The Cursed (22 page)

What did she find? What was he talking about?

Oh, Lord, she should have known!

She’d been left money at the house—“tips” that were far larger than anyone left a maid. Money—and cryptic little notes.

Actually, they’d been scary notes.

She should have known better than to accept the money. She should have known there would be a price to pay. Even in the United States, nothing was free or easy. And she should have been smart enough to know that. Maybe she had been. Maybe she’d forced herself to be blind because she wanted things to be good—even when she’d known something wasn’t right.

There was no way she could answer him. He seemed to realize that, but before he eased his hold on her mouth he told her, “I can snap your neck in an instant and be gone before your body hits the ground.”

His hand eased far enough away for her to draw a deep breath, then try to stutter out an answer.

“F-find? I don’t know what—”

“You went in to clean today. You were there a long time. An FBI agent walked you home. There’s only one reason for that. You know something. So I repeat—
what did you find?
”

She tried to shake her head in denial.

He repeated the question yet again, shaking her harder.

“I didn’t find anything. I got hurt making the bed. She made me sit. Hannah made me sit. And then they made me wait.”

“You’re a liar,” he said, and she felt his grip tighten.

“I’m not a liar.”

“Your mother and your baby are just inside,” he reminded her. “You don’t want anything to happen to them, do you?”

Valeriya thought first about her baby. Kirin. He was just a year old, stumbling around and staring at everything with his big eyes and happy smile. She would gladly die for her child. This man knew it. And her mother! When Valeriya’s husband had died of a sudden heart attack before they’d left for America, it was her mother who had held her up.

“I would tell you if I knew. I would tell you anything!” she sobbed.

“You get back in there. You get back into the Siren of the Sea, and you look until you find it. Somebody found something in there, and now you’re going to find it for me.”

“They won’t let me back in! They told me to stay home until—”

“Get in. Get in again, and I don’t care how. Even if it kills you. You get in—even if you die in the process—and your baby will live. You will get back into the house. You will find it. Or when I come back next time I will not leave you standing, and I will not stay outside your house—and I
know
you know what I mean. And one more thing. I’ll be watching you, so don’t think you can lie to me. I’ll see everything you’re doing, and if you don’t do what I told you to...”

His hands moved around her neck and squeezed tight, then tighter. She couldn’t breathe. Darkness punctuated by bursts of stars started to descend around her. Then she felt herself being shoved forward, and she slammed against the side of the house.

She was scared, hurting. But she was alive.

She turned quickly, but she was too late.

He was gone.

Just as if he’d never been there at all.

She closed her eyes and prayed her thanks to God.

She was alive!

She was filled with dread, but she was still alive—for now.

* * *

From never really liking guns, Hannah had become determined to master one.

She practiced with Kelsey’s Glock in the kitchen, loading it, unloading it, taking lessons on aiming from Kelsey.

Melody and Hagen were out, patrolling the grounds. Melody, in particular, was determined that she was going to find whoever was watching them.

Kelsey’s phone rang. Logan had returned.

Hannah accompanied Kelsey to the door. Looking out, she saw that Logan had stopped to speak with the officer out front. The minute he came up the walk, Hannah asked anxiously, “What happened? Did you find out anything?”

Logan stepped in and closed the door behind him, locking it, while Kelsey waited patiently for him to speak. “Dallas here yet?” he asked.

“He’s back at the police station.”

Logan nodded. “I know. I just thought he might be back by now.”

As Logan spoke, Hannah saw Dallas’s car coming down the street.

“He’s here,” she said, surprised at just how much pleasure his return gave her, and equally surprised by the thundering of her heart. It was so loud she found herself hoping no one else heard it.

“Good, we’re all here,” Logan said.

Dallas saluted the officer in the patrol car, and a minute later they were all in the kitchen, since the day was hot and everyone was ready for something cold to drink.

“Please, tell us what’s going on,” Hannah pleaded.

“You start,” Dallas told Logan.

“All right,” Logan said, pulling out a chair at the table.

The others joined him.

