Cross Roads, page 30
Rohan stood, threading his fingers with Lena’s. “You first.” He glanced down at Lena, then back to Ash. “Is this about that thing I asked you to look into?”
Ash nodded.
Something about the tenor of Rohan’s voice and his fierce grip on her hand fired up Lena’s pulse.
Zeke grabbed the nearest chair and rolled it back from the conference table. “Sit down before you fall down.”
Ash did as instructed, scrubbing at his face with both hands, as if trying to wake himself up. “Got any coffee in this joint?”
Zeke clunked his full, steaming mug on the table in front of his brother.
“Thanks.” He took a tentative sip and waited for everyone to resettle themselves. Although the eldest Blackwell’s eyes were bloodshot, they were no less penetrating when they landed on her. “You’re Lena, I take it.”
She nodded. “Ash?”
His gaze shifted to where Rohan’s hand covered hers on the table. “That’s right.” He lifted a chin toward Maggie. “Cameron to my colleagues.”
“My aunt’s married to your uncle,” Maggie said, speaking for the first time. “Not sure what that makes us, but more than a damn colleague.” She frowned. “You look like hell, Cam. What’s happened?”
“Late yesterday afternoon,” Ash said, redirecting his attention to Lena. “I drove down to Charleston to speak with an elderly couple, a Mr. and Mrs. Kumar.”
Lena’s breath caught. A million questions rushed through her brain, but she forced herself to wait for him to continue.
Rohan prompted him. “And? Are they Lena’s grandparents?”
Ash shook his head. “Their son and his family are alive and well.”
Disappointment clutched at Lena’s chest. She should have known from Ash’s haggard features that he hadn’t come here with good news.
“For chrissake,” Rohan seethed. “Why’d you bring this to us?”
“Because,” Ash took another sip of coffee, “the Kumars told me about their second cousins in Hendersonville—Aarush and Saanvi. I met with them this morning, and they told me about the tragic car accident twenty years ago that took their eldest son, Jahan, and daughter-in-law, Morgan.”
The names didn’t register even a kernel of recognition. Lena excavated her old-new memories, searching for just one name he mentioned.
Nothing.
“Did they say anything about a granddaughter?” Rohan asked.
The agent sent Lena a smile. “Their beloved first-born grandchild, four-year-old Anjali, went missing the night of the accident.”
Ash’s image blurred, as joy filled her chest.
Rohan’s hand tightened, and he kissed her temple.
The agent pulled a four-by-six photo from an inside pocket of his suit coat and passed it down to her. “They don’t know about you yet. I wanted to be absolutely sure.”
Lena swiped the tears from her eyes and stared down at the familiar faces of her parents and paternal grandparents.
Her family.
Teary again, she looked at Rohan. “My grandparents. They’re alive.”
Rohan’s own eyes glistened with emotion. “Less than an hour and a half away.”
“You sure?” Ash asked gently.
She nodded. “Positive.”
“With your permission, I’d like to return and tell them the good news,” Ash said. “They also deserve to know what really happened to their son and daughter-in-law. It’s possible they have a stray bit of information that could lead us to their killers.”
His request touched Lena. She knew he didn’t need her permission to investigate a cold case, but she appreciated the gesture. “Of course.”
A thought struck her, and she reached between her legs to retrieve her shoulder bag from the floor. Unzipping the secret pocket at the bottom, she took out a folded silk square made of blue, red, and yellow swirls.
She burrowed her fingers inside the folds and removed a gold teardrop pendant. Rising, she walked over to Ash. “I think my mother gave me this the night of the crash. It has a symbol on the back. Maybe my grandparents will recognize it.”
Ash held out his hand, and Lena somewhat reluctantly placed the keepsake in the center of his palm. It was the only true connection, if that was what it was, to her biological parents. Neil had protected it for ten years and Lena another ten. Letting it out of her sight was harder than she had imagined.
Sandwiching her hand between his, Ash vowed, “You can trust me with this. I swear it.”
