Michael’s response was measured. “Involving a civilian is never the best approach, but she’s knee-deep in this already. I know you’re willing to see her motives as pure. I have a wait-and-see policy. The Bureau has found that sometimes criminals can be a help in an investigation. Our end goal is finding out who’s behind this operation.”
Jason clenched his jaw. “She’s not a criminal.”
“In the meantime, we’re going to put a tail on her boss and look into Mary Helms’s connections. For now, you are Isabel Connor’s protection. If you’re seen together, it will further the cover that the two of you are thieves working together and maybe you can figure out Sun and Ski’s level of involvement, if any.”
“I’ll let you know when they contact her about the bookmark.” Feeling a little frustrated, Jason clicked off the phone. Michael could be really myopic when it came to the investigation. At least this way, Isabel would be safe. He’d see to that. He slumped down on the couch, closed his eyes and pulled his feet onto the couch, allowing the heaviness of sleep to overtake him.
He awoke to the smell of coffee and bacon sizzling in a pan. Isabel was dressed in a long skirt, boots and a sweater. Her honey-blond hair was pulled up into a loose bun. Soft tangles surrounded her face. She looked beautiful.
She offered him a smile. “Feel better?”
He rose to his feet. “Yes. I needed that.”
“Coffee is on and I should have a late breakfast ready in just a minute.”
He poured himself a cup and wandered around her small living room. Her walls were decorated with cross-stitched Bible verses and nature photos. He picked up one of the photos on the mantel. A boy of about ten smiled at him.
She plated the food. “That’s my little brother, Zac.”
Isabel must be about twenty-five. “Your mom had kids really far apart.”
A shadow seemed to fall across her face. “He’s a half brother. But as far as I’m concerned, he’s just a precious little brother to me.”
There were no other photos that could be family. Only a picture of Isabel with her boss at a picnic, both of them smiling for the camera, and one of Isabel with her arms around two women her age, a cabin in the background surrounded by forest. The women wore matching T-shirts that referenced a church retreat.
She handed him a plate of food. The aroma of bacon made his mouth water. Her brown-eyed gaze rested on him for a moment. “There’s no room for a table. I usually eat on the couch.”
They sat side by side. Her posture was ramrod straight, her chin slightly lifted. When she’d been afraid and tired, he’d seen a more vulnerable side to Isabel. Now she’d returned to that professional demeanor that had originally made him think she was from money. He thought he was pretty good at seeing past people’s facades, but Isabel wore hers like armor. Now he knew why. Maybe she thought the more formal she seemed, the less likely people were to guess she had a record.
He helped her with the dishes and they headed downstairs to the office.
“Mary will have left me a message about which houses I need to get ready.” She swung open the door to the office, which was empty.
“Is this door always unlocked?”
“We come and go all day. It’s just easier. The real-estate people next door are hardly ever there.”
He stared out at the street, wondering if they were being watched.
Tension threaded through Isabel’s words. “Guess I should lock it from now on.”
“Maybe this will all be over soon.” His words held a note of doubt. Would thieves come after her because she could identify them even if they got the bookmark back? He had the feeling the demand for the return of the bookmark was being engineered by someone higher up in the pecking order. It took a level of criminal sophistication and moxie to come after someone in a police station. Maybe even someone with connections to the police or the financial means to bribe their way into what should be a secure building.
The office phone rang.
Jason swung around.
Isabel pressed her lips together. He read fear in her eyes. His heart beat a little faster, and he swallowed to produce some moisture in his mouth. “Go ahead. Answer it.”
She remained as still as a statue.
He stepped toward her, his shoulder pressing against hers. “I’ll be right here. And I won’t leave until I know you’re safe.”
The stiffness in her body softened. She seemed to draw courage from what he said. She took in a breath and lifted the phone.
* * *
Isabel’s heart pounded against her rib cage. She steadied her shaking hand. “Hello.” It didn’t even sound like her voice.
She could hear breathing on the other end of the line.
“Hello,” she repeated, her voice growing stronger. She put the phone on speaker so Jason could hear too.
“The Clauson family home. You know it?” The man on the other end of the line had a husky voice.
“Yes.” The Clausons were Sun and Ski clients.
“There’s a big shindig there. An invite will be waiting for you at the front entrance of the Clauson house. At eight forty-five go to the library. History of Rome, volume seven, page twenty-five. Got it?”
Her hands were sweating. “Yes.”
“Your friend is not invited.”
The line went dead.
Isabel threw the phone down as though it was on fire. The memory of everything that had happened at the Wilsons’ bombarded her. These people played for keeps. “I can’t do this.”
From where he stood beside her, Jason brushed his fingers over her arm. “I’ll find a way to be at that party. You won’t be alone. I need to get a picture of the pickup man anyway. For them to believe that we really are thieves who want in on the action, we’ll have to give them the real bookmark.”
She shook her head. “He said you weren’t invited.”
“It’s a party with lots of people around,” Jason said. “I’ll find a way to stay close and not be noticed.”
