Tax Assassin (9 page)

Seth’s eyes shifted to look at Éowyn. Thin
and technically beautiful, Ava’s elder sister had an exacting
nature that came through in her perfectly arched eyebrows, her
manicured fingertips, and her stern social grace. This morning, all
of that perfection made her look lost and very alone.

“
How are you?” he
asked.

“
Wondering what I want to
know.” Her eyes flitted over his face. He nodded. “What I wanted to
see, with my Dad, you know?”

He waited for her to add more to her
thoughts. When she didn’t, he turned back to look at the map.

“
Want to play mystery?”
Seth asked.

“
I’m not going to play
sex,” Éowyn said the words as if they were daggers.

“
You know, you can talk to
me,” Seth said. “I might actually be one of the few people who
understand.”

“
Oh yeah?” Her lip made an
effort to sneer. If she hadn’t been so exhausted she would have
seemed cruel. But today, she seemed lost. “What do you
understand?”

“
I know what it’s like to
do what you’re supposed to, be what you’re supposed to be, and feel
like you’re missing something because you’re so miserable,” Seth
said.

Éowyn became still. As if she was ready to
strike, her eyes watched him with exacting intensity.

“
I don’t know why I knew
how to play the piano,” Seth said. “It was like having blue eyes or
black hair . . .”

“
Or having an analytical
mind,” she said.

“
I was ten when I was
shipped off to Eastman,” Seth said.

“
I was twelve when I won my
first national debate tournament,” she said.

“
You see?” Seth smiled. “We
have a lot in common.”

She nodded.

“
Can I ask you a question?”
she asked.

“
Of course.”

“
Do you love it?” she
asked.

“
Piano?” Seth’s eyebrows
went up with the question and she nodded. “It’s more than love,
obsession maybe, but . . .”

Embarrassed, he looked away from her.

“
But?”

“
Oh, nothing,” he said. “I
was going to say that I don’t love the press of composition or the
moment the music comes. It’s like an overpowering urge for sex – an
almost physical pain that requires a kind of desperate release. But
the truth of the matter is that I feel so alive when the music
comes. It’s as if every fiber, every tissue, every cell in my body
vibrates with passion. It’s a rush that . . . well,
I guess is . . . hard to explain.

“
I’m miserable if I only
play the piano. I can retreat from the world in my basement and
play for days at a time. Once I’ve been down there for a week or
so, I start to think of drugs and alcohol and . . .
Well, let’s just say it doesn’t suit me.”

“
That’s why you’re a cop?”
Éowyn asked.

“
Music and mysteries go
hand in hand,” Seth said. “My agent says my music is better when
I’m working on a case. I think the mysteries occupy my thinking
mind and get me out of the house. That leaves the rest of me open
and receptive to music. I solve puzzles while I’m composing. In the
last ten years or so, I’ve written a new piece for every big
case.”

“
This is a big case
then.”

“
I guess so,” Seth said.
“Can I ask you a question?”

She nodded.

“
What do you love to do?”
he asked.

As if she’d never heard the question before,
her mouth fell open. She gave a slight shake of her head and
scowled.

“
Not being a lawyer,” he
said.

“
How . . .?”

“
We’ve tried two cases
together?”

“
Three,” she
said.

“
If you watch the DA in
court, he loves being there. He struts around like a peacock in
heat,” Seth said. “I’ve had lunch with him where he repeats every
glorious word from his day in court. He loves everything about
being in court. He even loves the politics. But you . .
.?”

“
If you’re saying I’m not
any good at being a DA, you’re wrong,” she said. “I have the best
record of any deputy DA in the state. No one else is even
close.”

“
I asked you what you love
to do.” Seth’s tone was even and kind, but she reacted as if she’d
been hit. She jumped from her seat and raised her index finger like
a dagger.

“
I’ll tell you that I
graduated Phi Beta Kappa at CU Boulder and was first in my class at
Stanford,” she said. “I didn’t need my father’s help getting my
job. Prosecutor’s offices lined up to get a chance for me to work
with them. I don’t expect to have any trouble replacing my job.
None.”

“
And?”

As if he’d pulled a string attached to her
belly button, she collapsed into the chair. She covered her face
with her hands and cried. To give her some privacy, he waded
through his email. There was lots of chatter about his case, but no
new facts.

Who was behind all of this murder? He’d
almost forgotten Éowyn was there when she gave a kind of cough or a
laugh. He rotated his chair to look at her.

“
Knitting.” Her voice was
light and her face lit up in a smile. “I love to knit.”

He was so surprised by her words that he
couldn’t think of anything to say. She gave a sad shrug.

“
Can’t make a living
knitting things,” she said.

“
What about owning a
store?”

She blinked at him for a few moments before
she looked away.

“
A knitting store,” Seth
said. “A yarn store. Something high-end to suit your . .
.”

“
My snotty ways?” she
smirked. He smiled. “How am I going to launch my own store when I’m
flat broke?”

“
How does anyone?” he
asked.

“
That’s what I’m
asking.”

“
I have no idea,” he
said.

“
Oh.”

He watched her closely as the silence
dragged into almost a minute. When she said, “Who would?” he
smiled.

“
My agent, James Schmidt,
Jr., has a step-mother who owns a little fashion shop,” Seth
said.

“
Which one?”

“
Annabel’s.”

“
Nice,” Éowyn
said.

“
I bet she’d tell us
everything we want to know,” Seth said.

“
We?”

“
Why not?” Seth asked.
“Unless you weren’t serious.”

“
No, I’m serious,” she
said. “I’ve wanted to do this very thing – own my own knitting
store – for . . . well, since my grandmother taught
me to knit when I was thirteen.”

