The Christmas Clue (7 page)

Judging from the motion, it was probably true. That caused Matt a little more concern. It was midmorning, so what was his daughter doing napping? Was she ill?

Hell.

Just that thought sent another slam of adrenaline through him. He had to stop this. Neither his body nor his brain could handle the emotional roller coaster.

“You think Molly’s sick because she’s asleep?” he asked.

Cass shook her head. “Babies take naps all the time. I’m sure she’s fine. Hang in there. We’re going to get her out, maybe as soon as today if Hollis can find a coaxable guard.”

It wasn’t the first time she’d made a promise like that to him. A promise she couldn’t keep. But Matt appreciated the gesture.

Heck, he appreciated
her.

And it didn’t have anything to do with this crazy attraction and physical closeness between them.

Did it?

Man, he hoped not. He hoped that his testosterone levels didn’t influence something as important as his concentration at a time like this.

A new song came on the radio. Johnny Cash singing “Flesh and Blood.” A song of need and lust, or love, depending on the listener’s interpretation. Matt didn’t have to think hard to know what his interpretation was.

“Uh-oh.” She blinked. “You look as if you have something on your mind.”

He did—he wanted to kiss her again. Apparently, he hadn’t learned a thing from their last kissing episode.

Neither had Cass.

She put her arms around him and pulled her to him. For comfort, no doubt. For a good reason. He probably looked as torn as he felt.

And that’s perhaps why Cass did the unthinkable.

She
kissed
him.

It wasn’t tentative, either. Cass leaned in and pressed her mouth to his. It was a gentle kiss of reassurance. And it probably would have stayed that way if Matt hadn’t upped the ante.

He pulled her to him and deepened the kiss. Why? Because he was an idiot and totally incapable of resisting a woman he should be doing everything to resist. But there wasn’t a thread of resistance on his part.

Matt dragged her even closer, so that their bodies met, her breasts against his chest. Still, she didn’t pull away. She stayed there holding him. Allowing him to kiss her until he no longer felt as if the world was closing in around him.

Gasping for air, she pulled away and ran her tongue over her bottom lip. “You still taste dangerous.”

That was actually a relief. Because he didn’t want that kiss to be anything more than it was—a reaction to the emotional hell they were going through.

“You still taste expensive,” he countered.

She smiled. “Then we’re safe.”

And unfortunately he knew exactly what she meant.

His phone buzzed. He’d set it that way because he thought a ring might be overheard. “Saved by the buzz,” he mumbled. Heaven knows he needed something to slap him back to reality.

But after glancing at the caller ID, he wasn’t so sure this was the slap he needed.

“It’s Libby,” he relayed to Cass.

The call shouldn’t have made Matt feel so blasted uncomfortable, but it did. Probably because Cass had put it in his head that neither Ronald nor Libby could be trusted.

“Is this line secure?” Matt immediately asked Libby when he answered the call.

“Yes. I’m actually using my home phone. I didn’t think it’d be wise to talk to you while I was at the office. Especially with what I have to tell you. Matt, there’s a problem with some of the files related to Dominic.”

“What do you mean?” He remembered to keep his voice low just in case.

“Information is missing. Heck, entire files are missing. I’ve been digging, and I don’t like what I’ve found in the ones I have managed to access. It’s about Cassandra Harrison.”

Well, Matt certainly hadn’t expected her name to come up in this conversation. He moved closer to Cass and put the phone in between them. “What about Ms. Harrison?” Matt prompted Libby.

“I think there’s someone in the department who doesn’t want any evidence found that could exonerate her.”

Beside him, he felt Cass tense. He tensed, too. “You have proof?”

“More like a theory. You already know about the deal the department made with Dominic. He’ll give them information about his criminal buddies so he can get immunity for himself. Well, it’s possible Dominic got something else out of that deal—an agreement that Cass Harrison’s name wouldn’t be cleared because it would ultimately cast suspicion of murder on him.”

That certainly meshed with what Cass had been saying. Which brought Matt to something he’d realized in the past twelve hours. Cass wasn’t guilty.

“I’d like to know who orchestrated this deal with Dominic,” Matt insisted.

“So would I, but those are the missing files. I’ve talked to Ronald, and he thinks I’m jumping the gun, that there is no conspiracy to frame Ms. Harrison.”

But Matt believed that was exactly what was happening. Ronald would, too, once he looked at all the facts.

