Fighting for Hailey, page 18
Jesse shrugged and then half nodded because he wasn’t sure what the hell they were. He knew what he wanted, and she’d said she wouldn’t run again. But that didn’t mean they were together.
Chapter 33
—Don’t judge me because I’m quiet. No one plans a murder out loud.—
“Ah, the perp walk.” Cash grinned as he kicked his feet up on the ottoman in Jesse’s living room.
Hailey nodded in approval at the television even as she worked on her laptop. Senator Silva was in cuffs and being walked into the police station while reporters shouted questions at him. The man was keeping his head down, not saying a single word.
Easton was safe, but there were still loose ends they needed to tie up. Silva’s fixer, Adam Berch, was still in the wind. So Hailey wasn’t stopping until she’d gotten all the answers and was certain Easton was truly safe. When her phone rang, she slid in her Bluetooth. “Hey.”
“You guys good?” Skye asked. “I know you weren’t arrested but wanted to check in.”
“Yeah.” Hailey moved her laptop to the coffee table and stood, heading to the kitchen for some privacy. She wasn’t sure where the others were, but saw Jesse’s phone on the countertop. “Hazel is suuper pissed at us.”
“Oh, I know. I already got a call, and so did Leighton.” Leighton, another founder of Redemption Harbor Consulting, had served with Hazel and was one of her best friends—had been in her wedding as the “best person.” “She’ll get over it, but it won’t be today. So what are your plans?” Skye asked.
“Ah, I’m going to stay in DC for a little while longer. We’ve still got some shit to tie up anyway.” Like why Easton had all those addresses on his hidden laptop. She still needed to question him about that, but hadn’t wanted to overwhelm him at the hospital.
“I figured. Colt and I are going to hang tight for a couple days, so call me if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” After they disconnected, she let her head roll back, shoved out a sigh. She needed to go find Easton and talk to him. Hell, she needed to find Jesse too. They’d disappeared earlier… Frowning, she glanced at his phone on the countertop when it buzzed with an incoming text.
His screen was locked, but his was like hers and the message popped up anyway before disappearing. But not before she’d read most of the message from a woman named Emily.
It was great to see you in Seattle. Let’s set something up soon. We can meet at that little B&B in Virginia? The message was followed by drinks and a winky face emoji.
Huh. Nausea immediately swelled inside Hailey, but she pushed away from the island top. That was so not her business, even if the thought of Jesse with other women made her feel sick. But what the hell did she expect?
Feeling untethered, she headed back to the living room and found Jesse and Easton in there now with Cash.
“How are you doing?” she asked Easton, who’d settled on the love seat, his legs stretched out.
Jesse sat next to her on the larger couch, his leg lining up with hers as he slid an arm around her shoulders.
Easton half smiled. “Good, I swear, so you can stop asking me that.”
“No promises… Do you feel up to answering some questions?”
He nodded. “Sure. Fair warning, Special Agent Blake just called and wants to talk to me again.”
Yeah, Hailey had figured that was coming soon, especially now that the senator had been arrested. “When you were taken, we found a laptop in your condo.”
He gave a ghost of a smile. “I thought that was a good hiding place.”
“It was. We just know you. We were able to crack the encryption and ended up finding a bunch of addresses. We visited some of them, and they’re all just empty buildings.”
Easton blinked in surprise. “Well, you got further than I did in my investigation. I actually thought that was the reason I’d been kidnapped at first. A friend of mine from college, who now works for Innovative Labs, contacted me privately. In person,” he added. “They were worried something odd was going on, but didn’t think they could trust anyone at work, and rightfully so. She didn’t even want to use the phone or leave any sort of electronic trail. Since she knew I’d turned down a job offer from Innovative and trusted me, she reached out. So…what’s the deal with the addresses? Are they being used for money laundering? Because that’s what my friend was worried about, and I’d only started digging into things.”
Hailey nodded. “We think so. The LLCs were set up by an attorney, Ian Warren. Ah, this guy…” She held out her phone, showing him a picture from a recent article. “Do you recognize him?”
Easton shook his head.
Yeah, she hadn’t thought so. “We don’t know how involved he is, but he set up all the LLCs for Innovative Labs and a bunch of other clients, including Henry Silva…which might not matter at all since that’s not the reason they took you.”
It felt bizarre that Easton had been taken by the senator for his research and knowledge while he’d been sitting on information about potential money laundering, but life was stranger than fiction, something she’d seen play out in her job too many times to count.
“You guys,” Reese said, stepping into the living room, a glint in her eyes that Hailey recognized well. She’d been working in the office with Elijah, and clearly she’d found something. “I was still monitoring Alice Silva’s line just in case her husband called and…listen to this.” She pushed Cash’s feet off the ottoman and set the laptop on it before pressing play on the cloning app.
“You better convince him to cut a deal, or he’s not going to make it to any trial.” Alice Silva’s voice was razor-sharp, deadly.
Eyebrows raised, Hailey shot a glance at Jesse, whose expression mirrored her own.
“I can’t force him to do anything,” the man responded.
“That’s Ian Warren,” Jesse murmured.
