Smokescreen, page 10
“Will do.”
* * *
“Vanessa!” Taylor stepped forward and hugged the dark-skinned woman standing at her door. “What are you doing here?”
“The boys wanted to go out and play for a while, so I thought I’d see if you need any help getting settled into your new place.” Vanessa stepped inside amid the clutter of shopping bags, suitcases, and art supplies. She lifted a hand in greeting when she saw Riley standing in the kitchen doorway. “Hi, Riley.”
“Hey, Vanessa.” Riley smiled at her. “Did I hear you say you came to help out?”
“Sure. Where do you want me to start?”
“Help me convince my sister that she needs to set up her kitchen before she organizes her art supplies,” Riley suggested.
Taylor rolled her eyes. “Riley knows more about where to put things in the kitchen than I do.” She waved a hand at the heavy-duty shelves that were situated in the living room where an entertainment unit would logically go. “Besides, Quinn is going to be pretty annoyed that I convinced him to set my shelves up today if I’m not even going to use them.”
“Fine.” Riley let out an exasperated sigh. “Set up your art supplies, but I don’t want you calling me in the middle of the night when you can’t find your blender.”
Taylor watched Riley disappear back into the kitchen, and she grinned at Vanessa. “I don’t even have a blender.”
Vanessa chuckled. “By the way, I have to tell you that Seth and I get so many compliments on that painting you gave us as a wedding gift. That was so sweet of you to give it to us.”
“It was great that you ended up honeymooning in Europe where I could give it to you in person,” Taylor reminded her. She hadn’t met Vanessa before she had married Seth, but when Riley had told her that Seth was taking his new bride to Venice for their honeymoon, they had brainstormed together for the perfect gift. That gift had been a landscape Taylor painted near Seth and Vanessa’s hotel.
Riley had made arrangements for them to meet Taylor in Venice and pick it up, and Taylor had instantly hit it off with Vanessa. They had been corresponding ever since.
Vanessa pointed at one of the open boxes filled with paints. “How about I start helping you put these away?”
“Actually, if you can just hand them to me, that would be great,” Taylor told her. “Getting them organized is half the battle.”
“Sure.” Vanessa nodded. “So tell me about Europe. I want to hear about everything.”
“Okay, but remember,” Taylor grinned at her, “you asked for it.”
* * *
Special Agent Larry Steinert was standing next to Tristan’s front door when Quinn, Seth, and Tristan approached. “Gentlemen.”
“Steinert,” Seth said by way of a greeting. “Any news on the body?”
“Why don’t we take this inside?” Steinert suggested. He lifted a section of yellow tape that read “Do Not Cross” in capital letters and waited for all three men to duck under it before following them inside and closing the door behind him.
“Well?” Quinn asked impatiently.
“We have an ID on the intruder,” Steinert told them as they all sat down in the living room. “Nicholas Orton, twenty-nine years old. He did six months in a juvie facility for petty theft when he was seventeen, and then a few years ago he graduated to bank fraud.”
“What about his weapon?” Seth asked. “Any leads on where he got it?”
“It was a Mark 23, unregistered.” Steinert scratched at a spot just below his ear. “My guess is that he bought it off of the street somewhere.”
“Or whoever hired him gave it to him.”
“It’s possible. This guy doesn’t seem like the mastermind type,” Steinert agreed. “We checked out his apartment in Yorktown, but that didn’t turn up much except for a few weeks’ worth of mail. None of the neighbors have seen him for the past three weeks either.”
“Any kind of credit card activity that would tell us where he’s been staying for the past few weeks?” Seth asked.
Steinert shook his head. “He received a money transfer of ten thousand dollars about a month ago, and then he made a large cash withdrawal about the same time he dropped off the map. We’re guessing he’s been paying for a hotel room somewhere with cash.” He paused for a moment, the corner of his lips lifting slightly. “We did find a copy of a train schedule in his place though. Our best guess is that he spent some time in New York City.”
“New York?” Quinn said tensely.
Steinert’s eyes sharpened. “You have any idea why he’d be in New York?”
Quinn looked at Tristan, a chilling understanding passing between them. “Taylor made a stop in New York on her way back from Europe. She was there for about two weeks.” Quinn did the mental calculations, and his lips drew into a thin line. “She would have arrived there about three weeks ago.”
“Who’s Taylor?”
“My sister-in-law, Taylor Palmetta,” Tristan offered. “The intruder was in her room.”
“Any idea why?” Steinert asked now.
“Whatever this guy was after has something to do with Taylor’s paintings,” Quinn told him impatiently. He and Tristan then proceeded to tell Steinert about the events since Taylor’s arrival, beginning with the incident with her car down to the man Quinn had seen lurking around Tristan’s condo.
Steinert punched a couple of buttons on his Blackberry and turned it so Quinn could see it. A photo of a man’s face filled the screen, clearly taken at the morgue. “Is this the man you saw outside of this building yesterday?”
Quinn stared at the image for a long moment and then slowly shook his head as his eyes lifted to meet Steinert’s. “That’s not him.”
