Chapter 18 #2
But she wanted to know what he’d discussed while she’d been gone, so…
“The marshal had me at the top of his suspect list, but he says another vic was taken. Taken around the time Morris tried to kill me, and the cops were grilling me. So, as crazy as it sounds, Morris gave me an alibi. If he weren’t dead, maybe I’d thank the creep. ”
She took the gun from him. Tucked it in the back waistband of her jeans.
Logan and Charlotte both faced off with Sebastian.
“I was in the kitchen area of your hotel,” Sebastian stated, voice thick, “I was in the staff area because I was investigating. I wasn’t drugging anyone.
But that is his MO. The killer we are after?
It’s what he does. He drugs his vics so that he can control them.
I think that’s exactly what he did…” A pause.
He swallowed. Then finished, “I think that’s what he did with Harper. ”
Harper.
“Harper Channing,” Sebastian seemed to force out her name. “Her brother was on my suspect list, too.”
Apparently, the marshals and the CIA had a few of the same men lined up as potential perps. The two agencies could have saved some time if they’d actually shared intel.
“I was trying to get close to Harper because I thought she’d give me a pass to him.
” Sebastian’s hands clenched at his sides.
“I took her back to her hotel after I left your poker game. I walked Harper to her door.” A long, shuddering exhale.
“I thought she was safe. I left her there. I didn’t look back.
I had more leads to track down. I turned my back on her, and I left and then—”
“Then she didn’t show up at the game Ares arranged,” Logan finished.
A jerky nod from Sebastian.
“You tore out of the game right after that,” Logan remembered. Sebastian hadn’t been able to leave fast enough.
“I’d tried to call her earlier, before the game at Ares’s, but she didn’t answer.
Thought she was mad at me because of, ah, something that had gone down between us.
” His chin lifted. “But when Ares said that there had been no response from her, that he’d tried to invite her to the game—my alarms rang.
I rushed back to her hotel. Her door was locked, but I broke inside. ”
“She wasn’t there,” Charlotte murmured.
“The lamp near her bed was smashed. Spilled champagne and broken glass chunks were on the floor. And Harper was gone.” His shoulders rolled back. “He has her. I know he does. If we don’t get her back in the next week, she’s dead.”
Logan saw Charlotte whip out her phone. Put it to her ear.
“How do you know when she was taken?” Logan shook his head as he tried to make sense of things. “How do you know she vanished during the window of my attack with Morris and the police interrogation of me? For all you know, she could have been taken sometime during the day.”
“The doormen said she never left the hotel.” Gritted words. “The killer wouldn’t take her in broad daylight. It’s not what he does. And you had people with you all day. You moved Charlotte into your suite after the attack by Morris.”
“My, my, but you were watching me closely, weren’t you? Are you kind of sad that I’m not the sadistic killer you were after?”
“Logan.” Charlotte’s low voice. “Stop antagonizing him.”
“Sorry.” Not really. He wasn’t. “I just hate being suspected of heinous crimes.” But, time to get back to the victim.
“I’m sure you have a team,” Logan said to Sebastian, speaking slowly as he considered possibilities.
“Did they search Harper’s room? Look for prints?
Run any recovered champagne in a tox screen?
Hell, did you check the damn security footage?
” Or were you too busy watching me and thinking I was the killer?
He thought of what Jezebel had revealed to him.
You find her in pieces.
Fuck. He didn’t want to find pieces of Harper. She’d seemed like a nice woman.
“Someone else was taken,” Charlotte said into her phone. Logan suspected she was talking to either Jezebel or Jamar. “Harper Channing. Yes, yes, that Harper Channing. The US marshal I just asked you about is standing in front of me and Logan. He’s the one giving us the intel.”
Sebastian’s brows beetled. “Who’s she talking to?”
“Signs of a struggle in her hotel room,” Charlotte added. “Spilled champagne. Broken glass.”
Logan cocked his head. “You didn’t answer the questions I just asked, Marshal Shay.”
“Stop calling me that!” Fury flashed in Sebastian’s eyes.
“The champagne had seeped into the carpet. I don’t know if anything can be tested.
My liaison called the Feds, they’re notifying her family, and the Feds are supposed to be coming here but—dammit, you can help us to move faster!
I know you can! You control so freaking much in this city.
I came to you for help. We don’t have time to waste. He’s hurting her! I need your help.”
