Chapter 44
I hated leaving Amelia in that hotel room. I hated seeing the hurt cross her beautiful features when I told her I was leaving without her. There was hope in her eyes when I came over, hope that I’d changed overnight. I hope that too. But I fear it’s going to take more than one night. Which is why I want to talk tonight.
For the last couple of hours, Amelia has consumed my every thought. I’m thinking of everything I want to say to her. All the promises I”ll make. All the apologies she deserves.
It’s dangerous in my line of work to care for someone like this, but I’ve given up fighting it.
I had thought it would be easy to walk away, but there’s more of my devoted mother in me than I realized.
She’d kick my butt for treating a woman like that.
I already tried to push Amelia away, and it only hurt her more.
What could happen if I gave us a real shot? If my mom were here, she would tell me to give her a chance. She gave chances out in abundance. But I cut people off at the first sign of trouble.
So, a chance it is. As soon as this is over, I’ll ask Amelia on a real date. I only hope I haven’t pushed her away too many times already.
“This is Justin’s former coworker?” Cruz asks, bringing me back to the moment.
We are in a nondescript Suburban across the street from where this man, Matthias, is currently restocking shelves at his DVD store. There are outdated posters covering every inch of the building, like it started falling apart and he tried to fix it with paper. I didn’t know DVD places still existed, which makes it automatically suspicious. And I have yet to see more than two customers walk through those doors. I wonder what I’ll find if I search the store.
“Want to explain more?” Cruz asks.
I shut off the vehicle and grab an umbrella. “Not yet.”
“I guess I could arrest him just for the mullet. Can’t we outlaw those things already?”
“Let me guess, ex-boyfriend?”
“Yup. And he deserved the punch to the face I gave him when I left.”
“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” I hop out of the car and straighten my holster.
“You wouldn’t know until I knocked you out,” Cruz says, slamming her car door.
“You talk a big game, Cruz,” I taunt her over the sound of the pouring rain hitting our umbrellas.
I pull open the door to the store and the ding chimes through the dim room.
“Think he’s going to run?” Cruz asks, shaking out her umbrella.
Matthias glances up, his beady eyes darting between the two of us.
“Yup.”
And then he’s off. Straight out the back door.
“I’ll go around,” Cruz calls as I take off after him, through the back door and down the alley.
He’s quick. The way he dodges stray trash bags and leaps over pipes leads me to believe he’s done this before.
“I just want to talk,” I yell, vaulting over the small fence.
“I’ve heard that lie before.” He jumps over a trash can.
“I need to ask you about your former coworker.”
He slips on the slick pavement as he lands, but only curses and speeds up.
“Justin’s dead.”
At this he comes to a complete stop, so abruptly I barely have time to register. I nearly plow into his frozen body in the middle of the alleyway.
“What?” He steps under an awning, out of the rain and I join him.
“Your coworker, Justin Newbold, was found dead two days ago.”
His jaw hardens as he shakes the water out of his mullet. “How?”
“He was stabbed in the heart.”
Matthias clears his throat and straightens his shoulders, wiping whatever concern existed off his face. “What does this have to do with me?”
“We can’t find any relatives or friends. You worked with him three years ago, right?”
Cruz enters the alley and slows down when she sees us talking.
“Yeah.”
“The company you two were working for went belly up. Six months later you were arrested on drug charges. You mentioned Justin was in on it, but the police could never prove his involvement.”
Matthias steps back, hands in the air. “I already served my time.”
“I know. I just want to know about Justin’s involvement.”
He studies me for several long seconds. “When we lost work, we both started looking into other…forms of employment. We both sold. About two months after we started, Justin mentioned this buyer he had, and how he had a better job offer for him. I told him that was a lie, what pays more than running drugs?”
I fight the itch to arrest him right now for fun.
“Justin turned him down, but a couple of months later I was arrested. They knew Justin was in on it too, but the guy he was working for offered to steer the charges away from Justin if he’d do what he asked. Justin did. He disappeared. Charges fell through.”
“What did the guy want him to do?”
“All he had to do was date some girl.”
The blood in my veins turns to ice. Not some girl. Amelia. She’s been a part of this all along. For two years? I think back over what Amelia has told me about Justin. She said they dated for a year and were engaged for a year. But she didn’t know anything about his family, rarely visited his apartment, and he lied and cheated the whole time.
“Why?”
Lightning lights up the alleyway, adding to my apprehension.
“He didn’t say.”
I clench my jaw. I need real answers. Now. “Who was the man who hired him?”
“I never saw him. But I heard him on the phone with Justin once. He had an accent.”
An accent.
The second I find Liam, I’m going to kill him. He used Justin to keep tabs on Amelia, but why?
And why would Justin propose to Amelia if it was all a con? That’s terrible covert work. But he wasn’t an operative, he was a civilian, known to make mistakes. He lost control. So Liam killed him. Is that the reason he was in town? Justin was sent to find the painting, but he failed, so Liam took matters into his own hands.
“Would you mind coming with me to answer a few more questions?” I ask.
“Sure. I’m a nice guy.” Matthias”s eyes drag down Cruz”s body.
She glares in response. “Really? So if I search every DVD case in that crappy store back there I won’t find anything?”
He holds up his hands. “I’m clean now.”
“Care to prove it?”
Matthias looks back at me. “She’s feisty. I like it.”
I grip the handle of my gun. “She is going to kill you if you say one more thing like that.”
“Looks like I’m coming with you.”
We lead Matthias back to the vehicle. I check my phone. No calls from Amelia. I call her at the hotel, but she doesn’t answer. She must have fallen asleep.
I want to leave Matthias in Serena’s hands and run back to Amelia’s side to protect her. But I have to figure out why Justin was being paid to date her.
I double-check the GPS chip I tucked into her purse after the phone/toilet fiasco and see her location is still at the hotel. The front desk confirmed she was in her room an hour ago when the food I sent was delivered, but I still feel anxious being away from her.
I call up Agent Fischer who answers on the first ring. “Hello?”
“Hey, how’s Amelia?”
There’s a muffled yell in the background and he grunts. “I think she’s dancing in there.”
“That sounds like her.” I chuckle. “I’ll be back soon.” I hang up, feeling less anxious.
I need to find Liam. And then this will all be over.