“Can I see?” Tristan asked, reaching out to take the Blackberry so he could get a closer look. Then he too shook his head before handing it back. “It could have been the driver yesterday, but neither one of us got a good look at him.”
“So we still have someone out there, and we don’t know why,” Steinert said bluntly. “My instinct would be to assign a protection detail to Miss Palmetta, but so far no one has threatened her with any physical harm. Not to mention the fact that she isn’t navy or an immediate family member of anyone in the navy.”
“Actually, her father is retired navy.”
“That will help. I should be able to use that to help me access the files for the other incidents. Maybe we can find a common link.”
Tristan nodded his approval. “Quinn and I started looking through photos of Taylor’s paintings. We’re starting to wonder if she inadvertently painted something she wasn’t supposed to see.”
“If the two paintings that were lost in the fire were similar, that’s a good possibility.”
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to narrow that down until Taylor goes up to New York to identify which paintings were burned. The photos at the gallery are missing.”
Quinn looked over at Tristan with apprehension. “Taylor’s planning on going back to New York?”
“Her agent wants her to come up sometime this week.” Tristan nodded. “I thought I would put in for some leave so I could go up with her.”
“But that would leave Riley home alone,” Seth commented. “Unless she wants to stay with us.”
Quinn interrupted before Tristan could respond. “I’ll go to New York with Taylor.”
Tristan looked at him, surprised. “You would do that?”
“It’s no big deal,” Quinn said casually. “You need to keep Riley safe, and no one seems to have tied me to Taylor. It makes sense that I be the one to go.”
Steinert looked at each of the SEALs with interest and then moved to stand. He motioned to Quinn. “I’ll want you to stop by my office to work up a composite sketch of the man you chased off yesterday,” he said and offered his card to Quinn and then another one to Tristan.
“Can it wait until Monday? I don’t want to leave Taylor alone for long.”
“That’s fine. In fact, I’ll send our guy to you first thing on Monday.”
“We’d better make it afternoon. We’ve got a training exercise in the morning.”
“Monday afternoon then.” He nodded. “For now I’ll start looking into those other case files. Let me know if you all turn up anything on your end.”
“Thanks. We’ll let you know if we find any new leads.” Tristan stood and turned to look at Seth. “But for now, I want to know exactly how this guy got into my place.”
Seth stood as well. “Come on. I’ll walk you through what I saw.”
16
Taylor wasn’t sure what was going on with Tristan and his buddies, but she had the distinct image of a bunch of early pioneers circling the wagons to guard their women. She felt both protected and stifled to see that they were apparently considering her one of their own.
With the exception of leaving them alone with Vanessa for an hour earlier in the day, Taylor couldn’t think of a single minute that one of the Saint Squad hadn’t been at her new apartment. She thought that after everyone finished eating the pizza they had ordered for dinner they would all take off for home, but that hadn’t happened. Riley seemed determined to wash and put away every dish in her kitchen, and Vanessa was currently staring at Taylor’s laptop screen with Tristan and Quinn as they scrolled through the photos of her paintings.
Seth had somehow finagled a local security company to come out on a Saturday evening and even now was overseeing the installation of her new security system, a security system she hadn’t even planned on getting.
When her cell phone rang, she pushed that thought aside and pulled her phone out of her back pocket. She answered it to find Gary Holloway on the other end, letting her know that the paintings she had left with him were framed and ready to be picked up.
Taylor had been on the verge of asking him if he could hold onto them for a week or two for her until he commented that he was leaving town in a few days and was worried about leaving her artwork at his house without anyone home. After promising him that she would come over and pick them up in the next day or two, she hung up the phone in time to see Seth walk the security specialist out of the apartment.
Quinn abandoned his spot at her new kitchen table and wandered toward her. “Is everything okay?”
Taylor nodded, but she motioned to the keypad for the new security system. “Do you really think all of this is necessary?”
“Yes,” Quinn said without hesitation. Then he reached out and gave her hand a squeeze. “Relax. I would have suggested this even without everything going on. When you live this close to the beach, it pays to have a security system.”
“Do you have a security system in your apartment too?” Taylor asked, her eyebrows lifting.
“Yeah.” Quinn nodded. “When you’re gone for weeks, sometimes months at a time, it’s nice to know that all of your stuff will be there when you get back.”
“I guess I never really thought about it.” Taylor shrugged. “I mean, who would be stupid enough to steal from a Navy SEAL?”
“Someone who knows I’m not home.” Quinn gave her a wry grin, and then he motioned to the phone she still held in her hand. “Who was that on the phone?”
“An old friend,” Taylor told him. She angled her head and considered for a minute. “Can I ask a favor?”
Quinn nodded. “Sure. What do you need?”
“I need to go pick up some paintings I had framed, and I was hoping you would come with me.”
“Where are they?”
“Norfolk,” Taylor told him. “I took them to a friend who used to frame all of my paintings when I was in high school. After everything that’s happened, I don’t want to leave them at his house for long.”
“You really think you should bring them to your apartment?”
“I don’t know.” Taylor shrugged. “I’m starting to wonder if there’s anyplace where they’ll be safe.”
