Dark Waters (2013) (15 page)

“You have a nice couple of weeks.” Brent saluted.
Jackass
. He smiled at the secretary and left whistling, just to piss everyone off.

He went out the front door and climbed into his truck. He drove over to Walmart and parked. Anna came out, looking as bright and pure and shiny as a newly minted coin. He touched his horn and she started walking over. His cell phone rang. It was probably his agent, so he answered because he’d just shipped his last canvas and was sick of the guy hassling him.

“Brent?”

The voice of the warden from the prison where he’d spent twenty years of his life shot through him like a knife that pinned him to his seat.

He cleared his throat. “What can I do for you, Warden?” They’d played chess and he’d even given the guy a few pictures over the years. Without the cooperation of the Prison Service, he wouldn’t have been able to paint, and Christ knows what he’d have done then.

“I’ve got some bad news for you”—Brent’s heart started pounding and his hands started to shake.
Shit
. And just like that he was catapulted into mind-numbing terror—“Davis Silver died a few days ago.”

Davis’s death. This was about Davis’s death. He didn’t have to go back to prison. Brent managed to get hold of himself.

“I received a call from the family.”

Brent frowned. Had Anna called the guy even though he’d told her not to?

“Saying they are going to organize a memorial service here on the island. I have some details…” The warden kept talking, but the details sounded off.

She hadn’t had time to arrange anything. They didn’t even know when the body was going to be released.

“Did you happen to mention my name to whoever was calling?” he asked.

“No.” Then there was a pause, a cough. “Well, I might have said, ‘Brent’…”

Oh, for fuck’s sake
. Combine the prison and “Brent” and they had him.

Anna climbed in the truck and smiled. Some of the shadows had lifted from her eyes. The sun had kissed a little color into her cheeks, lightened streaks in her hair to dark gold.

She was beautiful. And someone was after her.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. He was about to drag her back to ugly reality. He’d have shielded her if he could.

“I appreciate the information, sir. When the family calls again, you be sure to tell them I’ll be at the memorial service.” Anna’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak. He put his finger on her lips and the touch shot a flare through his body that had him hard in a heartbeat.
Shit
. They didn’t have time for distraction, not even the ones that would feel like heaven if either of them were ever foolish enough to go for it. His brain kicked in. “When did they call? Maybe I can catch them?”

“First thing this morning. I tried calling you at home, but then something came up in the courtyard.” Which usually meant a fight. “Caller ID said they were phoning from the ex-wife’s house.”

Brent blew out a breath of relief. Maybe they were still there. Maybe they’d get lucky and Finn’s fiancée could pick the guy up for B&E before he even hit the highway.

“Is there a problem?” The warden’s voice grew suspicious.

“No, sir.” Brent forced a little gruffness into his tone. It wasn’t hard, given his best friend was dead. Davis had been a good man with a soft heart who’d never belonged in prison. No way was Davis a thief, and now that he was dead, Brent was suddenly determined to prove the guy was innocent. “I guess I’m in shock. You know how close we were in prison.”

The man seemed to buy it and rang off with the promise to call again with more details when he knew them.

There was a long beat of silence. Hot sun pressed through the windscreen. There was a good chance his carefully constructed refuge was no longer safe. If it were just him, he’d have gone back, set up an ambush, and waited for the bastards to show up. He looked at Anna. He couldn’t risk it.
Sonofabitch
.

“What is it?” She fidgeted with her skirt.

That guileless green gaze of hers was so direct, so honest.
Davis’s daughter
. Even though he didn’t want to be forced out of his home, Anna was his priority. Above all else, he had to keep her safe.

“They’ve found you.”

Her eyes flared with shock as she looked around and he handed her the ball cap from earlier and adjusted it over her hair. Curled a lock behind her ear. She sat completely stunned. “I’m sorry.” He’d promised her safety, and his arrogance had almost led the enemy right to his door.

“How?” She swung to look at him.

