Nowhere to Turn (4 page)

SIX MONTHS LATER
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5
SC FBI RESIDENT AGENCY, SATELLITE OFFICE
GREENVILLE, SC

Special Agent Joseph Duncan stepped through the doors and made his way to the small square room he called an office.

“Yo, Duncan, welcome back. Nice job on that last assignment. Took you long enough, though.”

Joe turned and waved at Ralph Thorn, who nursed a cup of coffee on his way to his own desk. “Thanks, man.”

“Six months is a long time.”

“Too long, but not as long as I thought it would be.” He tried to force a smile, but was sure it came out more in the form of a grimace than anything else.

“You been home yet?”

“Nope. Had to stop by here and get caught up a little. Then I plan to go home and sleep for about a week.” Home. He should call it his hovel. Bitterness nearly engulfed him. Two years ago his father had died and left everything to Joe’s older brother. The shining star. The Wall Street executive. The one who already had more money than he knew what to do with.

And Joe? He inherited a trailer park where no one paid the rent unless you hounded them or threatened eviction. Like he had time for that. It was one reason he liked the long undercover assignments. Actually six months wasn’t all that long. He’d been hoping for a year or longer. Maybe next time.

“Sounds good. Let’s get together for lunch when you surface.”

“Right.”

Thorn took a gulp of his brew and disappeared into his office across from Joe’s cubicle.

Joseph Duncan. He shook his head. The name sounded weird. He’d used so many names over the past six months he wasn’t sure who he was anymore.

His phone rang and he sighed. Word traveled fast. “Duncan.”

“You’re back.” Peter Hastings’s low voice rumbled in his ear.

“I am.”

“Are we on for tonight?”

He frowned. “Tonight?”

“We’ve got a shipment coming in. And we have a buyer for the plates. So bring them.”

Joe sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Tonight. I can’t tonight.”

“We need you there, Joe.”

“I promised my sister I’d help her with something.” He’d told Cheryl he’d bring her some cash. Her bum of a husband had left her with three small kids, and she was struggling just to put food on the table and hold down a part-time job that paid squat. Of course their older brother didn’t care about that. He had only disdain for his two siblings who hadn’t had what it took to make the big bucks. And their father?

No
sense in going there, Duncan.
“Never mind, I’ll be there.” Joe rubbed his gritty eyes. “I need the money.” His sister needed the money. “Wait a minute. What plates?”

“The plates that Kurt hid and only you know where they are?
We’ve been waiting for you to come out from under so we could get them, but it’s been a long, hard wait.”

“Dude, I don’t have the plates. Kurt had ’em, but he didn’t give them to me.”

Silence. “What?”

“He didn’t give them to me.” Joe repeated himself, enunciating each word as though talking to someone who didn’t understand English.

“Joe—”

“You going to make me say it again?”

“Don’t mess with us, Joe. You know what happened to Trennen.” Raw anger filtered through the line.

Joe shook his head in disbelief as his adrenaline gave a sudden rush. He sat up, the weariness of the last six months falling from his shoulders. “You threatening me?”

“Should I?”

Joe felt his blood hum and the anger start to boil in his belly. “You don’t want to go there. I said I don’t have the plates and I don’t.”

A long stretch of silence. Joe waited him out. “Right. Of course. Sorry.”

“Yeah.” Another stretch of silence. “Why would you think I had the plates? Kurt had them last time I heard.”

“Kurt talked about giving them to you for safekeeping.”

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know, man, I’m just telling you what he said.”

“Right. Well, he didn’t give them to me.”

“So you said.”

“Maybe he was planning on it and got killed before he could do it.”

“Maybe.”

Weariness pressed in on him. “Tonight. I’ll be there. We’ll talk more about this when I see you. You’ll have to tell the buyer that
the plates are unavailable and we’ll contact him when we have them ready.”

“Right. Like that’s going to go over well.”

