Sins That Haunt (3 page)

There were no seats in this part of the airport so he took the opportunity to keep them walking toward check-in.

“Then what?” she asked.

“Then they make contact with the big boys and convince them you were helping JJ and
you
were bringing in people open to larger, off-the-books profit sharing.”

“By people you mean you? You want whoever JJ was working for to think you're open to defrauding the IRS? How?”

“We're bringing something they want to the table. An overseas company to help hide their money.”

“It can't be that easy.”

“It's taken months of planning and has been anything
but
easy. Look, JJ was the one depositing their piece of the pie into different bank accounts. It took us a while to figure who those accounts belonged to. When we did, we brought JJ in and cut him a deal. He agreed to tell them he'd found an overseas business open to outside investors. JJ was our contact. Now we need you to take his place.”

She took a sip of coffee, eyeing him over the cup, then grimaced. “This stuff is disgusting.”

He sipped his. It wasn't that bad. “There's a better shop inside the terminal.”

Shannon dumped her cup into the nearest trash bin and went back to glaring at him. “Don't think I didn't notice where we're standing. You're lucky the airport is busy today. Then again, this is Vegas. All kinds of weird things happen and people think it's normal.”

She was never sexier than when she was threatening him. That was so wrong and yet . . . He couldn't imagine how judges managed to stay impartial with her as one of the attorneys. He took her arm and led her to a spot where they weren't surrounded by bustling travelers. “I'll give you everything you'll need once we're on the plane. You'll have information they're not aware of. It will appear as if your father treated you as a confidante.”

Shannon scoffed. “My father didn't trust anyone, including me.”

“You'll have to convince them otherwise.”

“How the hell do I do that?”

“Come on. You didn't become one of the best attorneys in Nevada without mastering the art of bullshit. You were great at it as a kid. I can only imagine now.” She'd fooled him, hadn't she? Made him believe she loved him.

“What exactly am I to convince them of?”

“The Keyeses? That everything is continuing on as normal. You'll tell them to stay in New England while you oversee things from Nevada. Then, once you leave, one of our agents will pretend to be you. We'll keep the money flowing until we're ready to arrest them and shut down that end of the operation. Once our people are in place, we won't bother you again.” She could wash her hands of him forever.

“So who's the bigger fish? This sounds like money laundering.”

“You don't need to worry about that. Once you get us that intro, your part is over.”

Shannon scowled. “Did it ever occur to you that if I didn't kill JJ, they did? Or one or both of the Keyeses?”

He would never put her in that kind of danger. “We're monitoring what the Keyeses are doing. At the time of JJ's death, they were under surveillance. And because of the way he died . . .”

“You said he was shot.”

“Yes,” he said, suddenly feeling awkward about revealing how JJ had died. Dickwad or not, the dude was her father.

“Are you going to make me drag it out of you?”

He'd lose this battle, so better to have her think he trusted her. “I said he was shot twice, once in the femoral artery.”

“The leg?”

“Yes, and a little higher.”

Shannon's eyes widened. “You think he screwed around with some woman? Crime of passion?”

He didn't know what women saw in him, but he had plenty around to do his bidding. “Maybe.”

“Well, if you're thinking that, it could easily be a scorned husband.”

“Either way we're ruling out his present business acquaintances.” He'd have been killed execution style if he'd made an enemy of those people. He glanced at his watch. He could flash his ID and fly them through security, but he doubted Shannon would appreciate it. “Look: I would never risk your life.”

“Oh, 'cause you think my dad is in league with the Boy Scouts?”

She was right, but they'd have her in and out of there before she was ever in any real danger. “Once we get our intro we'd no longer need you. The Keyeses know you by your father's surname, Lewis, and in a few weeks they'll be behind bars.” Which made him wonder if she'd changed her name to elude her father . . . or him. “When did you change your name?”

The question seemed to throw her and it took a few seconds for her answer. “I didn't. When I enrolled in university I got a copy of my birth certificate. Joyce is my mother's maiden name and the legal one she gave me. My father was listed as unknown. I don't know how she did it, but she got the schools in Tweedsmuir to enroll me as Lewis.”

Was it possible JJ wasn't her real father?

“I know what you're thinking, but on one of her more coherent days she told me she married my dad a year after I was born. He was going on trial for something, and as you know, a wife can't be compelled to testify against her husband.” She laughed. “Even their marriage was a con. But she swore he was the only man she ever
loved
,” she said, blinking her eyes. “Now can we get back to the issue at hand?”

“That introduction I keep talking about it, it's tomorrow. The team could try showing up alone, but we believe they'll get suspicious. JJ was supposed to contact them yesterday to confirm. By now they know something is up. We need you to be the go between. Tell the Keyeses you have everything lined up. Have them contact higher up and pass you the phone. With their support they might not get antsy about trusting you.”

“That's it? That's all you want?”

That was all the agency wanted. It was all he should want too. He nodded.

