“WHAT IF THIS person just gave up?” Vivian asked.
It was Monday, and Joe had needed to go into his office. Given it was the holiday season, he didn’t have a lot of clients, but he needed to stay on top of what email and phone messages there were. And where he went, she went.
Vivian was right. At the end of all this, they were going to need to go back to a normal life, one where Joe had a small but profitable company to run. Vivian, too, for that matter. As of now he wasn’t letting her do any client consultations that involved her going into someone’s home. Angela was handling all of it.
He looked over at Vivian, who was sitting in one of the stark guest chairs, shifting around like she was uncomfortable.
“What do you mean ‘gave up’?” he asked.
“There hasn’t been anything since the box of dirt last week. And, I suppose, when the planted magazines showed up at your place—if it’s even related and your theory of some rogue agent trying to impress my father isn’t right. No calls, no letters. Nothing.”
“Yeah, because he knows you’re with me. But you raise a good point. If whoever planted the magazines wasn’t the actual stalker, then the real stalker might still not know where you are. Angela would have let us know if anything showed up at the store, but you have no idea what’s back at your place. I’ll check it out today. Why are you squirming?”
“This chair is funny,” she said. “It’s hard and the back is too straight. Is this where people sit when you tell them their spouse is cheating on them?”
“Yes.”
“We are so redoing your office. No one wants to hear her husband was out boinking another woman while she’s sitting in an uncomfortable chair.”
“Boinking?”
Vivian smiled at him and then wiggled her eyebrows. “You know, what we were doing last night. Boinking.”
Joe smiled even as he shook his head. He’d forgotten how much he liked her. Now he understood under all that desire and camaraderie, all the banter and fun they had back then, there was something much deeper.
He just really liked her. She was goofy, funny and so damn genuine. It was hard to imagine a person who wouldn’t like her. Except, of course, for the person who wanted to scare her.
Whoever it was, they were either crazy or an asshole.
“Do you really think hearing that news in a comfortable chair is going to make a difference?” he returned.
“No, but at least she won’t be devastated with her butt and her back hurting.”
Joe looked around his office. He considered the furnishings serviceable, certainly not fashionable.
“It’s the first impression people will have of you when they come in to meet you,” Vivian said as if reading his mind.
“You work your clients like this?”
“You’re not a client. Most people pay me big money for this kind of advice. Would I be willing to take you on as a client? Sure.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“I’m willing to offer you a twenty percent discount because of, you know...all the orgasms you give me.”
He laughed and then lifted his head when he heard a knock on the door. He saw Carl Mather beyond the glass and waved him inside.
“Hey, guys,” Carl said, shutting the door behind him. “Just checking in on you two. Making any progress?”
Joe grunted in response. He wasn’t making anywhere near the progress he’d hoped at this point. Normally, he was content to let an investigation play out. Let the pieces take him down the path. Didn’t matter if that path was a couple of feet or three miles as long as he eventually got there.
This time he wanted this done. Now. He had a life to start living with Vivian. Vivian, who was already talking about babies.
“You hear anything back on that dirt?” he asked Carl.
“No, not yet.”
“Can you expedite that?”
Carl nodded. “You know how the lab guys are. Everything in an orderly fashion, but I’ll sit on them. I did, however, get the prints back on the magazines. Nothing other than Vivian’s and nothing other than hers, yours and her father’s on your door either.”
“Damn,” Joe muttered. “Too many damn dead ends.”
Carl held up his hands. “Tell me about it.”
“I’m going to head back out to Alice’s place. Follow her for a while and see if anything shakes out. I don’t like her for it, but I don’t see any other options at this point.”
“I’m telling you,” Carl said, “there is nothing there but a nutcase.”
“Yeah, well, I have to do something. Viv, you want to call your father and arrange that lunch?”
“No can do,” she said. “I talked to him this morning. He’s flying back to China. Apparently things started to break down after he left. They need him back. But seriously, Joe, I can just stay in this office and wait for you. I’ll be perfectly safe.”
Joe shook his head. “Not good enough. I want eyes on you.”
“I’ll stay,” Carl said. He looked at Joe with a disgusted expression. “Look, I hate it, too. I’ve got nothing. I have no leads, and no thoughts about what to do next. I want this behind me as much as you do. There is a caseload waiting for me after this. If you think Alice can give you anything, then go for it. I’ll hang here with Vivian and make sure she’s safe.”
“Viv, you okay with that?”
Vivian nodded, but Joe could see something in her expression. “I’ll be fine. I really don’t want to have to see Alice again, if I don’t have to.”
Joe looked at Carl. “She’s important to me.”
“Hey, I get it.”
“Viv, you go to the bathroom down the hall, Carl takes you there, okay? If only for my own damn peace of mind.”
Vivian got out of her chair and walked around the desk. “Eyes on, got it.”
