No One Left to Tell (66 page)

‘Well, who is he?’ Grayson asked fiercely, his hand tightening to a fist.

‘Name’s Roscoe “Jesse” James. He’s a professional fighter. Or was.’

‘He’s dead?’

‘Perkins didn’t know. James disappeared Tuesday night after his fight. He was last seen at his favorite bar. Security camera shows him sitting next to a guy who could have been Silas. The guy dumped something into Roscoe’s drink and later said he’d give him a ride home. Roscoe’s car is still in the lot – he never made it home.’

‘Silas killed him?’

‘Perkins said they’re checking the vehicles found in Silas’s garage. His van had a lot of blood in it. Same blood type as they found in the wood near the nursing home, which would be Kapansky’s. They’ll have to see if they can find James’s blood, too.’

‘If I hadn’t seen him in action with my own eyes, I’d still have trouble believing Silas could have done all this,’ Grayson said. His cell phone rang and he checked the ID. ‘It’s my mother.’

‘Tell her thank you for letting us use her place,’ Paige said.

‘I will.’ He hit the green button. ‘Hey, Mom.’ He frowned. ‘Are you in a safe place? I just had that car tuned up. It shouldn’t have just stopped on you like that . . . What are you doing
there
?’ He let out a sigh. ‘The GPS is only useful when you turn it on, Mom.’

Then the color drained from his face and Paige’s heart started to pound. He surged to his feet, his face filled with fury. ‘
Who are you?
. . . Yeah,’ he bit out. ‘I understand.’

Blindly he set the phone on the table.

Panic grabbed her throat. ‘What? What happened?’

‘He has my mother,’ he said tonelessly. ‘And Holly. At first she said the car broke down. And then she said “I love you, Tony”. When I was small and we were hiding . . .’ His voice broke. ‘If she ever called me Tony, I was to run as fast as I could.’

Paige kept her voice calm. He didn’t need her getting hysterical. ‘And then what?’

‘Whoever has her knew she’d given me a message. He hit her. Hard. Then he came on the phone and said if I wanted her to live, I’d come with you. No cops.’

Paige made herself breathe. ‘We need to call Joseph.’

Grayson stood. ‘I’ll call him on the way. You stay here.’

‘No. Don’t ask me to do that. I’ll just follow you anyway.’

‘He wants us both dead. I won’t let him have you.’

Talking him out of leaving would be utterly futile but she wasn’t letting him walk into an ambush alone. She swung her backpack to her shoulder. ‘He can’t have you either.’

He set his jaw. ‘Then come. I don’t have time to argue with you.’

She grabbed Peabody’s leash and together they followed him out.

Thursday, April 7, 11.35
P.M
.

Paige called both Joseph and Clay. The two men were talking to each other as they separately approached, planning their coordinated assault. Grayson drove with his foot to the floor, murmuring under his breath. Praying. Paige prayed too.

But she also had the laptop open, because doing something kept her sane. ‘Your mother’s smart. She’ll do what she needs to do to keep Holly safe.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ he said hoarsely.

She had no words to comfort him so she kept her hand on his shoulder as city roads turned to country roads. They were somewhere near the airport. She could hear a plane coming in for a landing. ‘The broker wasn’t on the list of ten we gave to Hyatt.’

‘What does it matter anymore? He has my mother.’

His voice was anguished and it broke her heart. But she couldn’t let him falter now.

‘It matters because who he
is
will determine how we take him
down
. If he’s a sharpshooter, we need to know. If he’s a goddamn cage fighter or an explosives guy, we need to know that too. Your mother’s life and Holly’s life depend on it. So do Joseph and Clay’s, not to mention ours. So get hold of yourself and think.’

‘Okay. I’m thinking.’ He drew a deep breath, and another. ‘Maybe he wasn’t the guy in the photo. Maybe the guy paying Sandoval was a flunky and we’ve been chasing mist.’

‘Maybe. But why would Sandoval have kept it? And why would he have been killed for it? Maybe the broker just doesn’t work at the firm anymore.’ She opened a new browser and typed in the firm’s name and
former
. It yielded pages of results that meant nothing.

Paige tapped her keyboard nervously. Her thumb brushed the touchpad and the screen jumped to the photographs she’d been studying earlier – the ones of the MAC group photos that she’d taken with Joseph’s camera pen. She started to move back to her search screen, when her finger froze at a sparkle of light.

