No One Lives Twice (A Lexi Carmichael Mystery) (23 page)

“No. You came to me,
cara.
It was meant to be, our helping each other. I will admit this partnership has not been easy for me. I usually work alone, so perhaps I am not handling this as well as I would like. Forgive me.”

“But you said you have other people working with you.” I sniffed.

“Working
for
me. There is a difference when two people must work equally in synchronicity. I have never met a woman quite like you before, Lexi. You are capable, innocent and deliciously unpredictable.”

I kind of wish he had said beautiful, sexy or intelligent, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

He gently wound a strand of my hair around his finger. The gesture was intimate and unexpected. I held my breath, and for a moment we gazed into each other’s eyes. I could see his pupils darken until I could hardly see them anymore. Then, to my acute disappointment, he abruptly dropped his hand and stepped back. Once again I’d thought he would kiss me, and once again, I was wrong. Apparently, I had no skill whatsoever in reading the sexual signals of men.

I wasn’t sure I could take much more humiliation in my life. He
had
to have seen the desire on my face, the expectation. Yet he couldn’t even bring himself to give me one lousy, little kiss.

“So why is someone trying to kill me?” I asked, trying to change the subject, clear the air or do anything but stand there stupidly.

He exhaled a breath. “Because they want to sever our only link to Judyta. I think it’s that simple.”

I didn’t think it was simple at all, but then again, I’d never had anyone try to kill me before. Slash rubbed the back of his neck and then returned to the couch, picking up his mug again.

“When will you talk to Finn Shaughnessy?” he asked without looking at me.

I stood where I was, still feeling like a fool.

“He called me several times this evening and left messages,” I said stiffly. “I’ll give him a call first thing in the morning.”

“Be careful of what you say on the phone,” Slash warned. “It’s not secure.”

“What now? You don’t want the FBI to know what we’re doing?”

“Don’t worry. I will keep the FBI, NSA and others appraised of any developments. But the FBI may not be the only ones listening in.”

“Who else, then?”

“We don’t know. Just be careful.”

Oh, that was comforting advice. “Is Finn in any kind of danger?”

“Not yet, but we have him under surveillance, too. I’m having his background checked out as we speak.” Leaning back on my couch, he took a sip of coffee. “Perhaps now you might tell me how Lars Anderson fits into all this?”

I sighed. My life held no secrets anymore. Not like I had any great ones to begin with, but still, I didn’t like the fact that everything about me, warts and all, was now open to official scrutiny.

“I don’t know how Lars fits into this,” I said. “Basia signed up for karate lessons with him shortly before she disappeared. There may not be any connection.”

“I don’t consider it a coincidence that she shows up in Sweden and Lars Anderson just happens to be from there,” he said. “There must be a connection.”

“Well, if you have a theory I’d be happy to hear it.”

“I don’t have one yet. I ran a check on him and he appears clean. But there must be a link we are missing.”

I thought the same thing, but had come up with no answers. “I’ll let you know if I discover anything.”

“Good.” Slash ran his fingers through his hair and stood. “I must go now. There is much to do.”

He didn’t offer operational details and I didn’t ask. Instead I glanced at my watch and saw it was past one o’clock in the morning. I sat where I was while he picked up his jacket and put it on.

“Set the alarm,” he said, motioning toward the door.

I followed him to the corridor and dutifully punched in the code. He was careful not to watch, which was kind of silly since he could break into my place in under three minutes anyway.

“Well, I’ll see you around,” I said, waiting for him to open the door and leave. After all, he only had sixty seconds to depart before the alarm sounded.

Instead of leaving, he suddenly backed me up against the wall, placing one hand on either side of my head and trapping me there. He looked serious, sexy and more than a little dangerous. His gun pressed into my hip and I sincerely hoped it didn’t go off.

“Watch your back,” he said softly. “I don’t want anything to happen to you. There are many matters that are yet to be resolved between us.”

“What kind of…matters?” I squeaked.

He smiled mysteriously.

“You’re married, aren’t you?” I blurted out and then wished the floor would open up and swallow me, or more likely, that an armed assassin would break down the door and shoot me.

His lips twitched. “No, I’m not married. But I do not take advantage of women who have been shot at or drinking. Especially not both in the same night.”

