Deadly Sins (46 page)

“And he lost money?” she asked, already knowing the answer. Because if they had found Hedgelin’s investment firm, she knew for a fact they’d delved into his portfolio.

“Faster than Paulie at the racetrack.” Everyone in the room laughed at Adam’s response except for the man in question.

“Luck’s going to turn around. Then you’re all going to be singing a different tune.”

“What about Reinbeck?” Jaid asked doubtfully. She couldn’t recall anything on the upcoming court calendar that would have interested Hedgelin. “There was that case on this year’s docket about outlawing weapons in government buildings, but I don’t know a law enforcement officer who isn’t in support of regulating that.”

“We might have been focusing on the wrong docket.” Adam turned to the touch screen and pulled up a couple more bits of information. “Unless Cleve has changed his opinions since I worked with him at the bureau, he was anti–gun control. Last year Byron wrote a scathing minority dissent on a ruling dealing with the open-carry legislation in Virginia. The majority ruling was seen as a victory for gun rights, but Byron cited a flaw in the way the law was written that the anti-gun lobby has been using to fire up their supporters.”

He looked at Cait, who nodded. “That organization is working on getting a challenge to the law based on the technicality that Reinbeck cited, hoping to get it to the high court again and this time have the law overturned.”

“Wrath.” Adam’s ruined voice sounded soft. “No one was more passionate about the law, or his interpretations of it, than Byron.” Turning back to the screen, he cleared his throat. “Notice we came up empty on a relationship between Hedgelin and Cardinal Cote.”

“We came up empty linking the cardinal to any of our persons of interest in this case,” Jaid put in wryly.

“Something we still need to work on. But Bolton.” With a brush of his index finger, he pulled over another report. Spread it to make it bigger. “Easy link there. Cleve wasn’t at all happy about the book the reporter had in progress. He gets rid of him, and the book goes away.”

“And hanging the entire series of murders on you wraps it all in a neat little bundle.” She thought for a moment. To Macy she said, “Did you get a match with the Harandi document?” When the other woman shook her head, she looked at Adam. “Do we have something written we can use from Hedgelin? That would be the quickest way to tie him to this.”

“We’ve only gotten a couple reports signed by him available on the Web. There was nothing written by him in my copy of the case files.”

“I tried matching that report with his signature for authorship,” Macy said, “and struck out. But frankly, the document isn’t a good sample. We have no way of knowing if he dictated it or used a secretary to write the gist of it from notes he provided. Either way would give us a false negative. We really need something that we can be certain he wrote himself.”

“There’s still the little matter of how he got your fingerprint on the note card left with Bolton,” Kell put in. His frown was reflective. “Could have transferred it from something you touched recently, I suppose. And it wouldn’t take them long to match it, since your prints were still on file from your days as an agent. They would have identified them when they ran the elimination prints of the task force members in the vicinity of the evidence.”

“Everything we have that points at Hedgelin is circumstantial,” Jaid pointed out. “We need something solid.”

“I’ll get that. When I meet with him.”

Splinters of fear pricked her. Jaid shoved away from the desk as a chorus of voices met Adam’s words. “No.”

He flicked a glance at her, even as he addressed the group as a whole. “We’re not going to find the evidence we need, short of a search of his home. But I think I can draw him out in a face-to-face.” His smile was grim. “That will be the next order of business. We collectively come up with the best plan for doing just that.”

Brooking no argument, he picked up a remote and with a click emptied the touch screen. “Who followed up on Jerry’s whereabouts?”

“That’d be Nate and me,” Risa put in. She shoved her dark blond hair behind one ear as she spoke. “I finally got in touch with the monsignor’s cook. Nobody else who worked for him would talk to me, but she said the emergency that took him away was ‘a crisis of faith.’ ”

Nate took over from here. “He used his bank card at the ATM at the Swenson’s Grocery Store near the rectory. That was the night before last, and there’s been no activity on it since. His credit cards have also been inactive. I couldn’t do a GPS trace on his cell phone.” He raised a brow at Adam.

