Internal Affairs (17 page)

The clerk nodded, then jabbed a few keys on her computer keyboard, watching the screen. When she found what she needed, she said, “The records show that you came in three days ago to access the box.”

Lisa frowned at her. “Oh, really? And do you remember seeing me?”

“I wasn’t on duty that day. But it says here the customer complained of a lost key, so we used a master.”

“You
what?
”

“It’s all right here,” the clerk said. “She had several forms of identification and there was no reason to believe—”

“This is ridiculous.” Lisa shook her head in dismay, then staggered to a nearby chair and sat down.

Rafe and Kate moved to her.

“I can’t believe it,” she said. “I don’t know how he found out where I was hiding it, but this has to be Oliver’s doing. He must’ve found someone to pretend to be me.”

“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Kate said.

Rafe nodded. “Which would explain why he suddenly showed up at your house the other night. You don’t have any leverage against him. Not anymore.”

Tears sprang to Lisa’s eyes. “I can’t believe this. Why won’t he just leave me alone?”

“Because he’s a psychopath,” Rafe said. “He’s fixated on you.”

Lisa wiped her eyes. Rafe could see that she was beyond distressed. Terrified that she would never be rid of Sloan.

Unfortunately, that was a very real fear.

She looked at Rafe. “Maybe I need to do what your sister and your bosses want me to.”

“Meaning what?”

“Make Oliver believe I want him back and—”

“No way,” Rafe said. “Forget it. I already told you, that’s not going to happen.”

“But couldn’t you put a wire on me? If I could get him to admit he set you up, if I could get him to confess to me that he had those Russians killed, wouldn’t that be enough to—”

“Did you hear what I just said?” Rafe barked. “The guy’s a psychopath. If he were to find out what you’re up to... I’m not going to put you in that position.”

“Well, maybe it’s not your choice,” she told him.

“It’s the
only
choice, Lisa. Anything else is too dangerous.”

She stood up now. “You know, I love you with all my heart, Rafe, but don’t for a minute think you can tell me what to do any more than Oliver can. If you think you can control me...”

“I’m trying to
protect
you, Leese.”

“And look what it got you,” she said. “Maybe it’s time I started protecting myself.”

Then she turned and walked out the door.

Chapter Twenty-Two

They were silent on the ride back to Grandma Natalie’s house. The only one who had anything say was Eberhart, who seemed outright gleeful that he had been proven right. That nothing would—or had—come of their little jaunt to the bank.

He said to Rafe, “I’m holding you responsible for all of this, Franco. You’re an embarrassment to your entire family.”

Kate said, “Shut up, Charlie.”

“You telling me I’m wrong? I’ll leave it a jury to decide if he offed those two Russians, but you can’t deny he’s been stickin’ his nose in where it don’t—”

“Shut. Up. Charlie.”

He would have kept going if Kate hadn’t given him the death stare. The one she’d been perfecting since she and Rafe were kids.

Rafe had always sensed a lot of tension between her and Eberhart, and was pretty sure that Kate would just as soon trade the guy in for a new partner. But in the Sheriff’s department you didn’t always have a choice of who you’d be riding with. And unless the relationship was so fractured that the two of you were coming to blows, changing the situation was next to impossible. So you did your best to get along.

Not that Eberhart was making much of an effort. Yet for all his faults, he wasn’t wrong. Rafe
was
an embarrassment to the Franco clan, and he’d be the first to admit it.

He just wasn’t sure it mattered all that much at this point.

After Kate dropped them off, Rafe and Lisa went inside and Lisa scooped up Chloe in her arms and took her straight to the bedroom, closing the door behind them.

All she said to Rafe was that she had “some thinking to do” and that was that.

End of communication.

* * *

H
E DIDN’T SEE HER
again until close to dinner.

She came down to help Nonna and Bea in the kitchen as he took babysitting duty and watched cartoons with Chloe.

The girl sat close to him on the sofa, snuggling up against him, and Rafe put an arm around her, once again feeling that inexplicable connection.

He wondered if she ever missed her father.

How could she not?