“That’s terribly gallant of you,” I admitted.

He pressed a soft kiss against my cheek.
“Buona notte, cara,”
he murmured.
“Sogno di me.”

I foolishly pressed a hand to my cheek where he had kissed me. “That means ‘sweet dreams,’ doesn’t it?” I asked, hoping he was impressed that I was picking up Italian so quickly.

A smile curved across his lips as he opened the door. “Not exactly,
cara.
It means dream of me,” he said and then disappeared down the stairs.

As I closed the door behind him, I had a feeling that’s exactly what I would do.

Saturday dawned far too early and I forced myself awake when the alarm went off at six-thirty. Typically I slept in on the weekends, but there was so much to do today that I gingerly sat up in bed, holding my throbbing head in shaky hands until I could open my eyes. Bright summer sunshine spilled through cracks in the vertical blinds and I squinted in order to bear the light.

I carefully swung my feet over the side of the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Rummaging around in my medicine cabinet above the sink, I found the extra-strength Excedrin and proceeded to struggle for a full five minutes getting off the child-proof, adult-proof and idiot-proof cap. My hand trembled as I shook out the tablets and half a dozen went down the drain before I managed to catch two. I popped them into my mouth and cupped a handful of cold water to wash them down. The most important business of the morning completed, I stood in a shower as hot as I could stand for twenty minutes, letting the water massage my aching back and neck.

As I stepped out of the shower, the phone rang. I grabbed a towel and dashed to the bedroom to answer.

“Lexi?” a male voice said.

“Finn?” I replied. The connection was bad. He must be calling from a cell phone.

“Yes, it’s me. Where have you been? I’ve been ringing your frigging phone off the hook.”

“I’m sorry I missed your calls yesterday,” I said. “I had to go out last night. Did you get my message? I was going to call you first thing this morning.”

“We’ve got to talk right away,” he said and I could hear a car honking in the background.

“That’s no kidding,” I said. “Someone tried to shoot me last night.”

I heard screeching tires. “What? Are you okay?”

“They missed. So, other than a blinding hangover, I’m just dandy.”

“What happened?”

“It’s a rather long and sordid story.”

“Jesus, Joseph and Mary,” he said. “Look, I’m headed your direction. I know it’s early, but can I come by?”

I thought of the CD sitting on my coffee table that I was supposed to give him. “Sure,” I said, calculating how long it would take me to get ready. “How far away are you?”

“About ten minutes,” he said. “Give me your address.”

I gave him directions and hung up. Darting back to the bathroom, I finger-combed my hair, bypassed the rouge and put on lip balm. I pulled on a pair of cut-off jean shorts and a sleeveless baby-blue blouse. My sandals were in the back corner of my closet, so I yanked them out and shoved my feet into them. I grabbed my wallet out of my purse and stuck it, my keys and Slash’s CD into a tote bag. Jamming my sunglasses on my nose, I went down to the parking lot to wait for Finn. Even though Slash had told me my apartment wasn’t bugged, I wasn’t sure I completely believed him. And I certainly didn’t want anyone listening to what I was going to say to Finn, partially because it involved an illegal activity like planting a program in his company’s computer so hackers could break in.

I hadn’t waited more than two minutes before I saw Finn pull up in a sleek dark green Jaguar convertible. I couldn’t help but goggle—and not just at the car. He looked really different in jeans, a white T-shirt and dark sunglasses. Casual, sexy, yummy. I shook my head. I had started to feel increasingly disoriented as I bounced from one gorgeous guy to the next. How did normal women handle this?

I tried to look nonchalant as Finn screeched to a halt next to me, putting on my yeah-sexy-guys-take-me-for-a-ride-all-the-time-in-Jags expression. But he looked grim as he leaned across the front seat to open the door.

“Get in,” he said. “Do you know a quiet place we can talk?”

“Dunkin’ Donuts,” I said, getting in and shutting the door. “The ambiance is lacking, but the food is good.”

He didn’t respond to my early morning stab at humor and instead put the car in gear, adeptly maneuvering out of the parking lot. I directed him to the site a mile away and he pulled into an empty spot.