She was looking at the last photo she’d taken. A man’s hand, resting on another man’s shoulder. The hand was manicured. The right shape and size. ‘Oh my God.’

‘What?’ Grayson bit out. ‘
What?
’

‘This afternoon when I went back to Reba’s, Rex’s stepfather came in as we were leaving. A lawyer was there to see him, the foundation’s attorney. But he was there because Rex called him. I snapped a picture of Rex’s stepfather because he winked at me as he was leaving. It was reflex. But I got the lawyer’s hand.’

His chin came up. ‘Manicured?’

‘Yes. With a diamond pinky ring.’

‘What was his name, Paige?’ he demanded.

‘I’m thinking, dammit,’ she snapped. ‘Stuart. Reba called him Stuart.’

Grayson stilled. ‘Lippman? Stu Lippman?’

‘Yes. Do you know him?’

‘He was Bond’s assistant on the Muñoz trial. Where is his office?’

Paige typed Lippman’s name into her search screen. ‘In the McCloud building. So is his condo. It’s one of the penthouse suites. We were there, Grayson. Dammit.’

‘The window. Do you remember the window? The one that was broken?’

‘You said a foul ball. Or a big bird.’

‘Or a bullet fired by Silas. Silas tried to kill him.’

‘Then he hurt Silas’s wife and abducted his child. But in Toronto? How?’

‘It’s less than an hour by private plane. We can check flight plans and manifests later. We’re almost there.’ His hands gripped the wheel. ‘He’s going to try to kill us.’

‘I know. I have my Glock and the .357 in my boot. You have your piece?’

‘Bashears took it, but Joseph gave me one of his. Beretta nine-mil.’

‘Thirteen rounds. Between the two of us, we’ve got some firepower. If we can separate, come from front and back like we did Silas . . . It could work.’

‘He’s smaller than Silas. Don’t know if he’s combat trained.’

‘With those hands? I doubt it. If you can get behind him, you can take him down. But don’t kill him.’ She put the laptop away, checked her guns. ‘Once we have everyone safe, then you can kill him.’

‘Call Joseph and Clay. Tell them.’ He hesitated. ‘And Hyatt.’

She stared at him in surprise. ‘What?’

‘We’ll do what Lippman wants and buy the time Joseph and Clay need to set up,’ he said grimly. ‘But if the four of us fail, we still need to get the others out. Hyatt can send a team to Lippman’s condo. Maybe he has my mother and Holly there. Violet, too.’

Thursday, April 7, 11.50
P.M
.

Grayson slowed as he approached the place his mother had told him to come. The closest civilization was a mile back. There were lots of trees. Lots of places to hide.

‘There’s her car.’ He stopped behind it, shone his headlights into the interior. It was empty. He pressed the trunk release on his mother’s spare keyfob, his shoulders sagging. He’d been afraid and hopeful at once. Hopeful they’d be in the car. Afraid he’d find them dead there. He glanced down. ‘Inside and trunk, both empty.’

Paige had slid to the floorboard of the Escalade by mutual agreement. They didn’t want Lippman – if that’s who was waiting for them – to know she’d come. They hoped it would increase their odds of taking him by surprise. They hoped.

‘We didn’t think they would be.’ Her voice was calm, steady, as were her dark eyes.

‘We’ve just announced our presence,’ he said bitterly. Now that he was here, he questioned the wisdom of the plan that really wasn’t. He hadn’t really thought it through. He’d simply reacted.
I’m going to get us all killed
. ‘Might as well have ridden in with a stampede.’

‘We knew we were walking into an ambush,’ she said, still steadily. ‘We’re here to play along. To buy time for your mom and Holly. And Violet. We draw him out.’

He nodded. ‘And take him down.’

‘Right now there’s one of him and two of us. In ten minutes Joseph and Clay will be here and we’ll be four. I like those odds a little better. Especially since we don’t know that your mother and Holly are even here. He could have them somewhere else.’

‘I have a new appreciation for the lost-my-mind defense,’ he murmured. They should wait for backup. But a lot could happen in ten minutes.
He could be hurting them
. And then Grayson’s heart stopped, his decision made.

‘It’s Holly.’ She’d appeared on the edge of the trees, stumbling into the light from his highbeams. Her hands were tied behind her, her eyes wide with terror. Tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘A man’s behind her. I can’t see his face. Sonofabitch.’

‘Turn off the headlights. You’re probably blinding her,’ Paige said.

