Next of Kin (21 page)

Moe was running full tilt through the trees with the flashlight shining to keep from running into any branches. He knew the moment the dog had been let out of the house and how close he was getting because of how the sound carried.

All of a sudden there was silence. Moe grinned. He would bet a fiver the dog had found the meat, but that wasn’t cause to slow down. The sooner he left the area, the better.

Before the barking resumed, Moe was safely inside his car and driving away.

Fifteen

I
ke woke, momentarily confused as to where he was. Then he recognized a painting on the wall and remembered he was in a guest bedroom in the south wing. Then he remembered why, which made him angry all over again. His worst fear was about to come true, and he didn’t know what he was going to do about it. Either Adam suspected Ike had killed Lorena, or he already knew it was true. But before Ike could make any decisions, he needed to know what was in his son’s heart. Was this going to cause an irrevocable breach in their relationship, or was there a way to get past it?

He rolled over in the bed and glanced out the window. It was already morning—time to see where he stood. He picked up the phone, took a deep breath and made the call.

The sun was just over the mountain peak and streaming into the bedroom window near the bed where Adam was sleeping when his cell phone began to ring. He woke abruptly to check caller ID. Just as he suspected—his father was finally checking in.

It rang five more times before it went to voice mail. He laid it aside and got up to use the bathroom. Afterward, as he was washing up, he glanced up in the mirror and paused, eyeing his features with a judgmental eye.

The Greek heritage he shared with his father was evident in his black wavy hair and even features, but he had his mother’s mouth. His gaze slid to his eyes. They were a soft brown like hers, too, not the dark, almost black, color of his father’s.

Before, he’d been a proud man, even vain. But now it was disconcerting to look at himself. All he saw was a son whose greed and need for power had crossed a line and broken his mother’s heart. Even though his father had been holding the knife, Adam knew it was his decision to “go to the dark side” that had caused her death. In the true sense of the word, he was just as guilty as Ike for her murder.

But this was his turning point. Either he redeemed his soul, or he ignored what he knew and continued in the footsteps of the devil who was his sire. In the bright light of day, the decision he’d made last night was still the most viable choice.

As he was drying off, his cell phone rang again. Ignoring it, he began to shave. If he was going to do this, he was going in shining like the diamond in his father’s pinkie ring.

Adam was back in Los Angeles before 10:00 a.m. He’d already had a phone conversation with an agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and made an appointment with the special agent in charge of Lorena Pappas’s murder to discuss the progress of the investigation.

He had to admit that, when he’d entered the building and gone through the body scanners, he’d felt as if he’d just walked into enemy territory. Both Adam and the Feds had an agenda, but he was the only one who knew the extent of where it was going to lead.

Within moments of passing through the scanner he was approached by a woman who identified herself as Special Agent Curran. She proceeded to escort him to his destination.

He eyed her curiously, wondering what would lead an attractive woman like Curran to want to go into law enforcement, when she could use her looks and her smarts to get so much more for much less. Then he remembered that that was how his mother and father had met, and Lorena’s walk on the wild side had not turned out for the best.

When they got on the elevator, Adam put his hands in his pockets in what he hoped was a sexy, casual stance and flashed his best smile.

“So, Special Agent Curran, how did you get into this business?”

She eyed him coolly as the elevator rose. “Just like you got into
your
business. I followed in my father’s footsteps.”

Adam’s smile slipped. “Touché.”

The elevator stopped. “I wasn’t trying to make points. Follow me, please,” she said, and got out.

Adam followed at her heels.

She stopped four doors down and went inside the small office where a rather large man was sitting at a desk, diligently working on a computer.

“Agent Ames, this is Adam Pappas.”

Ames stood up as Curran left and pointed to a chair on the other side of his desk.

“Have a seat,” he said.

Adam sat. His heart was pounding, and there was a slight sick feeling in the pit of his belly. He wondered if this was how his mother had felt when she’d come to offer testimony that would send her son to prison.

I’ll make this right, Mother. I swear on your sweet soul, I will make him pay.

Ames eyed the younger Pappas curiously. “So, I understand you’re here to discuss the progress on your mother’s case. You know I can’t reveal any—”

Adam held up a hand. “On the contrary, that’s not actually why I’m here,” he said.

Ames frowned. “Then…?”

“I’m here to offer you a deal.”

Ames frowned. “What kind of deal?”

“I know you believe my father killed my mother.”

Ames said nothing.

“For the record, I do, too, although I can’t prove it.”

Ames suddenly leaned forward, his mind racing with possibilities as to where this was going.

“So what are you saying here?” Ames asked.

“You arrest and convict my father of my mother’s murder, and I will finish what she started. I will testify against Ike Pappas and the organization to which he belongs. I’ll tell you everything I know and help you get proof of all of it. I don’t know how many others you can take down with what I know, but my father won’t be the only one.”

