Shadows of Doubt (13 page)

A vague bell started to go off in Max’s head. “I am sure he must have but I simply don’t recall the tales of a Detective McAllister from our Joe.”

Shevaun continued to smile brightly although a faint flash of sorrow seemed to wash over her briefly. “Oh no, Tallulah kept her birth father’s last name, Donovan. Though he passed away, God rest his soul, when she was only two. Joe has been her father ever since.”

Frank imagined it took ever fiber of Max’s being to keep his face impassive. He knew because it was taking every fiber of his own not to bounce up and down like Abby would have if she were there, watching their brilliant plan unfold so perfectly.

Despite being dumbstruck, Max was able to keep his composure. “Detective Tallulah Donovan. Now that has a ring to it doesn’t it?”

With a melodious trill, Shevaun laughed at Max. “Do not ever let her hear you call her that. Only her uncle and I are allowed to call her by her given name. She goes strictly by ‘Lou’ anymore. A shortened version of her middle name, Louelle.”

These were the little things that Max had so wanted to learn about his detective. This was a most auspicious evening after all. Meeting her mother who was all too willing to brag and impart little personal tidbits about the woman who had slammed him like an eighteen-wheeler.

By the end of the meeting, Frank had all the necessary paperwork signed and thanks to the use of the Gould’s fax machine, was able to get copies off to all relevant parties in order to have the property secured by no later than noon the next day. Max and Frank were the new darlings of the community and Shevaun had insisted that Max join Joe and her for dinner at their country club the following evening. Max had desperately wanted to ask if her daughter would be joining them, but he managed to show a modicum of restraint and didn’t. Once a toast had been made to the new neighbors, and all proper farewells had concluded, Frank and Max were able to head back to the hotel.

“How did we miss that Donovan was Joe McAllister’s daughter?” Max demanded of Frank.

Frank bit his lip and continued to drive and only once his cool had returned did he respond. “It had to be the fact that she has a different last name. I didn’t look at her residential information yet. That’s all in the details file I was compiling before we had to leave for this meeting. I know we knew, it’s on record somewhere. We have details on everyone but there are volumes so it’s hard to remember them all. I thought securing properties for residence and the business front took priority over the cop?” Frank couldn’t resist touching that nerve.

If Max squirmed, he did it on the inside. “Absolutely, but I expect you to be mindful of all operations at all times.”

Frank took his lump, knowing damn well Max gave it only to cover his own guilty conscience.

“Do we have a front property for the firm’s annex yet?” Max skillfully shifted the focus now.

“Abby has that in the bag. Got a historic old bookstore near the design center in West Hollywood. Its going to take some retrofitting and such but once we offered them the ground floor at a peanut lease, they jumped on it. Oh, and we had to stipulate to keeping the garden and some ficus tree.”

Max gave Frank an odd look. “A ficus tree?”

“Yeah, its a new-agey place that’s been there since the 1970’s. Has a huge following. One of our local trainers has strong ties there so it really works as a great front diversion.” Frank was so proud of how well things were coming together on the West Coast. Once the dust had settled and Frank was able to hammer him over everything, he knew Max was going to be proud too.

“Hanna stays in D.C.” Max was finally focusing on matters that were seriously in need of resolving. “She runs that office far too well and I can trust her to be even more ruthless with it in my absence.”

“So you’re planning on making this coast your primary?” Frank feigned surprise.

“Its far more volatile out here. I should have discussed this with you, I know you have a life back there.” It occurred to Max that he hadn’t considered anyone else but himself since he became obsessed with Lou Donovan.

“Yeah, I do.” Admittedly, Frank was milking it a little. “However my life is yours, my Dom. I am where you are always, you know that.”

Max looked at Frank thoughtfully. “I do know that.”

“I am sick to death of the snow anyway, so this works out just fine with me.” Frank turned to smile at Max briefly then turned his attention back to the road.

“Do you think the others will be as amenable? Picking up and taking off just like that?” Even though it was the wisest thing to do, it still was not lost on Max that it was a substantial uprooting.

“My Dom, it’s what is right and best for the Sanguinostri. That makes it a no-brainer.” On so many levels Frank was absolutely right.

They looked like
those sea lions that hauled themselves up on the rocks at the beach. Lou knew she felt like one and really wished she hadn’t had that second piece of cake. Maybe she should have just chewed it then spit it out and she wouldn’t feel like she was going to burst at the seams.

“Dear God in heaven, the pain.” Caroline gurgled.

