EVERYONE STARTED TALKING at once.
“He’s faking it,” Madison insisted. “He’s the one I chased in the park. He shot Pierce, and abducted me. He’s no more paralyzed than I am.”
“Tsk, tsk.” Damon clucked his tongue. “Is that any way for a wife to treat her long-lost husband?”
She took a step forward.
Pierce grabbed her and pulled her back. “Mr. McKinley, how long have you been in that chair? Looks new to me. Did you buy it right before you wheeled in to the station?”
Damon glanced down at his chair and wiped his thumb across one of the stainless steel bars, making a play of rubbing a smudge out of it. “I take good care of my equipment.” His face turned sad. “After all, without it I’d be at the mercy of others.”
“How is it that you’re here and not dead?” Hamilton asked.
“Well, now, that’s a long story. One I’m happy to share with you, officer.” He turned his steely gray gaze on Madison. “After I speak to my wife. In private.”
“That isn’t going to happen,” Pierce growled.
“I have a feeling Madison won’t agree with you,” Damon said.
“I’ve got nothing to say to you,” she spat. “You’re a murderer. You killed my father. And you killed that poor woman they found buried in my yard, along with the yardman.”
He placed his hand on his heart. “Accusing me of murder, my dear? How shocking. I am, of course, quite innocent of these terrible charges.”
Agent Casey stepped forward. “Who died in your car in the accident in New York? Who created those fake contracts, signed with your name, as part owner in businesses who all insist the contracts aren’t real?”
“Contracts? I assure you, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.” He sighed heavily. “Let me guess. My dear wife provided them to you. Has she become a forger now in addition to her other . . . skills?”
Madison tried to shove past Pierce, but he grabbed her and held her back.
“And the man who died in your car in New York?” Casey asked.
Simon clucked his tongue again. “I was carjacked, mugged. Terrible business, that. He took my wallet, my car, even my clothes. I had short-term memory loss from my injuries. It took a bit of time before I realized what had happened, and who I was.”
Pierce snorted. “Right. And then, instead of going home, you let the world believe you were dead. I’m not buying it. You were running from something, or to something. Why did you fake your death?”
“I didn’t fake my death. But once I realized everyone believed I was dead, I had a very good reason to allow that belief to stand.” Again he looked at Madison, who was peering around Pierce. “Madison, I’m sure you’ll want to speak to me, alone, before I answer any more questions about the last time we saw each other. Don’t you agree?”
Pierce shot a glance at Madison. Her pale face and wide eyes told him they were in trouble here. He’d been worried yesterday, when Alex interrupted their conversation, that she was still holding something back. He’d meant to ask her about it. But he’d gotten a bit distracted after he took her home.
What else could Damon possibly be holding over her?
He turned back toward Damon. “You’re not getting anywhere near her.” He shoved Madison behind him again, and this time she didn’t resist. “And don’t expect me to believe for one second that you’re really paralyzed. You’re the man who shot me in the park.”
Damon rolled his eyes and let out a long, deep breath as if he was bored. “Why don’t we just clear up that little misconception right now.” He suddenly leaned over the desk beside him and grabbed a letter opener.
Hamilton lunged toward him, clearly worried that Damon was going to hurt someone. Before Hamilton could stop him, Damon raised the letter opener and plunged it into his thigh.
EVERY EYE IN the squad room stared in shock at Damon McKinley. He hadn’t moved, not even a flinch, when he stabbed his leg.
He stared at Pierce as he calmly set the letter opener on the desk. It had only gone in about a quarter of an inch, but that was enough to get his point across.
“Good grief, he’s bleeding all over the place.” Hamilton snapped his fingers at a detective. “Get some paper towels or napkins. Has anybody got an extra shirt, something to stop the bleeding?”
The detective whose letter opener had just been used was pale and wide-eyed, but he opened his drawer and pulled out a towel. “From my gym bag.” He handed the towel to Hamilton. “It’s clean.”
Hamilton grabbed the towel and pressed it over Damon’s wound.
“The bleeding is already stopping, Lieutenant,” Damon said. “No big deal, truly. Allow me.” He pushed Hamilton’s hand away and held the towel against his leg, all the time aiming a smug smile at Pierce and Madison.
Hamilton gave Pierce a disgusted look. “I suppose you think he just faked that?”
Pierce didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to think at the moment.
“Mr. McKinley,” Hamilton said, “you need to get to a hospital.”