“Look, just tell him there was a glitch in one of them, something that needs to be tweaked. He doesn’t want faulty plates, does he?”

“I’ll tell him.”

Joe hung up and sat back, his mind spinning.

He reached for the stack of mail as he thought. Anything business related would have been opened by his designee. Anything personal would have been left alone. Also by his request. When he went undercover, he cut off all ties with any personal life. Which wasn’t much anyway. The only thing he requested was that his paycheck be split in half. Half went to his sister and half went into a savings account.

Anger boiled beneath the surface. Why would Pete think Joe had the plates? Why would Kurt talk to Pete about giving the plates to Joe? That didn’t make any sense.

Joe blew out a frustrated breath. He picked up the phone and dialed Cheryl’s number. He’d called her the minute his plane landed, telling her he’d watch the kids for her while she had some much needed time to herself. And now he was going to have to renege. He hated it for her, but it couldn’t be helped. The phone rang three times. “Hello?”

“Hey there, Princess, is your mom home?”

“Hey, Uncle Joe. She’s here, but I want to talk to you first.” His five-year-old niece loved talking on the phone. Joe closed his eyes. As much as he loved his sister’s kids, he didn’t have time to talk.

“Can’t talk right now, kiddo, get me your mom.”

“Say please.”

“Please.”

“Pretty please?”

Joe bit his tongue on the words he really wanted to say. “Pretty please, Gina. Now get your mom.”

“Well, you don’t have to be mean about it.”

Joe winced and shook his head.

“Brat,” he muttered, but couldn’t help the smile. His sister and her kids were the only people on this earth that he cared about. And he needed money to take care of them.

“Hey. You’re backing out on me, aren’t you?” Cheryl sounded weary and run-down.

“Yeah. But when I’m done, I’ll come spend the night and you can sleep in and get up and go do whatever you need to do.”

“Okay, thanks, Joe.” The relief in her voice hit him hard. “Thanks.”

“Sure.”

He hung up and rubbed his eyes. A rap on the side of his cubicle brought his head up. “Hey.”

“Hey.” Stuart slipped into the chair across from him. “Welcome back, partner.”

“Yeah.” Joe snorted. “Welcome back to me. It never stops, does it?”

“Nope.”

Joe gave his eyes another scrub. “So, how’s it going?”

“Got a lot to tell you about.”

“Like?”

Stuart snickered. “Like the case that landed on my desk this morning.”

“What case?”

“Some old woman thought her kid was growing pot in her basement, so she called us.”

Joe rolled his eyes. “And?”

“I rode out there. He’s not growing pot, he’s growing a garden and selling the vegetables.”

“Inside?”

“Yeah. It’s like the perfect greenhouse down there. Said he was desperate to get out from under his mother and found he can do this and make pretty good money.”

“How old’s the kid?”

“Fifteen.”

Joe snorted and Stuart laughed. “I know.” He leaned forward, wondering if Stuart knew anything about the plates. “So, did Kurt ever talk to you about his cases?”

“Kurt?” Stuart shrugged. “No. We didn’t talk if we could avoid it, you know that.”

“Right. Right.”

Stuart leaned back and crossed his arms. “Why would you even ask that? What are you after?”

Joe stood. “Nothing.” If Stuart had the plates, he didn’t want to press the issue. Not yet. He’d just wait and watch. “I’ve got to go. Catch you later.”

Stuart frowned, suspicion glinting. Joe ignored it and left, feeling Stuart’s gaze drilling holes in his back.

Not all plans worked out, the watcher knew that. In fact, most of the time, plans fell through because they weren’t thought out to completion. The planner was too hasty in his need to put it into action.

However, the watcher had prepared for this. Planned, schemed, lied, and done whatever it took to make sure all the players were in place. Like chess pieces on the board, they only moved where the watcher guided them.

There were a good many players. Too many almost, but the plan would work. No doubt about that. It had to.

Ironically enough, the watcher had enjoyed putting the plan
together and manipulating the players in this deadly game. However, it was time for everything to come to a head.

