Deceptions (10 page)

And Davis nearly broke apart.

In the aftermath, though, they'd managed to learn a secret that they'd never expected. Their mother's name had appeared in an old Witness Protection Program database. Once upon a time, she'd been someone else, too. And then she'd been sent to Texas.

Then she met Dad. She fell in love. Stayed here. And none of her kids ever knew about her past.

She'd just told them that her parents had died in a car accident long ago. She'd said that she had no siblings.

Now they didn't know what was true anymore.

“Sully called in some of his government contacts,” Davis added. “We're supposed to be hearing back any day.”

Mac had also called in a contact—one that he hadn't told his brothers about because that particular contact was tied intimately to Sully. She was the one who could give them the best intel, but he knew Sully would never reach out to her.

Sully hadn't wanted Mac to ever mention her name to the others. They didn't know about the pain in Sullivan's past. The guy had sworn him to secrecy.

The family has enough to deal with, Mac.
Sully's rough voice drifted through his mind.
Don't add this.

“We aren't going to stop until we give them justice,” Brodie said, his expression determined. “Every day we get a step closer to that goal. We are going to find the people who hurt them. They
will
pay.”

That desire for justice had gotten them through dark times. It had given them purpose. But lately, Mac had begun to wonder...what would happen when they caught those killers? When they were rotting in prison, what then?

The door opened behind him. Elizabeth stood there, holding her bag. He bent and took it from her. Their fingers brushed. Their gazes held.

What then?

He'd realized that he wanted more than vengeance. He wanted life. He wanted happiness. He wanted...Elizabeth.

Chapter Nine

“You
don't
have to do this,” Mac said, his hand gripping the chair behind Elizabeth. “You don't have to look at that killer again, much less talk to him. The cops can handle—”

“Sullivan said the guy hadn't spoken a word to the cops and that his prints weren't turning up in any system.” Elizabeth kept her voice calm, and she schooled her expression. She didn't want Mac realizing just how terrified she was. “The police captain gave us the all-clear for this. There's going to be a guard in the room every moment, and you'll be here.”

His jaw hardened. “I don't like this.
I
don't want you near him.”

Her gaze slid around the small interrogation room. A one-way mirror lined the wall to the left of her. Captain Howard was in there, watching. Waiting. The DA was in there, too. The man in custody had declined legal representation. Then, according to the captain, he hadn't said another word.

But he
was
coming into that interrogation room. She was going to face him. And she would
be figuring out why he was so determined to kill her.

The door creaked opened behind them. Elizabeth's shoulders tensed as she glanced back.
He
filled the doorway. No longer covered in shadows or hiding in the night, he stood in the harsh light.

He looked...normal. Incredibly, perfectly normal. He was tall, with slightly thin shoulders. The guy appeared to be in his mid-forties. He had faint laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. His eyes were a light blue, small, his chin a little weak, and his hair seemed to be receding on the top.

The man didn't look like a dangerous killer.

He almost appeared to be...anyone. A businessman. A guy you pass on the street. The fellow in line behind you at the grocery store.

There was nothing memorable at all about him, and perhaps that was part of his power. If the guy truly was some kind of hit man, then a nondescript appearance could be his greatest asset.

“Well, isn't this a surprise.” He wore an orange prison uniform, and his hands were shackled in front of him. A cop in uniform led him across the room and shoved the prisoner into the chair across from Elizabeth. “I certainly didn't think you'd come for a visit.” He smiled at her.

Again...normal. So scarily normal.

Beside her, Mac snapped, “I see you've decided to start talking again...”

The guy straightened a bit and winced. “You know, a bulletproof vest is all well and good, but it still hurts when you get hit.” His head turned toward the one-way mirror. “I think my ribs are broken! I need to go to the hospital!”

“You aren't going anyplace,” Mac said flatly.

The guy looked back at him. “We'll see about that.” He smirked. “I have a feeling I'll be getting to do pretty much anything I want, real soon.”

“Who are you?” Elizabeth asked.

“The Fixer.” His smirk stretched. “At least, that's what my clients call me.”

He's a hit man. And the guy just admitted it.

“I had lots of time to think in here, and I realized... I have a great deal to offer. For the right price, of course.”

She slumped back in her chair. “You think you're going to make a deal.”

“I think I'm not spending my life in prison. I think I know plenty of things.” He shrugged. “Enough things to get me any deal I want.”

