Hiding the Past

by Sofia Grey

  Jack thought about it for a moment. “And Gloria’s is owned by…?”

  “A local. I’m trying to flush out which side he’s allied to or if he’s independent.” Aiden sat down, wincing slightly, and ran one hand across his bad knee.

  “Are you okay?” Juli asked him.

  “I’ll be fine. I guess I’m not as fit yet as I thought.” Aiden looked at Jack. “Do you two want to catch some sleep? I’ll take first watch.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  “In a minute,” said Juli. “There’s one thing puzzling me.”

  Jack had to laugh. “Only one thing?”

  She nudged him gently with her elbow. “Thank you, Jack. It’s something Yanni said—that if he hadn’t made friends with Papa, Papa’d still be alive. Yanni thinks he’s dead, of course.”

  “What makes you so inclined to believe him? It sounds like just another Yanni-lie to me.”

  “Thing is, he was burning up with a fever at the time. Almost delirious. It had the ring of truth to it. And you know what it means.” She met Jack’s gaze, then looked across at Aiden. “It suggests the attack on Papa was actually something in connection with Yanni.”

  Chapter Eight

  Maria knew that, at this time of night, the journey back to her apartment would be short. She’d have—at best—ten minutes alone with Tanner. And ten minutes was nowhere near enough.

  “Do you need me to direct you?” There was always the chance she could send him in completely the wrong direction.

  “Nah. I know where I’m going.”

  Damn.

  She fiddled with the Bluetooth connecter, to find some music. Kings of Leon, one of her soulful favourites made for good mood music.

  Now, how on earth did she start this most difficult of conversations? “It’s good to see you again.”

  He grunted in reply, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.

  “I missed you,” she said.

  His fingers tightened on the wheel. His jaw tensed too. He wouldn’t look at her, though.

  Mentally crossing her fingers for luck, she placed her right hand on his thigh.

  He jerked at her touch. His muscles convulsed beneath her fingers. Next thing, he picked up her hand and dropped it back into her lap. “Quit playing around, Maria.”

  They were almost back at Canary Wharf. In desperation, she groped for a reason to stay out here longer. “I need some groceries.”

  This merited a suspicious glare. “It’s gone midnight. What can you possibly need at this time of night?”

  “Milk. I’ve no milk for breakfast.”

  He stared at the road ahead again. They were stopped at a red light. The fingers of his right hand tapped a staccato rhythm against the wheel. “Get it in the morning.”

  “There’s an all-night Tesco in Canning Town. It’s only ten minutes away.”

  His gaze slid toward her, his expression unreadable. “You’re shitting me. The nearest place to buy a goddamn carton of milk is ten frigging minutes away?”

  The scent of victory was creeping closer. “You’re not scared of walking around Tesco with me, are you?”

  He snorted. “I can wait in the car.”

  “Sure.” She managed to inject a note of boredom. “But if I’m wandering around on my own, I could be ages. I might remember all sorts of other stuff that I need.”

  The light changed to green, and Tanner eased forward, the road quiet. “Okay. Where do I go?”

  He came into the supermarket after all, loping alongside Maria like a bad-tempered wolf. She carried a wire-mesh basket and chatted about nothing, as they strolled through the fruit and vegetable section.

  She paused to examine the avocados, and Tanner looked pointedly at his watch, scowled at her some more, and rolled his eyes when she blew him a kiss.

  “I thought we came for milk,” he said, surly as anything.

  “Yeah. I got distracted.” She spun out the shopping as long as she feasibly could, slipping fresh coffee and a carton of eggs into the basket, along with a loaf of bread. Back at the car, with the groceries safely stashed behind her seat, she directed him to Canary Wharf. The short time in the supermarket had been enough. The way they’d cuffed Yanni to his bed gave her the idea. She knew exactly how to get Tanner to talk to her.

