Fragmented (15 page)

Nevy screwed his face up tightly. He hesitated. He began breathing rapidly.
“I want to go back to work now.”

“
Nevy, the only way to get everything cleared up is to tell the truth. What did Dr. Halliday do? Or did he have you do something?” Waters pushed. Nevy winced. He wouldn’t look at Waters. Waters banged his hand down hard on the table. Nevy shook. “You have one chance here, my friend. You better use it wisely.”

“
I…I…” he stuttered. Waters glared at him. “He had me go over to her apartment to check on her occasionally.”

“
Excuse me? You watched her from the street? Stalked her?” Waters pushed back from the table, using all of his six-foot-three frame to fill the room.

Nevy drew back.
“Not exactly, sir. He gave me a key. He wanted me to check out her apartment that she was okay. He doesn’t like her roommates. You have to understand.”

Waters broke in.
“Dr. Halliday has a key to her apartment?”

Nevy nodded slowly. Brophy knocked on the mirror from the observation room. It was all they needed.

* * * *

Darren rubbed the back of his neck. His day had been long and it was about to get longer. Brophy and Waters had been busy. He was set
to meet up with the two, as soon as Mr. Neslund came down to pick up Cameron. The laptop had been delivered to the FBI Homeland Security Division, in their Boston office. Thankfully, the laptop’s battery was dead. It couldn’t be turned on. They had a shot at looking at the hard drive before that damn virus corrupted the files, like it had every other computer it touched…even Cameron’s new laptop. Couldn’t get any information off it.

Cameron sat across from him and hadn’t
uttered a word of complaint. She waited patiently, but Darren wondered what she thought.

Dr. Levy had been correct in his assessment: that her thought process put others first before her own welfare. The only deal she sought had been for her brother. On that part, she steadfastly held he would walk away without consequence. In the same breath, she hadn’t asked for herself, but he had made sure she had been included.

Brophy had been correct. He had gone at her more aggressively than he would have another in her position. But with this deal, her friend, Neslund, wouldn’t have anything to worry about as long as no one lied to him this time.

His cell phone rang.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Wait. Don’t go in without me.”

He sighed. He turned to Cameron.
“Your friend will be here soon and I have to leave. You haven’t asked any questions.”

“
I’m sure Karl will have plenty. Doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t feel I have much control at the moment. You tell me what I need to do. Karl will come in and tell me how brainless I’ve been about the whole situation.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I’m trying not to think about it.”

A wave of guilt swept through him.
“You are a trusting sort, aren’t you?”

“
Am I not supposed to trust you?” she asked. Then she paused and stared up at him. “You’re right. I suppose I shouldn’t. I don’t know you well enough, do I? Although I have a feeling you know almost everything about me.”

“
Given the circumstances, it’s inevitable.”

“
I guess. Like I said, it doesn’t matter now, anyway, does it?”

She broke her gaze and lowered her head. He didn’t respond. He didn’t have an answer.

She looked back at him. Hesitating for a moment, she spoke in a low voice. “If you have wondered, I haven’t said anything about you. I mean…that night…obviously it was just once…and didn’t”—she choked on her words—“mean anything…anyhow, I just wanted you to know.”

For a moment, he couldn’t say a word. In that span of time
, comprehension swept through him. Not only did she think she was protecting him, but he had hurt her. He could hear it in her voice, see it in her eyes. What a bastard he had become.

He rounded his desk. The whole
outer office could see into his office with his blinds open. He couldn’t draw them without suspicion for why he had done so. He paused. For once in his life, he didn’t know what to say. He glanced over her shoulder and edged down on the couch beside her.

“
Cameron, you don’t have to protect me. I wish the situation was different, but it is what it is,” he said. “I have my job to do. I have no choice, Cameron. I have to put my responsibilities to that job first. I’m sorry.”

