s relief seemed out of proportion.
“How’s everything?” Jill asked.
“Pretty good.” Dee relaxed. “I’m up for a promotion, assuming nothing goes sideways with my current caseload.”
“Excellent news.” Jill was happy for her mentor. “When will you find out?”
“Next few months.” Dee shrugged. “Unfortunately it’s cost me my relationship. But that’s the breaks.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” Jill had always been envious of the fact that Dee and her wife had seemed to be solid.
“Yeah well, relationships in this business are hard.” Dee stared into the distance. “Our demise was inevitable.”
That was a seriously depressing thought.
Dee believed they were destined to be alone.
Sure Jill didn’t date much. And sure, she always thought that she’d settle down…one day. But she’d never met the one.
Viktor had thought his boyfriend was the one. He’d been certain. And he’d been wrong. That was closer to what Jill expected with relationships.
But her pal, Bliss Lee, had met her one years ago.
Jill had thought Bliss had been exaggerating when she tried to explain her connection to Jack Stone. But when Bliss was forced to work with her old flame on a case, the attraction had flared back to life and she was happily married now.
Jill would admit that she held Bliss and Jack Stone up as the model for a healthy relationship. She wanted that…someday.
Except, with Marsh gone these past few months, she had realized how empty her life was. And suddenly that emptiness chafed.