Chapter 3 #2
"I was wondering if Samantha mentioned anyone who was giving her trouble. Any threats she might have gotten at work or at home? Any reason she might have wanted to talk to me?"
"Dominic said you handle security for him. It seems like it would have been about that."
"But Samantha didn't ask Dominic for my help; she asked to meet with me separately, and he knew nothing about it. I'm hoping she told you why."
"She didn't. I haven't spoken to her in probably two weeks, which isn't unusual. She's a very busy woman." Julia paused. "Are you suggesting she didn't trust Dominic?"
"Not at all, just saying she didn't ask for his help; she asked for mine."
"Maybe she was worried about herself. Samantha got death threats all the time. She said it was part of the job." Julia took a breath. "Is it true she was the target of the bomb?"
"That's to be determined. But her job might have made her a target, which is why we're starting there."
"My sister is very private. She doesn't open up to me or really to anyone. It's one reason her ex divorced her."
"I didn't realize she had been married."
"In her mid-twenties, right out of law school. They were married for only two years. They had little in common besides the law."
"What's their relationship like now?"
"They don't have one, but Victor is not a danger to her. He's remarried with two kids. I don't think they've spoken in years."
It didn't sound like the ex-husband was a factor. "What did she tell you about her relationship with Dominic?"
"She said he checked all the boxes: attractive, wealthy, powerful, and well-connected—all things she finds important.
I asked her if he was kind and sweet, and she laughed.
She said she didn't know him well enough to say.
But she seemed pretty happy about their relationship.
" She paused, giving him a questioning look. "Is he a good guy?"
"As far as I know."
"Well, you would know, right? You're his security guy, aren't you?"
"One of them. And he is very upset about what happened to Samantha."
"I hope you can find out who did this. I can't help thinking that since she's still alive, someone might try again."
"Dominic has arranged for private security at the hospital. You don't have to worry about that."
"Well, that's good." She started as a knock came at her door. "Are you expecting someone?"
"No. Why don't I get that?"
He got to his feet and walked across the room. After looking through the peephole, he opened the door to Agent Kara Reid and another man, who looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place him.
"You again?" Kara said, surprise and suspicion in her deep-brown eyes.
He shrugged in reply. "Small city."
"Not really. We're here to see Julia Clemons."
Julia came up behind him. "I'm Julia."
"I'm Special Agent Kara Reid with the FBI, and this is Agent Brennan," Kara said, flashing her badge. "We'd like to speak to you about your sister."
Julia gave him a questioning look.
"You should talk to them," he encouraged. "They're trying to find out what happened to Samantha. We can speak more later." As Kara and her fellow agent stepped through the door, he slipped past them into the hallway. Before he could take another step, Kara came back into the hall.
"Mr. Malone," she called. "What are you doing here?"
He turned and said, "Looking for answers, just like you."
"For Dominic Ashford?"
Her question hung in the air as an odd tension sizzled between them.
He noticed details he hadn't before—the intelligence in her big, dark eyes, the perfect shape of her nose, the fullness of her mouth, the slight catch in her breath that suggested she felt a tension between them, the same tension he was starting to feel whenever she was around.
When he didn't answer, she added, "We're going to need to speak to Mr. Ashford."
"You should," he said, then turned and walked toward the elevators, feeling her assessing gaze on his back every step of the way.
Max Malone had an agenda, but Kara didn't have time to figure that out now. She closed the hotel room door and joined Tyler and Julia, who were sitting at a table, with Julia dabbing at her teary eyes with a tissue.
"I'm sorry about your sister," she said as Julia composed herself. "I know this is an incredibly difficult time."
"Thank you. I don't know what I can tell you. I know little about Julia's work and even less about her relationship with Dominic. My sister and I spoke on the phone every couple of weeks."
"Were you the one to inform Mr. Ashford about Samantha's injuries?" she asked.
"Yes. He called me," Julia replied. "He said he'd been trying to reach Samantha and that he knew she often stopped in at that café for coffee in the morning.
I had just heard from the hospital a few minutes before he reached out, so I told him what I knew.
Then I got on a plane as fast as I could.
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to speak to my sister.