Swallowing, she nodded and bent to kiss his cheek. “I can never thank you enough for the gift of my grandparents.”
Ash cleared his throat and stood. “You’re welcome, but Rohan is the one who deserves your gratitude. It was his incessant texts and voice mails that set me on their trail.”
Lena glanced back at Rohan and poured every morsel of love residing in her heart into her smile.
“Well then,” Kayla said, pushing out of her chair. “This was a much happier way to end a meeting.” She caught Lena’s eye. “If we’re to get back here on time, we should leave.”
Shifting back to Ash, Lena said, “My apologies, but I have to go.”
The suspicious look was back on Ash’s face as he followed Kayla’s approach, and Lena wondered what was going on in the agent’s head.
She didn’t have long to ponder the question.
“Someone want to fill me in on why a lobbyist is sitting in on a family meeting?” Ash asked.
Kayla snaked her arm through Lena’s, nodded for Maggie to precede them, and winked at Ash. “Disheveled is a good look for you.”
66
Twenty minutes before go-time, Lena peered into Rohan’s ever-changing eyes as he adjusted the black glass pendant hanging from a necklace of white turquoise and sterling silver to rest in the hollow of her throat.
During a somewhat heated discussion about how to best outfit Lena, Grams had appeared and presented Lena with the beautiful piece, sans pendant. “For courage and serenity.” Then the Blackwell matriarch squeezed Lena’s hand, gave Rohan a pointed look, and left them to sort out the rest.
An ache settled in Lena’s chest at the thought of growing up in a household with such a strong and loving grandparent. Then an image flashed across her mind’s eye, of an older woman holding a cone-shaped pastry dough, encouraging little Anjali to fill it with crumbles of richly spiced potatoes and peas and showing her how to seal up the savory goodness.
Because of Ash’s remarkable investigative skills, Lena might be able to make new memories with her dadi and dada. The special agent should arrive at her grandparents’ home in Hendersonville at any moment. Regret arrowed through her, as she wished she could be there when he broke the news about finding their missing granddaughter.
But Ash had a case to investigate, and Lena had a murderer to catch. She would meet them later. If they were willing.
“The pendant contains a pinhole camera and listening device,” Rohan said, bringing her back to the present. His all-business techy voice in direct contrast with his gentle touch. “When you see Izzy approach, press the button at the back, and I’ll be able to see and hear everything you do.”
She searched for the small button with the pad of her thumb. “Got it.”
After much back and forth, Maggie had finally agreed to use the Blackwell’s state-of-the art equipment and surveillance van with the caveat that she would occupy a seat inside and the Blackwells would be on the sheriff’s payroll during the sting operation.
If Izzy confessed to murder, Maggie wanted to make sure everything was by the book.
“This is ready.” Cruz dropped a small clear earbud into Rohan’s palm.
Rohan held it out to her. “Put this in your ear. It will allow you to hear us.”
Lena took the impossibly small bud, with its tiny antenna, and placed it deep in her ear.
Rohan nodded at Cruz.
“Testing one-two-three. Testing.”
She jumped at the clear quality of Cruz’s voice in her ear. “I hear you.”
A smile curled at one side of Rohan’s mouth, but it quickly faded. “I don’t like this.”
“I know.” She brushed her hand over his taut biceps. “But Zeke’s monitoring the situation from the bar, plus Phin and one of Maggie’s female deputies will be sitting a few tables away.”
As if on cue, Zeke’s voice came through her earpiece. “Target has arrived.”
Rohan pulled her into his arms and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Promise me you’ll stick to the script.”
“I promise.”
“No going rogue, no taking chances, no putting yourself in harm’s—”
She grasped his face with both hands. “I promise.”
“Kayla’s scheduled to send her ‘I’m running late’ text in two minutes,” Cruz announced.
Rohan pressed closer and whispered near her ear. “I love you. Stay safe.”