She sat down in his chair behind his desk and settled into the leather. “Now this is a chair. Can I use your computer to do some shopping online now that you’re officially a client?”
“I said I would think about it.”
“Joe, twenty percent discount. What’s there to think about?”
He bent down and typed in his password. Then he kissed her on the head and looked to Carl again. “Very important.”
“Understood.”
“You have my cell. Call if there is trouble, and I’ll let you know if Alice leads anywhere. I think I’m going to be a while.”
“Yep.”
Joe grabbed his coat off the rack near his door and looked back at Vivian. She was already on the internet, apparently intent on finding him some comfortable, fashionable chairs.
“No flowers,” he told her.
“Give me some credit,” she said without looking up.
He smiled and left the two of them. Ready to go on the hunt.
* * *
AS HE WAS driving out to Maryland, his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, but it was local. He answered. “Hunt.”
“Joe, it’s Bill.”
“Bill, thanks. I was just about to follow up with you. Anything on the recording?”
“No.”
Joe silently cursed. A background noise, a conversation, anything that might have been a lead. That was all he asked.
“Okay. Appreciate you trying. Especially given that I was an ass to you.” It was sort of an apology, Joe thought. Or at least it was an acknowledgment.
He heard Bill snort on the other end of the line. “You were that. But I think I get it. You and she, you two had a thing back then, didn’t you?”
Joe’s body tightened. “Something like that.”
“Okay, well, here is something. There was nothing I could pick up. Just the clicks of the recordings, which I know doesn’t help. But I can tell you this—whoever made that recording knew what they were doing. The room was completely sound free. This isn’t some crackpot sitting in his basement with a tape recorder. I mean there was nothing, no sound. Not even breathing in the background. Someone wanted to be sure there was absolutely no chance you would get anything off this tape. That makes me think it’s a professional.”
Joe thought about that. The break-in at his place had felt professional, too. Nothing out of place, no physical evidence. Just magazines with cutout letters planted in a drawer.
He hadn’t even bothered to ask Alan about it because after spending ten minutes with the man, he’d been reminded of the kind of person he was. He might have wanted to separate Joe and Vivian, but he would have approached it differently. Nothing as sneaky as planting evidence.
It didn’t rule out his rogue agent theory, but it did limit his options.
And it was another sign of deliberateness.
So he was left with Alice and George, and deliberate and professional weren’t words that came to mind for either of them. Unless they were completely misleading him. He hoped he would learn the truth by following Alice today.
“Okay. Thanks again, Bill. And, Bill...seriously, I’m sorry about what I said. You owe me nothing after this.”
“Yep. Well, you owe me. A beer and a burger sometime. Sound good?”
“Yeah. I know a great bar for that,” Joe said.
“Good luck with Vivian.”
“Thanks.”
“She’s hot.”
“That’s enough, Bill.”
The other man was laughing as he ended the call. Joe considered the new information. Someone making a recording for Vivian. Doing it in a soundproof environment. Making sure to leave no audible prints at all. Why? To what end?
Joe concentrated on getting to Alice’s place. Surprisingly, someone else seemed to have had the same idea. Joe parked his car and got out. He walked up to the nonflashy sedan and tapped on the window.
Special Agent Puppy Thompson startled, then frowned. Joe made a signal for him to roll down the window.
“You need to get in your car and leave,” Thompson told him. “The Secret Service is handling this investigation, and for the record, I still consider you a suspect.”
Joe sighed. He hated when he had to admit he was wrong. “You were right. It was me in the photo.”
The agent sat up straighter.
Joe came clean. “I heard Vivian was back in town, I went to her place to see her...but I didn’t have the balls to actually go inside. Vivian and I...we have history.”
“I know about the history.”
“No,” Joe said. “You don’t. I’m not her stalker. I didn’t send the letters. I’ve already told Vivian about the picture. The truth is I...love her.”
The kid’s jaw dropped, and Joe realized the first time he was saying these words out loud shouldn’t be to Agent Thompson.
They should be to Vivian. Another screwup on his part.
“I’m just supposed to accept that?”
“I don’t know what else to tell you. It’s a fact. Besides, if you’re so certain I’m responsible for the threats, what are you doing here?”
“I’m an investigator. I’m checking all possibilities.”
It was like he was quoting from the investigation handbook. Total puppy.
“Carl doesn’t think there is anything worth following up on with Alice.”
“Special Agent Mather and I don’t always agree on everything.”
Joe nodded. “See anything?”
The puppy finally relented. “No. She left early in the morning, did some shopping and she’s been inside the rest of the time. I was just about to move on.”
“I’ll cover for the next few hours. See if anything pops.”
“Where is Ms. Bennett?”
Joe looked at the young agent. “Puppy, is that concern I hear in your voice? If you’ve got a crush on the former president’s daughter, I suggest you lose it.”
