Our Little Secret (22 page)

“Damn right I’m authentic,” Chapman said. He stuck his hand out, fixing Drew with a cold stare until his gun and ID folder were handed back. He tucked them away and looked only partially mollified as he said, “So now do you want to explain what the fuck’s going on here?”

“I think all of us have some questions,” Drew told him, folding his arms. “How do you feel about mushrooms and olives?”

He’d declined the pizza, but it was well past lunch time and Lauren quickly put away two pieces while Agent Chapman complained about his sore jaw.

“Damn, you hit me hard. I think I have a loose tooth.”

“Sorry,” Drew said, not looking sorry. “If I’d known Secret Service agents were dressing in Gino’s Pizza jackets these days, I would have restrained myself.”

“I needed a cover. When you ordered the pizza, it gave us an opportunity to get in the house without drawing attention.”

Lauren lowered her third slice of pizza. “You heard me order pizza?” Her voice rose with outrage. “You tapped our phones?”

He seemed surprised that she asked. “Of course we did. We couldn’t get bugs planted, and we had to know if you were being threatened by someone.”

Having her phone conversations overheard could be embarrassing. Thinking back, she decided it was more embarrassing for Jeff than her; someone must have had a good time listening to his stilted attempt at phone sex. That one could become a department classic.

Drew, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to have a conversation with her without throwing in a sexual innuendo. Her gaze skimmed his shoulders and legs, and she remembered stroking a hand down to clutch that tight, muscular butt. Hell, his whole body was sexually suggestive. Taking a thoughtful bite, she considered some of the possible results of exploring those suggestions.

“Lauren? Are you listening?”

“Hmm?” She focused on Drew’s concerned face. “Yeah, he tapped the phones.”

“Because Dad and Meg volunteered to help them catch whoever has been blackmailing senators.”

“They did?” She frowned at Agent Chapman. “Is that what this is about? Where’s my sister? Is she okay?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Until a couple minutes ago, I thought you were Meg.”

A tiny flutter of panic tightened Lauren’s chest. “What do you mean, you don’t know? I thought you were Secret Service. I thought you were experts at protecting people.”

She’d obviously hit a nerve. Before Chapman could snap out a defensive reply, Drew diverted his attention.

“Why did you let them help you? My dad and Meg are civilians, and catching blackmailers sounds dangerous.”

The agent relaxed slightly at hearing a question he could deal with. “We didn’t have much choice. They’re targeting senators, and we couldn’t exactly put someone undercover, pretending to be a senator. We were lucky Senator Creighton was willing to do it. These guys are using sexual indiscretions as blackmail, and he’s impervious. The senator is, um”—he glanced hesitantly at Drew—“he’s known to date around.”

“You mean he’s a womanizer,” Drew said in a flat voice.

“Well, yeah. You can’t blackmail someone who looks at a picture of himself in bed with a woman and asks for enlargements.” At Drew’s cool look, Chapman cleared his throat and continued. “Senator Creighton came to us when another senator, a friend of his, received some revealing pictures, along with
instructions on how to vote on an upcoming bill. That senator wasn’t willing to risk an otherwise solid marriage to catch whoever did it. Senator Creighton wouldn’t tell us who the first victim was, but he and his secretary volunteered to make themselves potential targets to help us catch these guys.”

The pieces fell together. “You mean they pretended to get married so someone could attempt to blackmail Senator Creighton when he continued to see his current girlfriend,” Lauren said.

“Exactly.”

“Then they aren’t really married!” she exclaimed.

“Not exactly. Sort of.” Seeing Lauren’s impatient look, he explained, “There wasn’t a ceremony, but we filed a real certificate with the state of Maryland. If the press tracked it down, it had to look real. So officially, Maryland says they’re married.”

“Get to what happened,” Drew said. “Someone took pictures of my dad and tried to blackmail him?”

Chapman shifted in his seat, looked away, then back at Drew. “We don’t know. He received something, an envelope, we think, but that’s when they both panicked and ran. We never saw what it was.”

