Material Witness (7 page)

“I'll try to do some damage control,”
Russo said. “Special Agent Tate wants Ms. Lang, ah, Alvarez turned over to FBI
custody within the hour.”

After Russo left, an eerie silence
filled the room until Cassie sat up straight in her chair.

“Everyone talks about me like I’m a
piece of property they can just hand off from one person to another. I don’t
like this.”

“It's in your best interest to be in
protective custody right now,” Jake said delicately.

“But it's up to me, right? I don't
have to go with them.”

Kevin stood up from the table, his
chair grinding against the floor as it pushed back with his movement.

“You'd be foolish not to. In a
perfect world, Fagnelio will be apprehended, cop a plea and then give up a
wealth of information about the bond fraud ring. But this is Providence. Things
don’t work out that easily.”

“What are you saying? When can I go
home?”

“Probably not for a long time.” At
Kevin’s frank comment, Cassie gasped.

“What do you mean?”

“It means that if you go out on your
own, while Fagnelio is still at large, not only will you have his people tailing
you, you'll have the FBI breathing down your neck. You won’t be able to walk to
the coffee shop on the corner without having someone’s eyes on your back. The
FBI has one star witness—you—and they’re not going to want to lose you under
any circumstances.” Kevin’s voice was uncharacteristically harsh. “You're
better off cooperating or it could be worse than if you went with them.”

Jake had trusted Kevin with his life
from day one. Kevin was a good cop and there was no one Jake felt more
comfortable working in the field with than his partner. But right now, Kevin
was being a colossal ass.

“Back off,” Jake warned.

Kevin took in the hard look Jake gave
him, then glanced at Cassie. His expression relaxed.

“I apologize, Ms. Alvarez. You’ll be
fine as long as long as you’re at a safe house until this thing goes to trial,”
Kevin said.

Cassie abruptly stood up. “Until
trial? I don’t want to go to a safe house. I want to go home. I thought this
was only going to be for a few days until Angel Fagnelio was put in jail.”

Jake felt the weight of fatigue
dragging him down. The last thing he wanted to do was face Charlotte Tate
again. Lord knew he had good reason. But if the plan was to take Cassie into
protective custody, then he had to agree it was best.

“I'm afraid you don't have a choice.”

Her shoulders sagged. “What do you
mean?”

“You’re a material witness. Whether
you want to go or not…it’s not up to you.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “But I'm
not the criminal.”

“That’s why you have to be
protected.”

“Yes, but…isn’t a witness banned from
contact with anyone when they’re at a safe house?”

“Yes,” Kevin said. “It’s in your best
interest.”

“My best interest. You mean, to keep
me from my family…my friends? No. Don't treat me like I'm the one who…”
Awareness illuminated her eyes like the bright lights of an interrogation lamp.
Slowly, she unknotted her arms and brought them down stiffly to her side.
“Wait. You think I'm the one who leaked my own name to the press, don't you?”

“No,” Jake said quickly. But the look
on Kevin's face said it all.

No one had uttered the accusation
yet, but Jake was sure it was on the minds of every cop in the precinct. No one
knew who’d leaked Cassie’s name to the press and only one name kept coming up
as a possibility.

Cassie’s book sales were sure to
skyrocket from the publicity now that her name was attached to the gruesome
crime. She was adamant that Maureen couldn't possibly be the one who talked to
the press. Jake had his doubts about Maureen, but he'd swear on his last breath
it wasn't Cassie.

Something deep in his gut told him
Cassie was telling the truth. He could put his faith on instinct. But Kevin was
another story. The dark shadows crossing his partner's features echoed the
thoughts of every single other officer in the department. And Cassie knew it.

“You don't believe him,” she was
saying to Kevin. “You think I did this?”

“It doesn't matter now how it
happened or what I think,” Kevin said, callously brushing her hurt feelings
aside. “The point is the damage is done. Someone wanted this to be front-page
news. Now it is. And now Angel Fagnelio has a nice picture of the FBI’s star
witness.”

“We need to concentrate on finding
Angel Fagnelio and making our case against him.”

Cassie flashed her wide sable eyes at
Jake. She seemed to shrink in fear right before his eyes. “You mean you don’t
even know where he is?”

“He's gone into hiding.”

She stood up straight and drew in a
deep breath as if the room had sucked out all the oxygen. “I don't care what
the FBI wants. I want to go with you.”

Jake shouldn't have been so taken
aback, but he was. “You heard Captain Russo. It's in the hands of the FBI.”

Kevin shook his head. “The FBI is
equipped to protect you in ways we’re not. You’ll be safe with them.”

“I’ll be alone.”

Jake shook his head, but kept his
voice firm. It would do no good to give Cassie false hope when he knew that in
a matter of minutes, Charlotte Tate would be wiping the floor with his face
because of his involvement with Fagnelio.

“I'm in the middle of a case.”

“A case I’m a part of now. All the
more reason why you should be sticking with me.”

Did she know what she was asking
of him? “You have that much faith in me?”

“Yes.”

Kevin's wry chuckle had Jake turning
his attention away from Cassie. “Before you two go working something cozy out
together, let me see what Tate has up her sleeve, okay? She's due here any
minute and if my memory serves me right, she just hates anyone else running her
show.”

Jake waited until Kevin closed the
door behind him before speaking again. In the dead silence of the room, the
walls began to close in on them. Cassie nearly jumped out of her chair when the
heater kicked on in the room, humming as a hot gust of wind blew out of the
blower. Thrust with it was the scent of lemon and ammonia, as if the room had been
recently cleaned with industrial cleaning liquid.