“No, no. I told you. I’m fine. I am a bit tired, though. I’d like to go ahead and answer any questions you have, of course, but again . . . I really must insist that I speak to my wife first. It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen each other—”
“Not very long at all,” she said, her voice shaking with anger. “The last time I saw you, you were shoving a threatening note under the door at me, in the room where you held me prisoner.”
Damon shook his head sadly, as if he doubted Madison’s sanity.
“Let’s straighten this mess out.” Hamilton motioned to the detective at the desk beside Damon. “Take him to the main conference room. We’ll be right there.”
As the detective wheeled Damon across the room, Hamilton glared at Pierce and Madison. “Mrs. McKinley, I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt from day one.”
She snorted and rolled her eyes.
He gritted his teeth. “And, I’ve tried, very hard, to believe your outlandish stories. But the lies have to stop, now, today. I want the truth.”
“The truth,” she said, “is that my former husband obviously faked his death. Someone else died in his place. I should think you’d be concerned about who he killed to make that happen.”
“Once again, based on the obvious physical evidence he just presented, I’m inclined to believe his version, that someone mugged him and took his car. I have no reason to believe otherwise.”
“Oh, and I suppose him not showing up for a year and a half doesn’t seem suspicious to you?”
“Of course, it does. I intend to ask him about that. Which brings up another point. What, exactly, does he have on you?”
“What?”
“He mentioned the last night you two saw each other. He seemed to imply there was something significant, something you wouldn’t want others to know about. So, what happened?”
Her face clouded with anger. “We argued, as we always did. I told him to leave. When he wouldn’t, I—”
Pierce grabbed her and anchored her to his side. His abruptness caught her by surprise, making her stop mid-sentence, just as he’d hoped. He didn’t like the look on her face when she was answering Hamilton, and he’d been very worried that the next words out of her mouth were about to put her from the proverbial frying pan into the fire.
Or back in jail.
“Lieutenant, I need a moment with Mrs. McKinley,” Pierce said.
Madison tried to shove away from him. “I’m not done.”
“Yes. You are.”
“No, I’m—”
He clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Do not, under any circumstances, say another word.”
Her face reddened even more as she tried to pull his hand away from her mouth.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “I swear to God, if you say one more thing before I get you in a closed room away from the people who want to put you in prison, I will throw you over my shoulder and carry you out of here. Got that?”
Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded.
He lowered his hand. “We need a minute, Hamilton.”
“What you need is to come to the main conference room so we can talk this out.”
Alex had been watching all the commotion without comment until now. He stepped forward, stopping in front of the lieutenant. “You forget that you formally dropped all charges against Mrs. McKinley. If you’re reinstating those charges, keep in mind she already posted bail. So, unless you’re prepared, right now, to press new charges, she’s free to go. If you aren’t going to arrest her, then I suggest you give Pierce and Madison some privacy. Otherwise, I’m advising my client to leave without making any more statements.”
“All right.” Hamilton didn’t look happy at all, but he waved toward the back corner of the room. “Take my office. But make it quick. I want answers.”
AS PIERCE LED Madison into Hamilton’s office, he reminded himself that this was the woman he’d made love to last night and this morning. This was the woman who’d crept into his heart even though he didn’t want her to. He cared about her.
He reminded himself of that again.
He cared about her.
Therefore, he should not strangle her.
The moment the door to Hamilton’s office closed, Madison wheeled around, practically shooting sparks from her eyes. “Do not, ever, put your hand over my mouth and tell me to shut up again.”
His jaw tightened. “Save the histrionics for someone you can intimidate. Now that we’re not in the middle of a room full of cops wanting to arrest you at the slightest provocation, tell me what you were so hot to tell the lieutenant.”
Some of the anger left her, and she started to look worried. “There might have been one tiny little thing I haven’t told you yet. It’s not that big a deal, really. But I’m pretty sure I know why Damon wants to talk to me.”
“Go ahead. Enlighten me on this tiny little thing that’s no big deal. Please. I’m all ears.”
She plopped down on one of the chairs in front of Hamilton’s desk. Pierce sat in the chair across from her and rested his forearms on his knees.
“The last night Damon and I were together,” she said, “we fought, just like I said. When he wouldn’t leave, I . . . well . . . I grabbed one of my guns to make him leave. I might have . . . well . . . shot him.”
Pierce dropped his head into hands and counted to five before he looked back up at Madison.