“I think my stomach is so full that it’s shoved my liver into my sinuses.” Vinny informed them. “I smell the glass of wine I had last night.”

“That is so lovely, Vinny.” They all turned their heads to the sound of Shevaun’s voice. “I think all our days are a little brighter having been given that information.”

Caroline snorted but winced immediately after. “Ow!” It hurts to laugh.”

“It hurts to breathe.” Lou said while trying to sit up so she could shove the last piece of cake over towards her mother. “So how did it go? Did you scare the mean old developer away?”

Shevaun smiled at her daughter as she picked up the plate, then sat down next to Vinny, being sure to give the cushion a little extra bounce so that he grumbled in pain. “Well it would appear that I panicked without good reason.”

“So he’s not buying?” Lou allowed herself to fall over on her side making no effort to straighten up.

Her mother carefully selected which side of the cake to start from. “Oh no, he’s buying. Probably bought by now.”

Lou shot straight up, despite the pain it caused. “What?!”

Shevaun refused to answer with her mouth full and smiled gently as she continued to chew.

“Mother! Hurry up and swallow and tell me what the hell happened!”

“Hey!” Vinny tried to sit up, he really did, but his belly was in the way. “Don’t shout at your mother like that!”

Lou scowled at him. “She’s dragging it out on purpose to get me all riled. You know how I hate it when she does that.”

Vinny and Caroline both nodded and muttered. They knew Lou’s mother made a hobby of getting Lou riled just for fun.

Shevaun finally swallowed and grinned. “Okay! Well, it seems the man is a long time associate of Joe’s! He is only planning on building on one of the lots, the rest will be landscaped in keeping with the natural surroundings. Its really going to be very lovely. I’m excited about it now.”

Lou grumbled. “How do we know he’s not going to build some monstrosity or a log cabin?”

Her mother laughed out loud as she forked another bite of cake. “Oh he is so definitely not a log cabin man.”

“Oh?” The tone of Shevaun’s voice definitely got Caroline’s attention. “What kind of man is he then? Hmm?”

Lou’s mother laughed, then took one last bite of her cake before she started gathering all the dishes. “He’s not enough of a bad boy for you, Caroline. I think his aide would be more your type though.”

“His aide? What’s that, like a secretary?” Caroline got up to help Shevaun with the dishes and get more of a scoop on the new men in the neighborhood.

“Oh sweetheart, I double dog dare you to call him a secretary to his face!” Shevaun laughed at herself. “They both are lovely, very refined men but the aide definitely has a mischievous side to him. I got the distinct impression that he is a bit of a bad boy, though well mannered. Impeccable manners now that I think of it.”

“Well that’s a rarity in L.A.” Caroline scoffed. “That’s one thing I do miss about Savannah, Suth’n gentlemen.” She exaggerated her drawl.

“Well I am going to take these to the kitchen and catch a catnap before Joe gets home. Sweet dreams everyone. Give Vera a kiss for me, Vinny.” Shevaun blew a kiss to everyone, then took her leave.

“Night Momma.” Lou shouted after her. “Okay, kiddies. What are we going to do about these cases?”

Vinny blew out a breath and struggled to put on his shoes. “Not sure there is much we can do. None of them are ours so we can try and work them under the radar until we come up with something solid.”

“That’s three bodies in four months.” Lou pointed out. “Two of which were killed within a week of each other. This guy is escalating and no one is cluing in to this except us.”

“They may catch on.” Vinny shrugged.

“Well you guys are officially screwed with these going to LAPD. Not like you can go plop down at their desks and peruse their files. Me, on the other hand...” Caroline flashed a cheesy smile. “Its perfectly normal for me to be roaming around. Plus Carpesh and I get along pretty well so I can snoop, bat my eyelashes and see what I can get.”

Lou looked at her slyly. “You think you can get something more off that keratin thing?”

“You bet you’re ass I’m going to try!” Caroline looked over at the grandfather clock. “I should probably hit the hay so I can get in before Carpesh and dig.”

“Oh geez!” Vinny looked at the time and sprang up so fast it scared Lou. “I am so late, Vera is gonna beat me senseless.”

Lou rolled her eyes and relaxed. “If she was pissed she would have called here fifty times by now. You’re cell hasn’t even rung once.”

He ignored her and raced to grab his coat. “You don’t understand, she will guilt me over this for a week, at least. Don’t get up! I know the way out! Night, girls. I’ll pick ya up around eight, Lou.”

“Okay, drive carefully.” Lou waved lazily.

“Night Vinny!” Caroline shouted as he flew out the door. “Okay so now that he’s gone, whats the deal with some guy you saw when you were getting the file I left you?”