Neither of us got out of the car. Instead Finn shifted toward me, hands gripping the steering wheel, the sun bouncing off his dark shades. I found it a bit disconcerting that I couldn’t see his eyes, but then again, he couldn’t see mine either. My gaze darted around the parking lot trying to see if I could spot a government tail, but I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. That was probably the idea.

“What happened last night?” he said, his voice angry. “Who tried to shoot you?”

I gave him the abridged version, leaving out Slash’s role in the entire fiasco. Finn made no comments, but his fingers squeezed the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were bloodless.

“We’re getting damn close to something,” he said. “Something big.”

“That’s not all,” I blurted out. “Basia called me yesterday. She left a message for me on my answering machine.”

Finn started in surprise. “Is she all right?”

“For the time being, I suppose.”

“What did she say?”

“Not much. She’s fine and safe and said I shouldn’t trust you.” I gave myself a mental head slap. Lexi Carmichael, master of subtlety.

Finn sighed. “I’m not surprised she said that. I officially belong to the company who may be responsible for putting her in danger. Did she say where she was?”

I shook my head, deciding not to mention anything about both Xavier and Slash tracing the call to Sweden. “But she said she was safe.”

“Will she call back?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, at least she’s alive,” he said, exhaling. “I sincerely hope she’s with Judyta. Lexi, there’s something else I need to tell you. Strange things have started happening at work.”

“What kind of strange things?”

“I’ve been abruptly pulled from several big cases. There’s always a good reason for it, like something unexpected has come up or I’m needed elsewhere. But I’ve got the distinct feeling that I’m being isolated for a specific reason. I don’t like it.”

“I’m sorry, Finn.”

“There’s more. I got an unusual phone call yesterday.”

“From whom?”

“Chloe Small. Harold Small’s wife. She was the one who found the contract in her husband’s safety deposit box. She asked me to meet with her.”

“Did you?”

“I did. Chloe told me she didn’t think Harold’s death was an accident and she wanted to know if the documents she turned over to me might in any way support that.”

“Why did she think his death wasn’t an accident?”

“Apparently she thought that from the start, but her concerns were dismissed by both the police and the higher-ups at CGM. She hoped I had discovered something that would confirm her suspicions.”

“What suspicions?”

“She said Harold had been acting strange for months. He wasn’t sleeping or eating well, and he got very nervous whenever they went out. He wouldn’t talk to her about the source of his anxiety, but once told her something big was going down at work.”

“That’s all he said?”

“Unfortunately, he didn’t elaborate.”

“What did you tell her about the documents?”

“I told her the truth without going into detail. But I also told her that I, too, suspected Harold’s death might not have been an accident.”

I rubbed my eyes beneath my sunglasses. They felt raw and tired like the rest of my body. “You realize we’re talking murder here.”

“Bugger it, don’t I know that,” he said, his Irish accent suddenly slipping through. I realized he must truly be shaken.

“Chloe also said that about three months ago Harold received a significant amount of money. He told her it was an unexpected bonus from the company for his outstanding performance on a case.”

“Did he name the case?”

“No.”

“How significant a bonus are we talking?”

“Twenty grand.”

I whistled. “Some bonus.”

“And unusual, as well. I can’t imagine anything legit he could have been working on that would earn him an extra twenty grand.”

“Sounds to me like someone was buying his silence.”

“But for what? What in the hell is the company involved in?”

My head had begun to throb. I needed caffeine to counteract the hangover and I needed it badly. I opened the door to the car. “I need some coffee in order to think. You want some?”

“I’ll come in with you.”

I ordered an extra-large coffee and a bottle of Diet Coke. Then Finn ordered a chocolate-covered donut with sprinkles, so I got one, too. We took the food and drink back to the convertible and ate in silence with the sun warming our heads and shoulders.

When I finished eating the donut, I wiped my greasy hands on a napkin and took a sip of coffee. “Finn, does the word Acheron mean anything to you?” I watched him carefully, but he seemed genuinely puzzled.

“No, should it?”

“It was written in code at the bottom of the contract you sent Basia.”

“I didn’t send her anything with a code on it.”

“I didn’t think so. She penciled it in for some reason. I’m trying to figure out why.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

“I wasn’t sure I trusted you.”

He lifted his sunglasses to the top of his head and looked at me, his green eyes both troubled and serious. “What about now?”