She was chewing her bottom lip, looking worried for the first time since Damon had wheeled around the desk. “I guess that didn’t sound so good once I said it out loud.”
“You think? I don’t suppose you shot him in the back? Because that might explain the wheelchair.” He didn’t bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
She huffed and crossed her arms. “Of course not. I shot him in the shoulder. He was perfectly fine when he ran out the door. That wheelchair thing is recent, a ruse. I have no doubts about that.”
“Well, it’s good to know someone around here has no doubts,” Pierce grumbled. “I’m a little slow here, so bear with me. You shot him . . . by accident?”
She shook her head. “Oh no. I meant to shoot him.”
This time he counted to ten. “Can you please remember, for one second, that I’m a federal officer? Please tell me you were not trying to kill him.”
She frowned, looking as if he’d just insulted her. “I always hit what I aim at. If I’d wanted to kill him, he’d be dead. I would have double-tapped him in the head.”
He blinked. “Double-tapped?”
She nodded. “Two quick shots, one, two . . . right between the eyes.”
Counting wasn’t helping his temper, but he tried it again. He counted to twenty this time.
“Mads, what do you think would happen if you told this to Lieutenant Hamilton? He’d arrest you for attempted murder. You can’t tell him.”
“But I wasn’t trying to kill Damon.”
“Hamilton wouldn’t believe that.”
She chewed her bottom lip again. “I didn’t think about that.”
“No kidding.”
She narrowed her eyes.
He continued, before she had a chance to argue. “You think Damon wants to confront you, hold that over you. Why, as blackmail? To get money?”
“Probably. But there’s no proof, so he doesn’t really have anything to hold over me.”
“Don’t underestimate him. From what I’ve seen, he’s very resourceful. Hell, he probably saved the bullet. I don’t suppose you were thoughtful enough to keep the gun, so Hamilton could run ballistics against it and prove where the bullet came from?”
Her wide-eyed look answered that question.
He shook his head and tapped his hands on his thighs, deep in thought. He studied the problem from every angle, and he kept coming back to the same thing. He needed to know what game Damon was playing.
And there was only one way he could figure out how to get that information.
“You’re going to have to give Damon what he wants,” he said.
“What do you mean? Money?”
“No. I want you to talk to him. Alone.”
DAMON SAT IN his wheelchair in the middle of the courtyard behind the police station, while Madison sat on a wrought-iron bench across from him. Damon had refused to speak to her inside the police station, because he didn’t want anyone to overhear their conversation. This courtyard was the only place all parties would agree to.
And he’d insisted on having Madison open her blouse to prove she wasn’t wearing a wire, something Pierce had violently objected to. In spite of his protests, she’d whipped her blouse open, turning around in front of Damon to prove she wasn’t wired, before buttoning it back up and sitting down on the bench.
Pierce, Lieutenant Hamilton, and half a dozen police officers stood guard thirty feet away. Damon held up his handcuffed hands, which had a length of chain running from them to his wheelchair.
“Your boyfriend is a bit paranoid, don’t you think?”
Pierce was definitely paranoid. He’d left nothing to chance. In addition to cuffing both Damon’s hands and legs to the wheelchair, Pierce had cuffed Madison’s hands to her bench.
As she stared at the man who had taken so much from her, she had to agree that Pierce had been wise to cuff her. Because right now all she wanted to do was leap across the clearing and strangle her former husband.
The sunlight glinted off the ring on Damon’s left hand, making Madison start in surprise. It was a wedding ring—the ring she’d given him.
He noted her interest, and held up his hand, a sardonic smile on his lips.
“Why?” she asked.
“I take my vows seriously.” He leaned slightly forward. “Until death do us part. Neither of us is dead. Yet.”
She glanced sharply at Pierce, positioned well behind Damon. He nodded reassuringly. She drew a deep breath. “Why did you kill my father?”
Damon raised a brow. “Now, why would I kill my esteemed father-in-law? Shame on you for even thinking that.”
She yanked her fist, but the chain kept her from moving more than a few inches.
He laughed. “You still haven’t learned to control your temper. That’s going to get you killed someday.”
“Is that a threat?”
“With all these guns trained on me? Of course not. I have far more self-control than that.”
“You wanted to talk. So talk.”
His grin faded as he leaned forward as far as the chains would allow. “You want me to get right to the point? Fine. I left you with a million dollars of my money. Honestly, at the time, I had other resources and thought you might need the money, at least until your father’s money came through. But things have changed. I want it back.” He spoke in a low voice, so low that she almost couldn’t hear him.