The steadiness of his voice and his expression of unwavering resolve almost convinced her. “I guess if they wanted to hurt me, they would have chosen somewhere remote. Do you suppose they’ll leave me alone if I give the bookmark back?”
His forehead wrinkled with concern. “I’m not sure. I’ll stay with you until we know you’re not a target.”
“I want this to be over.”
Before he could reply, the door burst open and Mary stepped inside.
“Glad to see you’re ready to work.” She turned toward Jason. “And you still have your driver, I see. I called the tow truck to get your car off the mountain.” Mary leaned over and rummaged through a desk drawer until she pulled out a key ring with multiple keys on it. “The atmosphere is like a funeral in here. Isabel, is there something you want to tell me?”
“I’m... I’m just glad to be back at work.” She gave Jason a nervous glance, wishing she could tell Mary the whole story.
“Good. We’ve got a couple of houses to get ready. One of them is a new client. I texted you the instructions. I gotta run.”
Mary was out the door. Isabel watched through the big bay window as Mary got into her car and drove off. A moment later, a car pulled away from the curb and fell in behind Mary.
Isabel’s breath hitched. “Are you having my boss tailed?”
Jason didn’t answer right away. “We have to rule her out. A lot of the houses where the drop-offs happened were managed by Sun and Ski. Mary would have the alarm codes.”
“You don’t know her. She’s been good to me.” That the FBI suspected Mary bothered Isabel even more than their suspicion of her.
“It wasn’t my call. They just need to rule her out.”
From the pit of her roiling stomach, Isabel could feel her resolve coming together. “I’ll make this drop if it will help furth
er the investigation and get Mary off the hook. She’s innocent.”
Jason’s face brightened. His eyes held a twinkle. “Thank you for being so brave.”
She wasn’t so sure it was courage she felt so much as a desire to have all this be over. To get back to the life she’d built for herself, to not have a shadow of suspicion cast over a person she cared about very much.
“How are you going to get into the fund-raiser?”
“I have some connections. Big event like that is most likely catered. The Bureau will no doubt plant some people in there too. You’re not alone in this, Isabel.”
The words were like a soothing balm to her.
Jason gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze. “Well, come on. I’ll take you to the houses you need to open up and then you have a ball gown to buy, Cinderella.”
TEN
Jason felt itchy and uncomfortable in the waiter’s uniform his friend had loaned him. Starched white shirt, tails and cummerbund were not his style. He was a jeans and flannel or wool shirt kind of guy. He tugged on his collar as he scanned the room and kept his eye on the door, looking for Isabel.
“Thank you.” A tall woman in a sparkling gown grabbed a glass off his tray. Her dress was the same color as the champagne he served.
He spotted one other Bureau guy as he wove through the room. One of the older agents, a short man with a widow’s peak, stood talking to a man in a cowboy hat.
Isabel had ten more minutes before she had to make the drop. She ought to have shown up by now. His heart squeezed a little tighter.
Jason had stayed with Isabel through the day and into evening.
After they’d found her a dress and picked up the bookmark from Michael, he’d dropped her off at her place to get ready with the understanding that she would text him when she left. He’d had to get to the party to be in place when she arrived. Her text had come through ten minutes ago. How long did it take to get across town? Had it been a mistake to leave her even for that short time? What if the fund-raiser party was just a ruse and they intended to grab her the first chance they got?
He checked his watch one more time. He needed to get into place in the library without being noticed. He had to assume the smuggler mastermind had planted people besides the pickup guy among the partygoers. Even if the smuggler had figured out who Jason was, the waiter’s uniform would make him invisible.
Isabel appeared suddenly at the door, dressed in royal blue.
Jason breathed a sigh of relief.
Her cheeks were flushed with color. Her skin had something on it that sparkled when she stepped into the light and down the stairs. She looked stunning.
She spotted him but made only momentary eye contact. She wove through the crowd, stopping to shake hands and talk to people. A lot of these people were probably clients.
She whisked past him.
He spoke under his breath. “Everything go okay?”
“Yes, but I think I was followed. I had to take the long way.”
Might have been the thieves they’d encountered at the Wilsons’. The higher-ups would have known she was headed to the fund-raiser.
The music stopped, and a woman picked up a microphone to make announcements about the money raised and silent-auction items still left to be bid on. While the attention of the crowd was on the woman, Jason set his tray down and headed toward the library. Isabel had explained the layout of the house to him earlier in the evening.
Knowing that a nervous glance might give him away, he kept his gaze on the stairs in front of him but listened to make sure he wasn’t followed. The library was on the second story at the opposite end of the house, far away from any partygoers. Even someone who was lost or looking for a bathroom wouldn’t be on that side of the house.
In order to make the drop, Isabel would be less than a minute or two behind him. They were cutting this pretty close. His heart kicked into high gear and adrenaline surged through his system.
