I'm Watching You (45 page)

„Mr. Conti will see you now.“

Zoe fidgeted nervously. Now that she was here, she was wondering how wise an idea this request for an interview had really been, especially since they’d refused to allow Scott to accompany her. He hadn’t even been allowed to drive her here in the station van. She followed the butler, clad in a black pin-striped suit with a crisp white shirt and a black tie.
Shades of Al Capone
, she thought, glad she’d left word with the station on where she’d gone.

„Miss Richardson,“ the butler announced, gesturing her into Jacob Conti’s private office. Conti himself sat behind his desk, staring at her through narrowed eyes. Drake Edwards stood to one side. She supposed Edwards intended to look casual, but the man exuded such coiled power that anything remotely resembling casual was an impossibility. For a moment she stared at him in fascination, then turned to Jacob Conti.

„Thank you for seeing me. Please accept my condolences on the death of your son.“

Conti said nothing, but Edwards gestured toward the only other chair in the room. „Have a seat, Miss Richardson,“ Edwards said smoothly. „Stay a while.“

His words had a distinctly ominous ring, but Zoe refused to be cowed. She sat, making sure she showed just enough leg. „I wanted to request a formal interview.“

Edwards lifted a brow. „Why would Mr. Conti be interested in an interview?“

„There have been several attempts on the lives of Kristen Mayhew and her inner circle this week,“ Zoe said.

Conti’s face remained impassive, while Edwards’s grew amused. „And this concerns us how?“ Edwards asked and Zoe knew she was being mocked.

„There are allegations that you are involved, Mr. Conti. The police were here to visit you just this morning.“

„The police discussed no such allegations with us, Miss Richardson,“ Edwards said, again mocking her. „Perhaps your newest source is… incorrect.“ His eyes brazenly traveled the length of her body.

Zoe turned back to the silent Conti. „I wanted to give you the opportunity to address the allegations in a public forum,“ she said, as earnestly as she could muster while ignoring Edwards’s blatant leer. Conti said not a single word. His expression had not changed once in the entire time she’d been in the room. If she hadn’t seen his chest rise and fall, she might have believed he was dead. But he was very much alive.

And very much a threat. She stood up. „If you decide you’re interested, please contact me.“ She placed one of her cards on the corner of his desk. „Again, my condolences.“

She’d reached the door when Conti finally spoke. „Miss Richardson, I hold you as accountable for the death of my son as I do Miss Mayhew and his killer.“

Unable to control the sudden tremble of her body, she turned to look at him. „Is that a threat, Mr. Conti?“

„Why would you think a thing like that?“ Conti asked, his mouth curving in a truly horrible smile and she knew the true taste of fear. „Now leave before I have you forcibly removed.“

On shaking legs she obeyed. Edwards followed her to the mansion’s front entrance and opened the door. In his hand he held her card and a second later he’d deftly slid it down the neckline of her dress, between her breasts. „We know many things, Miss Richardson. Including how to reach you should we need to.“

How she managed to start her car she didn’t know. All she knew is she didn’t draw a breath until she’d cleared the front gate. A mile away the nausea passed and fury swept in to take its place. She’d lost the upper hand. She’d just have to get it back.

Jacob didn’t look up from his work when Drake reentered the room. „Kill her.“

Thursday, February 26,

5:00 P.M.

Kristen laughed when a singularly atrocious hat landed on the desk in front of her. She looked up to find Mia wearing a grin. „What is this?“

„It’s a gift for you.“

Abe came up behind Mia, smirking. „She made friends with a hatmaker.“

Mia sat behind her own desk and sighed. „I felt bad for her, all alone in that hat shop.“

„She’s alone because she’s mean.“ Abe pulled up a chair and straddled it. He was almost close enough to touch and the sight of him straddling a chair brought back the memories in a flood. Kristen’s fingers reached, then clenched and resolutely she focused on the ugly hat, but from the corner of her eye she saw him grin, enjoying knowing how much he affected her. „Except to you, Mia. You just charm everyone.“

Mia made a face. „Shut up. You want to tell her or should I?“

Abe gestured broadly. „Be my guest.“

Kristen listened as Mia recounted the conversation with Keene. „So Robert started early,“ she said, „assuming he really did come back to off the guy who’d killed his brother.“

„The junior vigilante squad. Kind of like Boy Scouts, but not,“ Mia said.