“He’s such a moron. Of course you can. You can convince him to do anything, Ian.” Her voice was a little more cajoling, sounding more like the woman from the other night who’d invited her lover over to screw her in her husband’s bed.
And now Hailey wondered if she was screwing Warren?
Warren sighed, and then things grew silent for a moment.
“Just wait, they’re not done,” Reese murmured, looking positively gleeful.
“Well…I could promise him a cushy prison sentence. Tell him the judge is going to sentence him harshly, but that I’ve cut a deal behind closed doors that says he’ll have his actual time reduced as soon as the media surrounding everything dies down.”
“Oh, that’s perfect. And that’s what the fool gets for kidnapping that scientist. Seriously, what on earth was he thinking,” she growled. “He almost ruined everything with his stupidity! All he had to do was just sit back and let me do the work.”
The lawyer sighed. “You know what he’s like.”
“Unfortunately, I do. And I refuse to go down with his sinking ship because of his stupid ego. I’ll visit him and urge him to do what you suggest. Once we convince him to take a deal, I’ll find someone to deal with him in prison.”
Hailey had a good idea what “deal with him in prison” meant.
Warren paused, then said, “Okay.”
“She made a few more calls after that,” Reese said, pressing stop. “But nothing to do with her husband or anything. Elijah is still monitoring her calls though.”
“So…this is a lot different than what we originally thought. We need to figure out what’s going on. And I think I might have an idea how to do it.”
“Or we could just let it go,” Cash said neutrally. “Easton is free, and it’s clear she wasn’t involved in his kidnapping. This isn’t our circus anymore.”
Hailey shook her head. “I don’t like loose ends.”
“I don’t either,” Jesse murmured. “What are you thinking?”
So she told them her plan.
Chapter 34
—An apple a day keeps anyone away if you throw it hard enough.—
Jesse rolled down the window of his SUV as he parked in front of the closed gates of Senator and Alice Silva’s home—though soon he’d be a former senator. A crowd of reporters were gathered across the street, some giving his vehicle curious looks, but it was clear by the two men in suits in front of the gate that they weren’t letting anyone too close.
One of the suited men approached Jesse’s SUV. “We’re not—”
“Tell Alice that Jesse Lennox is here, and I have information she’s going to want to talk about.” He rolled his window back up, watched as the man spoke into his radio.
Then the gate rolled open as the man waved him through.
The driveway was a half-moon with two entrances. He followed it until he reached the porte cochere and wasn’t surprised when another man in a suit approached him.
“Park over there.” Not smiling, the man pointed to a small parking area on the side of the house.
Nodding, he did as instructed, and when he got out, the same man was in front of him.
“Hands out, legs apart.”
“Seriously?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
No, the man did not. Jesse did as he said, his gaze sliding to the house as the man ran a wand over him. He could see Alice watching him from one of the bottom windows. And one of the curtains on the top floor moved slightly, as if someone else was watching.
“Take my phone, and lose your hand.” His tone was mild when the guard went to pull his phone out of his pocket.
The man paused, then drew back and motioned for him to follow.
He walked through the foyer, which was all dark, shiny wood, to a sitting room that was a lot lighter than he’d expected. There was more of the same dark wood floors and paneling, but everything else was delicate, feminine furniture in creams and pale blue right down to the silk curtains.
“Normally I would welcome you into my home, but not this afternoon, Jesse.” Alice wore a dark blue pantsuit that brought out the blues of her icy eyes. “I understand that one of your employees was…” She seemed to struggle for a moment, then continued. “Kidnapped by my husband. But I’m dealing with a lot right now.”
Jesse was glad they were getting right down to it. “I’m going to reach into my pocket and pull my phone out so tell your boy here not to get trigger happy.” He hadn’t actually seen a gun, but he had no doubt the man was carrying.
“Leave us.” She made a shooing motion at the man without even looking at him.
So Jesse pulled out his phone, opened the app Hailey had installed, then pressed play. As the conversation between her and her attorney came over the speaker, her face went ghost pale.
Then Alice cleared her throat, waving her hand for him to stop it. “That’s inadmissible in any court. You didn’t have my consent.”
He snorted softly. “Who said anything about court? I could just drop this on social media and let it play out in the court of public opinion. Warren will almost certainly be disbarred, and your husband…well. I don’t think he’ll like hearing that you want to send him up the river.”
“What do you want?” she gritted out.
“Don’t say another word.” Adam Berch stepped into the room, holding a weapon. “Toss your phone over here.”
Alice jumped up from her seat by the fireplace, clearly startled. “Adam—”
“Quiet, Alice.” The familiar way he said her name made Jesse realize that this was the man she’d been having an affair with.
Sighing, she sat back down as Berch stomped on Jesse’s phone. Then he said, “Take out the tie pin you’ve got in.”
Gritting his teeth, Jesse did as the man said, tossed it over to him.
The man stomped on it as well, but still didn’t lower his weapon. “Why are you really here?”
Sitting back down as casually as he could while having a pistol pointed at him, Jesse looked at Alice. “I wanted to find out if you were involved in the kidnapping of Easton Reed.”
She rolled her eyes, her frustration clear. “Adam, put that down. There’s no need for that now.”