The younger man’s jaw tightened in a way that suggested Joe wasn’t completely off base. Vivian’s open and honest smile could do that to a man. “I’m simply worried about the subject of my investigation.”
“I left her with Carl.”
The younger man nodded.
“Hey listen, do me a favor,” Joe said. “I already mentioned it to Carl, but if you’re heading back to headquarters, see if you can get the lab geeks to move on the dirt analysis.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The box of dirt. I gave it to Carl to have it analyzed. It’s not much to go on, but it might help with a location. A place to start at least.”
“I don’t know what box you’re talking about. All we have are the letters.”
Joe paused. “He didn’t tell you about the package that was delivered to her store last week?”
“No. And I met with him about this case this morning. I told him I thought we should stake out Alice McGraw’s house, and we disagreed. Truth be told, he said I was being overeager. Said it was just a bunch of letters and a lot of commotion over nothing.”
The agent frowned.
“What?” Joe asked, not liking where this was going.
“It’s weird. In the beginning Agent Mather was completely amped about it. Making a real case to our ASAC he should be the lead investigator. Figured it was all tied to his history with Ms. Bennett. Trying to make amends or something. Now all of a sudden it’s no big deal and a lot of fuss over nothing. And no, he didn’t say anything about a box of dirt or anything that had been sent to the lab.”
Joe didn’t explain. In fact he said nothing. Instead he ran back to his car and got behind the wheel. Peeling away from the curb, he imagined Agent Thompson could hear the screech of his tires as Joe took off. Joe hoped the puppy was putting two and two together because Joe had no time to do the math for him.
He was heading back to DC as fast as he could. He called Vivian’s cell and there was no answer. He called Carl’s phone and got the same result.
He called his office phone and nothing.
He’d left her with him.
Suddenly it all made sense. The Secret Service had the home videos taken from Alice McGraw. The Secret Service had Rossi’s notes.
An agent who had been involved in working the kidnapping case ten years ago would have had access to all of that.
And Joe had left her with him.
* * *
VIVIAN STAYED FOCUSED on her breathing. In and out. In and out. She needed to stay calm and deal with the situation. Much like she had ten years ago.
It’s okay. Joe’s coming.
She really, really didn’t like being tied up.
Carl had knocked her unconscious. She’d asked him if he wouldn’t mind taking her back to her apartment because she wanted to pick up some more clothes and things from her place to take back to Joe’s.
He seemed happy to play the chauffeur. Things weren’t exactly easy between them given he’d once thought Joe might be responsible for the letters, but they had been able to find things to chat about. His wife, the decision to put his kids in private school.
So nonthreatening that when Vivian unlocked the door to her apartment she’d been taken completely off guard by the explosion of pain behind her ear. It had shot out through her skull, and she remembered little after that.
Now she was sitting on one of her kitchen chairs, her ankles tied to the legs, her wrists tied behind her back. Her head still throbbed, but at least she was conscious now. Aware of her surroundings and the situation.
“Why are you doing this, Carl?”
He was sitting in the chair across from her, his elbows on his knees, his head down. He lifted his gaze to look at her. He didn’t seem like a scary stalker. He looked like a man who suddenly realized his life was out of his control.
“I’m really sorry about this, Vivian. You have to know this was not the plan. But I can’t... I don’t know what... I’m out of options. You had to go to Joe Hunt. Seriously, Joe Hunt? The one guy I know who will not stop, who will not let this go. Ever. He’s relentless. How was that even possible? You two should hate each other.”
“We don’t.”
“Yeah, I get that now,” he said, and Vivian could see he did sound regretful. “He won’t go away. I’ve seen that firsthand. For the three days you were taken, he had to fight to stay on the team, even when your father wanted him off. He was the one who found the property deed on file in McGraw’s mother’s name to that cabin in Virginia. It’s why he was allowed to go on the raid with the FBI. Not that anyone could have stopped him. Which is how I know now...nothing will stop him. Not when it comes to you. And you, you aren’t any better. I handed you magazines with missing letters and you didn’t even blink.”
Understanding finally dawned. Although in Vivian’s defense her head still really hurt.
“You sent me the letters.”
Carl held his head in both hands, and Vivian saw that in one hand he was holding a gun. Not his government weapon. It was hers. Her small .38. Her father had insisted after the kidnapping that she have a weapon and that she know how to use it. Vivian accomplished both of those things, but it had stayed locked in what she thought was a secure case in her closet since then.
However, the code was her father’s birthday. Probably not too difficult for Carl to figure out.
“My career for the last ten years has been shit at the Secret Service. I checked with every other federal investigative agency, FBI, NCIS, and none of them would have me. Always that black freaking mark on my record. The night you had to become some overwrought college student who ran away from her protection. Sure hope whatever upset you that night, it was something big. Because that one decision you made cost me a detail with the presidency, any real career advancement and any chance to move to another agency. Do you get that? Do you know what impact that single stupid act has cost me?”