Hopefully.

“Name names,” Matt said to Libby. “Who do you think is behind this?”

Libby didn’t say anything for several seconds. “I hate to say it, but maybe Ronald. He could be the one tapping into official communications, too. There aren’t many people in the department who could manage that. He has the expertise for it.”

Matt frowned. “So do you.”

“Yes. But I didn’t. And neither did you. Unless you’re willing to consider Ronald, that leaves us where we started.”

Not quite.

“Thanks for the info, Libby. I’ll be in touch.” Matt clicked the end call button and turned to Cass.

Oh, she knew where this was leading. He could see it in her eyes. “Right after we
met,
you said you’d phoned in some bogus information to someone you thought you could trust in the Justice Department,” Matt reminded her. “After the person had the bogus info, it was relayed to Dominic. Through a secure line at his estate, you said. I’m guessing that Hollis tapped Dominic’s line for you.”

She nodded.

“But what you haven’t told me is the name of the person you thought you could trust in the Justice Department.”

Cass took a moment to answer. “Your boss, Gideon Tate. He was a friend of my father’s. I’ve known him for years.”

This was the first Matt had heard about Gideon knowing Cass. And he didn’t like it. Cass’s name had come up several times in conversation between Gideon and him, so why hadn’t his boss mentioned it?

“Why didn’t you have Gideon get the equipment for you?” Matt asked.

She took another moment. “He was first on my list, until I verified that leak.”

“But Gideon wasn’t necessarily responsible for that.”

“No. But I couldn’t risk it. Besides, you had the best motive for coming here.”

True. Yet Matt couldn’t help but wonder just how much Gideon knew. There was only one way to find out. He pressed in the numbers to what was supposed to be Gideon’s secure line.

“Not a good idea,” Cass said catching on to his arm. “Gideon can track your cell phone.”

“Not this phone.” It was secure, as Gideon’s line was supposed to be. Which obviously wasn’t very comforting. But Matt needed to do his own test. “Gideon,” he said when his boss answered. “It’s Matt. I need to give you a situation report about the assault.”

“Where are you?” Gideon immediately asked.

“At a friend’s house. I was hurt in the attack. Not badly, but I need to lay low for a few days.”

“I want you to come here. Or better yet, I’ll come and get you. I’ll bring a doctor.”

Matt had no intention of agreeing to that. “I have to trust my gut on this. Gideon, is Dominic Cordova behind this attack?”

“No. Dominic is working for us now. It wouldn’t be in his interest to go after a federal agent,” he said with absolute confidence. “What about Cassandra Harrison? Has she been in touch with you?”

He considered lying but decided to go for the truth, minus some pertinent details. “Yes. She believes Dominic framed her for murder.”

“There’s no proof of that, and Dominic says he’s innocent.”

“In other words, you’ll believe him, or at least pretend to believe him, and in doing so, you’ll sacrifice Cass Harrison.”

“It’s not a sacrifice. All the evidence indicates that she’s guilty.”

“You know she’s not.”

His boss stayed quiet a moment. “I know what I have to do,” Gideon countered. “And what I have to do is accept that departmental policy is what’s best for everyone.”

That turned his stomach. He glanced at Cass, and from the look in her eyes, she had the same reaction.

“Two questions,” Matt continued. “Did you put together this deal with Dominic?”

“I was part of it, yes,” Gideon readily admitted. “He’s about to go into business with a man named Sylvester Marquez. He murdered two DEA agents, but he wasn’t convicted because of some illegally processed evidence.”

“And you can’t try him again because of double jeopardy,” Matt provided.

“That’s right. But if Dominic closes this deal with Marquez, we’ll have the business records we need to convict Marquez of tax evasion and at least a half-dozen other white-collar crimes that’ll keep him in jail for the rest of his life.”

“I understand the need to serve up justice to a killer,” Matt continued, “but Dominic is a killer, too. And that begs the question—just how friendly are you with Dominic?”

“I don’t even know the man.” And he sounded riled that Matt had insinuated such a thing. “You’re angry at the wrong person, Matt. I’m not responsible for what Cass Harrison did, and judging from the evidence, neither is Dominic Cordova.”

Matt was about to try to change Gideon’s mind about Dominic’s innocence and value to the department, but he heard Cass’s phone vibrate.