“Then you leave me alone?”

“Talk to the Keyeses. Convince them JJ brought you in. They're in a panic about tomorrow. JJ was the middleman, but they know enough not to upset these people. We suspect they'll be more than happy to relinquish the power. They were never more than foot soldiers. Without him they're a tad lost.” The pair weren't very bright. Which was why JJ used them even though he didn't appear to trust them.

Shannon seemed to consider his request, although he'd not given her much of a choice. To her it would sound exactly as he'd intended: a veiled threat. He hated himself for putting her through this. Regardless of what his team thought, Shannon was a good person. He'd seen her client list. But he knew she'd never, ever return to Tweedsmuir. Not of her own volition. She'd not only run away from him but something far worse—her shame.

“I'm in, I'm out?” she finally asked.

“In, out,” he confirmed.

Her complexion paled, a sign she'd acquiesced. He'd gotten what he wanted. So why wasn't he happier?

D
uring the five-hour flight Noah filled Shannon in on the finer details of their plan. What she didn't understand was why JJ had gotten involved with these people. He was the scourge of the earth, ready to steal a balloon from a crying baby if he had to. But his cons had, for the most part, been on a smaller scale. Send a kid to camp, fake charities, shit like that. The fewer people involved, the less likely to get caught. Big boats and fancy cars weren't his thing. JJ preferred luxury hotels, steak every night, high-priced hookers, and staying low on police radars. It was why he kept coming back to town. He'd never made enough to sustain his lifestyle. It had been her reason to help with his last con. It would have given him enough money to leave her alone and Shannon enough evidence to hold over his head should he dare return.

Noah handed her an envelope with a passport, a credit card, and a driver's license, in which her last name represented a life she'd left behind: Shannon Lewis. She gave the flight attendant her empty juice cup, then closed the tray and slipped the ID into her purse under the seat in front of her. “You used my real passport and driver's license picture,” she said, keeping her voice low so as not to be overheard. “My, my, what the federal government will do to get its man. Did you guys move on this the moment JJ was shot?” If they hadn't, they'd worked miracles in a very short time.

“We knew he'd been in contact with you.”

“And the credit card? Do the feds get to stamp their own?”

“Like I said earlier, buy anything you need” was all Noah said, which forced her to wonder what he wasn't saying.

She'd sworn never to be manipulated again and here she was, a pawn in someone else's game.

The feds had manufactured every detail of her supposed life in Nevada, her location the one truth JJ had confessed to the Keyeses. He'd told them where he'd found her. She didn't think for a minute he'd kept everything else quiet for her benefit. He didn't want anyone blackmailing his daughter but him. The Keyeses weren't very bright, but they could smell money. If JJ had told them she was a lawyer, guaranteed they'd be making a trip to Vegas asking her to bankroll their tables. But he hadn't.

Now she was an accountant who had access to people with money. Wouldn't Wendy laugh? Her friend—and her accountant—made a habit of pointing out Shannon's lack of mathematical skills. She only hoped no one asked her to fill out a spreadsheet because the only thing Shannon could spread was jam on toast. Even that she didn't do in her own kitchen, a room she barely set foot in. She reclined her seat, closed her eyes, and prayed she hadn't agreed to something she couldn't handle.

“Shannon?”

She peeled her eyes open, realizing she'd fallen asleep, her head resting on Noah's shoulder. “Oh, sorry.”

“It's fine. It reminded me of all the times you fell asleep watching television with me.”

“Yeah, not a good memory,” she said, trying to blink the cobwebs away. “You used to get mad.”

“The last thing a guy wants is for his girl to fall asleep when she's with him. Then, after I learned how shitty your life was at home, I was touched.”

She wanted to ask what the hell he was talking about, but that look on his face reminded her so much of when he'd first admitted he loved her that she was left speechless. Warmth she hadn't felt in years enveloped her chest, making it hard to breathe. No one except Noah had made her experience that kind of emotion.

“Can't fault a girl who trusts you enough to sleep in your arms,” he said, laughing, maybe a little embarrassed by the memory.

Besides Maggie, he was the only other person she did trust. She'd loved him with everything she had, but now was not the time to admit it. “Are we landing soon?”

“I think so. I have a car waiting at the airport. You'll drive out and meet up with the Keyeses. Here's your new cell.” He handed her a phone. “My number is programmed already. Remember, the house is bugged. Give them the story we went over. I arranged a room for you at Mrs. Toblestone's boardinghouse. If we're spotted together, don't worry. My parents joined my sister in San Diego shortly before I graduated from college, so no one in town knows I'm with the agency.”

The pilot announced their descent. She glanced out the window at the serene landscape, so different from Vegas and yet far more disconcerting. She was going back to a town she hated. “People know we dated. They'll talk.”

“Do you plan on letting anyone know you're in town?”

“No.” Not if she could help it.