A hard lump formed in the back of her throat. Before she made a fool of herself by crying, she kissed him quickly, then moved toward the van’s back door.
“Fifteen minutes,” Maggie reminded her from a task chair next to Cruz’s. “That’s all the time you have to get DeCarlo’s confession before Kayla arrives.”
Feeling the reassuring weight of Grams’s necklace around her throat, Lena’s spine straightened and she shot them all a grin. “I’ll have her singing in twelve.”
“No getting cocky,” Rohan growled.
Lena grinned, turned the door latch, and stepped into the sunlight.
67
All of Lena’s bravado disintegrated the moment Triple B came into view. In less than a minute, she would be engaged in verbal warfare with a woman who not only excelled at the craft but had built a life on lies and manipulation.
You’ve navigated Izzy’s peculiarities before. You’ve got this.
But this Izzy seemed more polished, more self-assured, more intense than the teenager who’d used her smile to draw tourists into their web.
When Lena neared the restaurant, she spotted her old friend sitting at one of the outdoor tables, phone in hand. The warm fall sun glinted off her dark hair and highlighted the perfect line of her delicate throat.
Lena frowned. Rather than occupy the chair with the best people-watching vantage, Izzy faced the opposite direction. Odd behavior for a woman who used to vie for every opportunity to see and be seen.
Briefly, Lena thought about sharing her uneasiness with the team, but decided against it. Preoccupied with her phone, Izzy likely just plopped down at the nearest empty seat.
Shoring up her nerves, she scanned the outdoor dining crowd and located Phin and the female deputy, Kelly Sullivan, sitting before one of the restaurant’s large picture windows. No one would know from the look of them that they’d met less than an hour ago.
The sight of Phin in full charm mode brought her the comfort she needed to focus on the mission’s goal and not on Izzy’s seating arrangements. Lena reached for the pendant at her neck. “Engaging camera.”
A second later, Rohan’s deep voice responded, “Image clear. Proceed to the target.”
The moment she was within hearing distance, Lena put her phone to her ear and spoke in an animated voice. “Yes, I would be happy to stop by your house and discuss another commission. Three o’clock is fine. See you then.”
She pretended to disconnect from the nonexistent call. When she looked up, Izzy stood before her. A gamer’s smile fixed in place.
“Here for lunch?” Izzy asked in a deceptively pleasant voice.
“That was the plan,” Lena made a point of taking in Izzy’s personal items on the nearby table, “but now I need to rethink my choice.”
“I have a few minutes before my lunch guest arrives.” She tapped a red nail against the back of a chair at her table. “Sit and tell me about this new commission.”
“Now why would I want to do either of those things?”
Izzy smiled wide, then suddenly embraced her. Lena froze, her gaze jumping to Phin’s. She could hear the team chattering in her ear, but Izzy’s whispered words snagged her focus.
“Because I have a surprise for you, my friend,” Izzy said before stepping away. “I’ve left the best seat at the table for my guest. Take it. The sun feels delicious.”
Mystery solved on Izzy’s seating choice. Her strategic mind must have been flying at 4Gs since getting Kayla’s text last night.
Lena made sure she projected extreme reluctance as she sat down. “I hate to tell you this, but your surprises suck.”
A feline smile appeared. “Please don’t tell me your boyfriend let a little arrest order come between you.”
“Don’t you think you’re taking this whole ‘you screwed me over, now I’m going to screw you over’ thing too far?”
“There’s no such thing as too far.”
“Seems like I did you a favor.”
Amusement drained from the other woman’s face.
“You’re on the cusp of becoming the First Lady of the United States. I’d say that outshines art forger any day.”
In the distance, the shrill squawk of an emergency siren echoed off buildings. Lena’s attention didn’t move off the woman across from her. Living downtown, she’d become immune to screaming emergency vehicles.
“You stupid, selfish bitch,” Izzy said through clenched teeth. “You have no idea of the plans I had made, of the things I had done to keep the three of us together.”
“Did any of those things include murdering Simon?”