Cass looked down at the phone screen. “It’s Hollis,” she mouthed.

“Gideon, I’ll have to call you back,” Matt said. And he could hear the man’s protests as he hung up.

“Hollis?” Cass answered in a whisper.

Matt watched her face, trying to figure out what was going on, but he didn’t have to wait long. The call lasted mere seconds.

Cass put her mouth to his ear again. “Dominic is about to leave to go into town. Hollis bribed the guard at the garden room entrance to disappear for a while. Hollis says to come on foot. Don’t use the car.”

Matt didn’t even question Hollis’s instructions or how long
a while
would be. He grabbed his gun and his gear, and he put the jammer for the surveillance system into his pocket.

They’d need it.

Cass forced herself to focus on only one thing: getting inside the estate.

She had to push aside the concern, the danger, the latest kiss with Matt and the conversation she’d just overheard between Gideon and him.

Even though it stung.

Until now she truly hadn’t thought Gideon was responsible for that leak in communication or the deal with Dominic. And why hadn’t she thought that? Because she’d trusted him, that’s why. Just as she’d trusted Dominic.

When was she going to learn?

Considering that she’d initiated that kiss with Matt,
never.

She kicked a rock out of her path and continued the trek across the massive estate lawn. The wind, straight from the north, swiped at them. So did the drizzle. It wasn’t cold enough to freeze, but it was close, and her discount store wool jacket wasn’t much protection against a West Texas winter.

“I would ask if you’re okay…” Matt said, walking beside her. He was cautious, keeping watch around them, but he was also glancing at the infrared screen so he could figure out where everyone was in the house.

“I’m not okay, but I’ll live.” Cass hoped. After all, they were headed into a lion’s den, and even though the lion wouldn’t be there, his guards would be. “For the record, I don’t trust Gideon, Libby, Ronald or anyone in the Justice Department, present company excluded.”

“Gideon is following policy line, but I don’t believe he would do anything criminal.”

She hoped her huff conveyed her skepticism.

Ahead of them she saw a man step from one of the delivery trucks parked on the grounds. It was Hollis, and he was carrying a cardboard box. Matt automatically slipped his hand into his jacket. No doubt so he could have easy access to his gun.

“We’re a distrustful pair,” she mumbled. “So, what’s the plan here?”

“We go in through the garden room. I’ll use the jammer so the surveillance cameras won’t detect us. You can monitor the infrared thermal device to make sure no one sneaks up on us. Then, we can go to the basement so you can look for those surveillance disks.”

Cass had to take a deep breath. After nearly a year on the run, it didn’t seem possible that she was this close. But there was a flip side to this coin.

Matt’s daughter.

“What about Molly?” she asked. “How do we rescue her?”

He tilted the infrared screen so she could see the three heat blobs in the nursery. “I’ll keep watch while we’re in the basement. Maybe they’ll leave her alone so I can get into the room.”

Cass had more questions, but they involved various scenarios of things that could go wrong. And that’s why she didn’t bother to ask them. Regardless of the possible scenarios, they had to be ready for anything once they stepped into the house.

“Christmas decorations,” Hollis announced when he approached them. He handed the box to Cass. It was filled with gold tinsel and fresh holly. “If anyone asks, you’re part of the crew.”

Matt nodded. “How long before the guard returns?”

Hollis shook his head. “Don’t know. Once you’re in, you’re on your own.”

Yes. And those Christmas decorations wouldn’t provide much protection against guards. For them to succeed, they’d need some luck to go along with the jammer and the infrared scanner.

Hollis turned to walk away, but Matt caught on to his arm. He was lightning quick and shoved up Hollis’s sleeve to expose his wrist.

Or rather to expose a tattoo.

“A trident,” Matt observed.

Hollis jerked his arm back and shoved down the sleeve of his jacket. “So?”

“You were a Navy SEAL,” Matt pointed out.

“We all got a past of some kind,” he mumbled. And he strolled away, in the direction of the front of the estate.

“Now, there’s someone to trust,” Matt said, sarcasm heavy.

Cass glanced at him. “You think being a Navy SEAL is a reason to distrust someone?”

“He’s an
ex-
SEAL who’s willing to take money to betray his boss. Not exactly a good character endorsement.”

No. It wasn’t. Not that Cass needed anything else to make her uneasy.

