Covert Attraction (19 page)

Chapter 19

J
udge Treena smiled grimly as she walked up the stairs toward Daniel McManus’s ID Department–funded apartment here in Moravo Beach. It was almost six-thirty in the morning, and she saw no one else in the halls or on the stairs.

She had a pretty good idea what—who—she would find at Daniel’s place. She had stopped first at the building in a small nearby town where her operatives had located an apartment rented recently by “Beth Jones.” No one had been home.

Daniel and Beth had confirmed to her that they were working together now to bring Corcoris down. But she also felt sure that wasn’t all they were doing together.

She didn’t care what her operatives did on their own time. She did care, though, what those whose identities she had helped to change did afterward.

Putting themselves back in danger, in the same situation that had led to their need for an identity change? That was definitely one of her biggest taboos.

When she reached the unit with the number she’d sought, she didn’t have to knock. Daniel stood there with the door open.

“Hello, Judge,” he said. “Come in. What—?”

“What am I doing here?” she interrupted. “Checking out the operation that I helped to set up. And—”

She stopped and crossed her arms as she glared into the living room of the compact apartment and saw exactly whom she’d expected sitting there watching the door while chewing on her bottom lip.

“—coming to check on one of my Transformation Unit ID-change subjects.” She strode into the living room and stopped by the couch, looking down angrily at Beth. “I understand about the threats and all. And I’m doing something about that. But would you care to tell me, Ms. Jones, exactly why you’re not only ignoring my most ironclad rule for TU subjects who receive new identities, but you’re also ignoring my after-the-fact insistence that you go back home and let the CIU do its job?”

* * *

Beth felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. But she wouldn’t let it show. She couldn’t.

She looked at the woman who had helped to save her life, who had gone all out to make sure that the man who had threatened her life and tried to sexually assault her had no idea where—or who—she was.

The woman she admired so much. Whom she trusted and...well, yes, even loved like a caring aunt.

“I’m sorry, Your Honor. I understand that your rules are designed to keep me safe.” As well as to keep the Covert Investigations Unit part of the Identity Division as undercover as its operatives, but mentioning that now would buy Beth nothing. “But...well, with my family still being threatened and no answers found yet, I just had to come back.”

Judge Treena appeared to be in her early fifties. She was tall and slender and had a lovely face that, had she decided to take another route when younger, could have led her into a career as a model or actress.

But she had made it clear when they’d first met that she had chosen to take on very different kinds of roles—first in courtrooms as a litigating attorney and then presiding over those courtrooms as a federal judge.

She had specialized in criminal cases and had seen the injustices of what happened to people in danger because they happened to know bad things about potential felons who couldn’t be prosecuted because of lack of evidence.

That was why, she’d told Andrea, she had found the right people within the U.S. Marshals office to allow her to help create the Identity Division as a nonwitness protection program so she could change the identities of those who were threatened—and conduct investigations to find the evidence that those in danger lacked.

Judge Treena’s pretty face was aging, with lines that suggested myriad frowns at the wrong people over the years. Her hair was a soft shade of blond, a wavy nest about her face that she didn’t seem to care much about styling.

Beth had mostly seen her in dark business suits like she wore now.

The judge stood over Beth and looked down assessingly. “Maybe,” she said. “Even so, you could have left here again when I told you to. But I have a feeling there’s more involved than your hanging out to try to help your family.” She turned her head to look tellingly toward Daniel.

“It’s nothing like that, Judge,” he said. “Since Beth was followed by that car thief, she’s received a message from her family that there have been more threats against them—and her. I’m just helping to keep her safe.”

What he said was entirely correct, but it still pierced Beth. They had no relationship, just occasional bouts of sex to relieve tension.

And she herself had made it clear it could go no further.

But she had been—and still was—so attracted to Daniel that his acknowledging the reality aloud about their nonrelationship hurt.

“Maybe,” the judge said. “If so, I commend you, Daniel, on continuing to go further than the crux of your assignment. But even so, you shouldn’t have had to protect Beth. She’s not your confidential informant. Her contact with you didn’t put her into the danger she faces.”