Time for the pieces to take over and do their job.

Revenge was the ultimate goal and no one would stop the watcher from achieving it.

SATURDAY MORNING
DECEMBER 6

Stuart tossed the file onto his desk and sat with a thump on the faux leather chair. Saturday mornings at the office were usually slow. Normal business hours during the week were from 8:15 to 5:00, but no agent actually kept those hours, so when Stuart came in on Saturday, he usually had company. This morning seemed quieter than usual. Just the way he preferred it. But he couldn’t concentrate on what he needed to get done.

All he could think about was Dani. And the fact that she wasn’t cooperating with him at all. He wasn’t sure what her problem was, but he’d about had enough of it.

He had to show her she needed him. It had been six months since Kurt’s death. Long enough for her to grieve. Or at least put on the appearance of grieving. He wasn’t sure she was actually sad Kurt was gone, but he’d allowed an appropriate amount of time to pass before suggesting they start dating.

And she’d turned him down flat.

He attributed that to the fact that she just didn’t know what she wanted. After all, Kurt hadn’t let her hardly think for the past twelve years.

A rap on the door brought his head up. Joseph Duncan, his partner. Stuart decided if he had someone to call a friend, it would be Joe—even if the man had also been friends with Kurt.

“Hey man, can I talk to you?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. Sure. Have a seat.”

Joe settled himself into the chair opposite Stuart and leaned forward. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going. What are you doing here on a Saturday morning? Figured you’d be with your sister and her kids.” Joe tried to reserve Saturdays for them. He couldn’t do it every week, of course, but Stuart couldn’t think of anything the man had to take care of that couldn’t wait until Monday morning.

Joe waved a hand of dismissal. “I wanted to talk to you and make a few phone calls.” He took a deep breath. “So . . . how are you handling Kurt’s death?”

Stuart narrowed his eyes. “You know Kurt and I were never close. More competitive than anything.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“So I guess you could say I’m handling his death just fine.”

“How about that pretty wife of his?”

Stuart’s radar blipped. What was Joe up to? “Dani’s doing all right too.”

“Ralph said his wife stopped by the other day to check on her. Said she looked stressed.”

Stuart leaned forward. “Stressed? About what?”

Joe shrugged. “Said you were harassing her.”

Stuart stilled. “Harassing her?” He forced a laugh. “I don’t think Dani would say that.” His partner studied him and Stuart found he wanted to squirm under the stare. “What?” he demanded.

Joe shook his head. “I don’t know. I always thought you and Dani would have made a good couple.”

Not what he’d expected to come out of Joe’s mouth, but the words punctured a hole in his defensiveness. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t mean any disrespect to Kurt, but he didn’t treat her right. I’ve seen how you looked at her. You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

“Well,” Stuart leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “This conversation certainly puts a new twist on the day.”

“You’re going to deny it?”

Stuart sighed. “I don’t know if what I feel for Dani is love or not.” He answered honestly because he saw no point in lying. He only lied when it was to his benefit. “I know that I want her, so I suppose that’s enough, isn’t it?”

Joe cocked his head. “That’s a weird answer, dude.”

Stuart shrugged. “It’s the only one I’ve got.” He stood and paced to the window. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his neatly pressed khakis, he turned, debating whether or not to say anything further.

Before he could make up his mind, Joe said, “I was thinking about that.”

“Why?”

“You’re my partner, man. We look out for each other, right?”

“Of course.”

“Then if you want Dani, you should do something to get her.”

Stuart lifted a brow. “Like what?” He had his own ideas on that, but didn’t figure it would hurt to hear what Joe had to say.

“Like I said, I’ve been thinking. I think you should come to her rescue and make her appreciate you.”

“Come to her rescue? Make her appreciate me?” Stuart let out a little laugh. “Any ideas on how to arrange that?”

Joe snorted. “What? You want me to do all the work?”