Yet oddly, Chloe had yet to even mention Sloan. Maybe the guy didn’t like pink and blue kitty cats.

That was the least of his faults, if true. Sloan didn’t strike Rafe as the type to care much about kids, and Rafe had to wonder what his reaction had been when Lisa told him he’d gotten her pregnant.

Joy? Elation?

Doubtful. The only thing Sloan got elated about was Sloan. He was a narcissist, pure and simple, and Rafe didn’t get the impression that he’d ever spent more than obligatory time with his daughter.

Which was probably for the best.

Rafe couldn’t imagine having a child like this and not wanting to spend as much time as possible with her. If she were his, if he were lucky enough to be her father, she would quickly become the center of his universe.

Kitty cats and all.

* * *

B
EA DID MOST OF THE TALKING
during dinner, telling them stories of her childhood in a small town in Texas. How her father had wanted a boy and had raised her to ride and shoot and wrestle pigs in the mud patch.

Chloe seemed to get a kick out of that one. The thought of this woman rolling around in the mud with a three-hundred-pound pig was too much for the girl to handle, and she giggled like crazy, asking Bea to tell the story again.

Lisa, on the other hand, seemed pensive, barely touching her dinner. Several times, Rafe was tempted to ask her what was going on inside her head, suspecting he already knew, but he resisted.

She would talk when she was ready to.

He thought about what she had said at the bank. About him trying to control her, just as Sloan always had.

Was that true?

If it was, that had never been his intention. Rafe had always had strong opinions, sure, but he wouldn’t dream of trying to impose them on anyone, especially Lisa.

But he wouldn’t shy away from telling her exactly how he felt, either. And to his mind, playing games with Sloan was far too risky.

* * *

H
E WAS READING
a bedtime story to Chloe when Lisa appeared in the doorway, fresh from a shower, wearing a terry-cloth robe.

“I need to talk to you when you’re finished,” she said.

She stepped into the room, kissed Chloe on the forehead and bid her good-night, then left them alone so that Rafe could finish the story. It was one his own mother used to read to him about Whacky Wednesday, where everything in the world seemed to have been turned upside down.

He was halfway through it when he realized that Chloe was asleep. Smoothing her hair back, he raised the blanket up to her small chest, then turned out the light and closed the door.

A moment later, he was in Lisa’s room, surprised to find her dressed in tight-fitting blue jeans and an equally tight cardigan sweater. Her hair was brushed back and she’d put on enough makeup to enhance but not mar her natural beauty.

“I thought you were getting ready for bed,” he said. “What’s going on?”

“Sit down, Rafe.”

He studied her a moment, saw the measured determination in her eyes, then sat on the edge of the bed.

She moved to him, took his hands. “I’m sorry I got so upset with you at the bank this afternoon. I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. All you’ve ever tried to do was help me.”

“I’m glad you understand that. But don’t even worry about it. You had a right to be upset.”

“Maybe, but there’s something
you
need to understand. Do you think you can try to do that?”

“Of course,” he said.

“Good. Because I have to make this right. You’re in trouble because Oliver is obsessed with me. And while there’s nothing I can do to control that, I can at least try to stop him.”

Rafe stared at her. “You called Kate, didn’t you?”

She nodded. “I told her I wasn’t bluffing this afternoon. I’m more than willing to cooperate with their investigation and wear a wire. She’s setting it up as we speak.”

“For tonight?”

She nodded. “I’ve already asked Oliver to meet me at the house. Alone.”

A mix of emotions tore at Rafe and he squeezed her hands. “Lisa, this is crazy.”

“I’m not asking for your approval. But if we’re ever going to have any kind of life together—and I’d like that, more than anything—then something has to be done about Oliver. Something that will keep him away from us forever.”

“And if this goes wrong? What then?”

“I don’t see why it should. All I have to do is play to Oliver’s weakness—which is me.”

“I don’t like this, Lisa. You know I don’t like it.”

“You’ve made that abundantly clear. But how do we have any kind of relationship if you’re doing time in jail? How will you ever get to know your daughter if the only way you see her is through a set of bars?”