“I don’t think Jose’s sister is involved with Los Lobos, other than that she might have met someone who’s a part of it,” Logan said. “She’s been missing several months now. The police had her things moved into storage, and her apartment’s been rented, so there wasn’t anything for me to find there.”

“Why do you think she’s not involved? Where do you think she is?” Hannah asked. She didn’t like the way Logan’s expression clouded over as she asked, “You think she’s dead, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what to think. She didn’t take her car or any of her belongings. Her keys were there, her makeup. Even her contact lenses. I talked to her neighbors. They’ve been worried about her. She’d told them about her past and that she’d gotten clean, but they thought she was on something the last time they saw her. So what I think is that Jose was right. Someone in Los Lobos got to her and found out she had a brother in the FBI.”

“So they took her to get information on Jose?” Kelsey asked, but her tone said she already knew the answer.

“That’s what I think, yes,” Logan said. “I think initially the Wolf was hoping to use her as leverage to get Jose to be his inside man at the Bureau. But from talking to her, he realized no one was ever going to be able to turn him. Then, when Blade brought Jose into the fold, the Wolf figured out that he was the brother she was talking about, and realized he knew too much and had to die.”

“Where do you think she is?” Hannah asked.

Logan let out a breath. “The Wolf doesn’t leave things where they can be found. Keeping a hostage would be dangerous. I believe he had her killed once he got what he needed from her.”

“But her body has never been found,” Hannah said.

There was silence at the table for a minute.

“Hannah, it would be great if she were alive, if we could find her,” Dallas said. “But you’ve got the Gulf of Mexico, the Florida Straits—hell, the whole Atlantic Ocean. He could have disposed of her at sea and no one will ever find her.”

“But you’re not just going to give up on her, are you?” Hannah asked.

“Of course not,” Dallas said.

“Why don’t you come back up to Miami with me tomorrow?” Logan suggested to him.

“I have a better idea. Let’s go through all the right channels and get a search warrant for the apartment. Even with new people in there, the crime scene techs can pull up the carpet, go over everything with luminol. Who knows? We might get blood. That would help us know what happened, whether she was grabbed there or not, and whether she was...hurt.”

“Good idea. We’ll call tomorrow and get it done,” Logan agreed.

“What about the guy you were questioning earlier?” Hannah asked Dallas. “Did you find anything out from him?”

“A few things,” he said. He looked over at Kelsey. “I hope your buddies over at the U.S. Marshals’ office have plenty of money for witness protection,” he said.

“I’m willing to bet that they’ll have money to stop the Wolf,” she said.

“Basically, what I’ve gotten out of everything today is that our guy is big and strong and has blue eyes. He also knows how to dive. He has a private boat or access to one, because he wasn’t out with any of the dive captains I spoke with. They gave me some leads on other boats that were in the area that day, and the Coast Guard is looking for them now,” Dallas said. “That’s going to be tough, though. The boat could be unregistered, or he could just paint out the name and call her something different. And there are miles of coast and open water to cover. The killer could have headed into the Florida Straits or into the Gulf to make for port on the west coast of the state, up the panhandle to another state entirely...even to Mexico. Hell, he could have headed up the entire east coast to New England.”

“Or he could be down on the docks past Front Street,” Hannah said. “This guy is obviously one of the Wolf’s key men here. He’s the one who does the dirty work.”

“He goes by Machete,” Dallas said.

“Whatever his name is,” Hannah said, “I’m willing to bet he’s in so deep, he’s still around.”

“That’s a good theory,” Dallas told her. “And I hope you’re right—that he’s here in the area somewhere and we can find him—but it’s still just a theory.”

“He’s not leaving. The Wolf wants something, and that something is here. That means Machete will be here, too, until he’s caught, killed or finds it,” Hannah said determinedly.

“One problem,” Kelsey said.

“What’s that?” Logan asked her.

“If we find Machete and he’s as much in the dark as the others, we still won’t have the Wolf,” she said.

“Yes, but the Wolf’s local army is disintegrating,” Dallas said. “He lost one man at the scene of the accident, we’ve taken two more off the streets here and I believe—now that we have names—we’ll pick up the other two tomorrow or the next day. That means he’s down five men.”