Beth hated to see Daniel wince, but the judge had struck a nerve.

She had reminded him of the woman whose life he’d failed to save—and the reason he felt obligated to protect Beth...while not getting emotionally involved with her.

Well, that was fine. She didn’t want or need more from him. And she could take care of herself.

Beth tuned back in to what the judge, who hadn’t stopped talking, was saying. “Had Beth gone home or, better yet, stayed away altogether, she would have been much safer.” Her glare was leveled on Beth again.

Beth rose, wanting to feel more equal while debating with Judge Treena. “I understand what you’re saying, and I’m not arguing with it—not exactly. But just staying away and hearing after the fact about what did or didn’t happen—I just couldn’t do that. I apologize for not following your rules. But...well, tell me. Tell us both. Did the FDA investigators find anything today to lead them to the evidence we’ve missed to bring Corcoris down?”

“They’re still working on it,” the judge said. “We need to let them do their job.” She stepped forward and took Beth’s hands into hers. “I really understand your frustration, Beth. You know, from our working together before, how much I want things to come together fast, for my protégés to get the justice they deserve. But it doesn’t always work that way.”

“You’re right, Judge,” Beth acknowledged, watching as Daniel drew closer to both of them behind the judge’s back. His expression now looked so sympathetic that she wanted to clasp his hands, too, the way the judge still held hers. “And if something happens to me, it’s all my own fault.” She hoped Daniel heard that, too. She wasn’t his responsibility. “But it’s so important to me to get results. To save my family. And...well, you know from before that I was concerned about my friend and mentor, Milt Ranich. Around here, it’s as though he never even existed. I really need to find out what happened to him, too.”

“Let’s get the evidence to finally prosecute Preston Corcoris and whoever’s helping him commit the fraud he’s been committing that endangers consumers,” Daniel said, moving to a spot across the coffee table from Beth and Judge Treena. “Once we bring him down, we’ll be able to stop the threats against you and your family. And if he has conspirators working with him—which he apparently does within the company and beyond—we’ll find them and prosecute them, too.”

That was what Beth had hoped all along. But so far...how had Corcoris been able to hide things so well? And how could she be certain that all his allies would be caught and brought down, too, to save her family? And her.

And Milt—if he was still alive.

The judge must have read her thoughts. “We don’t know if your friend Milt has been placed into some kind of protection, but we doubt it. He’s not one of mine, and he’d have had the evidence you lacked. Witness protection would have worked well for him if he’d been able to testify. They may have killed him, Beth,” she said gently. “You still need to be prepared for that.”

“On some level I am,” Beth said, blinking back the tears that had flowed into her eyes. “I just need to know.”

* * *

From his position near the two women, Daniel listened to their conversation and watched Beth’s reactions.

He had worked with Judge Treena closely over the past couple of years, planning strategies with her for going undercover, then implementing them, several times. They’d gotten along well together. Daniel respected the head of the organization where he worked.

But he wasn’t pleased about the judge’s attitude right now. It was almost as if she wanted to scold him, rub his face in his past failures by mentioning his confidential informant, reminding him that Edie hadn’t had to die—especially on his watch. At least partly thanks to their romantic relationship and his focus on her and little else, he’d gotten careless, and she’d been murdered by the people he had been investigating. He’d succeeded in bringing them down, but Edie was gone.

That wouldn’t happen to anyone else he was working with, confidential informant or not.

He wasn’t about to let his emotions get in the way as he had before. Sex? Yes. But he wasn’t getting any closer to Beth than that.

But the judge also seemed to be scolding Beth, paying her back for disobedience, encouraging her to hurt all the more.

Even as she held Beth’s hands in sympathy.

“I know we all hope that everything gets resolved this weekend,” he said, managing not to grit his teeth. “I’ll be around the labs since I’m finally trusted enough there to be working on one of the newer meds. Although I still have to run some of it by more experienced technicians, I’ve just been given the assignment of updating one of the quality-control tests Corcoris has been running on the weight-loss medication.”