Izzy went still. “Simon was like a father to me.”
“Bullshit, you could barely stand the man.”
“Easy, Lena,” Rohan cautioned. “We don’t know if she has a weapon in that handbag at her feet.”
“How did you do it?” Lena asked, ignoring Rohan’s warning. “How did you get him to overdose? Did Xander help you?”
Izzy let out a sharp laugh. “What a ridiculous question. Xander hadn’t the nerve for killing the rats stealing our stash of food. Do you really think he could’ve stomached killing a man he practically worshipped?”
Two fire trucks roared, one after the other, down Main Street. Lena waited for them to pass before amping up the pressure.
“Someone must have helped you. There’s no way you would’ve dirtied your dainty fingers. Not when you have access to men like Desmond, who are easily manipulated.”
“Desmond, easily manipulated?” Izzy laughed. “He doesn’t do anything unless there’s a benefit to him.”
Lena inwardly cursed herself, knowing she’d made the fatal mistake of saying too much, of redirecting her nemesis’s attention away from the true goal.
“Still so naïve,” Izzy said.
A gentle breeze buffeted Lena’s face, cooling the sudden heat flushing her cheeks and ears. The air carried with it an acrid scent, and Lena realized the fire must be close.
“Not so naïve that I didn’t figure out that Desmond is the one hacking into my life and feeding you information.”
Surprise flickered across Izzy’s face, then her gaze became more intent as if she were examining every inch of Lena’s features.
“He’s extraordinary, in so many ways,” Izzy said, when whatever she’d been looking for didn’t surface, “as I’m sure your boyfriend could attest, but even Desmond hadn’t been able to figure out your past until I gave him your other alias.”
“Kayla’s on her way,” Cruz said. “She’ll be table side in two minutes.”
“Time to wrap it up, Lena,” Rohan added. “I’m sorry, but today’s not the day.”
Lena’s pulse pounded in her ears. With one hundred percent certainty, she knew this would be her one and only shot of getting Izzy’s confession recorded. She let the conversation roll and prayed she could guide it back to Simon in a way that wouldn’t raise Izzy’s suspicion.
“How did you learn about Angela Jones?”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t notice you running your fingers over the bottom of your purse every time you picked it up?”
She’d installed false bottoms in every purse she’d ever owned. Had she really been so obvious? Lena’s insides knotted at her carelessness.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lena caught sight of pedestrians and shopkeepers gathering on the sidewalk, sharing comments and looks of confusion as they stared toward the northeast.
The knot in her stomach cinched tighter. The air around her thickened with an unseen menace. She wanted to turn around to see if Phin felt it too, but she dared not take her eyes off Izzy.
Just as her mind began to spiral, Lena’s thoughts zeroed in on one of Izzy’s comments. “Why would Rohan think Desmond was extraordinary?”
“Who besides someone with extraordinary technical capabilities could have penetrated every one of your genius boyfriend’s defenses?”
For a prolonged second, Lena simply refused to believe what she’d heard. But there was no mistaking Izzy’s self-satisfied expression.
“Desmond sent the ransomware?”
Did that mean he was part of the Collective? Or was he terrorizing Rohan on behalf of Izzy? Had the cyberattack on BARS been part of Izzy’s revenge on Lena? The possibility sickened her.
“Please tell me, how do you console someone after they’ve lost everything?”
“Lena, disengage now,” Rohan said, a breathless quality to his voice.
A shout drew Lena’s attention toward the object of everyone’s fascination. Above the rooftops, a thick, gray billowing column of smoke soared into the sky. It could only be a couple of blocks away. She studied the location and felt the slow bloom of ice crystals crackle up her spine.
Her apartment building was on fire.
She did indeed have the best seat at the table.
Fingers curling, Lena’s gaze shot to the woman who had once been her closest friend.
“Your life,” Izzy said, lifting her hand to reveal her thumb and middle finger pressed together.
Snap!
“Up in smoke.”