The library was dark. He slipped behind a desk and waited for the sound of Isabel’s footsteps. In this light, it would be nearly impossible to identify the pickup man. Jason would have to follow him back into the throng of partygoers and look for an opportunity to snap a photo. If that opportunity didn’t arise, he’d have to get a good look at the guy and trust his memory.
All Isabel had to do was slip the bookmark into place and hurry back to the crowd. She’d be safe among the partygoers.
He heard the light tapping of footsteps on the wood floor outside. Isabel’s dress made swishing sounds as she entered the room. She did a half turn in the middle of the floor, probably wondering where he was hiding.
His heart lurched. He wanted to say something to let her know he had her back. But it was too risky. She approached the bookshelf and clicked the light on her phone, bending close to the volumes. She held a gold clutch purse that contained the bookmark.
A shadow entered the room from a side door. The man was so silent and quick, Jason heard only two footsteps before the dark figure grabbed Isabel and spun her around, whispering something sinister-sounding in her ear.
Jason jumped to his feet and hurried toward Isabel. The shadow swung around so Isabel was between him and Jason.
“I’ve got a gun on her. You come any closer, she takes a bullet.”
He couldn’t see a gun, and though he was less than four feet away, he couldn’t make out the features on Isabel’s face.
“It’s...true... Jason.” Her voice, drenched in fear, faltered.
“Back away...now,” said the man covered in shadows. He was dressed in black, which made him even harder to see.
Heart raging against his rib cage, sweat trickling down his neck, Jason took a step back even as he tried to come up with a way to overtake the man holding Isabel.
Isabel’s frantic breathing seemed augmented in the darkness and silence of the library. Dragging Isabel with him, the man slipped toward a dark corner of the room.
There was a brief burst of light as a door opened and the man pulled Isabel through. The door shut and he heard a clicking sound. Footsteps retreating downstairs. Jason raced toward it. Locked. This was an exit the Bureau hadn’t accounted for.
He ran to the window that was on the same side of the room as the door. Down below, he saw Isabel being dragged toward a black truck that was parked off away from the other vehicles. From that side of the property, there was only one road out.
He hurried down the stairs toward his own car, praying that he would be able to get to Isabel in time. He sprinted through the back part of the main floor. The noise of the partygoers dimmed as he went through a part of the house where there weren’t many people, only some of the hired help. There was no time to alert the agent on the premises. Isabel’s life depended on his getting out to that road as fast as he could.
As he ran toward his car, the momentary image of Isabel’s terrified expression when the light had come through the open door bombarded his thoughts.
Jumping into his loaner car, he shifted into gear. He could see the black truck winding its way up the road. He pressed the gas. His car swerved, but he straightened it out. Conditions were far from ideal.
Shadow man’s truck disappeared around a corner. Jason prayed he would be able to get to Isabel before it was too late.
* * *
Isabel gripped the steering wheel as she struggled to take in air, to remain calm. She’d seen Jason’s car behind them for just a moment on the straight part of the road. She slowed as they rounded the curve, hoping Jason would be able to keep up.
“Drive faster,” said the man with the gun.
She glanced over at him.
He grinned, showing all his teeth. “Thought I’d never see you again, Isabel.”
Nick Solomon. The last person on earth she wanted to see. “I heard you got out of prison.” He must be connected with the smuggli
ng ring. How else would he have known she was in the library?
“You’ve been following my exploits, have you?”
She had paid attention to his release date because she wanted to avoid him. “I thought I heard you went down to California.”
“I did for a while, Blondie.” He scooted closer, still holding the gun on her. “Let’s just say a much more lucrative opportunity came up here in Silver Strike.”
Nick instructed her to take several more turns. She wasn’t familiar with this road. She checked the rearview mirror.
“I think we lost your little partner there. I don’t know why you’re with him, anyway. If you wanted to get back into the life, if the word on the street is true, you should have called me.”
She pressed her teeth together. As much as she wanted to tell Nick she had changed and the last thing she wanted was a life of crime, she swallowed her words. The smuggling ring believed she wanted in on their action, and she had to continue that ruse. “I’m happy with my current partner.”
“What’s his name, anyway?”
So they hadn’t been able to identify Jason. That was why they’d communicated with her.
“Decided to go all quiet on me, huh?” He sat back in the seat, staring at her in a way that put her even more on edge. They drove for at least twenty minutes. He waved the gun in the air. “Turn that way and park when you see the little cabins.”
She turned onto a long unplowed driveway where there were several cabins and a larger lodge. This was probably a church camp that was only used in the summer.
“Stop before the truck gets stuck.”
She pressed the brakes. Nick held out his hands for the keys. They were miles from anything or anyone. They had encountered no other traffic on the road or passed any houses.
She slammed the keys into his clammy palm.
Her clutch rested on the seat. Nick shoved it into her stomach. “I assume the item of interest is in there. Give it to me.”
Her hands were shaking as she undid the clasp. “This is what you were supposed to get back for your boss, right? What good am I to you? Why complicate things?”
Mountain Secrets Page 26