The words had gone by so quickly that Rafe thought he must have misunderstood her. When he ran them through his head again, his heart momentarily seized up and he got a lump in his throat.

“My daughter?” He swallowed. “What are you telling me?”

“I wanted you to know three years ago, Rafe. I
should
have told you then, just as I should have told you the moment you walked into my living room and saw her. But I’ve been so afraid about how you’d react that I kept looking for excuses not to.” She paused, moving in close to him. “But I can’t keep it from you anymore, Rafe. Chloe isn’t Oliver’s child. She’s yours. Every drop of blood she carries comes from you and me.”

Rafe just sat there, staring at her, thinking he surely must have fallen asleep in Chloe’s room and was dreaming this entire conversation.

But then he thought of that connection he had with the girl. That feeling of oneness whenever he interacted with her. And he knew this was real. That Lisa spoke the truth.

“Oh, my God,” he said. “Oh, my God.”

Rafe had never been one for tears—men raised in cop families would rather shoot themselves than ever shed one—but he felt his eyes growing wet. Couldn’t have stopped it if he wanted to.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” Lisa said. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Forgive you? There’s nothing to forgive. This is the most wonderful news I’ve ever heard.”

Then he pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her.

He was a father.

Better still, he was
Chloe’s
father.

But before he could revel in this notion, a horn honked outside and Lisa said, “I have to go. That’ll be Kate and her team. It’s time to do this.”

Then she kissed him again, pulled herself free and headed for the door.

* * *

B
Y THE TIME
Rafe reached the porch, Lisa was climbing through the sliding door of a telephone company van.

“Wait a minute,” he called out. “Hold on.”

She turned in the doorway. “You’re not going to stop me, Rafe. I’ve made up my mind.”

“Fine,” he said as he crossed the lawn toward her. “I get that. But if you think you’re going to do this without me, you’re sadly mistaken.”

Now Kate stuck her head out of the van. “Haven’t you already gotten yourself in enough trouble? Stay home, little brother.”

Rafe looked inside the vehicle and saw one of his cousins at the wheel, a St. Louis police officer named Billy Franco. In back with Kate was Mike Cuddy, a family friend and a freelance audio surveillance technician unconnected to the Sheriff’s department.

In other words, neither of them were part of Kate’s usual crew.

“What’s going on here?” he asked. “Where’s your partner? This doesn’t look like a sanctioned operation.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” she said.

“You haven’t even passed this by the brass, have you? And you know Eberhart would blow the whistle if you tried to bring him in on it.”

“I don’t have time to deal with protocol. They always tie us up with endless planning and I just got word from one of my informants that Sloan may be gearing up to leave town on a business deal. I don’t want to lose momentum.”

“Or take a chance that Lisa will change her mind?”

“I’m not changing anything,” Lisa said.

“Well, you’re not doing this without me, either,” Rafe told her, then looked pointedly at Kate. “Either you let me come along or I blow the whole operation.”

Kate studied him with a scowl as if he were the pesky little brother threatening to tell their parents what she was up to. Then she said, “Well, then, don’t just stand there, you little twerp. Get inside.”

A moment later, they were on their way.

* * *

A
S
B
ILLY DROVE THEM
through the city streets, Mike had Lisa remove her sweater and began wiring up her bra. A tiny microphone was attached to the fabric between her cleavage, with a lead running to a compact wireless transmitter taped to the small of her back.

When she put the sweater back on, it was impossible to tell she was wired at all. As long as Sloan kept his hands to himself, she would be safe.

But then there was no guarantee of that, was there?

“Okay,” Kate told her. “These are the rules.”

“I’m listening.”

“First of all, you have to relax when you’re with him. If he senses you’re wearing a wire, if you offer him any kind of tell, you could find yourself in a very dangerous situation.”

“Which is exactly what I’m afraid of,” Rafe said.

Kate scowled again. “We’ve heard enough from you, buddy boy. You’re either along for the ride or you get out now. Your choice.”

She was once again pulling the big sister card, and under different circumstances Rafe may well have told her where to stuff it. But he said nothing.