Protecting Justice (The Justice Series Book 4) (13 page)

“Oh, Christ,” he said. “Honey, you have no idea.”

“Oh, yes I do. Tony Gerard, think about what I do. I’m not about to let you into my private life, let you stay in my hotel room, while I sleep, without checking you out. I know about the judge.”

Shit
. He sat back, propped his feet up on the coffee table. Mr. Casual. “Yeah. My protective streak failed—in a big way—that time.”

“He got out of the car after you told him not to. How is that a failure?”

“How do you know that?”

She shoved her hands in the pockets of the robe. “The Justice Team doesn’t have the only hacker in this country. One of my staff plucked some reports from the Supreme Court Police files.”

“Well, shit. You know it all?”

“I do. I know you tried to quit and they wouldn’t let you. I think that says something about you, no?”

Pity he didn’t need. Or want. He set his feet on the floor, straightened his laptop. “I don’t know what it says about me. All I know is a man I cared about is dead.” He looked over at her. “And I don’t want to talk about this.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“So, listen,” he said. “While you were getting your beauty sleep, I did some research.”

She wandered over to the sofa, sat down next to him and the faded scent of her perfume—something clean and airy—lingered. “Okay,” she said. “You don’t want to talk about it. I get it. But you saw my emotional nonsense yesterday so I owe you one.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate it. That you care. But I’m good.”

“Sure you are. Just like me.”

Two hot messes.

“Did you know your sister was on the Foreign Relations committee?”

“Actually, she was on a subcommittee. The subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women’s Issues.
”

“Wow. You remember all that?”

She bumped him with her shoulder. “When you’re reminded daily, by multiple people, you do. She was Miss Perfect, remember?”

“Jeez.”

“Ach.” She smacked herself on the head. “Did that sound as bad as I think it did? I swear, Tony Gerard, there’s something about you that makes me forget to filter.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“For someone who makes a career filtering messages? You bet it is.”

“Maybe you should give yourself a break once in a while. Me? I could give a shit about your lack of filter. I’d rather see you ditch the filter. You’re entitled. Especially now.” He turned sideways, tugged on a loose strand of her hair. “Shoving all that anger and hurt away will eat you alive.”

When did he become a shrink? God knew he had his own issues in that department, but this? No way should he be lecturing her on dealing with grief.

Her gaze was steady on his, her green eyes drilling into him and if he knew females at all, she was thinking. Analyzing him again like she’d done that first night. About something he’d said, dissecting it, breaking it down into smaller components she could arrange and rearrange.

All so she could pounce on it.

“What was it like losing your dad so young?”

Bingo.

He snorted. Women. “The usual.” She gave him a look like he’d opened his skull and dropped its contents in her lap. “I was a kid, Fallyn. What did I know about grieving? We buried him and we went back to school and sports and anything else my mom could think of. She kept us moving.”

“Which is why you know about shoving away anger and hurt. And now we add the judge to that.”

“We’re not talking about me.”

“What if I want to talk about you?”

“Oh, good luck with that,” he grinned at her and made a show of poking the mouse pad on his laptop. “Back to this. Your sister was on a Foreign Relations subcommittee. I find that interesting.”

“Why?”

“Not so much that she was on the committee, but the
Foreign Relations
committee—or a subcommittee of Foreign Relations. And then we find coded files regarding an international incident on her tablet. And, hello? Foreign Relations helps develop foreign policy. You don’t think a terrorist leader who died in a suspicious plane crash, and oh by the way, that plane was carrying passengers from six different countries, has anything to do with foreign policy? If you don’t think so, come join me in Neverland again where we can pontificate on what a peaceful world we’re living in.”

Fallyn stood, set her hands on her hips, and paced in front of him. “I see your point, but maybe her committee was quietly looking into it, trying to determine if it was an accident or terrorism? I’d expect that.”

“As would I. Except we think your sister was mur—” He stopped. Caught himself and sat back.

“My sister was murdered. You can say it. We’re trying to figure this out. Mincing words won’t help. My sister was murdered and someone tried to steal her tablet.”

“Yes. The data on the plane crash can’t be a coincidence. Can’t be. What I don’t know is how we find out. That’s your area. Who do we ask?”

She stopped pacing and bit her bottom lip. “Jordan. Or Carl. Between them, Heather may have confided in them. Or Carl, with his State Department contacts might have heard something.”

* * *

The blueberry scone Tony bought her at the food truck three blocks from the townhouse was quite seriously the best one she’d ever had. The coffee was a smoky dark roast she loved too. Who knew that little hidden gem of a food truck could give her favorite NYC coffee shop a run for its money any day?

She was laughing at a story he was telling about his sisters as he unlocked the townhouse door—he always had to go first and ‘clear’ the place—and stepped across the threshold.

“You’ve got a little…” Tony said, pointing to the corner of her bottom lip. “Blueberry right there.”

She licked her lips, his gaze tracking her tongue, and she felt a pulse of heat erupt between her legs. “Did I get it?”

“No.” Their eyes locked, and a second later, he touched her, gently rubbing his thumb across her lip. His fingers grazed her jawbone and he let them linger on her skin. “There. All gone. Stay put so I can make sure we’re alone.”

But he didn’t take his hand away. Didn’t move to clear the townhouse.

Fallyn didn’t pull back. What was this man doing to her? He was brassy and pushy and always touching her.

She should run. Now.

He was also smart and funny and drop dead sexy. If she weren’t feeling so downright horny every time he looked at her, she’d definitely make him a job offer.

She
was
feeling horny, however, and on the heels of that thought came a wash of guilt. Here she was, standing in her dead sister’s house and thinking about jumping this man’s bones.