“Video footage,” Logan snapped. That was the most likely screwup that the perp would have made. He could have gotten caught on one of the many cameras in Harper’s hotel. “He had to transport her in and out of the room.”
“Surveillance went down on her floor. It’s gonna take a freaking warrant to get footage from the hotel, and I have people working on that, but they won’t be able to move fast enough.
She’s on a ticking clock.” His fury and his fear were clear.
“He is hurting her each moment that passes. We have to find her. Save her!”
Charlotte hung up the phone. “My boss will take care of recovering any video footage at Harper’s hotel. She’ll get it as fast as possible, but she just told me that we have a major problem.”
Logan sent her a grim smile. “Sweetheart…” He drew out the endearment. “Pretty sure that we have numerous major problems occurring right now.” Not just one.
“Noted.” A huff of breath from her. “But it seems our suspects are vanishing.”
Now he snapped to attention. “What?”
“First, I was told to inform you that Doyle Hardway is in lockup. Apparently, he didn’t show for work because he was caught driving while stone drunk.” She bit her lower lip. “Who the hell is Doyle Hardway?”
“He was a brief suspect,” Logan told her. “Super brief. Already off my list now.”
His words did not appear to reassure her. “I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to know about all suspects.”
“Yeah, well…” Granted. He’d meant to tell her about Doyle not showing up for his shift but he’d been busy making love to her.
“Jake informed me that Doyle didn’t show up for his shift after you were drugged.
I got your boss to look into his whereabouts for me.
Seemed faster to do things that way.” Clearly, he’d been right. Jezebel could get results in a blink.
“What in the hell is happening here?” Sebastian bellowed.
The man needed to calm down. Harper’s disappearance had obviously pushed him to the edge, and Logan had to wonder about that. Just how personal had things gotten between Sebastian and Harper?
“Back to the other suspects,” Charlotte said, voice brisk. “It would seem that both Ares and Carmichael recently ditched their tails.”
Anger churned in the pit of his belly. “And how does that happen?” he asked. Shouldn’t the CIA do a better job of stalking their prey? Weren’t they supposed to be professionals?
“It happens when people are very, very good at vanishing. Luckily, the tail on Pierre still has him. And I say luckily because, apparently, Pierre just tried to book a flight back to Paris. He’s trying to flee and that can’t happen.”
Logan would bet that the tail on Pierre had been her partner, Jamar. The one agent who hadn’t fucked up. Points for Jamar.
“Uh, excuse me.” Sebastian waved his hand toward them. “So many questions,” he muttered, “rolling through my head. But I’ll start with this…was I being tailed?”
Logan figured he had been. “Sucks, doesn’t it? When you find out that you’re being watched?”
“You’re both really going to screw me over,” Sebastian huffed out a breath.
“And you don’t even realize it. I’m supposed to keep a low profile.
To stay in the dark. I’m not supposed to have tails.
” He pointed at Charlotte. “Again, can we talk about who you are? Because I’d really like to unlock that mystery. ”
Logan moved to stand partially in front of her. “Charlotte’s my wife. Believe we covered that. Thoroughly.” And as far as other things that need to be covered... His head turned toward Charlotte. “Guessing our job is to make sure that Pierre doesn’t get on that plane?”
“There is no legal reason to currently stop him from leaving.” Worry filled her eyes. “But, yes, that’s our job.”
He winked at her. “I’ll get you a reason to keep him here.
Don’t worry.” Options rolled through his mind.
So many fun choices, and most of them involved violence.
“I’ll get changed.” Not like he could just head out in his boxers.
“We’ll go to him. Time to stop being nice with these assholes.
” A woman was missing, and Charlotte had been drugged.
Oh, yes, there was going to be nothing nice about him from this point forward. Time to let his true self shine.
“Since when are you nice?” Sebastian wanted to know.
Logan shot him a glare. “Since when are you a freaking US marshal?”
A wince. “Fine. Noted.” Sebastian’s hands slapped together. “But we are all a team on this, right? We’re working together?”
Logan took Charlotte’s hand. “She’s my team.”
“I want in.” Demand roughened Sebastian’s voice.
“Good for you.” Logan squeezed Charlotte’s hand. “I don’t care if you have a shiny badge or not, I’m not trusting you completely.”
“But you trust her?” Sebastian seemed to be strangling.
“Of course.” What an idiotic question. “I wouldn’t have married her if I didn’t.”
“I-I thought I was the target.” Charlotte’s low voice. They were in the elevator, on the way down to the lobby. Sebastian was not with them.