“I’m doing the best I can, Finn. I want to trust you even though Basia told me not to. I just hope I’m not wrong about you.”

He put the sunglasses back down and looked away. “You’re not.”

“Good, because I think if we can find out what Acheron means, we may be on to something.”

“You think it means something to the firm.”

“Yes. Maybe the name of a case or a file. It’s worth a shot and we can find out for certain…if you help.”

There must have been something unusual in my voice because he cocked his head to me. “Just what did you have in mind, Lexi?”

I unzipped my tote bag and pulled out the CD that Slash had given me. “This.”

Finn looked at me for a long time. “What exactly is it?”

“Trust me. You don’t want to know,
exactly.
All you need to do is open it on your computer. That’s it.”

He kept staring at me without saying anything. Then he took the CD and slipped it into his glove compartment.

“I’ll be going by the office later today,” he said, putting his hands on the steering wheel. “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

“Thanks,” I said, feeling increasingly uncomfortable. As a lawyer he knew full well the possible consequences of what he was about to do and I felt like a criminal for asking, even though the cause was just and an employee of the NSA had instructed me to do it. But Finn didn’t know any of that, so I felt badly that for him, the choice was morally gray.

“By the way, just to ensure that I can reach you from now on I got this for you.” Finn reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a tiny cell phone.

I looked at the phone and then back at him in disbelief. “You bought me a cell phone?”

He smiled. “Not exactly. Consider it a temporary loan. Given our present circumstances I thought it prudent that we be able to reach each other quickly. I’m sorry if I’m being presumptuous. You don’t have to take it if you don’t want to.”

I thought for a moment and then took it. “Okay. It’s a good idea. I’ll consider it a loan.”

Finn grinned at me with what looked like relief and then handed me a booklet and a charger. “Instructions are inside, along with your number. It’s a piece of cake to operate. Just like a computer.”

“Yeah right,” I said, remembering the fiasco I’d had with his phone in the restaurant bathroom. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it,” he said, taking a sip of his coffee and returning it to the cup holder. “Just don’t let your mum know you’ve got it.”

“That’s no kidding,” I said as we got out of the car and dumped our cups in the trash. Then Finn put the Jag into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. With a stern warning to be careful, he dropped me off at home.

Upstairs, I tossed my tote bag on the coffee table and examined the new cell phone more closely. When I was convinced I understood the basics, I walked out onto the balcony and dialed the twins’ number.

“Hello,” mumbled Xavier. He yawned. Obviously geniuses had to sleep after all.

“Sorry to wake you,” I said. “I just wanted to check something out.”

“Sure,” he replied, sounding a bit more alert. “Where are you calling from?” I guess the twins had caller ID.

“A new cell phone. Look, I just wanted to make certain you and Elvis had helped write a program with Slash that I was to pass on to Finn Shaughnessy at CGM.”

“Affirmative. He did the base of the programming and we sort of refined his work a bit,” Xavier said. “Tuned it up, so to say. It didn’t need much. He is good, Lexi. Very good. A wizard in the extreme.”

“Well that’s comforting. Just so you know, I gave the program to Finn this morning. We should find out in a little while whether or not things worked out.”

That seemed to wake up Xavier even more. “Cool,” he said and I could hear him shuffling around. “I’ll tell Elvis. We’ll be monitoring it.”

“Thanks. Let me know how it goes. And, Xavier, if you need to get in touch with me, will you call me on this number?” I rattled off my new cell number, but before I hung up, Xavier told me Elvis wanted to talk to me.

“Hey, Elvis,” I said when he came on the line. “Nice job on the program.”

“Thanks,” he said and he sounded a bit sleepy, too. “Look, Lexi, I don’t want to spook you or anything, but I came across something interesting about Slash last night.”

“Slash?” I repeated. “What do you mean? Xavier said he was the real deal.”

“He
is
the real deal—optimum to the letter. I have no doubt he is
the
Slash we thought he was. But it appears he’s also got an interesting past.”

I felt my heart skip a beat. “What kind of interesting past?”

“Well, I called in a couple of favors from some guys I know who did a little digging around for me.”

“And?”

“Slash is definitely Italian and he had a rather interesting job before coming on board at the NSA.”

“What did he do?”

Elvis paused for a minute. “You may be surprised.”

“Try me.”