LIES OF THE PHOENIX (A Lieutenant Cassidy Mystery Book 1) (12 page)

Sarah sensed his hesitancy and braced herself for more bad news. “Go ahead, tell me. I need to know what is going on.” After what she had already heard, she didn’t think it could get any worse.

Cassidy sat down across from Sarah and they locked eyes, “The L.A. police did a background check on the Lloyd Nash identity.” He stopped again, and then continued. “They found that Lloyd Nash has a wife in L.A. They were married four years ago. Her name is Amanda. She filed a missing persons report on him after he disappeared without a trace a few months ago—just before Jordan Lawrence surfaced here in Chicago.”

Sarah’s body posture stiffened, and she gripped the table until her knuckles turned white. Then in a calm and determined voice she said, “Jordan has a friend, Kyle Mason. He said they worked together in Los Angeles. Kyle keeps asking me if Jordan left me anything or sent me anything.” She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the call list. “I don’t know where he lives, but here is the last number that he called me from.”

“We will check him out,” Cassidy said. “The investigation team will be done collecting evidence at your townhouse tomorrow. You’ll have access, but given the two recent break-ins, I don’t think it would be wise for you stay there. Do you have someplace else?”

“I am staying at a friend’s house for now. That will be O.K. for a while.”

“Just let us know where you will be.” Cassidy’s voice took on a serious tone. “I also have to caution you to be on your guard. If these people haven’t found what they are looking for, they may think you know something. If you are contacted or you come across anything suspicious, I mean anything, I want to know immediately.”

Cassidy had nothing else to share and the meeting came to an end. He admonished her again to stay vigilant. She and Ben left.

After they were outside the building, away from the commotion of the station, Ben asked, “Are you alright? That was a lot to take in all at once.”

“I have been such a fool. I was worried sick about Jordan and what may have happened to him. I even thought maybe I did something to make him leave. Turns out, our marriage and everything else was just part of some diabolical scheme he concocted to escape his criminal cronies. It was all a sham!” The anger in her voice escalated as she spoke.

There was nothing Ben could say to make things better. He just allowed her to vent while he listened with a sympathetic ear, nodding agreement at appropriate intervals. She was mad, which was better than her being devastated and unable to function.

As they drove back to Ruth’s house, Ben listened as Sarah let her anger out. When she had finally exhausted the turmoil of emotions swirling inside her, Ben turned the conversation to something that was bothering him.

“Sarah, I don’t think it is a good idea for you to stay at Ruth’s house. The people that Cassidy told you about are a bad lot. Ruth has kids. You wouldn’t want to put them in danger.” Sarah was listening, but made no comment. Ben continued, “My apartment is ready. My furniture is arriving tomorrow. You could stay at my place. I have a guest room with a private bath so you’d have your privacy.”

Sarah sat there contemplating what Ben had just said. He was right. The last thing that she would ever want to do is put Ruth’s family in any danger. She didn’t want to place Ben in any danger either.

“I think you’re right, but I don’t want to be a burden to you either. My company keeps a furnished apartment downtown for visiting clients. No one’s scheduled to use it for the next month. That may be a better option for me.”

Ben hid his concern. He was worried about her safety and didn’t think she understood the seriousness of the threat. He wanted his trained eyes keeping watch, but he had to accept her decision—at least for tonight. “O.K., but my offer still stands.”

B
EN PULLED THE
car into Ruth’s driveway and parked. He collected Sarah’s bag from the trunk and they went into the house. Ruth was in the kitchen already bustling about preparing dinner. Brandon and Kaye heard them arrive and the two children came running from the family room squealing in excitement. Ruth allowed them to say hello, and then shooed them off to play.

Sarah looked at the homey family scene. It confirmed in her mind that Ben was right.
This is my problem. I couldn’t live with myself if any of it touched Ruth’s family.

“Hi, you two. Everything go O.K. with Lieutenant Cassidy?” Ruth knew nothing about the destruction at the townhouse or Lieutenant Cassidy’s revelations about Jordan.

“Well, about that. . .” Ben started. “There have been some developments.”

“O.K., just a second. Let me put a lid on this and turn the heat down.” She quickly set her pots to simmer, poured three cups of coffee, and carried them to the table. As she sat down she saw the strange look on Sarah’s face. She knew immediately things were not good. “What’s going on?”

Sarah took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Ruth everything that had happened at the townhouse and their meeting with Lieutenant Cassidy. When she was done, Sarah could see that Ruth was stunned by the enormity of the situation.

“Wow! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that! After she said it, she realized that she should be focusing on how this was affecting Sarah. “Sarah, there is no way you could have known this. He fooled us all. What’s important now is to keep you safe. No arguments, you are going to stay here with us until this is resolved,” Ruth said with authority.