Stuart stared and Joe shrugged. “Think about it. What woman can resist a man who fights for her?”

“Right.” He gazed at his partner, whose words brought to mind another woman. One he’d fought for, killed for, and had the allegiance of. Joe’s words were startling in their accuracy, and Stuart wondered why he hadn’t thought of it himself. “I’ll think about that. Thanks.” He shoved the file that he needed to read to the side and studied Joe. “Why did you take that long undercover deal?”

Joe shrugged. “You know how it is, man. You do what you’ve got to do.”

“But you pushed for that case.”

Joe sighed and dropped his head. “Look, I have my reasons, all right? I had the opportunity and I took it.”

“You seem to have a lot of those opportunities.” Stuart rubbed his chin and stared at Joe. “You recovered a lot of missing guns. Arrested an entire fleet of gunrunners.”

“Yeah. So?”

“So, I guess that makes you a hero around here now.”

Joe sighed. He opened his mouth to say something and his phone vibrated an interruption. “I gotta take this. Good luck with the lady. I’ve got a few ideas on how to get her attention and make her look at you like you’re her hero.”

Stuart nodded. “I’m interested in hearing what you’re thinking.”

Joe waved his phone. “I’ll catch up to you in a few. We’ve got cases to go over and a game plan to come up with.”

“Right.”

Joe left and Stuart stared at the computer, his mind whirling with ways to convince Dani he was all she needed. That he could be her hero.

Yeah. Maybe Joe was on to something.

Saturday midmorning, Dani looked around her kitchen and sighed. She loved her kitchen and was glad Kurt had allowed her to decorate it and stock it as she saw fit. He hadn’t cared what she
did
with it as long as he liked what came
out
of it.

She straightened the candles along the windowsill. Black, red, and white, they went with her black and white décor. Although she didn’t light them, she did appreciate the subtle scent they gave off. She smiled. Jenny brought her a candle every so often and Dani couldn’t bear to stick them away in a drawer or a closet somewhere. Besides, when Jenny came over for coffee, she seemed to take delight in the fact that Dani displayed the candles so openly. She’d even arranged them. Five black ones, one red, and five white. All in a neat row. Dani smiled and shook her head. Jenny was a bit strange, but she liked the woman.

She took another look around and nodded. All was as it should be. She went upstairs and found Simon in the bonus room playing a video game. She got his attention and signed to him, “I’m going for my run.”

“Is Jenny going with you?”

“Not this morning, she’s not feeling well.”

He frowned. “So you’re going alone?”

“Yes, why?”

He shrugged and turned back to his game.

She flicked the light switch to get his attention again. He blew out a heavy sigh and looked at her. She signed, “What game are you playing?”

“The math one Mitchell and I compete with each other on.”

Dani shook her head and smiled. “It’s the weekend. Aren’t you tired of math?”

He snorted. “I’m never tired of numbers. They’re about the only thing in this world that makes any sense.”

She’d never understand her son’s fascination with digits, but
understood his need for something to make sense. If that was math, so be it. “I’ll be back in about thirty minutes, okay?”

“Fine.” He frowned at her, worry in his eyes. “Be careful.”

She walked over and planted a kiss on his head, then made sure he could see her lips. “I’ll be careful. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

She knew he worried about her and she hated it, but she wasn’t going to let fear rule their lives. Kurt was dead. He couldn’t hurt them anymore.

Dani bounded down the steps, her ponytail swinging behind her. She’d dressed in her favorite pair of black-and-pink jogging pants with matching hoodie. Even in the South, December could be a cold month.

She opened the door and bit back a scream. Then groaned. “Stuart?” He gave her the once-over and she fought the urge to slam the door in his face. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought we’d talk.”

“I thought I’d go for a jog.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Dressed like that? Pressed khakis, a hundred-dollar sweater, and leather dress shoes aren’t going to get you very far.”