Ames stood abruptly. “Sit tight and let me get someone in here to take your statement.”

Adam held up his hand. “No, no, you aren’t hearing me. I tell you nothing until my father is convicted of murdering my mother.”

Ames frowned. “But if you testify against him, he’ll still spend the rest of his days behind bars.”

“That’s not good enough,” Adam said. “My mother deserves her justice separate from what else he’s done. I want it known what he did to her, and I want him sentenced for the crime. Once that’s a done deal, then I talk. If you can’t do that, there is no deal. I say nothing to you and take care of him myself.”

Ames flinched. “You do know you’re admitting to intent to commit murder.”

Adam looked around. “I’m sorry. Are we taping this conversation? Is something happening here that I don’t know about?”

“No, of course not,” Ames said.

Adam’s eyes narrowed angrily, and for the first time Ames saw the resemblance between father and son.

Adam pointed at Ames in an accusing manner. “I can assure you that I will vehemently deny any accusation that I want my father dead. Everyone knows he has enemies. Now, where are you on Mother’s murder case?”

Ames’s frown deepened. “You know I’m not allowed to tell you that.”

“Then let me tell you what
I
know,” Adam said. “I know there is a witness named Beth Venable—and my father knows it, too. I know you lost her and that he’s sent one of his bloodhounds on her trail. You better find her before he does, or your case against him won’t stick. If that happens, my deal is off the table.”

Ames’s head was reeling. No wonder they couldn’t take these people down. The Mob had more intel than the Feds did.

“Who’s the bloodhound?” Ames asked.

Adam shook his head. “I tell you, and you blow it by picking him up, alerting my father that you’re onto him, and then he disappears. I didn’t come in here to do your damned job for you. So what do you say? Do we have a deal or not?”

Ames sighed. He didn’t have the power to do what he was about to do, but Adam Pappas was too antsy to wait around for the real word.

“Yes, we have a deal,” Ames said.

Adam nodded. “As soon as you get Ike Pappas in court, we talk again.”

“We could get him there sooner if you’d tell us what you know about the missing witness.”

“I know she’s smarter than all of us,” Adam said, then stood up and handed Ames a card.

“What’s this?” Ames asked.

Adam smiled. “You know what it is. You have all our phones tapped. But just to keep this seemingly kosher, here’s where I explain that it’s my cell number. I often suffer from insomnia, so feel free to call anytime, night or day.”

Ames felt as if he’d just been given the winning lottery ticket as he slipped the card into his pocket.

“I’ll walk you down,” he said, and escorted Pappas to the elevator, then rode down to the ground floor and stood in the lobby as Adam exited the building. After that, Ames made a beeline for his boss’s office. Mac Harrison wasn’t going to believe this.

The tracking program Moe had on his laptop had a range of fifty miles, so wherever James Walker went the next morning, Moe wouldn’t be more than a couple of miles behind. He drove the twenty miles back to Mount Sterling, got a room at a motel on the edge of the city, and then went to the restaurant next door and scanned the menu. This time when he gave the waitress an order it was all vegetarian.

“I’ll have a bowl of tomato soup and some crackers,” he said.

“What to drink?” she asked.

“Iced tea.”

He forgot until after she’d already walked away that the tea would most likely be sweet, but he didn’t mind. In fact, he was learning to appreciate it with sugar, rather than the plain Earl Grey he normally ordered hot.

After he got back to his room, he plugged in the computer, logged on to the tracking system and smiled when he got a clear signal on Walker’s truck. The extra money he’d spent on those CIA knockoffs was worth it. He turned up the volume so that if the target vehicle began moving before he woke up, the pinging would alert him, then rolled over on the bed and closed his eyes. Within minutes he was asleep and snoring.

The weatherman had predicted the possibility of thunderstorms later in the day, and it was already getting cloudy. James was rushing around, trying to get Julie to finish her grocery list so he could leave for Mount Sterling and get everything done, then get back with their groceries and deliver what Ryal had ordered, as well, before the storms hit. He hurried back to the porch and opened the front door long enough to shout, “Hey, honey! Are you finished with that list yet?”

Julie came hurrying into the room with the baby on her hip and Meggie only a few steps behind.

“Here it is,” Julie said, and tilted her head up for the kiss she knew was coming, because James never left the house without kissing her goodbye.

Their kiss was sweet but brief.

“Mmm, good sugar,” James said, kissed the baby’s cheek, as well, then picked up his daughter and gave her a big hug and a kiss. “You be good for Daddy and help Mama with your brother, okay?”

“Are you gonna bwing me a supwise?”

James grinned. “Yes, Daddy will bring you a surprise.” Then he winked at Julie. “I’ll bring you one, too.”