The Innocent Liar (18 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

“H
i, Sam.”

He pulled Fiona into a hug as Eli watched from the kitchen. He’d been doing nothing but watching her all morning—his eyes couldn’t seem to get enough of her. It had been a hard thing for him to tell her he was sorry. He
was
sorry, but putting himself in such a vulnerable position and having no idea if she would accept his apology had been terrifying. Having her back was the payoff, and it was the only thing he’d let himself think about on the long drive to Cooke City.

“Hey, Fiona. Can I come in? I know it’s early, but we need to talk.” It was odd hearing them together. He was her father. Eli still wasn’t sure he’d wrapped his head around it. He’d known Sam for most of his life, and he’d been completely in the dark about Brynn that entire time. Brynn. That was a name that suited her. It was classic in a way, subtle and simple, and she made that name sound incredible.

They were at once casual with each other, yet there was nothing parental in Sam’s approach to her and certainly nothing daughterly in her approach to him. It was strangely calming to Eli.

“Of course. We were expecting you. And…uh…he knows it’s Brynn.” She held the door open as Eli quickly grabbed his T-shirt off the back of the nearby couch and slipped it over his head. Sam eyed him with a small smile playing on his lips as Eli moved back to the kitchen and started coffee. “So…”

Sam nodded his head and smirked at her. Eli didn’t have a clue what was behind the smirk, but he watched them closely as he finished starting the coffee. “Someone’s talking. Feds aren’t telling me who, but someone on the inside. I would expect Lars’s accomplices to start falling soon, and the sooner they do, the sooner your charges will follow. It’s falling apart, and it’s only a matter of time.”

Sam shook his head in frustration for a moment and Eli could feel his brows knitted tightly together as he tried to decipher what the hell they were talking about.

“I lost Lars.”

Brynn’s face fell, but she shook it off supportively when she saw the disappointment on Sam’s face.

“He’s a sneaky little bastard,” Sam muttered, “but with someone on the inside talking, they’re all going to go down eventually. It’s no longer a question of whether the feds can make a case against all of them, it’s when.”

Sam caught the confused look on Eli’s face and then looked back at her. “Why do I feel like he doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about?”

Eli rolled his eyes.

“Because I’m not allowed to tell him anything, remember?” She smiled at him.

“Yet, you told him your name.”

“That’s all I’ve told him. It hasn’t gone over well either, by the way. He’s a control freak, you know that, right?”

Sam chuckled.

“Oh. Well…well done. I assumed you wouldn’t be able to keep your mouth shut once you started talking.”

She glared at Sam, shaking her head.

“Regardless, you’re sleeping with the man, he knows you’re
the
Brynn Kitritch who’s been missing from the Salt Lake City area…”

She started shaking her head then, and Sam suddenly stopped talking.

“Oh.” He studied her for a moment as Eli watched them both in amusement. “He didn’t know that part, I take it?”

Brynn shook her head in exasperation. “I thought you were good at this, Sam.”

“I am, but I didn’t expect you to start sleeping with him and complicating matters. He was supposed to be your boss, keep his mouth shut, and keep his hands to himself.”

“For the record, no one actually told me I had to keep my hands to myself. It wasn’t specified in the agreement.” Eli reached for the coffee mugs as he spoke, and he paused, looking back at them. “And I know you’re her father too by the way.”

“Oh, do you now? Then you know I should be kicking your ass for what you’re doing to my daughter.”

Eli chuckled as he returned to his agenda, leaving Brynn to stare at his backside. He knew damn well she was trying to figure out how he’d found out that Sam was her father.

“Well, with your permission, dearest, I’d like to give him the Cliff’s Notes version of this little debacle because I need you both to understand why it’s so important for you to keep staying off the radar.”

Sam’s usually sarcastic and nonchalant demeanor was suddenly serious, and Eli was now all ears. Information. It was something he was short on and had been since he’d met her, and he wasn’t going to be missing one second of this. Sam was still watching her, waiting for her to give the go ahead, and she nodded as Eli set coffee in front of them.

“It’s your story to tell. Would you prefer to have this conversation without me?” Sam cocked his head to the side. He was worried about this.

