Ring of Lies (78 page)

Jack’s eyes narrowed.
‘
I could force you—
’

Grace smiled thinly.
‘
But you won’t
,
for the simple reason you’ll be by my side twenty-four/seven.
’

‘
You got that right
.
’
He
cupped his hands around her face and
lowered his mouth gently
to
hers intending the kiss to be reassuring, but something primitive coursed through his veins. He deepened the kiss, his tongue tangling with hers
, devouring
its
softness.
He lifted his mouth from Grace’s and smiled.

‘
How about we continue this upstairs?
’
He nuzzled her neck
, tasting her skin.
Then h
is phone rang
.

‘
Are you going to answer that?
’
Grace
mumbled
.

‘
I’m trying to ignore it.
’

‘
Is it
working?
’

‘
Unfortunately not,
’
he sighed. He
snatched his cell phone off the table and
examined
the screen.
‘
It’s Diego.
I’
ll
take this in the office.
’
He
strode out of the room
before answering the
call.

‘
I checked with
Homeland Security
like you asked
,
’
Diego said.
‘
Catherine Peterson passed through immigration at Atlanta three days ago
. But get this
:
her
passport
i
s Irish, not British
.
’

The last of Jack’s good
humour
vanished
.
‘
You sure
?
’

‘
Absolutely.
What’s more, she used the same passport to rent a
grey
Chevy Aveo.
’

‘
Can you fax over a copy?
’

‘
Sure. Anything else?
’

‘
Any luck with the video from the airport?
’

‘
Yeah
.
The tech guys pulled an image off the tapes.
They faxed
a copy
to Mike. Chrissie found it in his briefcase and handed it over this morning.
I’ll fax it, along with the passport. The number on the piece of paper
Grace found—
turns out it’s a Swiss Bank Account. I’ve contact
ed
the Swiss Authorities and asked them to investigate.
’

‘
And speak to
Cody at
the
First Apopka Bank
.
Elliott had an ATM
card
. I
t was
n’t with the items
returned to Grace.
I want to know
if it’s been handed in or
whether
anyone tried to use it
in the last day or so
, and if so,
where
.
’

‘
And there’s another thing,
’
said Diego.
‘
The medical examiner finished the autopsy on the guy in the Everglades and
managed to
get pretty clear prints
. We also
pulled
some prints off the pick-up
he was driving
. Forensics
ran
them through AFIS
—the
a
utomated fingerprint identification system
. We’ve
got a match for a
Hector
Su
á
rez
.
’

Jack’s
gut clenched
.
‘
Suárez?
’

‘
Yeah. His
brother
,
Estefan
is serving life for the
murder
of a rival gang member
and drug trafficking
.
There are
two other brothers and a sister, all of whom are known to us
.
’

‘
Shit.
I worked on that task force
.
’

‘
He wouldn’t be pleased to see you then, Jack.
’

‘
Not likely.
’

‘
But
you think
he’s got nothing to do with this investigation?
’

‘
Not a chance.
Any news on
the second autopsy on Elliott?
’

‘
Nothing new so far.
’

‘
Okay, Diego. Keep pushing the crime lab. I want to know
the name of the woman who got off the plane with Elliott.
In
the meantime,
Grace and I will pay a visit to Pete Jacob’s secretary and see if we can access his files.
Find out
who owns that island
.
’

‘
You b
e careful, Jack.
Stay alive.
’

‘
I
’m not dying yet, Diego. I’ve got loads to live for. Just one of the many reasons you want to grow up to be just like me, right?
’

The voice on the other end gave a dry chuckle.
‘
See you around, Jack. I’m counting on you.
’

‘
Me too,
’
said Jack
.
Lost in thought, he stared out of the window
at the trees swaying in the light breeze
.
He wasn’t worried about the Suárez family or the fact that one of their number h
ad chosen now to come after him. H
e was more concerned with the lies Catherine had told
and what it would do to Grace
when she found out
.

Pain showed in his eyes and in the
tight
lines around his mouth.
The fax machine in the corner whirled into life. The cover sheet informed him the contents were privileged information.
He flipped the page.
The tech guys had done their best to enhance the photo taken from the airport security
cameras. E
ven so, the image was very poor quality. H
e
folded the fax and tucked it into the back pocket of his jeans
.

No time to waste.

Game on.

Catherine tossed her blonde hair out of her eyes, and padded over to the coffee machine.
‘
What time is it
? M
y watch has stopped,
’
she asked, and helped herself to a cup.

‘
Eight-thirty.
’
Grace looked up from
the slice of toast
she was
buttering
. She arched an eyebrow
and skimmed her gaze over her sister.
Her
thin
pink
T-shirt clung to her curves and barely reached the top of her thighs.

‘
My God, is that all?  My body clock must be really screwed. Where’s Jack?
’

‘
Right here,
’
he said,
entering
the kitchen
.

Grace burned
Catherine
with a look that said aren’t you the slightest bit ashamed of how you’re dressed? Catherine missed the admonishment, or ignored it. Instead she smiled broadly at Jack, clear
ly
inviting him to see what she wasn’t wearing. She
leaned
back
against the counter and crossed her long
, shapely
legs at the ankles.

‘
Don’t mind me.
Just carry on as if I’m not here.
’