She leaned forward too. “You aren’t getting a single penny. I’m not paying my father’s murderer.”
He glanced at the policemen watching them. “I suggest you lower your voice, my dear, and be very careful what you say. I didn’t roll in here without making sure I held all the cards. What did you think all those photographs meant when I held you in that room?”
She curled her hands together in frustration. Damon was openly admitting he’d abducted her, and no one else could hear him. “You can’t hurt my family. They’re all in protective custody.”
“How is that wonderful mother-in-law of mine?” he asked. “And my new sister-in-law. Amanda, isn’t it? She’s quite the stunner, if you only look at her from the left side of course.” He winced. “That jagged scar down the right side of her face is a bit off-putting, but I suppose I could warm up to her in a pinch.”
Madison jerked against her restraints. “What do you want?” she hissed.
“One million dollars.”
“I’m not paying my father’s murderer,” she repeated.
“Either pay, or your mother dies, along with her new husband. Then Amanda. And, lastly, that precious brother of yours. They can’t stay in protective custody for the rest of their lives.” He smiled. “Then again, maybe they will. Because the minute they’re out of custody, their lives are over. Unless you pay me.”
“Why are you doing this? Why did you choose me as your target? Did you ever care about me at all?”
“You were struggling middle-class when I met you. Of course I cared about you or I wouldn’t have bothered with you. But the money started to run out. I had to make alternate plans. The only reason you’re still alive is because I care about you. I could have killed you and kept your money, all of it. A million dollars isn’t much to ask when you have far more than that, and your life, because I allowed you to keep both.”
She squeezed her hands together. “And my father? Why did you kill him?”
He frowned. “Lower your voice.”
“Tell me, please,” she whispered. “I need to know.”
He glanced back toward Hamilton and seemed to consider. “If I, hypothetically, were involved in your father’s death, it would have been because I knew you would come into millions when he died.” His face twisted into a snarl. “But you were suspicious, even back then. You couldn’t leave well enough alone, and you confronted me with your damned suspicions. Because of you I had to run.” He rolled his shoulder. “I should pay you back for that little nick you gave me. Hurts like hell in the winter.”
She gritted her teeth. “I’d shoot you again if given the chance. And this time I wouldn’t aim for your shoulder. If you didn’t want to kill me, and that’s why you left after I confronted you, then why fake your death?”
“I didn’t want you to convince your cop brother to go on a hunt for me. I knew you’d tell him your suspicions if I stayed. I have an aversion to prison my dear. Been there, done that. I’m not going back again, no matter what.”
“You’ve been in prison?”
His nostrils flared. “Well, I didn’t exactly mean to tell you that, but yes.”
“Why are you back now? You faked your death. Now you’re faking your injury. Why announce to the world that you’re not really dead? Especially if you’re concerned my brother would go after you to prove you killed my father.”
He shrugged. “Simple. My money ran out. You forced me to leave New York before I was ready. I tried to look you up several months ago and tracked you, along with your lover, to Jacksonville. Later I followed you to Savannah, where you bought your very nice house. Then you were accommodating enough to go back to New York, leaving that luxurious house empty for me. I decided to give you another chance. Instead of killing you, I moved in.”
He tapped the arm of his chair. “I must say, I was thoroughly enjoying my . . . pleasures here, when you decided to come back, and ruined everything. So it’s only logical that I get my money from you. You want to live here in Savannah—fine. I’ll go somewhere else, but I will not be a pauper again. I left you sitting pretty with my own money, not to mention what you got from your father. I think you should be grateful that I’m only asking for my portion of the money. I could demand all of your money.”
She frowned. “What do you mean, you had to leave New York before you were ready? Have you done this before? Ruined someone’s life the way you ruined mine?”
He scrunched his mouth together and glared at her. “I’ve changed my mind. The first to die won’t be your mother. It will be your new boyfriend. Get a cashier’s check today and meet me tonight at your house. If I see any cops, I’m gone and your boyfriend dies.”
She shook her head. “No. I won’t do it. And you can’t hurt Pierce. He can take care of himself.”
He arched a brow and snorted. “Really? How sure are you he can protect himself twenty-four hours a day? You aren’t the only one who’s an excellent shot. I happen to be quite lethal with a rifle. I can reach your boyfriend from a long ways a way. I promise you. If I want to kill him, he’s as good as dead.”