Ben started to speak, but Sarah immediately took over in a calm determined voice. “No, Ruth, I won’t expose you and your family to any of this. I don’t know how bad these people are that Jordan, or Lloyd, or whatever his name is, is mixed up with.

After an hour of discussing every conceivable alternative, it was settled. Sarah would stay at her company’s downtown apartment for now. It was a safe building with a doorman and only a few people even knew that her company leased the apartment.

Ben knew that Sarah was not going to like what he had to say next. “You should take some time off from work. Regular scheduled activities like going to work make you too easy to find and track.”

“What? No! I am not going to hide out like a fugitive. I have a job and a life. The townhouse is unlivable right now, so I understand that. And I agree that Ruth and her family should be kept as far away from all this as possible, but I’m not going to just disappear. I don’t have anything to do with what Jordan did. No one will be interested in me,” Sarah countered.

“Sarah, if these people didn’t find what they were looking for, they’re going to start to look at everything and everyone associated with Jordan to find it. It’s not safe—”

Sarah cut him off, “Your police background is making you paranoid. I have nothing to do with this. I’ll be just fine. Ruth, do you want to help me pack up the rest of my things?”

Ruth nodded silently. She was torn between concern for Sarah and the sudden realization that if Sarah stayed, it might pose a threat to her family. They went to the guest room and Ruth busied herself uselessly straightening things up as Sarah packed the few clothes and personal items she had originally brought from the townhouse.

“Ruth, I just wanted to talk to you in private.” She placed the last items in her overnight bag and zipped it closed. Then she sat Ruth down on the bed and took a seat next to her. “Don’t worry about me. I was a fool about Jordan and I know that now. I’ll get through this.”

“I am always the one with a plan and advice, but this time I don’t know what to tell you,” An uncharacteristic note of uncertainty entered Ruth’s voice. “I want to help, but I don’t know what to do.”

“All I need you to do is be yourself. You’re my moral support and I need that now more than anything.”

Ruth smiled unconvinced.

“The police are on top of things. I’m confident they’ll sort all this out,” Sarah said trying to reassure her.

Ruth nodded dejectedly.

“And there’s Ben too,” Sarah added. “He understands all this police stuff and has been a big help already.” She said it to make Ruth feel more comfortable, but afterwards realized how thankful she was that he had been with her today.

Ruth’s troubled expression lightened. Ben’s background in law enforcement would certainly provide Sarah with the guidance that Ruth was at a loss to give. She sighed, “O.K. You know I am always here for you. I’ll do anything I can to help.”

“I know.” She gave Ruth a hug and the two of them returned to the kitchen where Ben was still sitting.

“Ben, could you drive me to my townhouse so I can pick up my car?”

“Uh, it might be good to wait on that for a while. The police are still all over your house collecting evidence.” What he really wanted to say was,
Are you crazy! You can’t go driving around by yourself
!
Instead he said, “Why don’t you let me drive you to your company’s apartment tonight after dinner?”

Ruth smiled in satisfaction. A plan was materializing. Not her plan, but a plan none the less. “I’ll have dinner ready in about a half hour. Why don’t you two go into the family room and relax. Send those two hoodlums of mine in here. They can help me make muffins.”

Sarah and Ben went into the family room. Brandon and Kaye were playing on the floor crashing toy cars into the leg of the coffee table. In one motion, Ben scooped them both into his arms and said, “Come on you two. Your mom wants some help cooking in the kitchen.” The children squealed with delight as Ben disappeared into the kitchen with his rowdy captives.

He reappeared a minute later and took a seat on the sofa next to Sarah, perhaps a little closer than a mere acquaintance should. He noticed, however, that Sarah did not move away. He had to admit, he found her attractive. It wasn’t just her looks, which were more than attractive. She was grounded and knew who she was. Considering all that she had been through the last couple of days, she was holding it together surprisingly well. In fact, he could see a determination emerging in her attitude. Revelations that would have devastated a lesser person were solidifying her resolve. Knowledge was control, and Sarah was in control.

He felt he needed to say something. “I’m sorry that things didn’t work out for you and Jordan.”

“His name isn’t Jordan.”

“I mean with your marriage and everything.” He knew he wasn’t handling this very well.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. We’re not married. We never were,” she said curtly.

“Uh, yes, well anyway, I’m sorry. I guess I should just shut up before I make things worse.”

Sarah’s face softened. She knew she had been sharp with him for no reason. He was just trying to be nice. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. I was venting and you got in the way. Sorry.”

“No problem. I have a thick skin. Feel free to vent away.”

A fleeting smile crossed her face and they both relaxed.