  She showed him where to park, then with her laptop bag slung over her shoulder, asked if he’d bring the groceries. With her leading the way, they took the elevator to the second floor, and Maria put her laptop bag on the floor, leaning against her leg, and pretended to fumble for her key. Of course, as soon as she stepped forward, the bag fell over.

  Tanner, as she hoped, bent down to pick it up. He walked into the darkened room, his hands full. “You got any lights in here?”

  “Yep.” She flicked the switch, and dumped her tote on the floor, closing the door behind Tanner. “Would you stash the groceries on the counter, please. There’s something I just need to grab.” She darted into the bedroom. Tugged open the bedside drawer and pulled out the pink-fur lined handcuffs. Perfect. She needed to stash the key somewhere handy, but where?

  Down the front of her bra. The chill of the metal made her squirm when it touched her skin.

  What she was about to do was a huge risk. She might sour things between them forever, and that was something she couldn’t live with. But at the same time, he might finally see reason. See what was right before him. She had to hope that the years he’d known her—the depth of their friendship—would remind him what mattered.

  The apartment was tiny. It was only a few steps back to the kitchenette where Tanner stood gazing out of the window at the night.

  Here went nothing. “I want to talk to you. Are you gonna stay here or are you planning to run away again?”

  His shoulders sagged. “There’s nothing to talk about. I need to get back to Jack.”

  “Jack and Juli will be fine for half an hour more. Please don’t make me do this.”

  He glanced over his shoulder, a frown on his face. “Do what? What crazy stunt are you gonna pull now?”

  “This.” She snapped one furry cuff around his left wrist, and the other end around her own.

  His eyes went impossibly wide. “The fuck?”

  “I knew if I didn’t stop you, you’d walk straight out of here and leap into a cab.”

  His brows were knitted together over brooding blue eyes, his jaw so tense, she was amazed he could speak. “Take this offa me. Right now.”

  “I want to talk about us.”

  “Us?” He glared at her. “There is no us.”

  “There could have been, though.”

  “Huh?”

  “For a clever guy, you’re not very smart sometimes.” She smiled at him, trying very hard to control the pounding of her heart. If it banged any harder, he’d hear it.

  “I need to get back to Charlie’s. You need to let me go, Maria.”

  “We talk first. I’ll call Juli and tell her you’ve been delayed.” She flashed him a wicked smile. She wanted to release the wasps, and she had a feeling they were about to come swarming out. “Should I tell her why you’re going to be late, or would you prefer to explain?”

  His growl sounded like that of a bad-tempered dog.

  Maria dialled Juli’s number and explained that Tanner was a little tied up at the moment, but he’d be back later. Yes, everything was fine. Maria’d see her tomorrow.

  She put her phone down, composed herself, and gave Tanner her most uncompromising stare. “Now, then. Where were we?”

  *

  Something nagged at the back of Juli’s mind. No matter how hard she groped to remember it, the thought hovered out of reach. Was it something in Papa’s notebook? She picked it up and flicked through the pages again. Part of the book was a diary. Papa kept records of lecture dates and time. Yes. That was it. His appointments. She turned the pages more quickly, knowing what she searched for.

  Jack watched her. “What is it?”

  “Two things. First, Yann
i said they met four times, so Papa should have made notes of those four appointments. And second, Yanni’s email address must be in here somewhere, listed under Alain Auberge.” She glanced up at Aiden. “I’m sure your people can do a lot with an email address. Am I right?”

  He nodded.

  She worked through Papa’s notes, struggling to read his tiny, cramped writing, but she found what she was looking for. There were four recorded coffee dates with Alain A., and an email address noted by the first one. Alain@zipmail.com.

  “Well done.” Aiden made a note of the address, and retreated to make another phone call.

  “Nice one, babe. That might give us more leads.” Jack held her close. “Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda tired. Why don’t we take up Aiden’s offer and go to bed?”

  She was tempted, very tempted, but there was still something she wanted to do. “Soon. I’m going to talk to Yanni again. Now, if he’s awake.”

  Jack tensed. “And it can’t wait until morning?”