Lauren thought of the pictures in the safe deposit box, and her alarmed gaze flew to Drew. He shook his head, warning her to be silent. “Why? Where did they go?”

“I wish to hell I knew. We think they must have received a threat to their lives. My partner and I were watching the house so we could take them into protective custody as soon as they received the bribe. But apparently the bribe went to the senator’s office in the regular mail delivery and they didn’t tell us. Tuesday
morning Meg left for work and never came back. Senator Creighton checked in to say she’d made an overnight trip for him, but then he disappeared the next morning so he must have been covering for her until she got away. That’s when you arrived, Miss Sutherland, and we thought you were Meg. We tried to get you away from this guy,” he nodded at Drew, “when he seemed to be forcing you to go places with him. The bank, the senator’s office. We thought he was holding Senator Creighton somewhere until he got what he wanted from you.”

“Well, he isn’t.” He didn’t have to. When she risked a glance at him, the amused lift of his eyebrow made her falter. God, she loved when he did that. It also distracted the hell out of her. She fastened her gaze on Agent Chapman. “What’s the problem? Everyone knows where they ran to. They’re somewhere in the Virgin Islands. Doesn’t the government have ways of tracking them down?”

“Yes, we do,” Chapman snapped, obviously resentful at having to explain his whole case. “That’s how we know they aren’t there. They were at the airport, and they obviously wanted us, or someone else, to think they left, but they never boarded a flight. They disappeared, and we don’t know why.”

She put down her half-eaten slice of pizza. “You lost them? Do you mean to say you have absolutely no idea where they are?”

He didn’t seem to care for her wording. “Ma’am, people generally want our protection. We aren’t used to people running from us, and we can’t protect them if they don’t cooperate. Senator Creighton and his secretary didn’t do what they were told.”

That was his excuse for allowing an endangered United States senator and his wife to disappear? She stared, unable to speak. Drew knuckled a spot on his forehead, as if talking with Chapman was giving him a headache. “Do you know anything about the money that was deposited into my dad’s account last Friday?” he asked.

“Yeah, I do. That was another attempt to pressure the Senator into doing what they want, and you two made it simple, showing up at that party. All they had to do was pay some idiot to pose for a picture with you, then make sure the D.C. police pick him up on trumped up charges.
Bingo,
Senate bribes are headline news, and you guys provide the perfect proof that Senator Creighton is involved. Nice going.”

Drew became still—too still. Lauren noticed the tiny muscles clench in his jaw. Remembering the surprising effectiveness of his first attack on Chapman, she hurriedly said, “We’re sorry about that. We never would have done it if we’d known what was going on. You could have informed us, you know.”

Drew’s hard gaze never left Chapman as the agent slid a sour look her way. “We didn’t know who you were.”

“You do now. Did you find out which bank employee deposited the money into the senator’s account?”

Chapman shot her a close look. “What makes you think it was a bank employee?”

She shrugged. “It’s the logical way to do it. Anyone else making a deposit would be on camera. An employee could access the account anytime, and move money from one account to another. But you’d be able to tell who it was from their access code on the
computer terminal. So have you found the person who did it?”

“How do
you
know all that?”

“It’s basic banking procedures. Doesn’t everyone know it?”

Drew’s look threatened violence. “Don’t go there, Chapman. Lauren’s on your side.”

“Hard to tell with you two,” Chapman grumbled. “Yeah, we have a name, a financial advisor at the senator’s bank. We’re looking for him. The guy seems to have disappeared.”

“I would, too,” Drew said.

“We’ll find him. In the meantime, we’ll expect you to confine yourselves to this house until we find Senator and Mrs. Creighton, and resolve this mess.”

“Gladly.” She looked at Drew. “Right?”

He shifted his eyes toward her. “Right,” he replied in a flat voice.

She smiled pleasantly at the agent. Chapman frowned at each of them, then stood and slapped a business card on the table. “Call me if there’s a problem.”

“We will,” she assured him.

“I’ll see you out,” Drew said, rising.

