Chapter 8
One thing Cate hated worse than criminals was law enforcement that could be bought. She had a bone to pick with Inspector Brandt, but she had to get her anger under control before she spoke with the woman.
Brunner had not committed suicide. Any inspector who claimed he had without going through an autopsy should be fired. No, she should be jailed for obstruction of justice.
Though she wanted to give the woman a piece of her mind, Cate first wanted to know who was pulling Brandt’s strings to make her bend the law to his will. The woman had better have the answers.
The driver dropped them off at the Kantonspolizei station, where Dmytro said the inspector’s office was located.
Cate marched into the station and asked to see Inspector Brandt, claiming she had information concerning Stefan Brunner, hoping that would get her past the door and into the woman’s office.
The officer manning the desk picked up a phone, made a call and waited. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. Four. Finally, the man set the phone in its cradle and said in heavily French-accented English. “The inspector is not in the office.”
“Do you know when she will return?” Cate asked, frustrated that she couldn’t get right down to business with the inspector.
“No, madame. Perhaps you can come back later.” He looked over her shoulder at the next person in line.
Cate wanted to tell the man she couldn’t come back later if she didn’t know what part of later she should aim for. Instead, she turned and left the station, Draco following.
“Where to now?” he asked.
She tugged at the jacket she still wore. “I need to get into more comfortable clothes. These look great, but they still have that new-clothes stiffness that’s beginning to chafe my neck.”
“Back to the hotel?” Draco asked.
“After a stop at Hammer’s headquarters. I want to take the documents with me. Hopefully, Dmytro made copies.”
Draco texted the driver, who appeared in less than a minute and took them to the Brotherhood building.
Only two people were left in the building. Dmytro and a purple-haired young woman who sat at the terminal next to Dmytro, chewing gum and hammering away at the keyboard like she’d been born with it in her hands.
Dmytro pushed to his feet as soon as Draco and Cate entered the large conference room. “My friends, please. I would introduce you to my colleague, Lucie Monroe.”
The woman looked more like a teenager with her long purple hair gathered loosely into a messy bun at the top of her head, held in place by black, lacquer chopsticks. Over her shoulder, she waved fingers tipped in black nail polish. “Hey.”
Cate grimaced. “Hey.”
“Lucie,” Draco said. “Nice to meet you.”
“Lucie is the second-best technical support person after me.”
Lucie snorted. “I’m a better hacker, by a long shot.”
“I concede to that truth,” Dmytro said with a reverent nod. “But I can still teach her a lot about the technical and moral aspects of our work.”
Again, Lucie snorted.
Cate glanced around the room, searching for the envelopes.
“You have come for the documents you retrieved from the safe deposit box.” Dmytro strode to a copier machine, lifted the stack of envelopes from a tray beside it, and pointed to another stack of fresh copies. “I copied all of them.”
“Good,” Cate said. “I’d like to take the originals with us to the hotel.”
“Lucie and I are monitoring CCTV footage, looking for the dead husband who is not dead.”
“He sounds like a zombie,” Lucie said without turning.
“Dead but not dead?” She shook her head.
“I guess it’s a great way to disappear. The problem for him is that there are eyes everywhere, if you know how to use them.
Since the money is in a bank in Zurich, if he’s alive, he’ll eventually try to access it. ”
“We have set up an alert if anyone attempts to withdraw the nine million dollars,” Dmytro said, “and we are running facial recognition software against the footage from those CCTV cameras positioned throughout the city.”
“Great. Hopefully, you’ll get a hit soon. He’s the reason I’m here. I know he’s out there somewhere.” Cate frowned. “I’ll be damned if he pins his murder on my friend.”
“You’re the kind of friend I want on my side,” Lucie said. “We’ll let you know when we get a hit.”
“Thanks.” Cate started to gather the envelopes.
“Wait,” Dmytro said. He darted into a supply room and emerged with a leather satchel just the right size to hold all the envelopes and the ledger. Instead of handing it to Cate, he packed the envelopes and ledger into the satchel and held it out to Cate.
She took it and smiled at the Ukrainian. “Thank you, Dmytro. You’re a true gentleman.”
His face flushed a blotchy red. “You are welcome, myla divchyna.”
“You’ve made a friend in Dmytro,” Lucie called out. “And though he has a super sweet wife and daughter, he loves to adopt the ladies. He calls us his bonus daughters.”
“How does his wife feel about that?”
Lucie chuckled. “She enjoys cooking for all of us.”