“No.” She answered quickly, and when she glanced at Eli as he sat across from her, her eyes moved away quickly again. She was nervous.

“Very well.” Sam placed a gentle hand on top of hers, and she stared at the tabletop. “I’m not going to fill in all the details, but here’s a general synopsis. Her husband, Lars Kitritch, is a crooked cop with four other crooked cops as friends. They drug run for the most part, straight from their evidence. Lars is vice, and while he’s got connections in internal affairs which have complicated things, most of his buddies are vice as well. They’ve been moving large amounts of cocaine across state lines, hence the feds interest in them. Lars also has a drug habit, they all do, and over the past couple years, they’ve started making some enemies.” Sam paused and Brynn finally looked up to meet Eli’s gaze.

“Lars is an asshole, and he abused Brynn.” Sam was suddenly studying Eli, refusing to look away until Eli met his eyes. Sam knew full well Eli knew a thing or two about abusive family, and Eli suspected he was subtly making a point of it. He wasn’t announcing it to Brynn, but he was certainly making sure Eli understood where she’d come from.

Eli was having a hard time just dealing with the heartbreaking notion of Brynn having to cope with that sort of hurt and fear.

“His abuse escalated gradually, the drug addiction and paranoia didn’t help matters, and it got pretty awful.” Sam’s jaw was suddenly tight.

Brynn’s focus had dropped to her lap. She wasn’t going to look up at Eli until she was good and ready to now.

“She was more or less being held captive by the time her mom called, pleading with me to find her. I broke down the door in the middle of the day, freed her, and she’s been on the run ever since.”

Eli couldn’t seem to look at anything but her. Regardless of the fact that she was still struggling to look up from her lap, he was powerless to look away.

“The timing was perfect. The feds were fishing for information, and when they brought Lars in for questioning, they likely didn’t have a whole lot to go on. They were really just digging for info, but it was enough. Thanks to the fact his wife had just gone missing and the fact he was paranoid about what damage she could do to him, he panicked, and he’s been hiding since that day. The agents have been trying to put together a case, but they’ve got four other men on the Salt Lake City police force they’re investigating too. And those are the ones causing Brynn the most headache. Those cops have bogus drug charges against her that they’re hoping will flesh her out. They have no idea if she’s ratting them out or not, and they want to make sure she stays silent. What I don’t want to see happen is her be arrested for something stupid like breaking a man’s nose.”

She finally looked up with a small, sheepish smile on her lips.

“I don’t trust they won’t try to get to her if she’s jailed in Salt Lake City. In fact, it’s exactly why there’s a warrant out for her arrest. They want to get to her. She needs to stay hidden until the feds bust this thing open. It’s only a matter of time in my opinion, but the more we can keep her hidden, the less chance their paranoia will have a chance to hurt her before they’re all behind bars.” Sam studied them both in equal measure.

“Why are these men still cops if they’re being investigated?”

“Because the feds aren’t ready to move on them, and as long as they’re staying put and behaving themselves, the feds would rather watch them and build their case. Salt Lake City P.D. isn’t even aware they’re being investigated. That’s just how it works. They’re more valuable to the feds the longer they stay out, keep fucking up, and leaving a trail for them to follow. Now, I’m thrilled you can defend yourself, but just why, out of curiosity, are you beating the shit out of men in bars?” Sam’s look of disappointed parent lost a little something when he shook his head with a small smile on his lips.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was quiet, and she started gnawing on the inside of her lip.

Eli stood then as they watched, and he reached for his cell phone, dialing as he walked to the window.

“Hi, detective. It’s Eli Hunter.” He didn’t want to talk to the man, but he was fishing for confirmation of what he was hoping had happened after he left town.

“Mr. Hunter.” The man’s voice was none too accommodating.

“You said to call if I heard from Fiona Finley, and I just wanted to let you know I had. She’s visiting a relative out of town, and she didn’t say when she’d be returning. I don’t run a very tight ship around the holidays I’m afraid, so she’s not really expected at work right away.”

“Well, it doesn’t much matter at this rate. The victim called late yesterday afternoon with a sudden bout of drunken amnesia. Doesn’t want any further follow up, and seeing as I have nothing at all to go on, I don’t expect there’s much need for me to speak to her.”

