As Good as Dead (23 page)

“Intuition, detective?” the chief wondered.

“Experience.”

“Thanks. I’m sure we’d have gotten to that eventually.” The chief’s sarcastic tone instigated an unkind look from Callen. Callen was encroaching on the chief’s territory, and the chief didn’t like it. He wasn’t too thrilled about learning of Luke’s deception either, so all the way around the Delaneys had gotten his dander up.

“Since you seem to have gotten more out of him than we have, can you tell us if Moore gave you any indication of what might have happened to your brother?” the chief asked.

“He said he hadn’t seen him. Anyway, he doesn’t fit the description of the guy who left the clubhouse with Luke. But that doesn’t mean he’s telling the truth. Luke may have left with a guy he knew, but suppose Justin got to him later?” Angel suggested they interview people at Luke’s favorite haunts.

“We could be dealing with more than one guy here,” Callen said. “Moore might have a partner.”

“At least two,” Angel said. “Justin has a boss in Florida, and I’m betting that boss is one of the Penghetti brothers.” She told Callen and the chief the story she’d gotten from Rachael about Bobby and Bernard Penghetti interviewing her twin brothers.

“Unbelievable.” The chief threw up his hands. “What part of ‘stay out of this’ don’t you people understand?”

Angel bristled at his tone. “I’m cooperating with you here, Chief. I’m trying to keep you informed of everything that’s happened. I can’t help it if Justin decided to abduct me. And I certainly didn’t have anything to do with the mob interviewing my brothers. Luke is in trouble, and I’m having a hard time trying to figure out who the bad guys are.”

Callen smiled. “You’re wasting your breath telling Angel to butt out, Chief. Tell you what. I’ll take her off your hands and out of your hair.”

“Hey!” Angel fumed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Callen tossed her a “stifle yourself” look and winked at her. Angel wasn’t certain what Callen meant by that last comment, but his wink silenced her. She took it to mean that he intended to run interference between her and the chief, which was probably a good thing.

“Since this all started in Oregon,” Callen said, “why don’t you give me the authority to run my investigation here.” Callen turned back to the chief. “I’ll need one or two of your guys to work with me, make arrests, and be the affiant on any warrants. And I’ll need a letter of permission from your agency.”

Chief Warren looked from Callen to Angel. “All right, but Ms. Delaney, try to stay out of trouble. You got lucky with Mr. Moore.”

“Luck had little to do with it, Chief.” Callen assured him. “Angel has been in law enforcement for years. She’s very good at what she does. If anyone is lucky, it’s you. Hard to say how long it would have taken to bring the guy in if Angel hadn’t been next on his list.”

His attitude softened a bit. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”

Seeing an opening, Angel asked about the pictures that had been found in Faith Carlson’s mailbox. “Why were they in the mailbox, Callen? Do we know?”

Callen nodded. “According to a friend of hers, Faith was an amateur photographer and processed a lot of her work. She didn’t trust herself with the important stuff—like photos she planned to use in the newspaper. Those she’d send out to be processed professionally. A company in Portland did the work and mailed them back to her. These photos were in her mailbox, so we were able to take them in as evidence.”

Angel watched as a uniformed female officer, introduced as Officer Colbert, came in and systematically placed one photo on top of another. “Just tell me if anything or anyone stands out to you.”

Ma would appreciate these
, Angel thought, reliving the painful service. It felt odd looking at herself and the rest of the family from someone else’s eyes. She blinked back tears, willing herself not to cry.

“Wait!” She picked up one of the photos, examining it more closely. “There he is.” Angel pointed to the gardener. “That’s Justin.”

The chief looked at the picture. “I can see why you wouldn’t have recognized him. Except for the thinness in his face, he looks like a completely different person now. I’ll have our lab people compare this to the photos you gave us of the bald guy.”

“I’m just glad he slipped up at the resort or I might not have noticed him at all.” She shuddered. “The man is stupid but dangerous.”

Colbert made a note and set the photo aside and went on to the next.