No, no, that couldn't happen. Panic built in Elizabeth, but she hurried to tamp it down. If the guy made a deal, he could get out—he could come after her again.

She stared into his blue eyes. There was sharp intelligence there, cunning. And evil. “You killed Nate Daniels.”

“Did I?” He lifted his cuffed hands and made a show of scratching his chin. “I don't remember that. But then, if a deal was on the table, I'd remember a whole lot more.”

“There isn't going to be a deal,” Mac promised him. “The DA already told me—he won't offer you anything. You kidnapped a cop. You nearly killed her. You—”

“Nearly?” the man murmured. “Don't you mean I did?”

Mac stared back at him. He'd been given the go-ahead to reveal some new details as he tried to rattle this SOB's cage. “Detective Melinda Chafer survived. As of an hour ago, she has positively identified you as the man who kidnapped her and assaulted her. She told us that you stabbed her. That you bragged about being
the Fixer
while you held her captive.”

Some of the smugness left the fellow's face.

“It's easy enough to connect you to Steve Yeldon's murder,” Mac added.

“The hell it is! There's
nothing
tying me to—”

“The DA isn't going to make any deal with a man who attacks cops. And as for the cops in here—” Mac glanced around, smiling a cold grin “—just what kind of treatment will you be getting from them? You're moaning about your ribs, but something tells me you might be seeing a whole lot more damage coming your way. Melinda Chafer is a good cop.”

“Is she?” the Fixer taunted.

“McGuire Securities has proof that
you
put that money in her bank account. Our techs managed to track that deposit. Did you truly think you were the only one with computer skills? You wanted her to look as if she was on the take. Now we know the truth.”

Elizabeth glared at the killer, taking her cue from Mac. If he could play it cool, then so could she.
Don't think about what it was like to be in the dark, waiting for him to attack. Don't think about it.
“You really believe I don't remember you?” She laughed and was impressed with the mocking sound. “I'll testify. You won't see the light of day again. You
won't
be hurting anyone else.”

“Sweetheart...” Fury burned in the Fixer's gaze. “You don't need to be threatening me. You need to be running. Because I might be in here, but the person who sent me after you? That person is out there, and your death is the one thing that person craves. You aren't getting away. You aren't—”

“Who is it?” Elizabeth demanded, her voice low. “Who sent you after me?”

He leaped to his feet. The uniformed officer grabbed his shoulders and held the guy in place. Mac had risen, too, his hands fisted and his body tense.

“You think you knew Nate Daniels?” the prisoner shouted. “You knew nothing.
Nothing.
He wasn't up in that Podunk town by chance, but he got distracted by you—
you're the reason he's dead!
”

Elizabeth jumped to her feet. “No, you are. You killed him. You—”

“You changed his plans. Changed everything for him. Stupid kid.” His laughter burned her ears. “Thought he'd found love and that nothing else mattered. He was wrong. So damn wrong. If he'd just kept going, if he hadn't stopped for some piece of tail—”

Mac drove his fist into the guy's jaw. The blow was powerful and it knocked the prisoner back, sending him crashing to the floor.

The guard leaped to act, pulling the killer back to his feet and then holding up a hand toward Mac. “Stop!”

The killer's nose was bleeding. “Jerk...broke it,” he snarled. “Get me a doctor! Get me a doctor, now!”

Mac stepped closer to the guy. His arm was up, and he looked as if he was ready to pound the other man, guard or no guard.

Elizabeth hurried to Mac's side. “Don't.” She caught his fist in her hand. “He isn't worth it.”

“Arrest
him
!” the prisoner shouted. “He assaulted me! And get me a doctor!”

The interrogation door burst open. The captain and the DA were there. The DA's face was flushed a dark red. “McGuire, get out of here!”

“Mac?” Elizabeth whispered.

Mac gave a grim nod. But his gaze was still on the prisoner. “You and I aren't done.”

Before he could swing again, Elizabeth pulled Mac toward the door.

“Just like the other fool!” the killer yelled after them. “You think she matters. You think she's what's important? Look what happened to Nate! He should have just kept driving! Another hour and I never would've been able to touch him, but he screwed up. He saw that cheap piece—”

Mac turned back around. “You don't understand who I am.” He cocked his head and studied the prisoner. “Or just how much I can make you suffer. You think you only need to worry about jail? About being locked behind bars?” Mac smiled at him. “You should have done more research. I'm not some scared kid that you can murder in the middle of the night. I have power and connections that you can't even imagine.”

