Earth Enchanted (11 page)

“I fell in love with her. I say fell but it was more like a slow, warm slide into it. It took me another year to get her to marry me. She was afraid. We had been friends so long she wanted to be sure. Not long after we were married, she went undercover on a case. It was hard on both of us. She wanted me to act like a cop and deal with the danger involved. I wanted her out of it. All the way out. It was the only thing we ever fought over.

“I took her out on our anniversary, the first one we had. We got a call from an informant. He insisted on meeting us. We went. It felt like trouble from the start. Do you know what I mean? You could just feel it in the air. Shots were fired. One of the three hit Serena in the chest. She was a friend, partner. She was my lover, my wife, my life, and took her last breath cradled in my arms. At nine-o-four PM that night she died, and so did I. They never found her killer, could never connect it to any other case.”

“How long ago?”

The breath he took shuddered out again when he spoke. “A year to the day before I met you. Sam called a few minutes ago. He thought I’d want to know forensics matched the bullet from my shoulder with the one that killed Sissy. We are looking at a cop killer, but why did he go after you? It was meant for you. I know it was. I just don’t know why.”

She went to him, gently put her arms around him. “If you’re trying to warn me away, forget it. I’m here for you, and I will be until you don’t need me anymore.”

“Whatever else happens I want to thank you for bringing me back out of the dark. I don’t want you taking a cab this late, Liv. Call Ryan, or have your shadows give you a lift.”

“I’ll be fine.” She touched his cheek at his worried look. “Don’t fret over me. Ten minutes from now I’ll be safe in my own bed.”

“You’d be safer in mine.” He smiled wickedly. “I could keep both eyes on you, among other things, and neither of us would worry.”

“I’ll call when I get there, and you’ll see me in the morning.” As soon as she had her back to him, he twirled her around one handed and trapped her against the door before she could slip out.

“Stay. I’ll still see you in the morning.” Her breath caught when he nuzzled the curve of her neck. That really was not playing fair.

“No. I want to, but I can’t, Jack, not yet.” She had to make sure her heart was tethered nice and tight first or she would lose it altogether. She was waiting for something he wasn’t ready to give. “I won’t take a tumble with a man I met only a couple of weeks ago.”

“I could talk you into it. We’d know each other real well soon enough.”

She had no doubt.

“Oh, aye, you could if I let you.”

He gave defeated sigh, and made her laugh.

“Just one question, Liv. Why?”

She kissed his cheek.

“It wouldn’t mean anything, just fun and games. That’s all well and good, but it has to matter to both of us, and it wouldn’t. I’ll call you when I get there.”

A short fifteen minutes later, Liv waved to her shadows and unlocked the door. She flipped open the little cellphone she kept in her purse.

“Hi, I made it. You can rest easy.”

He growled into the receiver, “Yeah, I’m gonna curse you for every minute of sleep I miss tonight.”

She laughed back at him. “Stirred up, are you now? Well, maybe you’ll tell me some of the more inventive dreams tomorrow. Goodnight.”

“Night, Liv.” And he hung up the phone, so he could start work on those curses.

She saw the study light was on and wondered why Ryan would still be up so late. It was very near to midnight. Curiosity was just part of her make up. She didn’t see it as a flaw even when it got her into trouble. Liv stopped just short of the door. He was talking to someone, but she couldn’t hear whom. It never occurred to her there was a reason that eavesdropping was rude.

“I told you everything there is to know. They’ve not been as free with their information.” She heard him pause. “They ordered a hit on my sister. She could have been killed. Her friend nearly was.”

Liv slumped in a heap on the floor. She had known it was she that was the target, but who wanted her dead? Not Ryan? Surely, Lord save us, not her own blood? She heard the phone being replaced on its cradle, before his shadow fell across her.

“Are you okay, Liv?”

Liv didn’t answer.

“How much did you hear?”

She turned to look at him. Did she really know this man at all? He was her brother, but what tangle had he gotten into that could get her killed?

“They wanted to kill me. It doesn’t have anything to do with Jack. It wasn’t you. Never say it was you who tried to have me killed!” The shock of it echoed in her voice as well as the words. “God, what kind of trouble are you in, Ryan?”

He picked her up and helped into a chair.

“Liv, I’m in deep trouble, with some very bad people. I didn’t mean to get any of you dragged into this.”

“Tell me why?” Her heart was shaking with fury, disbelief, and sorrow.

“I went digging where I shouldn’t have and found discrepancies in some of the firm’s long-term accounts. If I hadn’t been paying attention and had extra time on my hands, I wouldn’t have even picked up on it. I reported it to my superiors. They said it would be checked into. I should have realized it hadn’t gone unnoticed by them. I had stumbled on their money laundering accounts. The threats came first, hang up calls, and one night I got in the car to drive home, and woke up tied in a room. I made a deal with one of the men involved. They’ve been stealing museum pieces, diamonds, and replacing them with copies. When they’re smuggled into the country I pick them up and hold on to them until I’m told otherwise.”

“Why? If you were in trouble, why didn’t you come to us for help?”

“I didn’t want you involved, so I had to agree to be part of it. They were going to kill me, Liv. It seems like such a weak threat now. It makes me sick in a way I can’t explain to help them. What else could I do? Then finally one night I had enough. Who cared if they killed me? I couldn’t live with what I was doing anymore.

