Material Witness (19 page)

Cassie followed Jake to the supply
room. “That sofa isn't the most comfortable place to sleep. Especially for
someone your size.”

“Last night it wouldn't have
mattered. I could have slept upright in a chair and it would have been fine. I
was so exhausted.”

Cassie sighed at his lie. She knew it
was only to ease her burden, but it gave no comfort.

“Still, I feel bad. The bed is very
comfortable. Tonight, you should take it and I'll sleep on the sofa. I insist.”

“You have a problem letting a man be
chivalrous?”

Their gazes locked for a brief
moment. She wondered if that was what he was being last night. “There's no need
to be at a time like this. We've both been through hell.”

“You've got that right. But it's not
something we need to discuss right now.”

“I'm not letting this go,” she
persisted.

He stopped what he was doing, and she
caught a glint of amusement in his eyes. “I didn’t think you would. But right
now I'm hungry. And I want eggs.”

“There are some powdered eggs in the
pantry. I could go—”

Jake made a face that was almost
comical. “No way! I want butter and grease and if I can manage a slab of steak,
I'll get one of those, too.”

She couldn't help but laugh. “Oh,
your poor arteries. You were so paranoid about someone seeing us at the truck
stop and now you want to go out for breakfast again?”

He heaved a sigh. “We don't really
have a choice. We need to get some supplies if we're going to be staying here
for any length of time. I'm not comfortable leaving you here by yourself until
I get back.”

“I'm a big girl.”

“I know,” he said with a gaze so
potent it rooted her in place.

He recovered quickly. “The steak is
just wishful thinking. You've been to this area before. Are there any small
mom-and-pop stores around where we won't attract attention?”

Cassie couldn't help but laugh.

“What's so funny?” he said, stopping
mid-motion as he hoisted up one of the batteries with one hand.

“Why would anyone be looking for us
here?”

“Everyone is looking for you, Cassie.
People are bound to recognize you,” he said, his face dead serious.

“I'm not famous. Most people have
never heard of Cassie Lang. You didn’t even know who I was.”

“Well, maybe not before. But now your
name has been splashed across the headlines of one of the biggest newspapers in
the country. Your face, too. If you weren't before, you can bet you're famous
now.”

Jake took two steps out of the supply
closet, holding the door open with the hand not clutching the battery. When she
didn't readily follow, he poked his head in.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s just…I’ve worked so hard to
build my name as a serious author. Now something like this comes along and…”

His expression was sympathetic. “Come
on.”

Jake was right. Cassie Lang was
famous now. Not for the eight years she'd worked hard becoming a bestselling
crime novelist. She’d seen a murderer. And now that murderer wanted her dead.

 * * *

“So much for not attracting
attention?” Jake glanced at Cassie as they drove down the unplowed road toward
the small town.

She looked at herself in the rear
view mirror. “What do you mean?”

“Sunglasses, funky hat. All you need
is a mustache and a trench coat instead of the long wool coat you're wearing.”

“You think this is overkill?”

“When I said disguise yourself a
little, I meant by wearing a big sweatshirt and ugly pants that don't show…so
much of you. You need to blend in, not look so obvious. What you’re wearing is
like a neon sign that says ‘Look at me!’ You couldn’t be any more conspicuous
if you really had a neon sign over your head.”

Cassie pulled off the hat she'd found
stuffed on the shelf of Maureen's closet.

“I'm keeping the sunglasses on
though. At least in the car. This snow is blinding. And the coat is warm.”

Jake smiled and turned his attention
to the narrow road.

“Maureen has quite a wardrobe up here
for someone who comes so infrequently.”

“Yeah, well, Maureen likes to shop.
I’ve seen her in action and it’s truly an art form. I doubt she even remembers half
the clothes she buys, or misses this stuff.”

“Just how big is Maureen? That coat
looks huge on you,” he said, seeming to be satisfied that was enough.

“It might not be hers at all. I don't
think I've ever seen her wear it before.”

“Maybe it's her ex-husband's.”

“Or Adam's.”

Cassie knew next to nothing about
Jake and yet she was already adept at reading his emotions. His hand gripped
the steering wheel and his eyebrows were drawn together making a crease on his
forehead.

He didn't trust Maureen like she did.
And there was absolutely no reason he should. They hadn't built a relationship
over the years, helping one another through not only the professional triumphs
and tragedies, but the personal ones, too.

But even he had to know that Maureen
had no power or means to cause a gas leak at the safe house.

“What are you mulling over in your
head, Jake Santos?” she finally asked.

His hesitation seemed to wrap around
her. “I need to check in with Kevin.”

“If we make a phone call from the
cabin, it’ll be easy to trace us here. I lost my cell phone in the explosion.”

“Me, too. But cell phones are just as
traceable.”

“What about prepaid cell phones?
They’re available at just about every corner grocery store.”

“They could always trace the call to
the cell tower that was used after the fact and zero in on our location. I’ll
need to use a pay phone. But we still have to be careful about call length and
not let Kevin keep me on the phone too long.”

“He doesn't believe I'm not
involved.”

Jake swept his eyes from the road to
Cassie. “He never said that.”

“He didn't have to. I'm a people
watcher. I can read people very well. But you trust him?” She knew without
hearing Jake's answer that he did.

“When you work side by side with
someone the way I do with Kevin, you begin to develop a relationship that can't
come close to anything else.”

“Not even with a woman?”

Jake didn't look at her. He just
shook his head. “You trust your partner without even thinking.”