“Then it shouldn't be a problem.” He pushed his seat upright and returned his attention to her. “When you're on the phone with these people, keep the Keyeses in the loop. You'll be doing more than JJ did with his flunkies. It will appear as if you trust them and they in turn should trust you. Allow them to hear the conversation. I can't expect that it will go exactly as we discussed, but I've given you enough alternatives to possible questions. Sound confident. Don't take no for an answer, and when all else fails—”

“Mention money. Lots and lots of money.”

He grinned. It brought her back to all the times it had been real, the times his beautiful smile had actually reached his gorgeous eyes. Unlike now. “You can do this. I know your record in court. Think of this like one of your cases.”

She patted her bra. “Technically, this is a case.” And she wasn't giving the twenty back.

“Think of the good you'll be doing,” he said.

Think of the redemption you'll have
, he didn't say. She could have told him to go fuck himself. She'd considered it. But truthfully, this
was
redemption. She couldn't make up for what she'd done; nothing could. She knew, because she'd tried. JJ was dead. If she could help put these people, the Keyeses included, in jail and prevent someone else from losing their life savings, then she had to go along with this crazy plan. She couldn't know for certain, but she doubted the FBI would really go public with what she'd done as a kid. That, however, didn't stop her from hating Noah for making her return to a town she'd sworn never to set foot in again and, worse, making her face what she'd done.

“This is bigger than anything you did with JJ,” he reminded her. “These are bad people you're helping put away.”

She nodded. Hadn't she been
bad people
once?

“We have the meeting JJ arranged. You'll have to tag along for that.”

“Then I can leave? It still sounds too easy.”

“Again, there is nothing easy—or cheap—about this. This has been months in the making. The advantage to you is, after this phase, JJ would no longer be needed. We set it up to take him and the Keyeses out of the picture.”

“You didn't trust them?” Wise on their part.

“We didn't want them to fuck it up. This is bigger than any of them know. Better to remove them from the equation. Your father was a peon compared to the guys pulling his strings.”

And yet that peon had managed to ruin countless lives, with her help.

“What else do I need to know?”

“You have everything you need. Remember, you're only dealing with us.”

There was something he wasn't telling her. Her ears plugged up then and she had a hard time hearing what he was saying. She'd forgotten to shove gum in her mouth and now a knife was driving its way into her ear canal. Not caring what it looked like, she tried to make herself yawn. It helped, but only a little. She grabbed a tissue from her purse, blocked her nose, and made like a blowfish. She sighed at the relief. Settling back in her seat, she tried to recall where they'd left off. There was nothing like having your head about to explode to make you forget.

By the time she remembered she wanted to ask what information he was keeping from her, seat belts started unclicking and people were standing. The aisles too full to corner him, she shelved her question for later.

Having only carry-on luggage, they made their way to car rental and picked up the keys to her car.

“Are you clear on what to say and do?” he asked.

“Yup.” Hesitant wasn't the same as afraid. She could handle the dumb and dumber version of Bonnie and Clyde. The only threat those two posed was their discovering where she lived and blackmailing her themselves. They were never violent. And as the two shared one brain, Shannon was fairly certain she could outsmart them.

“All right, then. I'll see you later tonight.” And with that, he headed off to his own car.

What the hell had she gotten herself in to? No, strike that; what had
he
gotten her in to? She got into the rental car and let out a long, heavy sigh. She could do this. And if she were lucky, no one in town would recognize her. Maggie's wedding had made the papers, but the only shots printed were the ones Maggie herself had given them. And while her own name had been included when the serial killer stalking Maggie had taken Shannon hostage, the media hadn't shown her picture.

She counted herself lucky. Unfortunately, it had come too late. JJ had found her vulnerable, not herself. William Wright, the sociopath who thought nothing of raping, then murdering his victims, had reduced her to the chicken-shit kid she'd once been. Maybe if she'd been honest with Maggie and admitted being tied to a chair and made to wait for your friend to arrive—and die—had been traumatizing, she wouldn't have let JJ get to her. She'd have told her so-called father she had a file on him and tit was for tat. If he went public with what she'd done, she'd have returned the favor and gone to the police.

She began her drive back to hell. This time JJ wouldn't be there. But Mrs. Polanski would. Shannon couldn't face the woman whose life she'd help ruin. She'd been sick to her stomach when JJ had told her he'd returned to Tweedsmuir. The asshole. Knowing the destruction his scam had left behind. The man truly had no morals. Maybe now that he was gone, truly gone, she could try to accept what she'd done.

Who was she kidding? Peace was for those who deserved it. She didn't.

She spent the rest of the drive going over what Noah wanted her to do. Dotting the Is, crossing the Ts, and focusing on the positives. She and Maggie had forged their friendship in that unforgiving town. And she'd fallen in love with a boy who was too good for her. Shannon flicked on the radio and scanned for a country station. Then she sat back and sang hokey songs, doing her best to forget where she was going . . . and who was making her go there.