Kristen shook her head with a rueful smile. „Mia So what do you two think? Could Robert Barnett be our guy? That name’s not on any of my lists but…“

Abe nodded. „I say he could be, but we hit a brick wall. Couldn’t track Robert Barnett any farther than Keene. How did you do today?“

„I called everyone who was involved in a case Simpson defended and Hillman presided over. No obvious traumas, two invitations to celebration dinners, one nomination of the vigilante for the Nobel peace prize, and three I couldn’t reach. I’ll try them again tomorrow. Oh, and I found Paul Worth. I guess he’d be Robert Barnett’s uncle through Hank.“

Abe raised a brow. „And?“

„He’s alive, but we can’t talk to him. He’s in a nursing home up by Lincoln Park. Not lucid. I did talk to his accountant, who’s the executor of the estate. Paul Worth has no children and on his death that piece of land you found yesterday goes back to the state.“

„I wonder how our guy found out about the property,“ Abe mused.

„I don’t know. Maybe he knew the Worths.“ She handed him the sheet of paper on which she’d taken notes. „I asked the nursing home if you could see him. They said you were welcome to try. I wasn’t going up there by myself and Spinnelli’s gone.“

Abe looked over at Spinnelli’s empty office. „Where is he?“

Kristen sighed. „Mayor’s office.“

Mia winced. „Ooh.“

„Yeah. He’s got a press conference scheduled for seven. It’s not going to be pretty.“

They were quiet for a moment, then Abe’s cell phone trilled. Kristen’s heart skipped a beat. She’d been on edge all day, worrying about the Reagans, about Owen, about her mother, but everyone was accounted for. She’d warned Lois and Greg and knew she’d done her best to protect the people she cared about.

„Reagan.“ His face hardened and Kristen grabbed his arm.

„Rachel?“

He shook his head, covered her hand with his and gave a brief squeeze. „No, they’re all fine. This is something else.“ He stood up and walked a few feet away. „This isn’t a good time,“ he muttered, then, „No, I’m not free for dinner… Or drinks. Dammit, Jim, just say what’s on your mind and be done with it.“

Jim. Debra’s father.
Poor Abe
.

„I’ll try.“ Abe snapped his phone shut and stood there for a moment, all alone, and her heart cracked. Not caring who saw, she got up and smoothed her hand over his broad back. His muscles tensed under her palm and he turned to look at her, saw she understood. „They’re in town for the christening. They want to meet me for dinner.“

„Why?“

He moved his powerful shoulders restlessly. „I don’t know. To talk, they said.“

„Do you want me to go with you?“

One corner of his mouth turned up. „Thanks, but I don’t think so. Don’t be mad.“

„I’m not.“ She leaned her forehead against his upper arm. „Just worried about you.“

From behind them Mia cleared her throat meaningfully. „Hi, Marc.“

As one, Kristen and Abe turned to meet Spinnelli’s beleaguered stare. For a long awkward moment nobody said anything, then Spinnelli sighed. „At least there’ll be one happy ending out of all this.“

Kristen dropped her hand from Abe’s back. „Mayor’s not happy, huh?“

Spinnelli sank into a chair. „Well, let’s see. We’re incompetent, laughingstocks, the butt of jokes, an embarrassment. There was more, but those were the high points. Mia, call Murphy. Find out if he’s gotten any closer to finding that girl.“ He snapped his fingers, his brow puckered. „Whatever her name was.“

„June Erickson,“ Mia supplied. „Sure.“

His gaze landed on the hat. „And what the hell is that?“

„Community outreach,“ Abe said. „I’ll fill you in.“

Thursday, February 26,

8:45 p.m.

„This is making me sick,“ Kristen said, feeling the room spin.

„This rocks,“ Rachel corrected. She was sitting in front of the Reagans’s TV, careening down a mountain on a video snowboarding game that was entirely too real.

„Welcome to my world,“ Kyle said wryly. Becca chuckled.

Kristen covered her eyes. „I can’t watch anymore. I’m going to throw up.“

„Oh, man! Sixth place.“ Rachel shut off the video game. „My game is off tonight.“

„It’s a wonder you can still move your hands and your eyes aren’t burned-out sockets,“ Kyle retorted. „You’ve been playing that fool game all day.“

Because she’d stayed home from school. Just a precaution, Kyle said, and not her fault, Becca said, but Kristen felt responsible all the same. Rachel, on the other hand, was thrilled to have missed a test and to have the whispered admiration of her friends.