He wanted nothing more than to say
,
I never wanted a one-night stand with you. Good Gawd, it’s what’s making everything so confusing now. I shouldn’t even be on this case, but you’ve made me so damn mad for being involved, ruining what I wanted because I had no intention of that night being the last time I made love to you.

Instead
, he said nothing. She stared at him and nodded slightly. From behind her, he saw her roommate walking through the door. Every instinct in him shouted not to let her go. They could come up with another plan. Instead, he greeted Karl Neslund as graciously as he could. Shortly after, he watched her walk out of his office.

* * * *

Wellesley was a quiet, quaint town, a western suburb of Boston, home to sprawling mansions over rolling hills. Walking the streets of the town, one could smell old money. Huge old trees lined the road, expanding to the well-manicured lawns of the manors…even in the dead of winter.

Brophy turned in
to the driveway of one of those magnificent homes. His phone rang. He hit Ignore. Lauren again. Lauren had called him this morning. He hadn’t been able to get back to her yet and wouldn’t anytime soon. He knew before even taking the call it had to do with the kids. God, he missed them, but with the schedule he was keeping with this case, it made it hard as hell to get a chance to see them.

He pulled to a stop, along with a couple of patrol cars behind him, to execute the search warrant. He exchanged looks with Waters. They wanted to get their hands on Halliday before he called for his lawyer, which was going to take a lot of luck.

Waters knocked on the door. No sooner had the door been cracked open by the housekeeper than Waters pushed his way in, the search warrant held tightly in his hand. “Boston PD.”

“
Excuse me. Excuse me,” a voice called from the top of the winding mahogany staircase. An elegant young woman dressed in a classic style hurried down the steps. Her blonde hair was pulled back in an immaculate bun; a pale blue designer dress was tailored to her body. A string of simple white pearls hung from her neck with earrings to match. A gigantic diamond adorned her hand. She looked like a walking advertisement for a jewelry store.

Waters stopped in the middle of the marble floor foyer.
“Detective Albert Waters, ma’am. We have a search warrant. If you would care to stand back, out of our way.”

“
This is my home, officer. I’m Allison Halliday,” she said anxiously. Her eyes fixed on the uniform policemen who stormed her house. “Oh, don’t touch that. Do you know how much that cost? More than your salary for a year. Oh, my.”

“
Please stand back, ma’am. We are looking for a couple of items. If you know where they are, we won’t have to turn your house upside down,” Brophy said. He stepped closer to the woman.

Allison Halliday eyed Brophy with disdain.
“What are you looking for?”

“
It’s in the warrant,” Brophy said, dismissing her question. “Where’s your husband, Mrs. Halliday?”

“
He’s upstairs with his mother,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder.

Brophy walked
past her, up the stairs. Walking quickly, her heels clicked behind him.

“
You can’t go—” she began.

“
Watch me.” He stomped to the balcony. “I’ll just check every room.”

“
Wait,” she commanded. “I’ll take you. My God, where did you ever learn your manners?”

Brophy smugly smiled.
“Must have left them in my other suit. You have one minute before...”

“
This way.” She crossed awkwardly in front of him.

She led him down the hall, opening the last door into an elegant bedroom suite. The large room seemed to be an extension from the woman’s bedroom. The walls
were papered in a pale blue sky French scenic view. An antique, hand carved desk sat close to the huge widespread window overlooking the gardens below. Matthew Halliday stood staring at the woman with open hostility. He rubbed his head, his eyes.

“
Allison, dear, who let these men in here?” An older woman, in her late fifties, addressed the young Mrs. Halliday. The woman—tall, slim, dressed in classic cut slacks and a cashmere sweater, which did nothing to smooth her cold expression—seemed used to getting her way, in a patrician manner. Her eyes bore a hole in Brophy; her jaw set firm.

“
I’m Ruth Halliday. I’m afraid I have to ask you gentlemen to leave. Immediately.”