Matt nestled the infrared scanner amid the holly and tinsel in the box so that she could still easily see it, and they went to the garden room that jutted out from the east side of the house.

There was no one at the triple beveled-glass doors. Just as Hollis had said. Matt hit the jammer switch, and after he slipped the device back into his pocket, they went inside.

Instant warmth. Cass welcomed it, but went on even higher alert. They were inside, but they had a long way to go.

“This way,” she instructed. When Cass had visited the estate, she’d been given a brief tour. Not of all the rooms, but she’d studied the floor plans that Hollis had given her, and she knew where the vault was.

More or less.

She glanced at the infrared screen. People were milling all around the place, but it appeared they had a clear path to the basement. She led Matt in that direction, through the garden room, into the back hall that was lavishly decorated like an Italian villa.

Cass could hear people talking from the other rooms. Someone was alarmed that the surveillance cameras weren’t working. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be able to figure out the problem anytime soon.

Matt and she went down the stairs. No ornate decor here. This was a place for storage, and Cass soon found the vault that she’d been looking for. It was at the end of the wide corridor with a concrete floor. She handed the box of decorations to Matt. Said a prayer. Pressed in the sequence of numbers that she’d bought from Hollis.

And the vault opened.

Cass didn’t know whose breath of relief was louder—Matt’s or hers. She got just a glimpse of the shelves of surveillance disks inside when she heard the sound.

Matt obviously heard it as well because he whirled around and reached for his gun.

“Don’t move,” the man said.

It was one of Dominic’s uniformed guards. He was at the top of the stairs.

And he had an AK-47 aimed right at them.

“P
UT DOWN THAT BOX
,” the gunman ordered. “And lift your hands so I can see them.”

Matt purposely widened his eyes when he did a fake visual examination of the AK-47. What he was really doing was an examination of the gunman himself. Dressed in fatigues, steel-toed boots and with a take-no-prisoners formidable expression, he had his finger on the trigger.

Yep, the guy was ready and willing to shoot them.

Which meant Matt had to do something fast.

“You’re not supposed to be down here,” the man added in a snarl.

“We have orders to get last year’s Christmas disks,” Matt countered.

“Why?”

Matt shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”

It was the gunman’s turn to study them. His iron-hard gaze went from the box-holding Matt to Cass. Matt shifted his position just slightly in case he had to go for his gun. Even though Cass had insisted that no one at the estate other than Dominic would recognize her, there was always the possibility that someone on Dominic’s staff might remember her from her short visit nearly a year ago. Matt didn’t want a shootout here inside the estate, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let this goon kill them, either.

Time crawled by.

Finally the guard snapped, “Make it quick.”

Oh, they intended to do that. Matt nudged Cass into the vault ahead of him, and he stayed near the doorway so he could keep watch in case the guard decided to call someone to report them or in case he decided to take a closer look.

Thankfully, Cass didn’t waste any time. She hurried along the long rows of shelves, mumbling the dates that she read off the spines of the plastic storage cases. She stopped, pulled out several and shoved them into the box that she took from him.

“Hurry up!” the guard called out.

And that barked order made Matt consider their next possible dilemma. What if the guard wanted to check the surveillance disks? The dates were close enough that he might believe they were Christmas disks, but if the man took a good look, Cass and he would be in real danger of being killed on the spot.

Knowing what he had to do, Matt eased his hand over his gun so it’d be ready if he needed it.

Matt went out ahead of Cass. “Don’t shut the vault door all the way,” he whispered to her.

Their eyes met, and he saw that she understood. They might have to use the room for cover in the event of a shootout.

Matt walked toward the stairs, keeping a close eye on the guard. He’d only made it a few steps when he heard another shout.

“Buck?” someone called out. “Get in here now. I just found a switchblade on one of the morons decorating the Christmas tree.”

The guard turned toward the voice. Cursed viciously. And he shot Matt a warning glance before he turned and left.

Matt didn’t wait for his heartbeat to return to normal. That wouldn’t happen while they were in the estate, anyway. Cass and he started up the stairs.

“Oh, no,” Cass mumbled.

Matt immediately looked for another guard, but he soon realized it wasn’t a guard that’d caused her reaction. She was staring at the infrared monitor.

“Molly’s no longer in the nursery,” Cass informed him. “There’s just one adult in there. Judging from her posture, it looks like Annette sitting in her wheelchair.”