He turned off the headlights and the maplight. ‘I’ll draw him, you bring him down?’

‘He’s seen you already, so that’s how it’s got to be. When you walk toward him, keep your body sideways. With your shoulders, you’re like a broad side of a barn.’

‘I’ve got the Kevlar,’ he said, more to comfort himself.

‘That’ll only protect you so much. If he’s too close, you could still be toast. Peabody and I will circle around. Take him from behind. Just like Silas. Okay?’

He’d nearly forgotten about the dog. ‘Okay. Don’t die.’

Her expression was grim. ‘You too.’

He slid out of the Escalade, turning his body sideways. He heard Paige open the door on her side the exact moment he closed his. Good timing.
Let it continue. Please
.

‘Let her go,’ Grayson called into the darkness. He could no longer see Holly. She’d been pulled back into the trees. ‘She’s not who you want. I am.’

‘So you’ll trade?’ a man called. It was the man on the phone.
Who hit my mother
.

Grayson couldn’t remember how Stuart Lippman sounded. But right now, that didn’t matter. ‘Yes, I’ll trade. My sister and my mother for me.’

‘I want the woman, too. Holden.’

‘She was hurt earlier,’ Grayson improvised. ‘I had to take her to the ER. Silas gave her a concussion before she shot him. They admitted her for the night.’

‘You’re lying.’

‘You can call the ER, ask them. Right now, it’s only me.’ He walked toward the trees, keeping his body turned, angling his approach to force whoever held Holly to look at him and not where Paige and Peabody were running. With her black clothes and hair, she blended into the trees well. He couldn’t see them anymore. ‘Holly, it’ll be okay.’

‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Smith. I want Holden too.’

Grayson could hear Holly’s keening cry of fear.
You’ll die for that alone
.

‘If you want Holden, then you’ll have to go to the hospital and get her,’ Grayson said harshly. ‘She doesn’t know anything anyway. She’s a PI wannabe. Good fighter and great in the sack, but not a lot upstairs. If you know what I mean.’

‘She’s got enough upstairs to track down Adele Shaffer.’

‘Who?’

‘Don’t play games with me, Counselor. You’ve got her picture all over the TV. She’s a “person of interest”.’

‘I don’t know anything about that. I’ve been busy trying to find Crystal Jones’s killer so I can get Ramon Muñoz released from prison.’

Grayson listened for a response and when he heard nothing, started to move closer to the treeline. He reached under his jacket for Joseph’s gun, shoved in his waistband.

He saw them then, Lippman and Holly. Lippman held her close, his gun at her head. Cold fury hit Grayson hard. Then he saw the glint of metal, too late. Heard the shot as all the air was shoved out of his lungs, the impact to his chest hurting far worse than the pieces of his car that had rained down on his back after Wednesday night’s bomb.

He staggered backward, heard Holly’s horrified scream.

‘Grayson!’ Holly yanked free, only to stumble when Lippman pulled her back.

Lippman’s gun still pointed at Grayson, his expression racing from satisfaction to shock as Grayson picked himself up from the ground, then went down on one knee.

He expected me to be dead. Sorry, pal. Not today
. He’d dropped Joseph’s gun and now grabbed it, arcing it up, aiming at Lippman’s head. But if he missed, he’d hit Holly. A split-second before he pulled the trigger, he heard a low growl.

Peabody
. The dog appeared out of the trees from the right, lunging, and Lippman’s scream tore through the air. Peabody dragged him backward, his teeth sunk into his arm. No longer able to hold his gun, Lippman dropped it, kicking at the dog, cursing.

Holly yanked free again and Grayson ran toward her, not seeing Lippman’s left hand fumbling in his coat pocket until it was too late.

A backup
. Lippman had a backup gun in his pocket.
Oh God
.

‘Holly,’ Grayson cried. ‘Get—’

In a blur of black, Paige leapt, throwing herself over Holly as Lippman fired again. Two shots. At Paige’s back. Paige’s body jerked and went completely still.

Grayson stared, horrified. ‘
No
.’ He aimed at Lippman’s chest, fired three times and Lippman went down like a rock. Grayson ran, dropping to his knees beside her, gently gathering her into his arms.
Don’t be dead
. ‘Paige.’

‘I’m not dead.’ Paige rolled to look behind her, the Glock in her hand, then came to her feet so fluidly that Grayson found himself breathless once again. Relief shuddered through him as Holly still sobbed. She was breathing. They all were.