Dmytro grinned. “She comes from a large family. The more people in her kitchen and at her table, the happier she is.”
“I would like to meet your wife, Dmytro,” Cate said and hefted the satchel in one hand. “Call if you find anything. I don’t care how late.”
“We will.” Lucie waved her black-tipped fingers without looking over her shoulder again. “Nice to meet you both.”
They left the building and had the driver take them to a restaurant close to Hotel Bieri. When he dropped them at the curb, Draco thanked him and informed him they wouldn’t need him for the rest of the day.
The sun had dipped below the tops of the high-rises on its trajectory toward a horizon, hidden by city sprawl. Long shadows spread out over the streets as restaurants turned on lights and lit candles.
Draco took the satchel from Cate and followed her into the Italian restaurant.
Scents of tomato sauce and onion filled her senses and made Cate’s stomach rumble. “Wow, that smells amazing,” she said as she slid into a chair.
“Yes, it does,” Draco said, taking the seat facing the door.
“After two weeks of substandard food, I can’t seem to get enough of all my favorites,” Cate said. “Italian being one of them. Give me a bowl of spaghetti bolognese, and I’m yours for life.”
“Is that all it takes?” Draco cocked an eyebrow. A moment later, he waved for the waiter and immediately ordered spaghetti bolognese for both of them, a beer for him and white wine for her.
“Uh,” Cate frowned. “I might have liked to look at the menu.”
“My apologies. I got excited about a bowl of spaghetti and forgot myself.” He reached over to the empty table beside them and snagged a menu. “You order what you want. I’ll enjoy two bowls of spaghetti.”
Cate’s frown deepened. “Now, wait a minute. I didn’t say I didn’t want the bowl of spaghetti, just that I wanted to see a menu before ordering.”
“Too late. Now, I have my heart and stomach primed for massive amounts of carbs and meat sauce.” He grinned.
Cate liked that they could tease each other over what to order at a restaurant.
That was one of the reasons she’d fallen so quickly for the man.
He made ordering food fun, even when he went all macho and ordered for her.
At that moment, she wished they could pick up where they’d left off before he’d moved to Texas.
She missed how easy it had been to be with him. He hadn’t crowded her or pushed her into a physical relationship before she’d been ready. Hell, she’d had to seduce him their first time.
Her body flushed with heat at the memory.
However, as quickly as the heat washed over her, it cooled at the loneliness she’d experienced when he’d left.
She’d missed him. Terribly.
A hand reached for hers and curled around her fingers. “Hey. We’re going to find him. Your friend is going to be okay.”
Cate nodded. “Damn right. I don’t give up easily.”
“And I’m here for you,” he said. “We’ll see it through.”
If only. But for how long?
The waiter came with their drinks. Before he could leave, Draco asked Cate, “Is there something different you’d like?”
She sighed. “No. Spaghetti sounds perfect.” And having Draco hold her hand and tell her everything would be all right made it even better. Her favorite food arrived in a steamy bowl full of flavor, and her favorite man was sitting across the table. Why not give in to the moment?
They ate, reminiscing over the Italian restaurant they’d frequented in Virginia so often the owners had known them by name and had always served them “their usual.” Which happened to be spaghetti bolognese.
They’d considered Draco and Cate extensions of their family and had invited them to familial celebrations.
When their bowls were empty, and they’d drained the last drops of their drinks, Cate sighed. She’d file the evening away in her good memories and bring it out whenever she was sad and needed a lift in her mood. Though she didn’t want the night to end, they couldn’t stay at the restaurant forever.
Draco paid the bill and lifted the satchel. Cate rose from her chair and fell in step with him.
He reached out with his free hand.
She laid her fingers across his palm. When he curled his fingers around hers, warmth spread from her hand throughout her body.
Oh, girl. You’re falling for him all over again.
The truth was she’d never gotten over him.
As they neared the hotel, her pulse quickened. Once again, they would be alone in the small room.
Tonight, she didn’t want him sleeping on the floor.
She wanted him in the bed with her.
Heat coiled low in her belly, and her breathing grew a little unsteady.
Draco followed her up the stairs and checked the room before allowing her to enter.
Once inside, she drew in a deep breath and turned, ready to ask him to share her bed.
She drew in a breath, opened her mouth...
A knock sounded at the door.
All the air left Cate’s lungs, and her pulse jumped.
Draco frowned and spun to face the door, waving her to the side, out of range of the doorway.
“Yes?” Draco called out.