“I’m sorry,” she said calmly. “I really am. So this was your idea of payback? Scaring me with some letters? If it gives you any satisfaction, it worked really well.”
Carl snorted. “No, this was my chance to fix everything. I heard you were back and thought I could have a redo. Send you a few letters, let you run to Daddy. I could investigate the case. I had already targeted three scumbag lowlifes who I could pin for it. Then finally I’d look like the hero. The guy who saved the president’s little girl instead of the guy who was out back when I should have been out front. Then Thompson gets the wacked idea to talk to Hunt, and I thought...shit. I wanted to stay as clear of him as I could. But I figured it can’t hurt, right? If anything it might only make him hate you more, bringing up his mistake from ten years ago and rubbing it in his face. Why doesn’t he hate you?”
Vivian took a few calming breaths. She could hear the anger in Carl’s tone. The acceptance that his plan had failed and now he was stuck. People stuck in corners either surrendered or they struck back. Clearly, Carl was striking back, but to what end?
“Because he loves me,” Vivian said quietly. “He’s going to find me, Carl, and when he does he’s not going to let you hurt me.”
Carl sat up straight, the gun in his hand now resting on his thigh.
“If I thought maybe he would give up I could have made everything just go away. Except now Thompson is convinced it was Joe all along, so he won’t stop investigating.
“How did this shit go so wrong? I’m really sorry, Vivian. I have thought of every escape path. I tried to back him off. I tried to back you off. None of it worked. You were still glued to his side wherever he went. I know because I watched.”
“Because I love him, too, and I know he would never do that to me. He would never scare me like that.”
“You’re a naive idiot,” Carl spat. “Hell, you trusted me, didn’t you?”
Vivian needed to keep him talking. There was a very good chance Joe would try to check in with her at some point. Once she didn’t pick up her phone, he would try Carl’s. If he got no answer from either of them, he would come back for her. It was only a matter of time.
“You’re married, Carl. Your wife is Katie. You have two girls. Mindy and Becca. We were just talking about them on the car ride over to my place. Don’t you love them?”
His face turned red. “Of course I love them! That’s why I have to do this! Don’t you get that? You’re dead. Joe is dead. You both have to die or I lose everything! My job, my wife, my kids. It’s not going to happen. So when you sit there and tell me Joe isn’t going to let me hurt you, you obviously haven’t figured it out yet. You’re gone. You’re both already gone.”
Vivian closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. This was different from last time, she thought. Last time McGraw had been crazy. A lunatic. Vivian didn’t think Carl was any less crazy. Hatching a plan to make himself a hero at her expense was not rational. But he wasn’t a lunatic like McGraw. Carl knew the consequences. He’d taken an action, it backfired and now he knew the life he had with his family was at stake.
He believed his only way out was to kill them both.
For the first time since regaining consciousness, Vivian started to actually fear for her life. He could kill her now, wait for Joe to eventually track her down at her apartment and kill him, too.
Who would ever suspect a Secret Service agent of being behind something as gruesome as a double homicide? Still, it couldn’t be easy for him to just kill them and remove all evidence.
“You understand who my father is. He won’t let my murder go unsolved.”
Carl’s face hardened. “He will when he knows it was Joe Hunt who killed you. And he’ll have closure, too, because Joe is going to kill himself immediately after. Who wouldn’t believe that? You ruined his life, right? Who wouldn’t believe he might terrorize you for it, kill you and then take his own life effing Romeo and Juliet style?”
Vivian didn’t tell Carl that her father wouldn’t believe it. He knew Joe wasn’t capable of hurting her now. But there was no point. Whatever events were about to unfold, there was no point in talking about it anymore.
“He’s coming now,” Carl muttered. “Bastard must have already figured it out. Texted me a half hour ago he wanted me to take you to headquarters. Had some information about Alice he wanted to update me on. Saw right through that shit. He knew when you didn’t answer your phone something was up.”
Joe is coming.
“What did you tell him?”
“He shows up here. Alone. Or you’re dead.”
Vivian twisted her lips. “Seems to be a theme with you.”
Carl turned his head as if he was talking to someone not in the room. “It wasn’t supposed to come to this. A few letters, an arrest, the gratitude of a former president instead of his constant derision. It wasn’t supposed to come to this.”
“I can see that,” Vivian said, trying to make him see reason. “You’ve served your country and your president. Day in and day out you used to put your life on the line for me. You can still be a hero, Carl. Don’t become the bad guy.”
When he looked at her, she thought her words might have penetrated.
“There is no way out,” he whispered.
“I’m the victim of a kidnapping and I survived. There is always a way out.”
Except now the conversation was over as someone was pounding on her door.