Brophy ignored the woman. He didn’t think he could meet anyone more irritating than the young one, until now. Waters came up behind him. If they gave him any problems
, he would let Waters take care of them. He figured he could hold them off at least until he got out the door.

The man he came for stood before him, Dr. Matthew Halliday.

“Dr. Matthew Halliday?”

“
Yes, is there a problem?” His face fell. “Oh…not Cameron.”

Brophy ignored his question and held out his badge.
“Boston PD. Do you mind coming with us? We have a few questions for you. We are executing a search warrant.”

“
About what?” he asked. His eyes looked confused; his eyebrows twitched. “What is going on?”

“
It’ll be better to discuss this down at the precinct,” Brophy said. He walked over to the doctor’s side. Wasn’t hard to see what attracted the women. Dr. Halliday stood over six feet, sky blue eyes, blonde hair, and a rich doctor. But it meant nothing to Brophy. He placed his hand on Halliday’s shoulder. “If you don’t mind.”

Matthew Halliday stepped with Brophy.

“Matthew, don’t you dare. You stay right here until I talk with Oliver,” the elder Mrs. Halliday said harshly. She walked briskly in front of her son.

Matthew looked at his mother. Revulsion poured out of his eyes. He shook his head.
“I haven’t done anything, Mother. What will be the issue? Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be cleared up.”

“
Matthew,” she reprimanded him.

“
Mother, I’m not a child,” he said. He turned to Brophy. “Can we just get the hell out of here?”

Brophy shrugged as he held back a smile. He exchanged looks with Waters. Allison stood back
, not saying a word. Matthew didn’t even look her way. He walked willingly out the door. In the hall, he turned back to Brophy.

“
Does this have to do with Cameron?” he asked earnestly. “Of course it does. I knew something was going on. What are you looking for? You can’t believe I would do anything to her.”

“
We are working off a couple of leads. Just need your insight,” Waters offered. “We’ll go into it as soon as we get to the station.”

Brophy wished all his suspects were as willing to talk. He couldn’t get Dr. Halliday to stop talking. He only hoped he kept it up once they got him in the room. Apparently they didn’t have much to worry about—Dr. Halliday never shut up.

“
Look, guys, I haven’t done anything. I know that her brother is being investigated. A couple of other detectives talked to me. I’m just confused,” he said. “Like I said before, I don’t have anything to hide. Tell me what you are looking for and if I can help, I will.”

Brophy shrugged
; he wasn’t going to argue with the guy if he wanted to help their case. “Okay, Dr. Halliday, if you want to help.”

Darren watched from behind the two-way mirror with Centrello, Dr. Levy, and Agent Dunn. Dr. Matthew Halliday was a confusing sort. He had offered up the pictures, admitted to having a key to Cameron’s apartment, and sat there, confident he was going to walk out the door.

“
I just want to get your story straight. Your mother received these pictures in the mail. You broke your engagement without looking at them. Didn’t talk with your fiancée. Then discovered they were fake and decided you wanted her back, even though in between you married someone else,” Waters stated. “Look, Dr. Halliday, this stuff is real good. I don’t think anyone could make this stuff up.”

“
Don’t laugh at me. You don’t know my mother. She never recognized I was engaged to Cameron. She was out to save me, in her opinion. You met her,” Matthew explained. He gestured his frustration with a wave of a hand. “You think I haven’t regretted every moment I let Cameron go? I have had no peace. I let my mother manipulate me. I don’t have any excuse. Look at those pictures. If you’re in love with someone, really in love… It cut right through me.”

Brophy nodded. The pictures were
, to say the least, compromising—if they had been Cameron. In honesty, glancing at them, at first he thought the same thing as Matthew had. He could understand how these pictures would upset a fiancé of a woman who made these pictures, one where a naked young woman lay in the missionary position, other disturbing pictures with other women, and a couple in bonds, dressed in leather. But a closer look, even with the naked eye—there was something wrong with the enhancements.