He stood close enough to Chapman that she couldn’t help noticing the difference between the two. Both were tall, probably six-two or -three, with a solid, athletic build. But Chapman’s moves were abrupt and jerky, the motions of someone who spent too much time in a business suit, riding in cars, and sitting behind a desk. Drew’s movements had the fluid grace that implied a well-conditioned body, used to physical exertion and tests of strength. Besides the fact
that looking at him heated her from the inside out like a blowtorch, she wouldn’t bet a dime on Chapman in any physical confrontation against Drew. Which looked to be about one sentence away from happening if the agent didn’t leave now.

“Don’t bother,” she said, stepping between them and taking Agent Chapman by the arm. “You sit and eat, Drew. I’ll see him out.” She placed a hand on Drew’s chest and shoved, which had no effect but to make him to look at her. She narrowed her eyes in a threatening glare, then tugged Chapman toward the foyer. Before she could get him out the door, Drew called out from behind them.

“Hey, Chapman.”

The agent turned with a suspicious look. “Yeah?”

“We’re going to make a trip to the grocery store to stock up before we lock ourselves away here. Just wanted to give you notice in case you don’t trust us, and want to follow.”

Chapman returned his steady look. “I’ll do that.”

“Whole Foods, in thirty minutes.”

“See you there,” Chapman sneered, and left.

As soon as the door closed, Drew’s expression turned innocent. “What?”

“Only a man could make grocery shopping sound like a showdown at the O.K. Corral.”

He smiled. “Do you have a coat with big pockets?”

It was probably easier to play along, rather than ask him to explain. “Yes, my raincoat. But it’s sunny today.”

“That’s okay. Put a few changes of underwear in those pockets and any other necessities you’ll need for the next few days. Maybe a T-shirt if there’s room.”

“The next few days? That’s an ambitious shopping trip you’re planning.”

He took her hand and led her back to the kitchen. It was a simple thing, having his hand around hers, but it felt good. Natural. She closed her fingers around his.

“How much confidence do you have in our young Agent Chapman?” Drew asked.

She made a face. “Not much. He lost track of probably the most recognizable man in the country after the president and vice president.”

“Right, and you can take the vice president off that list; he hasn’t been around Washington as long as my dad. So do you want to sit around here and wait while those two goons chase their tails, or do you want to get in on the action?”

It seemed he already knew her well enough that he didn’t have to wait for her answer. Picking up the phone, he punched in a series of numbers and waited.

“Gerald! What are you up to?”

While he listened, Drew smiled at Lauren and ran a finger along her cheek, seemingly more intent on her face than on whatever Gerald was saying. She shivered with pleasure.

“Why don’t you wash that paint off? I want to ask you for a favor. By the way, did you know the Secret Service has our phone tapped?”

This time his finger went around her ear, then slid through a lock of hair. More shivers.

“Neither did I. Anyway, they want us to lie low here for a few days. So I was thinking I might be able to borrow that hot Swede of yours.”

Hot Swede? Was he asking to borrow pornography?
She’d known he’d be more sexually adventurous than Jeff, but it had seemed like she was all the stimulation he’d need.

While Gerald answered, or thought about his answer, Drew held the phone away and leaned close to her ear. “That’s what he calls his Volvo,” he whispered, then licked her earlobe while he was there. Her head tilted involuntarily with pleasure, rubbing against his.

“We’re going to make a quick trip to Whole Foods to stock up. You could meet us there.” His finger traced the line of her jaw, then traveled down her neck, hooking into her crew neck collar and pulling slightly. She wanted to rip it off.

Drew chuckled into the phone. “Yeah, I can pay in euros, you elitist snob. I’ll see you there in half an hour. Thanks, buddy.”

He hung up. “He won’t trade for the Taurus. Paying in euros means we have to give him my dad’s Mercedes,” he told her absently. His wandering finger came back up to tilt her chin toward his face as he captured her gaze and sent her pulse racing. She held her breath in anticipation.

Drew’s voice lowered passionately. He murmured, “If you stuff any sort of nightgown into those pockets I’m going to be very disappointed.”

She shivered deliciously. A nightgown? Perish the thought.