She started shaking so hard her handcuffs rattled against the bench.
The sound of footsteps against concrete had Madison and Damon both looking back at Pierce. He stepped over to Damon’s wheelchair. “This meeting is over.”
Damon smiled up at him. “I got what I wanted.” He held up his hands. “Now take these wretched cuffs off.”
Pierce ignored him and took Madison’s cuffs off first. He led her over to one of the uniformed police officers. “Take her inside.” To Madison, he said, “Wait for me.” Then he turned around and strode back to Damon.
“WHAT DID YOU say to her?” Pierce demanded as he sat on the same bench Madison had been sitting on a few minutes ago.
Damon raised a brow. “That’s between me and my wife.”
“She’s not your wife. She divorced you, right after you killed whoever died in that car in your place. So if your plan was to frame her and put her in prison so you could get the courts to award you her money, think again. You’ll never see a dime.”
Damon blinked, his face reddening. “She divorced me? Truly?”
Pierce nodded.
Damon cleared his throat and shrugged, back in control. “Doesn’t matter. My plans, whatever they may be, are not affected by the state of my marriage.” He yanked on one of the handcuffs. “I have nothing more to say to you. I suggest you release me, now, before I call a lawyer and sue you and everyone else in this station.”
Pierce gave a harsh laugh. “I don’t think your background can stand up to the scrutiny of a drawn out lawsuit. If you want to try, go ahead.” He leaned forward. “I don’t know what game you’re playing, but it ends here. If I ever see you anywhere near Madison, I’ll throw your ass in jail.”
Damon gestured to his chair. “Come now. What could I possibly do to hurt my dear sweet wife? And why would I want to?” His lips curved up in a taunting smile. “Maybe I’ll strike up our relationship where we left off. She really is a little firecracker in bed, as I’m sure you know. I wouldn’t mind having some of that again.”
Pierce jumped off the bench and grabbed Damon’s shirt, lifting him out of the chair as far as the handcuffs would allow.
“Let him go!” Hamilton and two other police officers grabbed Pierce and tried to pull him back.
Pierce shrugged them off. “Stay away from Madison.” He let Damon fall back into the chair.
Hamilton grabbed Pierce’s arm. “Get your temper under control before I arrest you for assault.”
“Get your hands off me. Now.”
“Only if you promise not to touch Mr. McKinley again.”
“Scouts honor,” Pierce gritted between his teeth, not bothering to mention that he’d never been a scout.
“I’ve changed my mind about speaking to you any further, Lieutenant,” Damon said. “I insist you let me go, or I will sue you and your department for assault. I’m ready to leave.”
Hamilton glared at Pierce and motioned to one of the police officers. “Un-cuff him, and get him out of here.”
“What are you doing?” Pierce demanded. “You can’t let him go.”
Hamilton waited until Damon had been wheeled back into the building.
“I don’t exactly owe you or Mrs. McKinley anything, not after being lied to for so long. I’m not going to put myself on the line for either of you when I don’t have any physical evidence against Damon McKinley. The FBI will have to take it from here, see if they can build a case. However, I have already instructed my men to keep him under surveillance. When Casey has enough evidence for a warrant, I’ll haul McKinley back in, but not before then.”
“You’ve already got probable cause to hold him on any number of crimes.”
“I can only hold him for forty-eight hours. If I don’t have forensic evidence against him by then, he’s out.”
“He’s out anyway.”
“You want me to hold him, then help me. Explain how a paraplegic could have abducted Mrs. McKinley and placed her in the trunk of her car like she said? She never mentioned a wheelchair when she talked about her abduction.”
Pierce raked his hand through his hair. “He has to be faking the paralysis.”
“How? Why?”
“The how is beyond me, for now. But the why will be clear as soon as we talk to Madison and find out what Damon said to her. ” He strode past Hamilton toward the building.
He yanked the door open and headed inside. When he reached the squad room it didn’t take him long to realize that Madison wasn’t there. He stopped at the desk of the detective whose letter opener Damon had used earlier.
“Where’s Mrs. McKinley?”
“She said she had to run an errand.”
“You let her leave? Knowing Damon McKinley is out there?”
The detective’s eyes widened. “Was I not supposed to?”
Pierce swore and sprinted through the squad room to the elevator. What was Madison up to this time? He prayed he caught up to her before she caught up to Damon.