“I called the police on what I thought was a safe line. They put the call through to a detective working on the case. She told me she’d get me out, but I’d have to do an old fashioned double cross on them. That’s what she called it. So I did. I relayed information back and forth. She told me they were close to busting the ring. I could get immunity for my involvement, if I kept working for them. The organization found out what I was doing. They killed her, Liv.”

Jack’s wife, Liv thought.

“They knew what I had been doing. They set it up to look like a drug killing, but I knew. It was as good as if they signed my name in her blood. That phone call I made signed her death warrant. I’m responsible, Liv. The FBI pulling me this way, the other that way, I’ve run both sides so long, I don’t know which I’m on anymore.”

Her brother was an informant, a snitch, and a criminal.

“What was her name, Ryan?” Would he even remember? She hoped he would, and in that, show remorse.

Ryan looked her dead in the eyes. His face was sheened with a mask of cold ice.

“Jack Roarke’s wife, Serena. His wife is dead because she tried to help me.”

She shook her head in defense. Jack had told her the story, but Ryan was part of it? She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. “I have to get out of here.” Liv grabbed up her bag and phone, wrenching away when he tried to stop her.

“You can’t, Liv. It’s too dangerous. They could be waiting for you to do something like this.”

“Mary, mother of Christ, why the devil did you badger me to come here if you knew I’d be in danger? Did you fancy seeing my head blown to pieces? I’m going. I can’t stay here right now.” She flew out the door, with him calling after her. She made it a block on steam alone, before she punched in Jack’s number. He had a right to know, even if it would hurt him.

“Jack, come and get me. I’ll be at the coffee shop down the corner from the book store.” She didn’t give him a chance to answer.

Liv paid for the caffeine disguised as coffee and got into his waiting car.

“What in the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“Just drive. We need to talk where we can’t be traced or bugged. Can you manage that?” She snapped the words at him. She wasn’t angry with him, but for the yelling. Ryan was her current target. She was ready to bite nails, only a blind man or a fool would cross a woman with her kind of power right now, but she hadn’t really told him that yet.

“Home, then.”

She said nothing else. Just stalked into the kitchen, slung her purse on the kitchen counter, and plopped down at the little breakfast table. “I’ve some things to get in the open. So you’ll just have to indulge me while I clear the air.”

“Should I sit down for this, Liv?” She watched him shove his hands into the pockets of his worn out jeans. He had taken off the sling.

“Your house, Jack, your chair. Do what you will.” Liv decided to go straight for the punch. “Did you know Ryan had been involved in the case you were working on when your wife died?” If he did, he had lied about knowing Ryan and any number of other things. The question was accusing and over sweetly asked.

“What? No. Tell me what happened, Liv.”

No coolness, only shock. He wasn’t lying. That was fortunate for him. She wouldn’t tolerate a liar. “He’s been working as an informant. He’s part of that old case, and in neck deep. My neck, if you want to get technical. Someone put a hit out on me, to get a message across. Ryan went to the police for help around a year ago. They put him in touch with your wife.” Liv just let that burrow through the shock, and felt a little guilty when he sort of melted down into the closest chair.

“Tell me what you know, Olivia.”

She watched as his eyes went cold with distance. Each gesture was a calculated movement designed to intimidate or coax depending on what was needed. It would have been fascinating how easily he had changed, if she hadn’t been so angry. She gauged her ground and continued.

“They knew what he was doing all along. They killed her as a warning. My brother is the reason your wife is dead. God, this sounds like one of your bad soap opera programs.”

“Who told you this?” Jack shouted, his eyes blazing with fury undirected. Cop indifference gone now, here was raw emotion, dangerous, deadly. Like a moth to flame, he both frightened and drew her at the same time. A moment before she’d held all the cards, now she’d be lucky to escape unscathed.

“Ryan, right before I called you. I walked in on a conversation I shouldn’t have overheard. He’s said he had no choice and that he didn’t know about their plan to kill her. How could my brother be involved in something like this? I’m trying to understand it, but I can’t.”

“You think you need to understand? We never kept secrets from each other, never. She would have told me if she had another informant. Did he order the hit?”

“Ryan is a good man.” Shaking her head, she took his arm, her heart taking the silent punch as he roughly shook her away. “He is. Whatever wrong he’s done, he would never intentionally hurt another person.” Liv followed him out of the kitchen and through the den.

“Stay here, and out of sight until I get back. I don’t want to have to worry about you right now.” Jack walked toward the garage door.

“I see, guilty by association is it? Where are you going? Pounding on each other isn’t going to help anybody. Jack!”

When Jack looked back at her, his eyes were no longer hot with temper. They held the cold fire that a wise man knows means murder. She shuddered and involuntarily took a step back. Jack had a target now.

“He had information he kept from the police, Olivia, on an open murder investigation of a police officer. I’m going to get my damn badge back. Don’t get into trouble while I’m gone. I don’t have time for it or you.” He slammed the door.

Only seconds later, she heard his car roar down the drive.

You’re a right bloody bastard, Jack Roarke
. She almost said so aloud.
Well, you’ve done it now. Gone and fallen in love, and turned him on you all at the same time. Well, it happens, but you’ve still your pride. Take the heart you’ve yet to offer and go home. Save it for someone who isn’t crazy and grieving. Ryan’s a big boy. He can take care of himself. You can’t, no matter what he’s done he’s family. Besides, would you rather run from bullets or blow up over the ocean
? Flying drug itself back up her list of things to fear.
Those people might resort to bombing the plane. Then you’d be responsible for everyone else it killed.
She would stay, safer for trouble to go on under her nose than behind her back.