Quinn considered for a moment. “I think I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Did I ever mention to you that our offices are in a secure building with a bunch of armed men running around outside?”
“I kind of figured,” Taylor said. “But what does that have to do with anything?”
“I was just thinking that our offices could use some redecorating,” Quinn told her. “And your paintings might be safest if they are hidden in plain sight.”
Awareness filled Taylor’s eyes. “I think I like your idea.”
“Good.” Quinn motioned to Taylor’s keys. “Let’s go now before it gets too late.”
Taylor pointed across the room where Tristan and Vanessa were still scrolling through the pictures on her laptop. “I hate to leave while everyone is still here.”
“Everyone’s about done here anyway,” Quinn told her. He motioned to Seth. “Let’s show you how to use your new security system, and then we’ll get going.”
“Okay,” Taylor said, still a bit overwhelmed with all of the help everyone had offered. She crossed the room with Quinn to where the security keypad had been installed near the front door. As Seth began to instruct her on how to use it, she hoped that maybe tonight she would finally feel safe.
* * *
“I don’t understand why we can’t stay at our place tonight,” Riley said for the third time as Tristan drove toward her parents’ house. “Taylor is all settled into her new apartment, and none of her paintings are there. Besides, I thought you had Seth put in some kind of security system at our condo yesterday. Surely it’s safe to go home.”
“Just humor me, okay?” Tristan pleaded. “I’m not willing to take any chances with your safety.”
Riley shifted in her seat and studied her husband more closely. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Tristan.” Riley stared at him, waiting.
Tristan clenched his teeth and then gave a subtle shake of his head. “Seth ran into some unexpected problems yesterday when he was installing the security system. I’m not convinced we’ve worked out all of the kinks yet.”
Riley’s eyebrows lifted. She could tell he was still holding something back by the way he was avoiding specifics. “And?” she prompted as Tristan parked at her parents’ house.
“And what?” Tristan asked, an uncharacteristic edge in his voice. He climbed out of the car and led her inside.
Riley waited until they were inside and the door was closed behind them before she reached for his arm, stopping him before he could put any distance between them. “Tristan, I know you’re really worried about what’s going on. I am too,” she said. “You need to stop trying so hard to protect me. I do have a degree in criminal psychology. Maybe I can help.”
Tristan stared down at her for a moment, and she could see in his eyes that he was debating. She reached up to kiss him, hoping to soothe away the worry. She was surprised when he pulled her tightly against him in a crushing embrace. His voice was barely louder than a whisper when he said softly, “I am really worried.”
“Please tell me what’s going on,” Riley said, shifting away from him enough that she could see his face.
Slowly, Tristan nodded, taking her hand and leading her toward the couch. “But you’re going to want to sit down for this.”
* * *
“Would you like to sit down?” Gary motioned to the living room couch. “I just want to grab my camera so I can photograph the finished work before we pack everything up.” He took a step toward the hallway off to the left before winking at Taylor. “I have a feeling that someday I’m going to want proof that I really did frame paintings for Taylor Palmetta.”
“I doubt that,” Taylor laughed, some of her earlier tension easing.
Quinn waited for her to take a seat before sitting down beside her. “How long have you known Gary?”
“About ten years. His daughter Zoe and I were friends all during high school,” Taylor told him. “She’s in grad school now at USC, but I usually pop in to say hi when I’m in town.” Taylor smiled at him. “Even when I don’t have any paintings I need to have framed.”
“Does that ever happen?” Quinn asked with a shake of his head. “I still can’t believe how many paintings you did last year. It must have cost a small fortune to ship them all back.”
“Oh yeah. Especially when I was in Italy. ” Taylor nodded. “I’m lucky my agent started taking care of all of the shipping arrangements after I signed with her; otherwise, I would have literally spent another thousand dollars to ship the rest of my pieces home.”
“It sounds like you’re going to have to sell a lot of paintings to pay for it all.”
Taylor grinned at him. “I’m planning on it.”
Gary walked back into the room carrying one of the newly framed paintings. “What do you think?”
Taylor moved closer to run a finger along the top edge of the frame. “You did a great job on this.”
Beside her, Quinn could only stare. The dark wood frame was nice enough, he supposed, but he couldn’t get past the paint that filled the canvas. Taylor had captured the movement on a crowded city street, cars competing for space on narrow roads, pedestrians moving along uneven sidewalks. To the left was a red and white striped awning over wrought-iron tables that made up a sidewalk café. He could almost smell the pasta the waiter was carrying, and he could imagine the blaring horns and the car engines sounding.
He was vaguely aware of Taylor talking to Gary, some discussion of preparing the paintings so they wouldn’t be damaged when they were moved.
Taylor touched his arm and motioned for him to follow Gary, who had headed back down the hall. “Come on. Let’s see how the other ones turned out.”
“Hey, Taylor,” Quinn said, reaching for her hand.
“Yeah?”
“You’ll still remember me when you’re rich and famous, right?”
Taylor’s laughter rang out. “Quinn, I could never forget you.”
Quinn nodded, an odd sense of satisfaction pulsing through him. “Just making sure.”