He shook his head, a half smile on his face. “Jerry’s cell is the oldest one he can still use with his network. It wouldn’t have any of the bells and whistles on it.”

“Triangulation also didn’t work. I suspect he may have the phone shut off or the battery is dead.”

“I called St. Ambrose and talked to the priest there.” Risa took up the story again. “I asked him to explain to me what a crisis of faith meant to a member of the priesthood, and he was pretty thorough. He said it referred to an incident in which a priest comes to doubt a religious conviction, a belief, or even his own worthiness in his chosen vocation.”

Because she was watching, Jaid saw the effect the words had on Adam. And even though Shepherd’s concerns about the priest rang in her ears, she couldn’t help but sympathize with the way Adam hurt for his friend right now. After what he’d told her about his childhood, she knew what the priest meant to him.

“The St. Ambrose priest even listed a half-dozen places a member of the clergy might go to pray for guidance. Nate called a retired cop he knows down here and didn’t give him any information but the addresses of these places and Benton’s plates. He found Benton’s car at the third place. A Franciscan monastery closed to the public and on the outskirts of the city.” Risa looked at Adam. “Do you want me to have him check further?”

“No.” He checked his watch. “It’s after one. I trust each of you is already situated in one of the cabins. If not, claim one and be ready for a brainstorming session at seven A.M. sharp.”

Jaid had no idea where her bag had ended up, but Adam was engrossed in conversation with a balding man sitting before one of the large monitors. She noticed his operatives heading out the door in a group and followed them into the same conference room they’d been in earlier.

The door was barely shut behind her before Kell was speaking. “All jokes aside, Paulie has had a run of bad luck lately, and his accounts are leaking red ink. I’m not sure that would motivate the man to betray Adam, but it’s a fact we have to consider.”

“You looked in Paulie’s accounts?” This from Cait. She looked at the others. “He’s going to know that, right? I mean he probably has his personal information cyber booby-trapped.”

Kell threw her an impatient look. “No, Gavin told me. He and Paulie work closely on all the cyber work for the agency. He loaned Samuels some money last month. Hasn’t gotten paid back yet. I struck out trying to link him to any of the hired killers but did discover that he and Mose Ferrell came from the same hometown. Middleburg.” He lifted a shoulder. “Okay, it’s not much. But first thing tomorrow morning Macy and I are going to figure a way to get a writing sample from him. And then we can put an end to the speculation, right?”

“Kell is going to figure a way,” Macy put in, her eyes anxious. “I’m not good at making things up on the spot like that.”

“While I’m an incurable liar.” Kell gave a wry grin, reaching over to tug a strand of her hair. “Anyway, in the meantime I think we all need to be careful about any plan Paulie might suggest tomorrow about the upcoming meet between Adam and Hedgelin. Whatever he comes up with, we all outvote him, right?”

There was a murmur of agreement, then the door opened behind them. Adam stood inside it, frowning at them. “I thought I told you people to call it a night.”

Everyone rose hastily. Headed for the exit. In just a few moments Jaid and Adam were alone in the room. “Neat trick.” She got up. Turned to face him. “Their strings are practically invisible, and you’re masterful with the controls.”

One dark brow arched over the eye patch. “You think I’m a puppet master? You obviously believe my employees are better trained than they really are. What were you all doing in here?”

“Planning mutiny. There’s grumbling about running out of pizza, and we’re already worried about breakfast.”

“Uh-huh.” She was getting good at withstanding the intensity of that laser blue stare. It helped when she didn’t look directly at it, turning instead toward her briefcase and purse. “I’m guessing I can pry the information out of you since we’re sharing a cabin.”

That had her attention bouncing to his. “What exactly are you suggesting?” She reached out to flip the light switch behind her. The lighting in the rest of the structure was dim. It looked like everyone had followed his order to turn in.

“I’m suggesting that I have the leftover cookies in my pocket.” There was a smile working around the edges of his mouth. “And knowing your weakness in that area, you’ll be spilling your secrets inside the hour.”

In the end he yielded the cookies without much of a fight, and they shared them while sitting on the bed. The cabin was too small to have any other furniture. “Did you get time to contact your son?”