“
My family has a homestead
outside of Granby,” Seth said. “A lot of people have alpaca and
sheep in that valley. You could always go ‘Made in Colorado’ and
stock only wool from here.”

“
I hadn’t thought of it,”
she smiled. Lost in thought, Ava’s sister fell silent. She looked
down and then at Seth. “What about being a lawyer?”

“
What about it?” Seth
asked. “You can always volunteer if you want to keep your hand in.
Do you know my agent, James Schmidt? He goes by Jammy or Schmidty?
He’s about your age. Took over from his dad about three years
ago.”

“
I don’t think
so.”

“
He graduated top of his
law school class, yada, yada. I bet he’ll be all over
this.”

“
You mean take over
it?”

“
No,” Seth said. “If you’re
going to do this, it has to be your baby.”

She nodded.

“
It’s a lot to take in,” he
said. “Why don’t you think about it?”

“
I’ve thought about it
almost all my life,” she said. “Will you call your
agent?”

Seth picked up his phone and made the call.
His young agent’s excited voice drifted through the phone. When
Seth hung up, he turned to look at Éowyn.

“
Sorry about that,” Seth
said. “He’s dating my daughter, Lizzy, and wanted to know if he
could marry her.”

“
Congratulations,” Éowyn
said.

“
It’s not a huge surprise.
He’s been in love with her since they were little,” Seth said.
“She’s had a few . . . issues.”

“
You suck as a
dad?”

“
I’m sure I do, but these
particular issues have more to due with her mother and step-father.
Anyway, he’ll call me when he’s spoken with his
step-mother.”

“
Great,” she said. “What’s
next?”

“
I’d encourage you to
rest,” Seth said. “You’ve been through a horrible ordeal, and
retail is no picnic.”

Getting up from her seat, she nodded to him.
She was almost to the door when she turned around.

“
You know, most of your
murders are along major highways,” Éowyn said. “I bet your guy
drove there.”

“
Sure.”

“
If I were you, I’d check
parking tickets; speeding tickets; stuff like that,” she
said.

“
You think he’s that
stupid?”

“
Look at your time frame,”
she said. “That’s a lot of cities. He’s traveling to cities he
doesn’t live in. Over the course of all these years? No one’s that
good. Just random chance says he’s had a ticket or two. And even if
the tickets are ten years apart in different cars, you might come
up with his name. Who knows? They may even have a picture of him on
some traffic cam.”

“
Good idea,” Seth said.
“Thanks.”

“
Analytical mind,” she
said, and left the room.

Seth thought for a moment and began making
calls.

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ELEVEN

Seth navigated the double gates and stepped
into the fenced area of the dog park before letting Clara off her
leash. She rubbed her head against his leg for a moment and he
rubbed her ears. When the moment of bonding passed, she zoomed off
to meet the other dogs. She gave an excited bark and playful bow to
Zephyr, the Rhodesian Ridgeback. Zephyr mimicked her bow, and they
began romping around on the flat dirt. Seth moved toward a quiet
end of the dog park and waited.

“
I forget that my Anjelika
takes the majestic Zephyr to play with your puppy,” a man said as
he walked toward Seth.

His deep, rich voice had the lilt of British
Africa. At least a decade older than Seth, he carried himself in a
way that spoke of physical prowess. Seth had never heard his given
name; he went by the name Perses. Someone had told Mitch that
Perses had barely survived the meltdown of Rhodesia. His sisters
were raped and murdered before his eyes. Perses vowed to avenge
their deaths. Over the course of the next ten years, he’d done just
that.

Hired by a special branch of the CIA during
the Cold War, Perses was credited with “solving problems” around
the globe. When he wasn’t working, Perses lived in Denver with his
Anjelika, a former Russian-Mob princess. Their adult children, and
grandchildren, lived nearby. Seth knew him to have two weaknesses –
his family and chocolate.

Seth held out a travel mug to Perses. The
man’s eyebrows furrowed for a moment before he took the cup. He
unscrewed the cap and gave a little cheer for the Mexican hot
chocolate in the cup.

“
Maresol loves me,” Perses
took a sip.

“
She does,” Seth
said.

“
Don’t tell my Angel,”
Perses said. “She might get jealous.”

Seth chuckled. They stood in the cool, early
morning and watched the dogs play.

“
I found something of
yours.” Seth said. He took a small evidence bag from the interior
pocket of his jacket. “I believe you left this in your son-in-law’s
skull.”

Seth held the small zipper storage bag up in
front of Perses eyes.

“
Has your mark,” Seth
pointed to the Greek letters etched on the bullet.

“
What does it have to do
with me?” Perses shrugged.

Seth raised an eyebrow and said nothing.

“
He divorced my Jillian,”
Perses said. “No connection to me.”

Seth held up the bag.

“
What do you want,
O’Malley?” Perses’s demeanor tightened. The air seemed to crackle
with tension. For the briefest moment, the civility disappeared and
the improbable stories about the man seemed all too
true.

“
Information,” Seth
said.

“
About this
bullet?”

“
What’s to know about
this?” Seth asked. “You shot your ex-son-in-law while he was in the
act of committing a class one felony. You were due a freebie, so
the Agency fixed it via a Special Forces team. Ex-son-in-laws wife
is in prison for life on a separate crime committed at the same
time. His parents tried to kidnap a senator’s son. They’re out of
the way.”

Seth shrugged.

“
And the case?”

“
Dismantled,” Seth said.
“All but this.”

Seth held up the bullet.

“
You’ve been saving it for
a favor?” Perses asked.

“
No, I don’t believe I need
to bribe you for favors,” Seth said. “I’ve been waiting for a right
moment to return your property. With being sick, the wedding,
Saint
Jude . . .”