Berch didn’t listen, his expression impassive.
Alice let out another sigh, but turned back to Jesse. “Look, you and I don’t have to be enemies. I know that scientist works for you, but I had nothing to do with his kidnapping. That was all my dumbass husband.”
“But you were behind the bombing at my office.” That was more of a guess, but considering it seemed clear that Alice and Berch were working together, it felt like a good one.
She sniffed slightly as she leaned back in her seat. “Of course I wasn’t.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He looked at Berch now.
The other man’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond.
Okay, so Jesse was going to have to push harder. “The Feds are looking for you.”
“I’ve heard.” His tone was neutral.
“They’ve got video of you talking to David Beeker, giving him a payoff to bomb my company. And he’s willing to testify against you.”
“There’s no video.”
“Oh, because you think that asshole bartender actually deleted it? Nope.” Jesse gave him an obnoxious smile, one he used occasionally in the boardroom to show that he had all the cards.
Now the wheels were turning in Berch’s head.
“Wait, what?” Alice looked between the two of them now, true shock in her icy eyes. “Tell me you weren’t involved with any of my husband’s schemes. Please tell me, Adam.” There was a pained note in her voice, one that spoke of betrayal.
Oh yeah, they were sleeping together all right.
Berch looked at her, and Jesse could see that, oops, he had been working with the senator. At least on this. “We’ll talk about it later.”
“No, we’ll talk about it right now.” She snatched a glass half full of water off the side table and threw the entire glass into the crackling fireplace, smashing it against the brick interior. A sharp sizzle and pop followed. “I’m so sick of dealing with incompetent men!”
She turned to Jesse, her eyes wide and a little wild as her civilized veneer slid away. “I had nothing to do with your employee’s kidnapping or the bombing at your office. The only thing I’m guilty of is doubling my husband’s campaign contributions.”
Ah, so she’d been working with Warren on the loan-back schemes.
“We were funneling some of his money into bogus R&D—”
“Shut up, Alice!” Berch tried to physically shove her back in her seat, but she tossed his hand off.
“No, I will not shut up. I’m so sick of you telling me what to do. And it’s not like you’re going to let him walk away after this so I’m going to tell someone how smart I am.”
Holy shit. Jesse kept his mouth shut as she turned back to him.
And she did sit, looking a lot more like the Alice he’d known over the past few years as she faced him. “All my poor, stupid husband had to do was nothing. That’s it. Simply sit back and let me take care of everything. I looked the other way while he screwed his whores because he’s got a face that voters like, and he’s easy to manipulate. I won’t explain what we were doing with the money because I’m sure you already know.”
Jesse nodded. “A loan-back scheme. Then you were taking the funds and investing them into Innovative Labs?”
“Exactly. They’re close to finding a cure for ALS, and once they do, it will—or would have been—leaked that Henry was personally funding a lot of the research. The headlines would have written themselves. Instead he got it into his dumb head…” She shot Berch a withering glare before she turned back to Jesse. “That he could force some scientist to, I don’t know, research faster. Jesus, what a fool,” she muttered. “All he had to do was be patient. That’s it. Be patient and do nothing,” she repeated her earlier sentiment. “But he let his ego get carried away with him, just like always. And it’s not the first time either. He ran our finances into the ground before, but I saved us. Me! I even let him think it was all his idea to work with Innovative Labs, but…” She sighed, looking exhausted as she stood. “I can’t deal with this anymore. Just take him away,” she growled to Berch before stalking from the room.
“Get up,” Berch ordered, his gun firmly trained on Jesse. Then he pulled out a pair of flex-cuffs, tossed them over. “And put these on.”
“Nah, I’m not gonna do that.” He slid them into his front pocket instead.
Berch blinked once, before his eyes narrowed. “Fine, I’ll just shoot you right here.”
“Sure, you’re gonna shoot me with a bunch of reporters across the street, in Alice’s nice living room filled with valuable antiques.”
“Her house is well insulated. And even though she doesn’t want to deal with the cleanup of your blood, she’ll just have to.” Berch gave a dark smile.
“I don’t think you’ll be able to clean up all my DNA. And since a bunch of people, literal reporters who likely took pictures, saw me enter, this would be considered my last known whereabouts. Not to mention my assistant knows I’m here.” Not true, but whatever. “As well as a handful of my employees. Is killing me really the right choice?”
Sirens sounded nearby, and he breathed out a sigh of relief. The Feds had wanted him to wear an earpiece, but he’d declined since he figured it would have been found. They’d planted two cameras on him and a listening device, hoping that Berch would see one and think it was all Jesse had on him.
The plan had worked.
“You son of a bitch,” Berch snarled.
“Sure am. And your best bet is to run while you still can. Chances are you’ll be able to avoid the Feds if you leave now. Because I guarantee you’ve got a vehicle parked nearby.”
Berch wavered for a moment, but then he straightened, and Jesse saw the murderous intent in his eyes. Apparently he’d miscalculated this one. “No reason I need to leave you alive.”
“Think again, asshole!”
Berch, startled, half turned, but it was too late. Holding a canister of bear spray, Hailey nailed him in the face at full blast.