“Oh geez!” Lou folded her arms over her face.

“Don’t be like that! Vinny seemed concerned. He asked if there was some new fancy dressing admin then told me the story, sorta. So whats the deal?”

Lou sighed and then proceeded to recount every embarrassing detail, as she had with Vinny. Including the seeing or not seeing him at the crime scene earlier that morning.

“Well, shit...” Caroline began after Lou had finished. “We need to find out who the hell this guy is!”

Lou sat up and looked at her friend like she had two heads. “What the hell for?”

“What do you mean, what the hell for?” Now it appeared to be Lou who had two heads.

“Why would I want to know who this guy is?”

Caroline threw one of the pillows at Lou’s face. “Because he makes you a blathering idiot! That’s why!”

Lou threw the pillow back at her. “That is precisely why I do not want to find out who he is and forget it ever happened.”

“Lou...” Caroline scooted right up next to her friend and slung her arm over her shoulders. “I know you had that scarey crap happen what, eight years ago? Don’t answer that. I know that in all the time I have known you I have never seen you even bat an eyelash at a guy. Hell for a while there I thought you were gay and couldn’t come out!”

“What?!” Lou shoved Caroline’s arm off her shoulder.

“Oh come on! The point is, this guy made you’re toes curl, and not in a Gerard Butler sorta obvious way. You noticed the shoes first and everything else stacked up. I am a firm believer in Fate. If you saw this guy today, there is a reason your paths are crossing and we need to find out who he is.”

“Crap, I hate it when you do that.” Lou sulked and laid her head on Caroline’s shoulder. “But how the hell am I going to find out anything?”

“Shit, are you not a detective?” Caroline swatted at Lou and made her grin. “We just do it. Hey! I’ll tell security someone hit my car the day and time he was there and see if there is any security footage of him!”

Lou looked Caroline in the eye. “Damn, you should be the detective.”

The two women laughed then decided it was time to get to bed. Once they cleaned up the place and were heading upstairs, Lou stopped and turned to her friend.

“What happens if we find him?”

“Who? Yummy Morgue Guy or the rabid reindeer serial killer?”

Lou rolled her eyes and laughed. “Yummy Morgue Guy.”

“Well ya get married and live happily ever after, or so the books say.” Caroline scrunched her nose, pondering a moment. “How about we just find him first. From there, we do a full background check. Then you can ask me that question when it comes back spotless. Sound like a plan?”

Lou grinned. “Sounds like a damn solid plan.” She turned and resumed heading up the stairs, lucky to have such a good friend.

The first glimmer of dawn began to silhouette the mountains in the
east. Fading just the edges of the blackened night. Max had been sitting on the terrace in the icy darkness for hours trying to get his head on straight. It was better, but by no means perfect. He couldn’t wrap his head around why this woman had gotten under his skin. Things like this simply did not happen to him, affect him, faze him in the least. Yet here he was trying to put an absolute stranger of a woman out of his head so he could focus on the voluminous matters at hand. It was a bit easier to control now that he at least knew where she was, or at least where he could find her. Not that he intended to, that would be absurd. It was just having the option left open that made him feel more at ease. The real kicker, the one that had him unable to sleep, was how this woman kept flying in his path, literally from the moment he arrived in Los Angeles. First it was at the morgue, then at the latest crime scene. Now with Frank finding the perfect piece of property and it’s smack at this woman’s back door. The cherry of all cherries on top was that her stepfather was a long trusted ally of the Sanguinostri which meant she had been right under Max’s nose for all this time. If there was one thing Max had learned so very very long ago, it was that there was no such thing as coincidence. For whatever reason the Fates were weaving this woman into the fabric of his world and he would know why soon enough.

Now as the cloud-wrapped glow of dawn crept out, turning the black of night into the gray gloom of day, there was much work to be done and one serious pain in his ass to be rid of. This damned rogue had been plaguing their world for far too long now and it was time to get a fix on him and remove him from the face of the planet once and for all. His latest victim needed to be looked at carefully. Aside from the degree of torture being minimal compared to all his past victims, there was something different with this one, but Max couldn’t put his finger on it yet.

“You know what I love the most about L.A.?” Niko appeared out of the shadows and laid down in the chaise next to Max.

“No, what do you love the most?” Max smiled, glad his friend was finally there with him.

“I can pack my surfboard and my skis, hit the beach for some waves at dawn, then head up and watch the sun set from the slopes. That’s just sweet, bro.”