Angel pointed out Luke, who was standing alone near a large maple. Another picture revealed a heavyset man wearing dark glasses and a suit and tie, whom Angel didn’t recognize. She hadn’t noticed him at the funeral, probably because he blended in with the others and stood close to friends and other family members, just behind Aunt Gabby and her husband. Middle aged, heavyset. She thought about the description that Marty at the golf course had given her. “This guy.” Angel looked up at Callen. “Do you know him?”

“No. He was on my list to ask you about.”

“I don’t remember seeing him before now. He fits the description of the guy Luke left the golf course with.”

“Him and about half the men at the resort. Middle aged and heavyset. That’s me.” The chief sighed and ran a hand through his graying hair. “Anyone else?”

Angel looked over the photos again and picked out several other men she didn’t know.

“We’ll get enlargements of the people you pointed out to us. I’ll have one of our officers take the photos out to the club. See if Marty recognizes any of them.”

Angel wanted to be the one to do that but kept her mouth shut.

“I’d like a copy of the photos as well,” Callen said.

Officer Colbert agreed. “I’ll get these scanned and printed right away.” She took the photos and hurried out of the room.

Officer Denham came in and whispered something to the chief.

The chief frowned. His hands moved down to grip the back of the chair. “We found the Turlock kid.”

Angel’s heart sank. She knew before he told them that the news wasn’t good.

“You were right, Detective Riley. Matthew was in the trunk of Justin Moore’s rental car. He’s dead.”

Angel picked up her drink and swished it around, the swirling ice making far too much noise in the silent room.

“Denham, I’ll leave it to you to inform the family,” Chief Warren said. “And since you’re familiar with the case, I’d like you to work with Detective Riley.”

“Yes, sir.” Officer Denham nodded, his gaze capturing Angel’s. “At least you caught the guy who did it. The family will appreciate knowing that.”

“I just wish I’d known he was following me. Maybe I could have prevented Matt’s death.” Angel felt an overwhelming sense of responsibility. “I was trained to notice things like that.”

Callen came over to stand behind her chair, his hands settling on her shoulders. “If we’re done here, Chief, I’d like to get going.”

“Just one thing.” The chief rested his hands on his hips, drawing attention to his thick waist. “I’m releasing a photo of Luke to the television station to let people know he’s missing. Maybe we’ll get lucky. I wish I hadn’t automatically decided the man in the photo wasn’t Thomas. If I’d taken him in, he might still be... with us.”

Angel reached out and touched the back of his hand. “Luke is your friend, and you couldn’t have known about his past. No matter how bad this looks, I have to keep thinking Luke is okay.”

“All this wishing we’d done things differently isn’t going to change the past,” Callen said. “In order to get anywhere with this investigation, we’re going to have to take a closer look at what happened in Florida. I want to know what the Penghetti brothers are doing.”

“I have pictures of the Penghetti family in my hotel room,” Angel said. “It might help if everyone knew what they look like. I’d like to show them to Justin, see if he recognizes one of them as his boss.”

The chief nodded. “Good idea. I have an FBI agent coming to lend a hand in finding Luke. Hopefully he can fill us in on the current and past situation with the Penghettis.”

“We should check with the Spokane Airport,” Angel said, thinking aloud. “Alert them in case one of the Penghettis decides to fly out here and finish the job Justin started.”

“In that vein,” Callen added, “I suggest we get the phone number Justin used to call his boss and run a trace on it.”

Officer Colbert came back with the photos, which she’d tucked into official-looking envelopes.

“Good luck with the phone number.” Angel got to her feet. “I very much doubt he’ll rat on his contact. He’s not all that smart, but I’ll bet even he wasn’t stupid enough to use his home phone. And if he used a cell, I’d bet it’s not his.”

“Won’t hurt to try,” Callen said.

On the way to her car, Angel’s defenses withered. She glanced up at Callen, tears gathering in her eyes.

He pulled her into his arms. “You’re not going to fall apart on me, are you?”

“No. It’s just... I feel so lost and inadequate.”

Callen hugged her and moved back enough to caress her cheek with his knuckles. “This from a woman who single-handedly captured a killer?”

“Anybody could have caught Justin. I just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time.” She offered him a wan smile, capturing his hand in hers.

“We’ll find Luke.”

She held his hand until they got to her car. “You coming with me?”

“If you don’t mind. I had a Washington State Patrol officer pick me up at the airport and drive me here.”