  “He’s getting better. I want to talk to him while he’s still weak.” She looked up, her gaze searching his face. She hated the worry lines that appeared. “Come in with me, but sit quietly. If he knows you’re there, he won’t talk to me.”

  “Half an hour. Then I claim you back.”

  Yanni woke as soon as she touched his forehead. His eyes were alert and bright in the dim room. “Juli? Is everything okay?”

  “Why shouldn’t it be?”

  His gaze flicked left and right. He wouldn’t be able to see Jack, who stood behind him, next to the window. “It’s the middle of the night. I don’t imagine you’re feeling lonely.”

  She leaned forward in her seat. “I want to ask you something. You told me it was because of you that Papa was poisoned. What did you mean?”

  He didn’t speak right away. He frowned and rubbed his forehead with his knuckles. “What day is it today?”

  She had to think about it. “Umm… it’s Wednesday night.”

  “I need to be out of here by Saturday. There’s somewhere I have to be.”

  Her attention leapt to Jack, his figure silhouetted in the window. “Where’s that?” she asked. “Where do you have to be?”

  He yawned and reached for her hand. She let him take it, feeling Jack’s angry stare burning into her. Yanni felt clammy. His temperature hadn’t dropped all the way yet.

  “I can’t tell you,” he said, “without putting you in more danger. But a girl’s life is at risk. She’s expecting me on Saturday.”

  “That’s not good enough, Yanni.” She kept her voice firm. “And stop changing the subject. I asked you about Papa.”

  “Yes, you did.” He sounded amused. “Does Jack know how your interrogation skills have improved?”

  “Never mind Jack. Please answer my question.”

  He laughed briefly and squeezed her fingers. “You drive a hard bargain. How about if you answer one of mine? Is that a deal?”

  “Deal.”

  He stared at her for a long moment. “Did you ask Jack about Caroline?”

  For a moment, she didn’t know what he meant. The memory flooded her. His earlier comment, a snide insinuation that she’d ignored. She would have continued to ignore it, had she not seen Jack’s reaction. Even though he was standing in the shadows, she could tell he’d tensed. He looked ready to launch at Yanni.

  “No.” She was dismissive of his question. “I haven’t asked and probably won’t. So how about my answer?”

  “Nous ne sommes pas seuls?” His rapid French threw her for a moment. We are not alone?

  “Please answer my question.” She gritted her teeth and tried to sound hard.

  “C’est Jack?” Yanni asked. It’s Jack?

  “Yanni, please speak English.” With a French father and English mother Juli was bilingual, but Jack only spoke a few words in the language. Did Yanni know? Or was he gambling?

  With an almost feral smile, Yanni unleashed a torrent of French.

  Jack’s frustration was tangible. As was his anxiety.

  According to Yanni, Jack murdered Caroline in Madrid. He had an affair with her first, then killed her in cold blood.

  Juli couldn’t help gasping. That had to be wrong. Another of Yanni’s attempts to fuck with her mind.

  Jack’s gaze bored into her. She guessed he’d no idea what Yanni was saying about him, but he couldn’t fail to recognise the name Caroline.

  Yanni swiftly changed the conversation to her question. Yves had been interested in Yanni’s ideas about Tesla’s unproved theories, and Yanni had promised to put him in touch with his contacts.

  He squeezed her fingers again. “It must have been because of that.” He sounded exhausted and slumped back against the pillows, his eyes closing.

  Juli did her dissertation on one of Nikolai Tesla’s patents, and while Papa always shared an interest in the famous inventor and scientist, she hadn’t seen anything in his notebook to support Yanni’s words.

  “You’re lying to me.” She spoke in French.

  “So is Jack.”

  *

  The cuff chain was short. It meant Maria had to stand close to Tanner. She could feel the anger flying off him in waves.

  “So help me, Maria, if you don’t let me go, I’ll—”

  “You’ll tell me why you didn’t call?”

  She’d silenced him.