“Look, could I just come in and—”

“No. Please, just stop. You’ve got to stop this.” She moved out onto the front step with him and shut the door. And checked to make sure it was locked.

A familiar face coming her way made her breathe a sigh of relief. “Jenny?”

Jenny looked pale, her red nose attesting to her illness.

Dani frowned. “Are you okay? You need something?”

Jenny sniffed. “Yeah. Sorry. Chester got out and I was wondering if you’d seen him.”

Chester, the little schnauzer Jenny loved like a child. “No, I’m sorry. I haven’t been outside until now.”

Tears welled. Jenny bit her lip and nodded. “Okay, thanks. Will you look for him while you’re running?”

“Of course.”

“Hey, let me just come help you look.”

Dani realized Stuart was still standing behind her. She frowned at him over her shoulder. “Goodbye, Stuart.”

“Give me five minutes, Dani.”

Dani took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and gathered her strength. She spun around and faced her brother-in-law. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jenny watching them.

Dani realized she was going to have to talk to Stuart. “I’ll just be a few minutes, Jenny. I promise.”

“Sure. You need me to hang around?”

“No.” She supposed she should introduce the two. “Stuart, this is my friend Jenny. Jenny, my brother-in-law Stuart.”

Stuart nodded. “Hello.”

Jenny gave him a weary smile, but even through her friend’s tears, Dani could see the spark of interest in Jenny’s eyes. “Hello.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yeah. You too. Come back when I don’t look like I’ve been hit by a truck.” She took a step back and waved a hand toward her house. “I’ve got to go look for my dog. Dani, you won’t be long, will you?”

“No. No I won’t.”

“Okay, thanks.” Jenny turned and headed back toward her house, which was four doors down.

Stuart didn’t waste a blessed minute. “Come on, Dani, don’t be like this. Kurt would want you taken care of. I’ve wanted to take care of you for twelve years now.”

He what? Alarmed, she took a step back. He took one forward, so she stopped. “Stuart, he’s only been dead six months—”

“Plenty of time to grieve and move on.”

She stared at him, jaw hanging. She snapped it shut. He’d been bugging her about the two of them dating for the past two months. He took her hand and she swallowed a ball of nausea at his touch.

“I know Kurt wasn’t the kind of man you need. He was cruel. Evil even.”

Dani removed her hand from his and wiped it on her pants. “I won’t argue with you there. Kurt was a psychopath. He had no conscience, he took pleasure in other people’s pain. And yet he loved himself. Is there such a thing as a narcissistic psychopath?” She gave a humorless laugh.

“Probably.” He waved a dismissive hand. “It doesn’t matter now. He’s dead and we can finally be together, can’t you see that?”

Dani’s mind spun as she tried to figure out what to say. She didn’t want to make him mad—he might be like Kurt in his reactions—but then again, apparently he’d waited twelve years to express his feelings, so maybe he had a little more self-control than his brother.
God, what do I do? What
do I say?

She felt frozen in indecision. Finally she decided to stall him. “Stuart, just let me think. This is all so crazy and I just need time to think.” She glanced in the direction Jenny had taken and saw her friend watching. Probably wondering if she needed help.

She looked back at Stuart. A smile had blossomed across his face and her heart sank. Oh no. She’d led him on. Let him think time would make a difference in how she felt about him.

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. “All right, Dani, I’ll give you some time, okay.”

“Stuart, I didn’t mean to make you think—”

He frowned and placed a finger against her lips. She jerked
her head from his touch and his frown deepened. “You’ve got some time, Dani. And don’t worry, I’ll be watching out for you. Like I always do.”

“Don’t you have to work?” she blurted.

“Of course, but I did just lose my brother, you know.”

“Six months, you keep reminding me it’s been six months.”

“Yes, but everyone at the Bureau feels sorry for me.”

“So you’re milking it?”

“Of course.”

He didn’t bother to pretend with her. At least she knew where she stood with Stuart. Not that she liked it, but she was thankful there were no surprises with him. At least not yet.