“Niko, you can pack your skis and your board on the jet and do the same thing anywhere in the world you like, right now.”

He gave Max a disapproving look. “Its not the same and you know it. Packing up the Jeep, heading out, disconnecting from everything for a solid day and hitting surf and snow in that same day. Loading up on crap coffee and snacks at the mini-mart. Its a real grounding thing. You gotta do it with me one day before the snow melts.”

“So does that mean you wouldn’t hate hanging here for a while?” Max knew Niko was making this easy for him. He appreciated it, but he needed to ask just the same.

“Hell no!” Niko chortled, snuggled into the chaise and closed his eyes. “Its dead of winter and here we are hanging outside. I mean it’s crisp and all, don’t get me wrong, but this is as bad as it gets for L.A. It sure as hell beats shoveling snow. Not that I’ve shoveled snow myself in ages, but you know what I mean. Besides, this is the only place in the world where it’s cool to be a freak.” They both chuckled, then were quiet a while, just taking in the calm before the storm.

Niko finally broke the silence. “So you think he’s escalating because he knows you’re here?”

“I’m thinking he escalated to get me here. He’s been under a long time. He has patience and he’s smart. He’ll let me know one way or the other and it will be soon. I have a feeling there will be something with this last woman. Something that I better damn well not miss this time.” Max reached for the phone and dialed room service. “You want coffee?”

Niko pulled out a small antique silver case from his coat pocket and retrieved a slender black and gold cigarette from within. “Coffee wouldn’t suck.” He lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply while Max finished ordering, then hung up the phone. “Abby has everything in order back east. She’s like a bloody machine with her efficiency. You going to want to bring bodies over for the annex here or hire fresh?”

Max had managed to consider that over the past several hours. “Given this is an entertainment town rather than political, I’m going to have Hanna research some top talent for that genre. Then we’ll need to see who’s recruitable. I think Frank’s renting some office space in Century City until the new building is finished.”

“How are we going to handle putting a new Council together for D.C.?” Niko took another long draw from the cigarette.

“I want each of you to pick two possible choices. Either from your own team or from one of the subs. Ultimately it will be up to me to pick, but we’ll work them out together here while we are reorganizing. See how the dynamic goes. We’ll use the alternates here for local enforcement. This place is a fucking mess and it’s my fault for not doing this a long time ago.” Max accepted he had failed. All fifty states were his responsibility but he had gotten lax over the years with California. He had faith that his local agents were doing what he had entrusted them to do, accepting reports at face value. He knew better now. Max was going to have to spend some serious live and in person time making sure people were doing exactly what they were being paid very well to do.

“You want me to hang back in D.C. and make sure things get settled the way you want them to?”

That was something else Max had considered carefully. “I think I need you here Niko. Finn likes the crap on the hill so I think I’ll have him hang there and supervise the transitions.”

“You know this is gonna scare the crap out of the Canadian offices. They are going to tighten thing up so hard on their own so that not a hair is out of place. Those guys would spontaneously combust if they thought even one pencil was out of place for you.” The two men chuckled at the thought.

“Yeah, well we have good people up there. Plus each of us making rounds up there regularly makes them keep things tight. Its a point of pride with them that things are run like clockwork.” Max appreciated the Canadian Provinces being straight laced and old world minded. Most of the agents up north came from first generation stock and had been raised to the highest standards of the Sanguinostri. He wished he could poach a few of them to fill spots back in D.C.

“So you ever going to fill me in on what’s going on with you? I know its more than this rogue business and the free-for-all out here.” Niko looked at Max and studied him carefully. They had known each other for far too long and Niko could see what no others could in his eyes.

“How about I get back to you on that when I figure it out?” Max didn’t even attempt to lie.

Niko crushed his cigarette out in the large stone ashtray that sat on the table between them. “Fair enough, but I know something is weighing on your gut, so don’t take too long to figure it out. Bad for business.” He hauled himself up off the chaise and stretched out a bit. “Mind if I grab a shower in your room before coffee gets here? I took the red-eye coach so Abby could come in on the jet this morning. The guy next to me fell asleep and used my shoulder as a pillow. I think he drooled on me.”

Max laughed out loud at the image of his hulk of a friend wedged into a coach seat with some strange man dribbling on his shoulder. “Of course! That’s classic though. Why didn’t you thump the guy and move his head off ?”

Niko shrugged. “He was flying in because his wife went into labor early. Figured it would be the last sleep the guy got for about eighteen years so what the hell. I’m getting soft in my old age I guess. I’ll be back in a few.” Niko disappeared into the suite to get cleaned up, leaving Max to ponder what the hell he would say to him about the detective if he had to say anything at all. There really was nothing to say other than perhaps he was behaving a tad like an adolescent psycho stalker.