Eli looked up to see Brynn watching him curiously, and he winked at her. He may have been acting cool, but the relief was actually palpable. “Well, I can’t say I’m not glad to hear that. She’s a good administrative assistant, and I’d hate to lose her on account of this mess. Shall I have her call you when she returns to town, or is it even necessary at this point?”

“I’ll contact you if anything further comes up. At this time, I have no need to speak with her.”

“Thanks, detective.” Being nice to the man who’d just the day before rubbed him the wrong way by threatening Brynn was painful, but it was necessary if nothing else.

He disconnected quickly, and when he turned to face them, Sam was nodding. Brynn still seemed a bit confused. “Now how the hell’d you pull that off?” Sam started chuckling as he spoke.

“It’s easy to threaten a man with secrets he wants kept. Chris no longer wishes to pursue the role of victim, and the police have nothing to go on without him.”

Brynn smiled and exhaled a deep breath as Sam turned to her. But a question had been wiggling in Eli’s brain since Sam’s overview, and Eli couldn’t seem to work it out. “Why does Brynn not just got to the feds with information? I mean, she obviously has something, and if these four cops are a threat to her, why not just give them what they need to arrest them?”

Sam studied him for a moment. He was gauging his words carefully, and given the way Brynn was gnawing on the inside of her lips, this was something of a sensitive topic.

Sam piped up first. “We have reasons for wanting to keep Brynn’s involvement to a minimum or non-existent. First, she doesn’t have the information the feds need to bust open a multi-state drug ring that extends far outside of Salt Lake. That’s what the feds are investigating—not Brynn’s abuse. Second, there are other advantages to Brynn if we can keep her under the radar.”

“Like?”

Sam looked at Brynn, but she was busy studying her hands again. “We’re not going to discuss that. It’s personal to Brynn, but you need to trust that it’s important.”

Eli hated that answer. It was just another slap in the face to him, but he stifled it. He didn’t want to take any steps backward with her, and he knew that meant trusting what Sam was saying and accepting that he simply couldn’t know about it right now. He still hated it.

“Speaking of—” Sam spoke quietly as he looked at Brynn. He might not be hiding the conversation, but it was obvious it wasn’t a conversation that involved Eli. “—we may need—” Sam’s eyes flashed to Eli for a moment before returning to hers “—your evidence at some point—”

“No.” Her voice was flat, and she looked mortified as she glanced at Eli quickly. Her eyes kept glancing away from Eli as though there was something humiliating lurking under the surface of what they were talking about. He couldn’t begin to imagine, but he knew there was plenty more to say even if he didn’t know what it was. Maybe someday she’d trust him enough to confide in him. Hell, maybe someday he would trust her enough to do the same. “There has to be—”

“I’m just saying, if it comes to it, and that’s the only thing we have to bargain with to get those men off the street, then you have to be willing.”

She stood abruptly, walking to the kitchen as they watched her. Only one man who was looking at her at the moment had a clue what the hell they were talking about, and Eli didn’t like that it wasn’t him. What else was new? She refreshed her coffee, and it wasn’t until she set the pot down and turned slowly back to them that Sam opened his mouth again.

“Brynn—”

“I’m done talking about this. You said it yourself. The feds don’t want my evidence.”

“But Salt Lake might if the feds don’t act fast enough.”

“No! That’s the whole point to all of this, remember? To avoid that route.”

She looked nearly angry, but Eli knew it was far more than that. Anger was just what she felt on the surface. Something was buried under there that she wasn’t willing to deal with—at least not with Eli sitting there watching her so closely. That understanding actually hurt his feelings, but he also knew it shouldn’t. He was terrified for her to truly know his life. He was worried she wouldn’t understand, he was worried she’d judge, and all that worry meant he cared. The fact she was so terrified to let him see inside her own past meant the same thing. He knew her so well in that moment—her motivation, her fear, her humiliation. He just wished she understood that. Of course, until he was willing to be as open and honest about his own past as he wanted
her
to be, he couldn’t really expect much.

She stayed unmoving at the kitchen counter, barely willing to look at either of them. When Sam stood, he approached her, and he hugged her. “It’s going to be all right.”