„Don’t apologize,“ Kyle warned.

„Or you’ll kick my ass,“ Kristen said with a weary smile. „I know. Has Abe called?“

„Not in the last five minutes since you asked before.“ Becca patted her hand. „He’s fine, Kristen. He can take care of himself.“ It was said mechanically, in the voice of the wife and mother of cops. Kristen wondered if Becca had ever once believed it.

„Besides, it’s just dinner,“ Kyle said. „The worst that can happen is he accidentally uses the wrong fork and Sharon cuts him up with that sharp tongue of hers.“

Kristen looked up at him, curious. „Why do you say that?“

Kyle looked uneasy, but Becca huffed. „Debra was the sweetest, most generous woman in the world, but her parents were fond of money and the power that came with it.“ A look of pain crossed her face. „Abe wasn’t good enough for Debra and her father never let an opportunity go by without telling him so.“

„Becca,“ Kyle chided gently. „That’s all past now. They can’t hurt him anymore.“

Kristen looked from one to the other, but neither appeared to be prepared to impart additional detail. „Abe told me about the lawsuit. How they tried to get custody of Debra.“

Kyle’s eyes widened speculatively. „Did he now?“ Becca’s jaw clenched. „Did he tell you that they never stopped blaming him for Debra getting shot? For five years Debra lay there and they never stopped blaming him.“

Poor Abe. Poor Kyle and Becca, having to watch their son endure such torment. „He didn’t want to meet them tonight.“

Becca huffed again. „Of course he didn’t.“

„Then why did he?“ Rachel asked from the floor and Kristen blinked. She’d almost forgotten the teenager was down there, listening to every word.

Kyle sighed. „I imagine he went to let them have their say and get it over with.“

„So they wouldn’t say it on Saturday and ruin the christening for Sean and Ruth,“ Kristen said. It added yet another layer of respect to the character of Abe Reagan. Becca’s eyes misted. „You really do understand him.“ Kristen felt what was becoming a familiar wave of longing. For Abe, for his family. For the warmth of this house. „He’s a good man,“ she said simply.

Kyle cleared his throat roughly and reached for the wallet he’d set on the lamp table.

„Kyle,“ Becca murmured. „Don’t.“ Kristen’s mouth tipped. „Is he going to pay me?“

„No, he’s going to show you Debra’s picture,“ Rachel said and Kristen stiffened, but it was too late. Kyle held the worn snapshot and if she didn’t look, she’d be rude.

So she made herself look down at the picture, at the woman who’d been Abe’s everything. What she saw was a tall woman of average beauty and the protruding stomach of advanced pregnancy holding on to, to a man who smiled as if he could never be happier. „She was lovely.“ It was true. Because beyond her average beauty was a glow, an expression that said Debra could never be happier either.

„This was taken two weeks before she was shot,“ Kyle said, a catch in his voice that made Kristen swallow hard. „I didn’t think I’d ever see that look on my son’s face again.“ His thumb swept over the plastic cover in a practiced caress. „But I have. Since he met you.“ His thumb grew blurry and Kristen bit the inside of her cheek, not daring to look up.

Rachel pushed a tissue in her hand, much as Aidan had done the day before. „Blow your nose before we all start bawling,“ she said and Kristen laughed unsteadily.

„Are you sure you’re only thirteen?“

„Almost fourteen,“ Rachel returned archly.

Kyle groaned, the tender moment broken. „Going on twenty,“ he said.

„So can I go steady with Trent?“

Kyle scowled down at her. „No. Not till you’re sixteen.“

Rachel shrugged. „It was worth a try.“

Grateful for the temporary respite from her worry, Kristen checked her watch and Kyle groaned again. „If you’re so worried about Abe, call him on his cell phone.“

„I don’t want him to think I’m checking up on him.“

Kyle huffed in disgust. „Women.“

„We’re all alike,“ Rachel sang and once again Kristen smiled.

„And you, having been a woman for so long, are an expert,“ Kristen said wryly.

„Hey, lady, I see what I see and I know what I know.“ Rachel grabbed the phone and handed it to her. „Call him. You know you want to.“

Embarrassed, Kristen took the phone and dialed. And frowned. „He’s turned it off.“

Kyle’s brows shot together. „He what?“

„He’s turned off his cell phone. Or he’s underground, because it’s not picking up.“

Kyle put out his hand, worry in his eyes. „Give me the phone.“

Chapter Twenty