Becoming Rain (30 page)

Chapter 56

■ ■ ■

CLARA

I've always enjoyed that moment when the target realizes who I really am. The predictable emotions that cycle across people's faces—recognition, understanding, shock. Sometimes it stops short at anger; other times it finishes with resignation, because they know they fell for the ruse and they're done for.

But I've never seen a target's face filled with such hurt.

Not until today.

Doors close somewhere outside the observation room. Warner and I watch an officer stroll in and drop a brown bag and a Coke on the table next to Luke. I know that it's from a certain food cart vendor without asking. Just another way for Sinclair to send a message to Luke.

We know everything there is to know about you.

The lump in my throat is making it difficult to talk, to swallow . . . even to breathe. I'm not sure who got kicked harder in the chest when I stepped into that interrogation room. Luke certainly looked like he had taken a swift boot.

For a moment, I thought I was going to leave a pile of vomit on the floor.

There was no time to utter a single word, or apology. Sinclair did it for impact, quickly ushering me back out and leaving Luke in the room by himself. To stew over every intimate moment we shared, every dangerous word he ever spoke to me, every way that I could nail him to the wall with what I know, while waiting for his lawyer.

He looked worried before. Now, he looks terrified.

All I can do is hold out hope that it didn't work to scare him enough to talk, that he'll remember my words, that the lawyer who shows up is good. Because I know they don't have enough for a conviction and the second the lawyer pushes to see the charges laid and the evidence, they're going to realize that too.

I feel Warner's eyes on me. They've been on me a lot since we arrived at the station.

“What's with the Alexandria Petrova angle?” I ask. “Why does Sinclair care about a late mobster's wife?” Sinclair hasn't mentioned digging up information on her since the night he called me on it. I figured that with all the other evidence trickling in, he had forgotten about it. Stupid of me.

“He doesn't. But he's going to try and use it to keep Luke on obstruction, leveraging what we got from your detail.”

“Will that even work?”

He shrugs.

“So, what's going to happen then? Are they going to just show up to her ranch and interrogate her?” An image of police cruisers rolling up the driveway to dig up painful truths the poor girl has put past her hits me. I close my eyes.

“You look sick.”

“I feel sick.”

“Luke Boone is not an innocent, misunderstood guy, Bertelli.” He holds up a stack of case files. “Look at the shit he's mixed up in. Did you forget that while you were sneaking around with him?
Lying
to me? Jeopardizing our entire case?”

There's no small amount of judgment in his tone and I'm not in the mood for this. “Just say what you're dying to say.”

Warner closes in on me, dropping his deep voice. “You did what you said you wouldn't. What you laughed at when I suggested it. You got too close to your target.”

“No, I didn't,” I deny, taking in Luke's hunched posture, his fingers locked behind his head, his elbows resting on the desk. He won't even look up at the glass. He won't look up at me. “I did what I had to do.”

“So when were you guys meeting up? At night? In the park, while walking the dogs?” Warner pushes. “You weren't even in your room, that night in the yacht, were you?”

I set my jaw firm.

“You don't think that if I walk in there right now, he's not going to hang you out to dry? You don't think he's going to tell his lawyer
everything
? You're going to get crucified if this ever makes it to court. Your career is done!” Thank God these rooms have thick walls because Warner is borderline yelling. “You may as well stop protecting him and admit everything to me right now. Maybe we can contain this.”

Warner's probably right. There's no reason to protect what I had with Luke because it died the second I stepped through that door. Hell, it's always been on life support, waiting for someone to pull the plug. I know that. I've always known that. Yet, I chose to ignore it. I chose to act with my heart and not my head. I chose to think that I could somehow change him.

Save him.

I need to try and save myself now.

And yet my jaw tenses at the very thought of divulging my most intimate moments with Luke. I don't fight it, turning to level Warner with a hard stare. “Is this an interrogation?”

“Dammit, Bertelli.” Warner closes his eyes. “Don't make me prove it to you.”

When I don't answer, he pushes past me, out the door.

And into the room with Luke.

Chapter 57

■ ■ ■

LUKE

“Her brother. Good one,” I admit, watching the tall guy fold into the chair across from me. “I'm not talking to you without my lawyer here.”

“I wouldn't suggest it.” He slides the paper bag forward. “Come on, you should eat. You've been here a while.”

Even the smell of the sandwich is turning my stomach right now. One bite and I'd no doubt puke all over this table. Then again, maybe then they'd leave me the fuck alone.