Cassie hugged herself as if she were
cold despite the sudden blast of heat filling the room. “You don't seem like
you have a whole lot of faith in this Agent Tate.”

“I have my reasons, but they have
nothing to do with you or this case. She has an excellent reputation with the
Bureau. She'll see to it you're comfortable wherever they take you.”

“And that's it?”

Jake took in her accusing expression.
“What?”

“You just pass me off now?”

“That's not the way this works. You
should know… Haven’t you researched the FBI for one of your books? A federal
agent was killed last night during an ongoing federal investigation. They’re in
charge.”

“I can refuse protective custody.”

Jake shook his head, not even wanting
to think of the possibility of Cassie out there on her own with Fagnelio still
loose. “You'd be foolish not to cooperate. They’ll be reasonable, but if you’re
not, they can make your life hell. And they will. I’ve seen them do it.”

“Someone leaked my name to the press
last night. The only people who knew I was involved were officers working here
in this building and the FBI. I didn’t do it. And you’re the only one I believe
didn’t do it. That leaves everyone else outside that door or who was involved
with this case.”

“Cassie—”

“This is my life, Jake. Mine. I want
to decide. You’re the only one I trust.”

Jake gave her a half grin. “That’s
funny.”

“What is?”

“Last night you accused me of knowing
nothing about you except your aliases. And yet you know nothing about me.”

Her small chin protruded slightly,
her sable eyes were infinitely deep and round with resolute trust.
In him.

“I know you protected me last night.
That's good enough for me.”

Jake nodded, his head swimming. It
wasn't uncommon for victims of crime to look up to the officers who protect and
serve the community. But Cassie Alvarez was forgetting one important detail
about last night. One he didn't think he'd ever forget. She was the one who
saved his life, not the other way around.

“I appreciate your faith in me, but
I’m not what you need right now.”

Cassie shook her head, her dark
chocolate curls moving to and fro over her shoulders. “You couldn't be more
wrong, Detective Santos.”

He watched her gracefully step closer
to him, stopping by the side of the table. There was just enough distance to
keep him from touching her if he reached out.

Cassie's lips tipped up to one side.
“You're exactly what I need.”

# # #

Chapter Four

Jake rubbed the tight spot in the
center of his chest where his air constricted. Bertie was right. He had a soft
spot for lost women.

Of course, his sister wasn't one of
them, as she so frequently reminded her younger brother.
Nosiree.
In
fact, every single Santos woman had a strong mind of her own and knew how to
use it. And Jake had plenty of experience dealing with strong-willed women,
having grown up surrounded by five older sisters.

Cassie looked up at him, her eyes
holding a determined fire and a vulnerable innocence that closed around him
like a vise. He had a feeling, despite the delicate position she'd been thrust
into, she wasn't going to back down without a fight. He’d seen that determined
fire before, knew when the battle was lost and when to back down to it.

“I can do what I can to make sure
you're treated right—”

“Oh, really? And how do you plan to
do that?”

“The FBI is equipped to handle this
type of situation and are ready to do—”

“Well, I'm not,” she interjected
again. “And I don't like being treated like a piece of steak tossed out and
torn apart by a junk yard dog.”

Jake wanted to agree with her. He
wanted to say that he had no confidence Charley Tate would care one way or the
other if the FBI treated Cassie right. She wanted her witness to finger Angel
Fagnelio and force him to unload a lot of intimate details of Ritchie
Trumbella's operation.

Cassie was the ticket to that. Agent
Tate was interested in one thing, and one thing only, and that was furthering
her career. Cassie was the ticket to that as well. And it didn't matter whose
toes she stepped on to keep her pretty patent leather boots clean.

But it wasn't right for him to inject
his personal feelings about Agent Charlotte Tate on Cassie. Not with so much at
stake. Cassie was the one who had to live with the consequences of what
happened last night and what decisions were made on her behalf now.

He was just about to say that when
the faraway look in her eyes gave him pause.

“What is it?”

“Concurrent jurisdiction,” Cassie
said quietly.

Jake quirked an eyebrow. He’d
forgotten momentarily that Cassie wasn’t just an ordinary citizen. As a crime
novelist, she had done her homework. He hadn't read any of her books. He hadn't
even heard of her until last night, but he had no doubt she knew what she was
talking about. Hell, even a powerhouse like Martha Landers had read her books.

“What about it?”

“Having a deadly shooting in a local
bar—to which I was witness—along with having an FBI agent killed sounds like it
would fall within the guidelines of concurrent jurisdiction, wouldn't it?”

“It could.”

“That makes me your witness as well
as the FBI's.” Her face suddenly brightened, as if she'd found the secret piece
of a puzzle no one could solve but her.

“Technically, yes,” he said.

 Being involved in a barroom shooting
would tilt anyone’s world on its axis. But Cassie wasn't sitting back and
playing the wounded victim. She was taking the bull by the horns and wrestling
it to the ground.

Lost woman, my foot, Jake thought
with admiration.
Bertie would love her.

Cassie leaned forward and placed her
palms on the table. An air of triumph filled her otherwise clouded expression.
For the first time that morning, she looked confident, as if she'd been
struggling for air and finally filled her lungs.

“Then that settles it.”

Jake gave a wry chuckle. “It doesn’t
work that way. It may look nice and neat on a piece of paper, Cassie, but
reality works a little different than your crime novels.”

“How so?”

“Well, there's the little matter of
the FBI wanting you in
their
custody.”

She straightened up and crossed her
arms over her chest. “Neither the FBI or the District Attorney has a hostile
witness. They don't need to arrest me and lock me up to get me to testify
because I'll agree to do that in both cases. The only question now is my
protection until Angel Fagnelio is put behind bars.”