  His dark eyes took on a hunted expression as he scanned her face. “You were upset,” he said. “I didn’t wanna make it any worse.”

  She blinked. “Of course I was upset; it was my brother’s funeral.” She paused a moment and waited for the tremor in her voice to settle. “How would it have made things worse?”

  Tanner was hurting. She could see that. His focus dipped away, looked into the distance, his arms folded across his massive chest, as far as the cuff chain would allow. “I didn’t want to be a constant reminder for you. Of Rico.”

  “I don’t want to forget him. I have wonderful memories of him. You’re not making any sense.”

  When he stared at her now, his eyes held real pain. Her heart lurched in her chest.

  “I couldn’t save him,” whispered Tanner, as though the words were torn from him.

  Was this the reason why he’d gone out of his way to avoid her for the past year and a half?

  He needed her comfort. She placed a hand on his arm. “Tell me, please. You never told me before.”

  “Christ, Maria. Just let me go.”

  She shook her head, but her gaze never left his. His breathing was choppy, and that damn muscle in his cheek leapt again. To hell with it. She slipped her arm around his neck. “Please, tell me. I think you owe me that.”

  He flinched when she embraced him, but then he lifted his free arm to wrap around her waist. He felt stiff and uncomfortable. He wasn’t happy, by any means.

  When he spoke, it came in a flood, as though he’d been damming it up inside his head, waiting for the moment to release it all. “The building was collapsing. Rico had pulled Sylvie clear, but we had to go back, to save another woman, who was trapped inside a metal storage cabinet. When we got there, the interior walls were crumbling. Rico and I held back the partitions, so Jack could clear the way for her. He couldn’t hold the door open and help her out, so Rico ordered me to help. I dragged her through the gap, while Jack held it open.”

  He took a long, shuddering breath, and Maria pressed herself closer.

  “Rico couldn’t hold the partition by himself. It came down onto him, with the weight of the wall behind it. He must have known that might happen. I took too long to pull her clear. If I’d been faster…” He swallowed hard. “We pulled him free, but his femoral artery was severed. He bled to death in my arms.”

  Maria held him properly and buried her face in the side of his neck. He made a little groan of pleasure, and her heart lifted. “Did you think I’d blame you? For a command decision? You followed orders and it was not your call to make,” she said.

 
For a man who said little, he’d told her a lot, and she wasn’t surprised that he was now silent.

  She spoke softly, trying to gain his trust. “You should have called me. We could have talked about this. The way I feel about you has nothing to do with my brother. When you dropped off the radar like that, you and Jack, I lost all three of you. That wasn’t fair.”

  “I’ve known you since you were a kid, Maria. I watched you growing up.” His voice was gruff. “Me and Jack, we thought of you as family, and I know you felt the same. When I came on to you at the funeral, I was out of order. You should have kicked my ass.”

  She closed her eyes, feeling the weight of their combined pain and wishing she could turn the clock back. “How can you be so wrong? You didn’t come on to me. I’m the one who hit on you, remember?”

  In her mind’s eye, she saw the funeral again. A brilliantly sunny day, so inappropriate. More mourners than she could count. So many people who’d turned out to pay their last respects, military and civilians side by side. The pungent smell of petunias and damp, recently turned earth. She hung onto Tanner, sobbing in his arms, her other brother comforting their parents. Afterward, Tanner stuck by her side through the reception. And there, in a darkened corner of her dad’s yard, they kissed. Not a delicate, brotherly peck on the cheek, but a full, sweet, urgent kiss that crushed her lips and captured her heart. He promised to call her, to take her to dinner. He made her feel whole.

  And then he’d vanished. Taking her heart with him.

  Maria shook her head. She wanted to dislodge the painful memories and focus on the here and now. “Hold me,” she murmured.

  Tanner obliged, his lips brushing the side of her neck, but then he made an exasperated noise. “I can’t hold you with this thing on.” His lips were against her neck, hot breath tantalising. “Let me go, Maria.” He nipped her earlobe. “Where’s the key?”