Sarah gave a long sigh releasing some of the tension that she had been holding in. “It really was too good to be true. Too perfect. Like a fairytale. He was acting. The happier he made me, the fewer questions I would ask. I fell for it all.”

“It’s not wrong to think the best about a person.” Ben was cautious with his comments. He had a lot of other opinions about the piece of trash that had taken advantage of Sarah’s good nature, but he didn’t want to burden her now with them as she was sorting out her own feelings.

“It’s painful, but I can live with the fact that I was stupid and naïve. Jordan was only in my life for a few months. I was O.K. before I met him, and I will be O.K. again. What I don’t understand, though, is why he did it?”

Ben hesitated for a second and then decided Sarah was ready to hear the answer to her question, “Sometimes hiding in plain sight is the most effective disguise. New identity, new city, new life. ”

“I sure made it easy for him. He was probably laughing at me the whole time.”

“You gave him instant credibility in a new community. Who’s going to be suspicious of a middle class newlywed with a lovely wife, a ready-made circle of friends, and a respectable, albeit fictitious, job?

Sarah stared across the room thinking about Ben’s words. “He was like the mythical phoenix bird that bursts into flames and disappears, then rises again from his ashes to live a whole new life. He vanished from his life as Lloyd Nash in L.A., and then suddenly reappeared in Chicago as Jordan Lawrence in a whole new life—only it was my life, my house, my friends, my bank accounts. God, I was stupid. Why didn’t I see it?

“Stop blaming yourself. He was running a con. At the time of the first break-in he knew his false identity cover had been blown, but he thought he took care of the problem when he killed Zykov. That proved not to be true. His Los Angeles associates found where he was hiding and he went on the run to get away. The question that we need to answer now is, what did Jordan have that they were willing to send a professional killer across the country to obtain?”

He used the word
we
and caught himself. He wanted to help, but he wasn’t sure how Sarah felt about him butting into her life. Sarah gave no indication she even noticed his choice of words.

She just leaned her head against his shoulder and said, “Yes, I agree with you. I’ve been going over everything and I am just drawing a blank on what it could be. I need to get back into my house and start looking for an answer.”

“Whoa! You can’t go back there! Not for a while at least.” Again, his words were more commanding than he meant them to be, but he wanted her to know it was a really bad idea.

She sat up and looked at him. “The police said I could go back there as soon as they finished collecting evidence.”

“Well, yes, as far as the crime scene is concerned. But someone may still be watching your place. It’s not safe.”

“I don’t plan on staying there! I just want to search through everything. I might find something that the police missed. After all, it’s my stuff and I’m the only one who knows what should or shouldn’t be there.”

He had to admit she was making a valid argument, but he didn’t like the idea at all. “How about this. When Cassidy gives the Crime Scene Unit all clear for your townhouse, I will take you over there. We’ll go in daylight and you can look around for an hour or so, but no more. It’s just too dangerous.”

Returning to the townhouse scared her, but she felt that she needed to go there in order to find answers. She accepted Ben’s offer immediately. She was beginning to appreciate his police sense. Maybe something would catch his eye that others had missed.

As they sat in the Ruth’s family room she started to feel uncomfortable. She shouldn’t stay here any longer than necessary. It was time for her to leave—for Ruth’s family’s sake.

“I think we should go,” she announced abruptly.

Ben was caught off guard. “O.K., but Ruth is expecting us to stay for dinner.”

“I’ll talk to her, she’ll understand.” Sarah got up from the couch and went to the kitchen.

* * * * *

Sarah had all her things packed and ready to go at the door. She said her goodbyes to Ruth and gave each of the kids a hug.

“I don’t like this at all.” Ruth said as she tried to coral Brandon and Kate away from the door. “You call me if you need anything. Better yet, just call me every couple of hours so I know you are all right.”

“I’ll be fine. I’m just trying to be extra cautious. You should be happy about that. Ben is taking me downtown and no one knows I will even be there so don’t worry. Things will calm down in a few days and everything will be back to normal.”

The anxiety on Ruth’s face still showed and nothing that Sarah said made her feel any better.

Despite Ruth’s misgivings, Sarah knew that leaving was the right thing to do. She couldn’t expose Ruth and her family to any danger. “O.K., I’d better get going. I’ll call you after I get settled in. Will that make you feel better?”

“No, but call me anyway,” Ruth said as she bit her lip.

As Sarah gave Ruth one more hug, Ben picked up the bags and headed to the car. Sarah followed him out. He loaded the bags into the trunk and then slid into the driver’s seat. They pulled out of the driveway and drove toward downtown. A black sedan that had been parked around the corner on a side street watched as they pulled away.