The prisoner swallowed, and his Adam's apple bobbed. “And
you
think I don't have connections? You have no idea who you're dealing with!”

“I'm dealing with the Fixer.” And Mac didn't sound impressed. “As far as any connections you have, how do you think your clients are going to feel when they realize you're in jail? Do you think for even a minute that they are going to help you? Or are they going to want to make sure you
never
talk, not to anyone, about the things you've done?”

Fury blazed in the prisoner's eyes.

“I'm betting they'll do whatever it takes to shut you up. You might think you have some kind of leverage—” Mac shook his head “—but you have nothing.” Then he turned his back on the guy. “Come on, Elizabeth. We got what we needed.”

They had? They still didn't even know the guy's name.

She opened her mouth to speak and then, over Mac's shoulder, she saw the prisoner drive his elbow back into the guard's chest. The uniformed cop grunted and stumbled back, and the killer lunged toward Mac, screaming his rage.

Mac grabbed a nearby chair and spun back to face his attacker. Before the perp could so much as touch him, Mac swung that chair against the guy, slamming it into the other man's chest.

The prisoner went down, hard, and he didn't get back up.

“Now,” Mac drawled, “I think he might need that trip to the medic.” He dropped the chair.

* * *

“M
AC
.” E
LIZABETH
DRAGGED
him into the hallway. “We didn't learn enough! That guy is just going to jerk us around. I needed him to tell us—”

“The key is Nate.”

She shook her head. “There isn't anything else to learn about Nate! He's dead. He can't help us.”

Mac flexed his fingers. “He can. Actually,
you
can. Before we went into that interrogation, Captain Howard told me that they still have the blood and DNA they recovered from Nate's murder scene.
You
hit the killer, remember? You—”

“I...slammed firewood into him,” she whispered.

He nodded. “You got his blood and DNA. They're comparing that with the prisoner's. When it's a match, they'll have him.”

Her breath heaved out. He was right. If that DNA matched, they'd have the killer, confession or no confession.

“There's more, Elizabeth. I know there is,” Mac continued darkly. “Everything that's happening, it's all about Nate. The only reason you're in danger is because of what happened to him. We have to find out why he was up in North Dakota. What brought him there. We figure that out, and then we're on the right track to discovering who has been pulling the Fixer's strings all of these years.”

The door opened behind them. Two cops dragged out the prisoner. He was bleeding and groaning, and he snarled when he saw Mac.

“How can we even trust him?” Elizabeth murmured. “The guy could just be messing with us. He's a killer. A kidnapper and—”

“And he's also a guy who just realized he has
no one
to help him. I was serious in there. When his clients find out that he's been arrested, they'll want to shut him up. There is no way they're going to risk having their secrets exposed, and I'm betting that man knows plenty of secrets.”

Captain Ben Howard strode toward them. “That little scene didn't go well,” he muttered.

Mac smiled. “I actually thought it did.”

The DA stormed out. “You assaulted a prisoner!” He pointed at Mac. “I don't want to see
any
McGuires around that man again, do you understand? I don't care how much clout you think you have! I should get the captain to arrest you right now. I should get—”

Elizabeth tensed. “Just hold on,” she began, her voice sharp. She did not like the way that man was threatening Mac. She didn't like it at all.

“You're welcome,” Mac said, tipping his head toward the DA.

The guy's face mottled. “Do you have any idea the damage you just did—”

“The perp was attacking a cop,” Ben pointed out, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It's not like Mac here had a lot of choice. Or would you have
preferred
he let a violent prisoner escape from an interrogation room, under
your
watch?”

The DA's lips thinned.

“The prisoner is going to be scared now,” Mac said. “He knows he has plenty to lose. That's going to make him want to talk all the more. The man's silence is at an end.” His expression hardened. “Your job is going to be keeping him alive long enough for him to talk.”

Ben stiffened. “I have my best officers with him now. Nothing is going to happen to him under my watch.”

“You might want to double your officer number,” Mac instructed flatly. “Because we're not talking about some petty crimes. We're talking secrets that people have and
will
kill to keep quiet. That man is going to be a target, so your team needs to be ready for the attack. It will come.”

Ben held his gaze. “It's never easy with you McGuires, is it?”

“Easy is dull,” Mac said, rolling one shoulder. “Wouldn't want that.”