“Called the prison from your mother’s house pretending to be family arranging a service. Warden gave them my first name. It won’t take them long to find me.”

“I can’t believe Papa was right. I can’t believe someone actually followed me.”

“I’m guessing that there is a lot of money involved.” For once he wished Davis had been lying. He shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here.” They needed to find the evidence Davis had mailed to Anna and end this thing. Why the hell hadn’t he just sent the evidence to the cops? He didn’t like the idea of Anna being in danger and it was more than basic concern for a fellow human being. It was fast turning into something he couldn’t afford—not for any woman. He was a loner by nature. Preferred it that way.

“Here’s what I want you to do.” He gave her a list of things to buy. Burner phones, clothes, travel stuff. She left the car with another wad of cash and he watched her as she entered the building.

Then he dialed a number and did something he’d never before done in his whole life. “Finn.”

“What’s up?”

Words dried up on his tongue.

“Brent, you OK?” The concern in his brother’s voice cut through him. For years Brent had tried to push him away, but Finn had never given up on him. Christ knew, he didn’t deserve him.

“I need your help.”

“About damn time.” Finn’s tone turned grim.

It still didn’t feel right. “I’ve got someone after me.” He gave Finn Anna’s mom’s name and told him what the warden had told him. “If they aren’t there, I’m pretty sure they’ll be coming for me at the cabin tonight.” Nighttime was always the best time to launch an attack.

“I’m surprised you bothered to call.” Finn knew he usually took care of business himself.

Brent’s lip twitched. “I’m trying to be a law-abiding citizen. Anyway, that’s not the problem. The problem is, I’m not actually there at the moment. I was wondering if Holly’s colleagues at the major crime unit would scoop up these scumbags?”

Holly was Finn’s fiancée—Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Holly Rudd—whose father was the top cop in British Columbia. She and Finn were getting married in September and although he’d never say it out loud, Brent admired her spunk and appreciated her dedication to his brother.

“Who’s after you, Brent?”

“They aren’t after me. They’re after a friend who got caught in someone else’s cross fire. She hasn’t done anything wrong.” He didn’t want to get his brother tangled in anything illegal, and until Brent had evidence Davis was innocent, Brent couldn’t prove the guy had altruistic motives for moving that cash. “These guys are players. Maybe ex-military. Probably armed. Definitely dangerous. Your people need to take care.” He didn’t want any dead cops on his conscience.

Finn was silent on the phone. “Freddy Chastain is based in Port Alberni for an investigation. I’ll sound him out, then talk to Holly.”

Brent gripped the phone. “I just need the place standing when I come home.” He didn’t care if it was riddled with bullets, he just needed four walls and a roof.

“Where you going?”

He didn’t want to go anywhere. “I have that exhibition in the States.”

“I thought you weren’t going to make that,” Finn said cautiously.

Brent snorted. “My
parole officer
thought it would be good for me.” It was a great excuse for B.C. Wilkinson to leave Canada, even though the thought of leaving the island crawled around his belly like fire ants.

He made arrangements to meet Finn in Victoria where his brother had opened his own scuba diving school and ran ecotours during the off-season. Hopefully the cops would find the guy who was asking questions sitting around Anna’s mother’s kitchen table, and put an end to this shit.

One thing was certain, his peaceful life was screwed until this was over. He thought of Anna, and how her world had once again been shattered by bad guys who played fast and loose with other people’s lives. He remembered the letters she’d written as little more than a child. She was innocent. She didn’t deserve any of this and he’d do his damnedest to make it go away. Even if it meant venturing into the world he’d done his best to avoid all these years.

“Suck it up,” he told himself and dialed his PI.

It was answered on the fourth ring. “Chicago PD. Who’s speaking?”

Shock rocked through him. It was turning into a hell of a day for the unexpected. Brent cleared his throat. “I was trying to get through to Jack Panetti—maybe I have a wrong number…”

“You are…?”

Shit. If he hadn’t used his own phone to call he would have already hung up. “Name’s Brent Carver. Jack Panetti is doing some work for me.”