“Which should look good to the FDA,” Judge Treena observed. “Although if the company’s old system was really bad, that’ll count against them.” She released Beth’s hands and turned toward Daniel.

“Their position is that it was good to begin with, but they’re being proactive in keeping it as effective as possible.” Daniel lifted his brows as he gave that tidbit to Judge Treena. “Meanwhile, I only saw a hint of how they were playing games. I’ve gotten no confirmation yet since apparently only certain execs can access the background data. But I still believe that the reports turned over to the FDA are based on fraudulent data.”

“Don’t they use data from the handwritten log notes that are kept during the manufacturing process?”

“Partly.” Daniel exchanged glances with Beth.

They’d each hoped to get access to the actual logs when they’d visited the production center but had given up hope of that. What they really needed was to find proof of their suspicions—ones they had discussed briefly over dinner the other night.

“Since those notes I’ve seen scanned into the computer look perfect,” he continued, “I suspect they’ve been doctored somehow but so far I haven’t gotten hold of sufficient passwords to check out whether all the scanned-in information is identical or not. I hinted about that to the inspectors when no one else was around yesterday. I should be able to find a way to talk to them a little more, since today is Saturday. But I haven’t had time alone on the computer to do any further checking of that myself with the passwords I borrowed.”

“That’s one reason the decision was made to have them come back here fast, unannounced, on a Friday afternoon—but I understand there was some notice after all. I’ll look into that next week.”

“Good.” Daniel sat down in one of the armchairs facing the two women, now seated on the sofa. “Are you heading for the Corcoris facility today?” he asked the judge. If so, he wasn’t sure how she would represent herself—as a federal judge? As some kind of support for the FDA inspection?

She wouldn’t mention that she was even part of the CIU, let alone in charge of it. He was sure of that, even though hardly anyone had heard of the Identity Division of the U.S. Marshals Service, let alone its units, and even fewer knew what they were about. Which was a good thing, since the division’s mission required that it stay as covert as possible.

“For now I plan to stay in the background. I’ll let the FDA guys know I’m here and can lend a hand if needed.”

He wanted to be blunt and ask why she had come at all. To check out how well he was doing?

To see if she could catch him and Beth in bed together?

In a way, she had—in the most innocent of ways. Just as well? Yes. But if she was going to make the hottest assumptions, too bad they hadn’t been real that night.

“And you, Beth. I know it’s Saturday, but cleaning crews sometimes can do their best work on weekends. Will you be at the Corcoris HQ today?”

“She already got a full workweek in,” Daniel said. He didn’t want her to be present today, since things could in fact come to a head and she would be safer somewhere else. In fact, before he headed to Corcoris, he intended to see her back to her apartment and make sure no one lay in wait for her.

“But I wanted to see if I could do anything with the FDA around,” Beth said. “I’ve already arranged to be there. I begged for overtime for the extra wages.” Her smile looked pleased, but he felt anything but.

“I don’t—” he began, but he was interrupted by Judge Treena.

“Great. I’ll have not only the FDA there checking things out but also my own mini CIU team—you two. I’ll be eager to hear how things go.”

* * *

Beth saw the irritation on Daniel’s face. It wasn’t hard to spot. He looked royally peeved.

Too bad. And if the judge hadn’t been here, she might have teasingly kissed him to wipe his scowl away. Or not. They’d already started backing away from one another.

On the other hand, she liked the idea of trying to discombobulate him.

But instead, she had to get her day started to appear as eager to work this weekend as she’d claimed. “Gotta go,” she said. “I need to head back to my place first for a change of clothes.” A quick shower, too.

“I’ll come with you,” Daniel said. “To check things out.”

“No need,” she said. “I’ll be careful.”

But Judge Treena overrode her, too. “Won’t hurt to have a second pair of eyes.” And the way she nodded at Daniel, Beth figured the judge also thought an extra pair of arms—strong muscular ones like Daniel’s—wouldn’t hurt, either.