Max had a grip on himself now, or at least he would keep telling himself that. Things would take on a new dimension now because of his relationship with Joe McAllister, and now the one he was establishing with the detective’s mother. It was easy to see the resemblance between Shevaun and his detective once he discovered the kinship. Shevaun had that same fiery tenacity that he had observed in her daughter. Both carried petite frames, although neither of the women were waifish or frail. They were strong, fierce and undeniably female in their small packages. Shevaun was nobody’s fool, that was clear from the start and it was only the miraculous stroke of luck that she was the wife of Joe McAllister that had given Max half a shot at getting in the door with her. Fortunately he had seen that opening and it had actually worked.

He had known Joe McAllister for ages and liked the man very much. The McAllister family had been extremely valuable, loyal and diligent stewards of the Sanguinostri for generations. Max needed to make sure they had been properly rewarded for that through the years and if not, it would be an excellent opportunity for him to start taking care of that at dinner later that evening.

“If you want your coffee, you come and get it. It’s too bloody cold out there. It’ll freeze, or I’ll freeze before I make it to the table.” Frank yelled at Max from inside the suite, the door opened only enough for his mouth to fit.

Max rolled his eyes and checked his watch as he got up. It would be another half hour before the sun was actually up so he had a bit more time to relax and enjoy his coffee before the day got rolling.

When he stepped inside he was taken aback by all the bags piled at the entrance to the suite. Frank emerged from his room carrying more bags and sat them on the existing pile with a huff.

“What the hell?” Max looked at Frank as though he were insane. “What’s all this?”

Frank plopped in a chair and retrieved his coffee from the tray on the table. “I’m moving across the hall with Abigail and Niko is parking it in here.”

“Why? Why doesn’t Niko bunk with Abby and you stay put where you are?” Max was clearly puzzled.

“Yeah man, that doesn’t make any sense.” Niko emerged from Max’s room toweling his hair dry and wearing nothing but a pair of well-worn jeans that he hadn’t managed to button up all the way. “I can bunk with Abby.”

Frank snickered. “Well thanks for adding the protection of your virtue to the list, Mr. Modest. Abby considers me her little brother so there’s no worry of her attacking me like she would you. Especially if she got a load of you like that.” Max looked just as Niko looked down at himself.

“Okay, point taken.” Niko said as he finished buttoning up his jeans.

“Then there is the practicality of it” Frank added. “You two can talk war all night like you usually do while Abby and I can deal with the administrative minutia that has to get handled, and fast.” He sipped from his cup and looked at the two men, hoping they were buying his story. “Maid is coming in any second to clean up the room so you’ll be good to go within the hour.

Max wasn’t entirely sure this was the best set up. “What if I need to toss things at you on a moment’s notice like I have been?”

“I am just across the hall and that’s primarily for sleeping purposes. I’ll be hanging in here most of the time and we’ll probably just prop the doors open since we have the whole floor to ourselves anyway. The other two suites are already blocked for us for when Connor, Finn and Yuri arrive.”

“Alright. Actually that is a good thing. We can put guards at the elevator to secure the whole level and just prop our doors open.” Niko felt better about the arrangement now.

“It’s only a temporary set up” Abby said as she stormed through the door with two bellmen at her heels and another dragging a fully loaded luggage cart behind them. She pointed to the door across the hall. “Over there, and haul all this crap in there too, please.” Peeling her gloves off she walked to each of the three men and offered each a cheek. They each gave the customary kiss without hesitation, then she went straight for the coffee tray where Frank had already started to pour her a cup. “Good morning boys. Glad to see you are all up and at it since it’s nine in the morning to me with that stupid time zone crap.” She took the cup that Frank had prepared for her and drank deeply as she scanned her surroundings. She walked across the hall to the now open suite and barked a few orders to the bellmen then returned to Max’s suite. “Okay, so what do I need to know that I don’t already?” She asked while she sat down in the soft pewter couch and studied the three men. Her gaze paused to look at the shirtless Niko and give him a once over with her salacious gaze.

“See!” Frank snorted.

Niko immediately went and dug a t-shirt out of his duffel bag and pulled it on. Max only chuckled.

“Oh get over it! Abby swatted a hand through the air. “You all know I am what I am, so get over it already. Besides, its too early and I need way more coffee than this to actually be a threat to any male species. Now answer my question.”