“Regarding?”

Nice try
. “Just trying to track down an old girlfriend.”

The heavy pause. “Mr. Panetti was involved in the fatal shooting incident of a police officer last night. He’s in the hospital.”

Fuck
. “He gonna make it?”

“I hope so.” The voice grew barbs. “We’re trying to figure out if he’s a victim or part of it.”

“Jack’s a straight-up guy.”

“So we hear.”

Christ
. Jack had been in Chicago looking into Davis’s firm. What were the chances of this shooting being unrelated?

“Did you catch the shooter?” Brent asked.

“Not yet. You have any information, we’d appreciate it, Mr. Carver.”

“Sure thing.” He hung up and dialed Jack’s secretary, who was already at the hospital in Chicago. Jack was stable, but hadn’t regained consciousness yet. He’d sideswiped a police cruiser and then thrown himself from a moving vehicle. The shooter had murdered the cop, shot Jack in the back, and run like a motherfucker.

Brent sat in his truck in the Walmart parking lot as a feeling of dread settled around him. What the hell was going on? Exactly who had Davis ripped off? People who killed cops weren’t the sort you wanted on your tail. The stakes were getting higher, and slap-bang in the middle was the woman walking toward him with tired eyes and a worried expression. She climbed in, pushing the bags into the back.

Her smile faded. “What is it?”

He watched the way her lips parted and wished that was all he had to worry about—lusting after his best friend’s daughter.

“Someone killed a cop last night. Same guy shot the PI I hired to check out your dad’s firm.”

“Is he OK?”

“He’s alive.”

Her pupils widened until her eyes were completely black except for a tiny rim of emerald. “I need to go back, don’t I?”

“You could head to Tahiti or Australia. Take a year off.” Fear and frustration ramped up the tension in the cab. The electricity that snapped between them shorted out his nerves.

“I can’t run away from this forever,” she said quietly.

He watched her for a long moment, his mouth so dry he could barely speak. “Then, yeah, we need to go back.”

“We?” Sunlight glistened in her hair. “You’re coming with me?”

He wanted to put his hand over hers. Knew it would be a mistake. He wasn’t the touchy-feely type unless you counted sex, which seemed like a long-forgotten memory. But he kept his promises. Always. He put the car in gear and took Highway 4 to Nanaimo. “I promised Davis if anything ever happened to him, I’d look out for you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter.”

“No, but something tells me you might need someone to watch your back before this is over. Right now, I’m it.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, which unfortunately distracted him from his driving and he nearly ran a red light. He slammed on the brakes and they both lurched forward. Another example of weakness getting you killed. And Anna Silver might prove to be the biggest weakness of all.

“Do you want me to drive?” she asked, the whole schoolteacher vibe doing it for him in a big way.

He shifted uncomfortably.
Fuck
. It wasn’t like he could admit the truth—that he’d been distracted by her pert breasts outlined in fresh cotton.
Nice, Carver
. She was fourteen years his junior and made driven snow look dirty. Sick bastard.

He cleared his throat. “We have to go to Victoria to pick up those travel documents I mentioned, and I asked my brother to get his fiancée to check your mother’s house. See if the bastards are still there.” He had a plan but he needed help. He just wished he could stash Anna somewhere nice and safe until it was all over. Trouble was, if they’d found him in his remote corner of the Pacific Rim, they could find her anywhere on the island. She had more chance with him than alone. And right now that was the only thing that mattered.

Katherine couldn’t see over Ed’s shoulder. He had his camera glued to his eyeball and was in full paparazzi mode as he shoved his way to the front railing at the stern of the massive cruise ship. She shivered under the bleak sky and wished she’d worn socks and sneakers rather than sandals. She tried to inch her way forward as another rush of air signaled a whale had surfaced not far from the bow, but even when she danced on tiptoes her view was blocked by a solid wall of shoulders. Someone grabbed her arm and drew her in front of them next to the railing—Harvey.