She nodded, her mouth full. After swallowing, Jaid added, “They went to the Magic Kingdom today, and he was full of news about how many times he rode the roller coaster. Tomorrow they’re planning on Epcot. I think that might be more to Mother’s liking than Royce’s, but there’s enough to do on the property to keep them busy for as long as we need to keep them out of the way.”

“Hopefully, this will be over soon.” He reached over and brushed a crumb from the corner of her mouth. “Maybe you’ll even get a chance to join them before your leave is up.”

“I’m not thinking that far ahead,” she responded deliberately. “We still have to get through tomorrow.”

“I have no doubt that together we can all come up with a plan that even you will find agreeable.”

Agreeable. She restrained a wild laugh. Despite their best efforts Adam would be the one taking the risk. What were the chances that Hedgelin would want to meet alone? They didn’t have enough incriminating evidence to take to law enforcement, and the assistant director would have to know that. “He’s too smart to admit to anything, so what can possibly be gained with a face-to-face?”

She saw his answer in the way his gaze skidded from hers. “You.” It took effort to force the word out. “He’ll come because he wants you.”

“I’m counting on it. That it won’t be enough to merely ruin my reputation, possibly hang multiple murders on me. Why stop there when he can have all that and kill me, too? He’s certainly expended plenty of time and energy to that end up to this point. No.” He flicked a stray crumb from his pants leg. “If we’re right about Hedgelin being the DC killer, he won’t be able to resist a meet. He has to tell me how smart he’s been, or it won’t be nearly as gratifying. I’m counting on his ego to do his thinking.”

“And if he comes out with guns blazing?” she asked tartly. It was easier, far easier, to draw on temper than to dwell on the sick fear circling in her stomach. “You don’t have nine lives, Adam. At some point your luck is going to run out.”

“I can’t consider the worst outcome when I go into something like this. Have to visualize the best because otherwise I help him beat me. But it would be easier . . . far easier to contemplate squaring off with Hedgelin if I didn’t have in the back of my mind what I stand to lose.” Her breath caught at the light in his eye. It left his meaning impossible to misinterpret. “It’s selfish, I know. But I don’t want to spend the night going over what-ifs. There will be time for that tomorrow morning. I just want . . .” His words tapered to a whisper against her lips. Their kiss was bittersweet. But before it ended Jaid decided that he was right.

She didn’t want to spend the next few hours talking, either.

Her lips parted in welcome. The stakes he was facing made desperation flicker to life, igniting greed. She couldn’t let herself think about the worst outcome tomorrow, but the worry was there, tucked away in a corner of her mind. Tomorrow, it would incite panic and fear, but right now it summoned a reckless desire that she was unwilling to turn away from.

His taste reminded her of dark nights spent tangled together, their mutual needs equalizing them in a way nothing else ever could. Her head lolled back as he pressed a line of hard, stinging kisses down her throat. He nipped at the sensitive cord there, and she shivered. When he immediately laved it with his tongue, her blood began a primal beat.

Pushing away from him, she stood and faced him, stripping at a pace that wasn’t meant to entice. Last time had been about tempting, teasing, and rediscovering, but an urgency was building that had as much to do with the mounting danger as passion. Tiny flickers of flame lit beneath her skin, heating her from the inside out.

He pushed off the bed, shedding his clothes at a pace that rivaled hers. The sight of all that naked flesh was as exciting as the haste in his actions, the hunger in his expression. There could be nothing quite as arousing as being wanted by a man who showed only a dispassionate face to the world. Being the recipient of all the pent-up emotion that was so rarely in his gaze.

She pressed against him, her eyes sliding shut at that first delicious feel of flesh against flesh. Then, releasing a shuddering breath, she pressed one hand lightly to his chest and pushed. He dropped to the bed but took her with him.

His mouth found hers again, devoured it wildly. The primitive response called to something inside her, something untamed, a reaction only he could elicit. Her hands raced over his arms, his shoulders, his back. And feeling the patterns of ridged raised flesh under her palms, another need rose. Refused to be banished.