“Do you want to drive?” She held her keys up.

He snatched them. “Be happy to. Where are we going?”

“To Thomas Sinclair’s house. You’re about to meet the rest of my family.”

The drive took about five minutes, and when they approached the house, Angel’s heart took a dive.

“Looks like they have company,” Callen said.

“I don’t like the look of that.” A black limo with shaded windows was parked outside of Luke and Kinsey’s home. “Don’t pull into the driveway yet.”

“You think there’s trouble?” Callen slowed and drove past.

“Looks like a car the mob would drive, doesn’t it?” Angel said.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Think about it. My brothers were picked up and escorted to Bobby Penghetti’s house in a limo. I’m thinking one of the Penghettis is Justin’s boss.”

“All right, but that doesn’t equate—”

“Justin probably told him that Luke was in Coeur d’Alene. Who knows what else he told him? Justin knew about my connection with Kinsey.”

“Call her,” Callen suggested as he pulled up to the curb a block away. “You’ll be able to tell if something is wrong.”

Angel dialed the number, and after several rings Kinsey answered. She was crying.

“Who’s there with you?” Angel asked as soon as Kinsey said hello.

“I’m sorry, Mom, I can’t talk right now. Um... an old friend of Thomas’s is here. He’s waiting for Thomas to come home.”

“Callen and I are down the block. Is everything okay?”

“No, of course not.”

A band tightened around Angel’s heart.
God, let them be all right.
“Okay, stay calm. Are they holding you and Marie hostage?”

“Yes. I’ll call you tomorrow, Mom. Bye.” The line went dead.

Angel closed her eyes. “I was right. She and Marie are in trouble.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “I have to go in there.”

“Absolutely not. We’ll get a SWAT team out here.”

“No. Someone needs to get inside to negotiate them out of there. I might be able to get them to let Kinsey and Marie out in exchange for me. I can tell them I know where Luke is.”

“Then what?” Callen drew in an exasperated breath. “When they realize you don’t know, they’ll kill you.”

Better me than
Kinsey and Marie
. Angel didn’t say the words aloud, but Callen looked at her as though he’d heard them anyway. She was right, and he knew it. She’d been trained in negotiations, and she had to get Kinsey and Marie out as soon as possible.

“I can’t let you do this, Angel. You are no longer on active duty.”

“Since when has that stopped me?” She blew out a harsh breath. “Okay. I’m back on the job. I’ll call Joe right now and tell him to reinstate me.” She dialed the number for the Sunset Cove police department and asked for Joe.

“This is out of your jurisdiction,” Callen argued. “I can’t let you do this.”

Angel swallowed hard. “I know you love me and want to protect me, but you know I’m right.” She locked gazes with Callen. “Hi, Joe. I’ve thought over your offer, and I’m in. I just need you to tell me I’m reinstated.”

“That’s great, Angel. Of course you’re in. When can you start?”

“Right now.”

“But... Angel, where are you?”

“In Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. We have a hostage situation over here, and Callen’s splitting hairs. This has to do with bringing the guy who nearly killed Nick to justice. I’m the logical one to go in and negotiate.”

“I see. I don’t like the sound of it, but since I’m not there and have no idea what’s going on, I’ll defer to you and Callen. Just be careful.”

“Thanks, Chief.” Angel snapped the phone shut and tossed it into her purse.

“I’m going, Callen.”

“As OSP, I have the final say.” He got out of the car and glared at her over the roof.

“I need to do this. You know I’m the one to do it. If it is the Penghettis, they’ll want to talk to me, and I’ll probably be able to get Kinsey and Marie out. A SWAT team will make matters worse. Callen, you know I’m right.”

Callen raked a hand through his thick dark hair. “I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?”

“No. You stay here and alert the others. I’m going to drive into the driveway, just like I would have if I hadn’t suspected anything.”

“Are you going to be this bossy when we get married?” Callen growled.

Angel came around to him and slid her arms around his waist. “Probably.” Her hug was a thank-you for understanding.

“Don’t make me regret this.” He kissed her, then let her go, shutting the door when she’d folded herself inside.

Angel turned around and drove back to the house, adrenaline mingling with fear and creeping through her veins like some alien being.