Disgusting. Get a grip, Fal
.

She couldn’t look away, though. His eyes held her in their grip. His fingers caressed her cheekbone.

“Oh, hey, guys!”

The woman’s voice made them jump apart and Fallyn whirled to find Jordan coming down the stairs. “Jordan. What are you doing here?”

“Cleaning up.” She hit the bottom stair and waved a cleaning rag around at the living room. “It was a disaster and I knew you were having a hard time dealing with all of this, so I thought I’d help out and get the place back in order. I cleared my calendar this morning and had hoped to be done before you came back to sort through the rest of Heather’s things. I was just about to start upstairs. It was going to be a surprise.”

She gave Fallyn a sad face, but then smiled, her gaze bopping over to Tony, then back to Fallyn. “Are you feeling better?” she asked, voice switching from
shoot, you caught me
to a concerned mother hen. “The other day you were a little…you know…?”

“Crazy?” Fallyn said as Tony closed the door behind them.

Jordan smiled. “I was going to say
overwhelmed
.”

Fallyn had not felt overwhelmed. Pissed off, yes. Freaked out a bit, definitely. Sad as hell, you bet. But not overwhelmed. Finding out Heather had a heart problem, and then discovering she had a large amount of a drug in her system that could cause a heart attack had sent her reeling, but she handled crises on a daily basis in her career. The more the better because she thrived on it. It made the blood in her veins sing. She didn’t do ‘overwhelmed.’

“I’m fine. Thanks for asking. How about you? Did you get any sleep last night?”

Jordan went on about her workload and all the reporters calling her. Fallyn let her talk and nodded at the appropriate moments, but her mind kept wandering back to Tony.

He took the plastic coffee cup from her hand and helped her off with her coat while Jordan talked. Such a gentleman. She didn’t get that in New York. Not that she’d ever really wanted it. Any guy who acted like she needed him was shown the door. With Tony, it felt different. He respected her and his show of manners wasn’t about making her feel inferior.

The couch and chairs were back in their rightful places; the bookshelves were once more neat and tidy.

“The place looks picture perfect, Jordan. Just the way Heather liked it.”

Jordan’s smile showed a lot of teeth and a certain pride. Her thoughtfulness, at least in regard to Heather, was another thing you didn’t find much in the hustle and bustle of New York City. “I’ve terminated Heather’s cell phone contract and caught up on the bills. Did you figure out the passcode for that tablet? I have some ideas about what Heather might have used.”

“I figured it out, thanks. There was nothing on it but some copies of receipts and stuff.” Fallyn accepted her cup back from Tony and took a sip. “Actually, Jordan, I’m glad you’re here for another reason. I was going to call you this morning with some questions about the subcommittee Heather was on.”

“The Senate Foreign Relations?”

Fallyn nodded. “Do you know what they were investigating when Heather died?”

Jordan gave her a funny look and wadded the cleaning cloth in her hands.
Code Red, everybody. Fallyn’s riding the crazy train again.

“What
weren’t
they investigating?” the young woman asked with a chuckle. “The Foreign Relations subcommittee deals with transnational crime, human trafficking, global narcotics, human rights, you name it. Heather loved it because they worked on global women’s health issues. My dad said they’re really going to miss her.”

“They also investigate terrorism, correct?”

“They oversee matters relating to terrorism in the Western Hemisphere, yes. Why?”

“Were they investigating the CanAir disappearance by chance?”

A frown crossed Jordan’s face. Tony leaned on the doorframe—did the man ever stand up?—and Jordan glanced at him with that funny look on her face.
Help me
, it said.
She’s gone round the bend.

“Of course they looked into it,” Jordan said. “It’s standard protocol since it fell in their jurisdiction, but all they did was an overview. The president and the CIA ruled it as an act of terrorism by Abdul-Nasser Nazari three weeks ago.”

“So there was no real investigation by the subcommittee?”

“Why would there be?”

Fallyn mentally sighed and reached for the never-ending supply of patience she used with clients. “The plane went down near the Gulf of Mexico with a terrorist on board that carried people from half a dozen different countries. I’d say that falls in the Foreign Relations subcommittee’s wheelhouse.”

“The plane didn’t originate in the U.S.”

“It was carrying five U.S. citizens and Nazari is on Homeland’s most wanted list.”

Jordan shrugged. “They reviewed the case, that’s all I can tell you. I type up Heather’s notes from the subcommittee meetings—you know how she did everything in longhand—and I remember a notation that the committee reviewed the case and agreed with the CIA findings. Case closed. There was nothing to investigate. No plane, no eyewitnesses, no nothing. Why is this so important to you?”

Because I am, indeed, a little crazy.
“Just something I was thinking about. The CanAir disappearance was such a big deal there for a while, and I never got to ask Heather about it. You know, if she had any thoughts about what might have really happened to that plane.”

“A terrorist took it over and killed a bunch of people.” Jordan glanced at her watch and tossed the cleaning cloth onto the coffee table. “Jeez, time has gotten away from me. I better get going. There are a lot of details to wrap up at the office.”

So the cleared calendar had suddenly filled up? Fallyn smiled at her. “I also need to ask about that bill she vetoed last year. The one that brought on all the bad press. She received death threats from that, didn’t she?”

“The FBI investigated all of them and none were credible.” Jordan brushed by her and grabbed her coat from the tiny coat closet. “And by the way, I got into quite a bit of trouble over you two barging into her office the other day. Heather, like every senator, dealt with sensitive government and military information.”

Behind her back, Tony rolled his eyes. Fallyn fought hard not to grin. “Sorry about that, but I needed to see what she had for prescriptions.”

“Did you find that drug you were talking about in any of her things?”