“Would you prefer Clara to cook for you?” he says very carefully, making a point of shifting and straightening all the pictures lying on the table. His dark, emotionless gaze lifts to meet mine. “Oh, I'm sorry.
Rain
. She really fooled you, didn't she?”

Clara.

I can't keep my eyes from flickering toward the one-way mirror, or prevent the roughness in my voice. “She sure did.”

I've only ever felt that level of cold shock one other time in my life—a week ago, when two police officers showed up at my door to tell me that Rust was dead.

I had marked that day off as the worst day of my entire life.

But then that douchebag introduced Rain as she stepped into this holding room.

Rain knows everything that I know.

Everything.

I trusted her.

And now I'm completely fucked.

And Rust called it. He said she made him nervous. He saw it right away. Me? I saw nothing but pretty blue eyes. A gorgeous smile. A charming personality. A girl I couldn't get enough of. I'm a fucking idiot. What was Rust ever thinking, bringing me into this?

“She's good. That's why we picked her. I'll bet you've been sitting here for the past hour, replaying the last few weeks in your head. All the conversations you had, asking yourself how you fell for it.”

Replaying the last few weeks? Try every last second of every day since the moment she stepped out of her car at the garage. All the qualities I admired in her—how she listened to me, how she never got angry when I had to take off, how she was so happy to see me, so willing to go anywhere with me . . .

The night on the yacht.

The day in the garden.

Was that
all
part of her cover? Are cops even allowed to do that?

“I'd be pissed if someone did that to me. Especially given how close she got to you.” He draws a finger over his chest. “Just so the necklace around her neck could record everything.”

“Fuck . . .” It slips out of my mouth before I can help myself. The necklace that she wore all the time.

Except . . . I frown. Except she didn't wear it
all
the time.

“What is it?” Special Agent Warner Briggs leans in.

I struggle to smooth my expression. She didn't wear it every time. I remember the day at the garden. She wasn't wearing it then. I noticed it missing. There were other times too, nights in bed, in the shower, when I stared down at her bare neck, wondering what the diamond raindrops would look like on her, wondering if it was too soon to give the gift to her.

But what does that mean?

Everything you've ever told me about Rust, the car stuff, everything, stays between you and me
. That's what she said.

You'll make it through, I promise
.

Holy shit.
She knew they were bringing me in. She was warning me. My heart begins racing with confusion, with hope, with pain.

But why?

Chapter 58

■ ■ ■

CLARA

The observation room door clicks open and a man I am beginning to truly detest steps through.

“How's he holding up?” Sinclair peers through the window at Luke and Warner, who are facing off. Luke's face has grown at least four shades paler.

“Still not budging.”

Sinclair exhales loudly, clearly frustrated. “Well, we have a twenty-four-hour surveillance detail on the garage manager now, but who knows if he's actually going to lead us to the drop.”

I silently berate myself. Luke even told me that Miller was in on it. “I can't believe we didn't see the connection.”

“Too many moving pieces. Sometimes the most obvious ones are the ones that get missed.” He pauses. “What's Warner doing in there?”

“Playing good cop and trying to piss 12 off.”

Sinclair hits a button on the wall, turning the audio to the room up a few notches.

Warner's thick Boston accent fills the speakers. “What? Do you think she fell in love with you? Come on, man. She was just doing her job. She'd doesn't fucking love you. She doesn't even like you!”

Sinclair snorts, seemingly unperturbed. “That's good cop?”

By the hard set of Luke's jaw, Warner's words are cutting him deep. My stomach drops when I hear him demand, “Let me talk to her. I want to talk to Rain.”

“You mean undercover
Officer
Clara Bertelli. Really? Why? What could you possibly have to say that she might want to hear?”

Warner's so wrong. I want to hear it all. Every last reason why Luke hates my guts now. Maybe it'll make this hurt less. I swallow against the hard lump in my throat. “As soon as 12 lawyers up, he's going to find out that we have nothing on him and he's going to walk.”

“Well, then you don't have a lot of time to get in there and convince him to help us, do you? Look.” Sinclair steps in closer. “Busting this guy isn't going to do anything. He's a dumb kid who trusted his uncle and got mixed up in this stuff. I know that. He can walk. But I want the Russian mob. I want Aref Hamidi. And I will do whatever I have to to shut this entire operation down.” He knocks on the glass and Warner turns his head toward us. “Did you see the look on the garage manager's face today? He was scared shitless. I'm guessing he doesn't want to be in whatever spot Vladimir Bragin has forced him in, especially after the last guy ended up with a bullet in his head. I've seen guys like Steve Miller before. They squeal like pigs when they're cornered. When we get him in here, he's going to give us everything we need, and that includes 12. So if this kid wants any chance of freedom, he'd better start spilling his guts.”