Matt had a look for himself. Cass was right. No small color mass to indicate a baby. He frantically looked through the rest of the house.

There was no sign of Molly.

“We’re going to the nursery,” Matt informed her. Yes, it was a risk, but someway, somehow he had to figure out what’d happened to his daughter.

There was a guard in the hall. Not Buck, the one who’d held them at gunpoint. This was a bulky Hispanic guy who barely gave them a second glance. He was obviously a man on a mission because he was hurrying in the direction of the garden room. Even though the guy was likely cutting off their exit, Matt and Cass went in the opposite direction.

It was like a maze to get to the nursery. Three halls. Three turns. At least a dozen rooms. Cass navigated them all from memory of studying the plans Hollis had given her. Along the way, Matt checked the jammer to make sure it was still working.

It was.

Thankfully the corridor just outside the nursery was empty and the door was ajar. With his hand still on his gun, he peeked inside, and came face-to-face with Annette Cordova.

The woman wasn’t in a wheelchair. It was several feet away, and she had walking canes in each hand.

“Good,” Annette said immediately. “You’re here. I asked Dominic to keep me updated about the trip, but I wasn’t sure he would. Has Molly left yet?”

That sent Matt’s heart to his knees. “I don’t know. Where is she?”

The woman was obviously distraught. Her eyes were red, and her bottom lip was trembling. “She’s on the way to the doctor, of course. I thought that was why you were here, to give me an update.”

Matt’s heart stayed at his knees, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know anything about the trip.” He tried to sound casually interested but not too interested. “Is Molly sick or something?”

“No. She needs her six-month checkup. I wanted to go, but Dominic wouldn’t let me. He sent the nanny with her instead.” Annette blinked away a fresh round of tears. “You don’t know if they’ve left yet?”

“No,” Cass answered.

Annette looked at her as if she’d just realized Cass was there. And Matt held his breath. Cass had never met Annette, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t seen photos of Cass and Dominic when they were together. Annette’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Matt tightened his grip on his gun.

He couldn’t kill or even hurt this woman. Not even if she recognized Cass. But that recognition could mean he was going to have to
convince
Annette to let them out of there.

“You’re part of Buck’s crew?” Annette asked. Her eyes narrowed even more. “Because I don’t remember ever seeing you around before, and he doesn’t usually hire women.”

“We’re working for Hollis. Temporary seasonal help,” Matt added. He tipped his head to the box of Christmas decorations and was glad that the barely five-feet-tall Annette was too short to see the monitor and disk nestled in the tinsel.

“Yes,” Annette said softly. Almost regretfully. No more narrow-eyed glares. “I said something to Dominic about wanting a big Christmas for Molly, and I think he went a little overboard. Well, actually it’s for his big Christmas Eve party, but he’s telling everyone that it’s for Molly.”

Thankfully he had gone overboard, because the decorations had already saved their butts.

“I’m sure Molly will be all right,” Cass volunteered. “The nanny’s with her so it’s not as if she’ll be alone.”

Annette nodded. A no-faith kind of nod, and she turned away to return to her wheelchair. “Dominic doesn’t like it when I use the canes. He thinks it puts too much stress on my legs,” she said, tucking the canes beneath a cheery strawberry-pink sofa.

The sofa matched everything else in the room. The crib. A fuzzy beanbag type chair. Even most of the toys were pink as was the painted desk in the corner near the fireplace.

“We could maybe follow the chauffeur,” Matt suggested. “If you’re worried about Molly’s safety.”

“It’s not her safety that concerns me. Not at this minute anyway,” she added in a mumble. “Dominic’s sending his men with her, at least three of them, he promised. And they’ll protect her with their lives. But she might be scared at the doctor’s office, and I wanted to be with her.”

The relief that Matt felt was a little overwhelming. His daughter was okay. Annette was just being motherly.

“When will Molly be back?” Cass asked.

“Not until sometime tomorrow on Christmas Eve. Her new doctor is in El Paso, over a hundred miles away. Dominic wouldn’t give me the name because he’s afraid I’ll go after her. And I would. He says I can’t. That my health’s not good enough to be out in this cold and that I’m too devoted to her. He says I need to back off and stop smothering her. I can’t believe he’d think that. My health is fine, and I love Molly.”

Well, that last part was the one good thing Matt wanted to hear. “So, where exactly is Molly now? Do you think they’ve left the estate?”