“He’ll just recruit five more,” Kelsey said.

“It’s not that easy to find the right people,” Dallas reminded her. He looked at Hannah. “We’re going to get him. So who should I dial for some dinner? Your people will start arriving for the tour soon.”

She quickly rose, feeling like an awful hostess. She’d forgotten that they would need dinner.

“I’m sure I can throw something together,” she said.

“Hannah, we’ll call for delivery,” Kelsey said. “It’s already six-thirty.”

She nodded. “Yeah, sure. We can call Joe’s. Pizza, subs or pasta. They’re not gourmet, but they’re good, and most of all, they’re fast.”

They called Joe’s. It was strange. As they were ordering, Hannah felt almost as if they were a couple, although she realized one night of sleeping with him did not mean they were in a relationship. And she doubted Kelsey or Logan had any idea of what was going on between the two of them.

In some ways, last night seemed as if it had happened long ago. Maybe she’d dreamed it.

When the food came, she set it up in the back room where they could look out over the pool and patio. It was beautiful out there, lush with croton bushes, palms and more. She had a sea grape tree and a banyan, an avocado and two banana trees, all of them making the pool area almost irresistibly inviting.

“It’s strange,” she commented, twirling a forkful of linguini. “I can go days without hopping in the pool, but now that I shouldn’t be out on the patio, all I want to do is swim.”

“Of course,” Dallas said. “Forbidden fruit always looks the most luscious.” He smiled at her.

Was that all it was? Were they forbidden fruit? she wondered. Thrown together in the midst of a tension-filled life-or-death situation?

Or had she really fallen for him?

“Well, when this is over, I’m diving straight in,” Kelsey said. “I love the ocean, but when you’re hot and sticky, there’s nothing like a freshwater pool. And this yard is amazing.”

“Did you put the pool in, Hannah?” Dallas asked.

She shook her head. “Our uncle put it in about a decade ago. Kelsey and I were in our teens, and he was already running it as a bed-and-breakfast. We’d come and tell ghost stories to the guests, along with cleaning for him, and he’d let us have the run of the place.”

“Ronin O’Brien, his name was,” Kelsey said. “Our parents were great, but Ronin was
cool.
Being here was fun.”

“I apologize if this is a rude question,” Dallas said. “But, Kelsey, did you mind that Hannah got the house? I guess he didn’t have children of his own?”

Hannah said, “No. He was married when he was young. His wife died of cancer when she was in her thirties. He never fell in love again.”

“He dated, and Hannah and I would judge the women for him. Oh, and no, I didn’t mind. Hannah was always the historian, and I wanted to be a U.S. Marshal from the time I was a kid. He left me some bonds. But the bottom line is that we both loved him and we knew he loved us. He didn’t need to leave either of us anything.”

Petrie suddenly jumped up on Hannah’s lap, and she let out a little gasp of surprise. She was amazed at the way the other three jumped into motion, rising, drawing their weapons.

“Sorry! Sorry! It’s just Petrie,” she said.

“Petrie!” Kelsey said, walking over to scratch the cat on the head. “You little mongrel. You scared us all to pieces.”

“I think he just wants to be fed,” Hannah said. “I’ll be right back.”

She took the cat into the kitchen. Petrie was beautiful. As big as a Maine Coon and just as bushy, he had paws that looked gigantic because each one had six toes.

“I’m really not forgetting you, but no more just staring out of windows, okay? It freaks me out,” she told him.

He rubbed against her as she prepared his food, then dug right in when she left to rejoin the others.

There was a knock at the door just as they finished eating. The first people to arrive were four middle-aged women on a reunion trip together. Three couples followed them, and then a group of six students who were down from Tallahassee.

“None of them looks dangerous,” Hannah told Dallas in the kitchen as they gathered water bottles to hand around.

“No,” he agreed. “But Liam and David are on the way, and they’ll be coming with us. We’re not taking any chances. And tonight I’m not so worried about who’s
on
the tour. I’m more worried about who may be
following
it.”

“So should we bait him?” Hannah asked.