“What if he doesn't know anything?”

“He knows a helluva lot more than we think he does.” Sinclair's eyes narrow, boring into me. “And I think you know that.”

Chapter 59

■ ■ ■

LUKE

“You're not getting another word out of me until I see my lawyer. Now, can you please ask Rain to come in here?”

A second knock on the window and Special Agent Briggs throws his index finger in the air, as if to signal “one minute.” “I'll see if she wants to see you. I know she's getting ready to move on to her next case. Another decent-looking guy who's going to fall for her.”

This guy knows how to aim his punches for impact.

He stands and then, leaning in so close to me that I can smell the coffee on his breath, he whispers, “There isn't a law that can protect you if you touch so much as a hair on Clara's body. Now, or fifty years from now. Do you understand?” Smoothing his shirt as he straightens, I watch him stalk out of the room, his back rigid.

His lethal warning completely unnecessary.

Another uncomfortable length of time stretches out in front of me as I now stare at that glass, unable to keep my fingers from drumming against the smooth table surface. Wondering if she'll show up. Wondering how different Officer Clara will be from Rain, the girl I fell for.

Finally, I get my wish.

Rain walks through the door, hugging a small stack of folders, a look that I've seen flicker across her face before now permanently etched. I didn't recognize if for what it was, then. Now I do.

Guilt.

Good.

“Your lawyer's on his way,” she says in a strained voice, taking a seat across from me. “You don't have to say anything, and you shouldn't. But please listen.” I notice her throat bobbing with a hard swallow. “Four months ago, Assistant Director Sinclair approached me. The FBI were trying to build a case against your uncle after an informant avoiding drug charges identified him as the leader in an international car theft ring involving the Russian mob. I was tasked to get close to you, so I could gather evidence that could lead to a conviction of the key players.”

She sounds the same and yet so completely different. So much older, smarter. “We believe that this theft ring is responsible for several violent carjacks in the Portland and Seattle area.”

“No,” I interrupt, unable to control myself as my anger boils. “Rust wouldn't be involved in anything that hurts people.” He wouldn't lie to me.

She doesn't argue or counter what I'm saying. “Cases like this one.” She opens a folder with a picture of a blue Buick on one side and the badly beaten face of a man on the other. “And this one.” Another folder. Another car, another picture, this time a beaten woman.

My head's shaking. They're not pinning this on Rust. No way. He's not even here to defend himself and he'd never . . .

“And this one.” The folder opens to a cherry-red Ford F-250 truck with fuzzy dice hanging from the rearview mirror. Next to it is the picture of a male.

Very obviously dead.

A wave of nausea hits me. I remember that truck. That truck was in the warehouse.

“I believe you,” she says slowly. “I believe you that Rust wouldn't
knowingly
be involved. But what if he wasn't knowingly involved? What if someone had been slowly working his way into his organization. Someone who wanted to take over. Who may have wanted to take over the network and cut him out. Who may not have been so smart or vigilant about the kinds of thieves and wheelmen they hired. Who wanted cars to sell, and fast.

“If we can get the right information, we can stop this from happening again. You're not betraying Rust anymore, Luke.” She makes a move to reach forward but then freezes, pulling her hand back. “If you tell us everything you know, I'll make sure you walk away from this. Safe.” She leans in, her eyes pleading with me, looking so honest. They've lied to me before, though. Many, many times. “Don't ruin the rest of your life protecting criminals. I know you aren't one. You've done the right thing before, Luke. Do the right thing again here. Don't let more innocent people get hurt.”

Alex. She's using Alex against me. Did she know all along, when I drove up that driveway, who she was about to meet? Or did she just figure it out, because it's her job to figure things like that out? Did she use the whole abusive ex-boyfriend angle because she somehow knew that it was a soft spot for me?

Jesse passed on Alex's condolences, telling me that she didn't come because she was afraid of someone from that circle recognizing her. She'd rather remain missing in their eyes. The poor woman still lives with a cloud of fear over her. And now these assholes are about to drag her into this mess—and Jesse, and Jesse's dad—just to get at me. I know that's why Sinclair says he's launching an investigation. He doesn't give a shit about her.

Fuck,
Jesse will never talk to me again if that happens, if I bring this disaster to his doorstep. To his father's doorstep. If they figured out how the sheriff abused his power . . .