She's in a coma." Her voice caught once more.
"They don't know…" She gave a helpless shake of her head.
"It's bad. Even if she survives, it will be a long recovery.
Someone needs to be punished for what they did. "
"We're going to find out who set the bomb and determine whether your sister was the target," she assured Julia.
"I hope you can. Max said that Dominic sent his private security to the hospital just in case someone tries to hurt her again."
She nodded. They'd stopped in at the hospital before coming to the hotel and had met with the security guard.
Tyler cleared his throat. "Did you talk to Mr. Ashford about the explosion?" Tyler asked. "Did he offer a theory as to who might have been responsible?"
"No. He said he was shocked. He wanted to know if Samantha had told me about any threats against her, but she hadn't said a word. That wasn't unusual. She's my big sister. She wouldn't burden me with that kind of anxiety."
"What do you know about Max Malone?" Tyler asked.
"He works in security for Dominic."
"Samantha never mentioned him to you?" she asked.
"No. Why?"
"Just trying to figure out the relationships Samantha had with Mr. Ashford and Mr. Malone," she explained.
"Well, she was seeing Dominic romantically, and Max works for Dominic. Max said Samantha asked him to meet her at the café, but he didn't know why, and I don't either."
"What did Samantha say about her relationship with Dominic? Was it serious between them?"
"I don't know. She seemed excited about being in his life.
She told me she was meeting interesting people and that he was charming, handsome, and rich.
As for serious, it's only been a few months, and Samantha always looks before she leaps.
She's a planner. She's not spontaneous. She doesn't fall in love easily.
" Julie swallowed hard. "But I hope she was in love, that she got to feel that, because…
well, I just would hate to think she would never experience that.
" She got to her feet. "I really need to go to the hospital. I want to sit with her. Are we done?"
"One last thing," she said. "We'd like to look in Samantha's apartment. We're trying to get a search warrant, but if you would give your consent to her building manager, we could get inside now and see if there is any evidence in there that might help us get to whoever did this."
Julia gave her a conflicted look. "I guess I could do that. I want you to find whoever hurt her."
"That's all we're trying to do," she assured her. "If you want, we could stop by the apartment now and then drop you at the hospital."
"Okay. I just need to change. Would you mind waiting for me in the lobby?"
"Of course. We'll meet you by the elevators." She headed out of the room with Tyler. "This will be good."
"As long as she comes down the elevator and doesn't ditch us by getting off at a lower floor and then taking the stairs," he said.
She gave him a surprised look as they stepped into the elevator. "Do you think she would do that?"
"Probably not, but there was a slight shift in her gaze when she asked us to wait in the lobby."
"I think she just wanted to change her clothes in private."
"Maybe. We'll find out soon enough."
A few minutes later, they got off at the lobby level and then moved to stand slightly away from the crush of people. Tyler's gaze scanned the lobby, and she followed in kind, but she wasn't sure exactly what he was looking for or even why he was suspicious of the victim's sister.
"What are you thinking?" she asked. "You seem a little edgy for what's happening right now."
"That man—Max Malone—I've met him before."
Now she was surprised. "Seriously? Why didn't you say something yesterday?"
"Because he didn't look the same when I met him. He had a beard, and his hair was much longer. He also had a different name that I can't recall now. But today, when I looked at his green eyes, I recognized him."
"Where did you meet him?"
"I'm not sure. Afghanistan, Iraq, maybe Syria." His lips tightened. "It was three or four years ago, when I was serving overseas. I believe he was working with the CIA."
"That would explain why his work history has been scrubbed. But what does it mean for this case?"
"Maybe nothing. It's not unusual for a former CIA agent to go into private security, and Dominic Ashford has global interests."
"Since Dominic was seeing Samantha, it makes sense he'd be looking into what happened," she added. "But Max Malone is cagey. He answers questions with questions, and I'm not sure if he's trying to find out what happened to Samantha or make sure no one else does."
"As in protecting his boss?"
"Maybe. Although it seems unlikely Dominic Ashford would blow up a café filled with people to get rid of a girlfriend."
"Unless she had something on him, and he wanted it to look bigger than a targeted attack."