“Jake, who were you talking with on
the phone before we found the gas leak?”

“Kevin. Why?”

“Kevin was at the precinct that
night. He could have leaked my name to the press.”

He laughed, edgy and raw, and shook
his head. “No way.”

“Why not?

“Because I know Kevin. He’s just as
concerned with your safety as I am.”

“You had no trouble accusing Maureen
and I believe in her completely. How's this different? We can't discount
anyone.”

“We're talking about a police
officer, Cassie.”

“Now look who's being naive. In all
your years on the force, you've never heard of dirty officers? Besides, someone
in the damned FBI was responsible for that gas leak. Agent Bellows couldn’t
have been the only one. Sure, he could have easily put something to prevent the
doors from opening. But he didn’t have time rig a gas leak in the time he had
when we got there. Someone else from the FBI had to be involved too.”

She had him there. Not that it made
her feel good to put Jake in his place.

“We’re talking about bond fraud and
an FBI investigation that has gone on for years,” she pressed. “You don’t know
who was involved in this. If the FBI had their hands it in, why not someone on
the Providence PD?”

“It couldn't have been Kevin.”

Cassie sighed. “Maybe not. But
someone went to a lot of trouble to make sure we’d die in a very messy
accident. Can we afford to rule out involvement by anyone yet?”

Jake was silent for longer than
Cassie could handle. When she couldn't stand it anymore, she snapped at him.

“Don't shut me out of this. I need to
know what you're thinking.”

He quickly glanced at her, and then
brought his eyes back to the road as they reached the main drag.

“Fagnelio was nothing but a small
time hood with a few loyal members at his side. He had a rap sheet and
paperwork on him that could fill my mother’s hope chest starting from the time
he was nine years old. He was way out of his league with Ritchie Trumbella, but
he was in the organization.”

“What was his connection to Ritchie?”

“The FBI had uncovered information
about a bond fraud deal. Angel had made some noise about being cut in on a big
deal Ritchie was putting together, but the word is Ritchie was going to squeeze
out some people. Angel thought he was double-crossed and was mad as hell about
it. He called me for a meeting to give me some details. Instead of a meeting,
he shot up Rory’s and everyone in it.”

“What do you think happened?”

“Angel was probably only in the bond
fraud as a runner to initiate himself into Trumbella's organization. It might
have turned personal at some point. Novak had been working with Trumbella for
two years. Angel never mentioned him by name, but maybe he was playing both
Ritchie and Angel. That's the only way I can figure a connection between the
shooting and the safe house explosion.”

“But Agent Novak died in the
shooting.”

“And someone leaked your name to the
press. Whoever it was is still alive. Bellows is in on it. I’m sure of it. No
one else had access to the house the way he did. To think anything more would
mean a major conspiracy in law enforcement. Too many people would have to be
involved to keep it under wraps and that just seems too far-fetched to me.”

“Who knew we were going to that safe
house?”

“I don't know. The FBI was calling
the shots. I don't know how under wraps Charley was keeping things. I don’t
even know if Captain Russo knew where we were going.”

“Agent Bellows said the safe house
was checked just before we arrived,” Cassie said.

“Yeah. Someone could have easily
rigged the house before we got there and then let Bellows finish it once we
were securely inside. Or maybe he had it rigged all along and it was just his
doing. He was in Providence the night of the shooting.”

“Do you really believe it was just
him?”

Jake shrugged. “Charley hand-picked
the team to baby-sit. They'd been expecting us.”

“Realistically, we’re talking about
two people in the FBI, right? Agent Bellows and—”

“Charley,” Jake said, his tone almost
a groan.

Cassie cocked her head to one side.
“Someone. There were a lot of agents in that room.” When Jake didn’t say
anything, Cassie added, “What are you thinking?”

“I'm beginning to think maybe Ritchie
Trumbella was the frosting on the cake.”

“How do you mean?”

“Novak may have been getting too
close. When you work undercover, some agents go underground for years. They get
so lost in their new identity that they lose themselves. That’s why it’s
important to have a connection with someone on the outside. Novak had to have
been in contact with someone at the FBI, giving updates. Maybe he got too close
to the truth. Maybe Novak was the real target all along.”

Jake looked down the side street
before pulling the wheel to make a left turn.

“Whoever leaked my name to the press
knew I was at Rory’s,” Cassie said. “Knew my name was attached to the case.”

“The Bureau had access to our files
almost immediately. There were reporters crawling all over the streets outside
the bar within a half hour of the shooting. Someone had to have recognized
you.”

“And now they know I identified Angel
Fagnelio as the shooter.”

“We don't have one iota of proof to
eliminate anyone in this. I have to talk to Kevin.”

Wordlessly, Jake downshifted spun
into the parking lot of a small convenience store. He didn't have to say
anything more for her to know what he was thinking. They weren't any closer to
finding out the truth than they were the night of the shooting. But at least
for now, they were safe.

# # #

Chapter Ten

Steak was truly wishful thinking.
Jake was only slightly disappointed when he had to settle for bacon and a box
of Corn Flakes to go with the eggs, and frozen hamburger patties they’d bought
for dinner. The general store did have everything else they needed to hibernate
for the next week or so. Since it was the
only
store within twenty miles
of the cabin, that was a plus.

Jake gassed up the Jeep for the ride
back to the cabin. They probably wouldn’t need to go more than a total of a
hundred miles while at the cabin, but it was good to be prepared. As safe as
they were in this remote section of the mountains, Jake knew that safety could
sometimes be an illusion.