The door bursts open and an old guy in wire-rimmed glasses storms in. “Get away from my client, now. All room recording stops immediately.”

Rain moves to stand.

I should hate her. Maybe I will once the shock wears off. “Was any of it real?” I ask, my voice as hollow as my chest.

She only stares down at me, blinking away the tears that form in her light blue eyes.

Is that even real?

Not that it matters anymore.

■ ■ ■

“They don't have enough to make this fucking stick,” Fred, my lanky and brash lawyer, who drops more f-bombs than I've ever heard before, promises. “Any judge would throw this case out the second it entered his courtroom. Now, what he may say about the investigative techniques used on you . . .” he mutters with a wicked gleam in his eye. One that says he wants to stand in front of a judge and publicly flay Rain. The excitement disappears just as quickly. “But I have to warn you, I get the feeling that they're working on a few other angles into this case. If they bring someone in and that person gives names up—which always happens—you could be facing some serious time.” Fred's obviously past the point of wondering whether Rust and I were ever involved in a car theft operation. He hasn't even bothered to ask. “They're offering you a pretty good deal right now. Voluntary cooperation in exchange for confidentiality and immunity against all charges connected with this case. They don't want you, son.”

Son.
Rust used to call me that all the time. I have to remind myself for the thousandth time that he's dead. That I can't call him to help me get out of this mess. That, in a way, he got me into this mess.

Fuck
 . . . Flashes of those pictures hit me again, and anger boils inside.

Of that car seat that these very hands in front of me yanked out of the truck.

“But what if I don't know enough?” I counter.

He busies his hands with a stack of papers. “They seem to think you do.”

How much did Rain tell them?

“They also seem to think that someone did this to Rust because they wanted him out of the way.” The more I think about it, the more it makes sense.

Fred gives a half-shrug, half-nod. “There's a lot of money involved here. I've heard of a lot worse happening for a lot less. Listen, you give me the word and you'll be walking out of here. I just can't say how long before you're back. You need to decide if you want to risk that.” He pauses. “You're a twenty-four-year-old guy who may or may not have gotten mixed up in the wrong stuff. If you did, you've still got a long life ahead. You can start over and lead a clean life. This deal they're offering guarantees that you can do that.”

A clean life. I had never focused on it, but the life I've been living up until now has been dirty. It's come from dirty money that I've accepted greedily. But Rust's dead and none of it looks very appealing anymore. Jesse's words that day fill my head. Maybe this is my wake-up call. I'm definitely scared shitless.

“What exactly does this voluntary cooperation involve?”

■ ■ ■

“Is that everything?” Briggs rubs at his eyes as he scribbles down his final notes. I feel like I haven't seen the outside of these walls for weeks, though it's been more like twenty hours. Still, a painfully long time to be sitting in this suffocating room, on a hard plastic chair, having him and Rain—I can't think of her as anything else—squeeze every last bit of information out of me. Things I remember Rust saying, things I remember seeing. Anything and everything, damning and seemingly inconsequential. From the secret warehouse in the woods to the port security guard who's paid to look the other way.

I ratted out my own garage manager, who has three kids—one in a wheelchair. I named Aref as both the shipper and a new business partner.

I knew a lot more than I thought I did.

The only thing I don't know is the one thing they need most: the exact date, time, and location of the coming shipment for Vlad. Rust kept that close to his chest. Part of me wonders if it's because of the exact situation I'm in right now.

“I think so.” The glass of water they gave me isn't helping soothe my throat anymore, which is raw from talking. I can't keep my eyes from flickering to Rain, who looks as tired as I feel. She meets my gaze for a moment before shifting away to focus on the floor.

We haven't said two words to each other.

“Okay. Let Officer Bertelli know if you remember anything else.”

Officer Bertelli.

“And it'll be added to this document, formally, right?” Fred insists.

“Yes,” Briggs confirms. “You've done the right thing today, Luke. So thank you.” He actually sounds sincere. He glances over at Rain, his jaw tightening, like he's not happy about what he's about to say. “She'll take custody of you now.”

When Fred told me that part of this deal is that I'll be released into “my girlfriend's” custody, to keep up pretenses of the loving couple for the next few days, just until they can track down and bust the shipment for Vlad—which they believe is still happening—I refused.

But I apparently don't have a choice.

“Your phone is being monitored, the condo is under full surveillance. If you disappear for so much as a second, this deal is dead and you'll never get a chance at another one.” Dark, sharp eyes bore into me.

“Come on, Luke.” Rain stands, her eyes tired and pleading. “Let's go home.”