Page 99 of Charmed Forces
“I don’t think she was. I think she just saw Victor as a well-connected, successful businessman who was genuinely interested in her and generous to her and her cousin,” I said, although I was feeling decidedly prickly about Louise’s involvement. “I think she was just naïve, not malicious. However, we should take another look at her financials and make sure she didn’t benefit in any way either. Hopefully, she didn’t accept any gifts from Victor that could look like payments.”
“On it,” said Lucas.
I told him I would send the assassin’s photo imminently, then disconnected the call. “I know you want Daniel in a new safe house but I think it’s time we spoke to him,” I said. “I don’t think we can wait any longer, not after he came so close to being killed. Or arrested.” I thought about the three police officers we’d seen at the Cameron Drive house. I hadn’t expected to see any of them, and certainly not as separate parties. Could one of them have been corrupted? It was possible, but how? What did it take to turn on a fellow officer? What did it take to kill the others? If someonehad madea deal with the devil, well, now we knew whom the devil was. But who made the deal?
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” said Solomon. “I agree. Delgado, head over to Century Street.”
As we sped through the empty streets, nerves knotted my stomach. I was eager to see Daniel, but also afraid. What if he still didn’t remember anything in his defense? Whatever they drugged him with had to be out of his system by now, but what if he never regained his memory for those few hours? As the only survivor, he was the sole witness to the case. Without him, there was no hope of confirming the killer’s identity. Even worse, what if hecouldremember, but no one believed him? The evidence was stacking up against Daniel and I wondered if it were possible to explain it away? I wasn’t so sure now.
When my phone rang again, I jumped, my nerves now fried to a crisp.
“You okay?” asked Solomon.
“It’s my parents,” I said, tucking the phone away and ignoring it. “I don’t know what to say to them so I figure nothing at all is best.”
“Text them everything is okay but you’re busy,” said Solomon. “They’ll understand. Also, it’ll stop them from calling me.”
“And me,” added Delgado.
I was doing exactly that when the car turned onto Century Street. Thankfully, with the time being long past commuter traffic hours, the street was emptier than normal and didn’t take the usual century to traverse. After only a few minutes, we pulled into the block ahead of a mini-mart and drove around the back.
We hopped out and I followed Solomon towards a rickety set of metal stairs leading up to a black door on the second floor above the shop. The door opened as we approached and we slipped inside cautiously.
“You didn’t have to dress up,” said Fletcher, his back pressed against the wall of the small entryway as we filed inside.
“I see you didn’t,” I said, bumping his shoulder with my fist. Then I forgot about him as Daniel stood up and smiled. He was dressed in jeans, t-shirt and sneakers, none of which were his but at least, they were the right size. He looked clean, fed, and his eyes were no longer bloodshot. Apart from the strain I saw around his eyes, he looked good.
“Dan!” I hugged him and he folded his arms around me, squeezing me tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Me too, thanks to these two,” he said, indicating Fletcher and Flaherty. Against my ear, he said softly, “Although no one’s told me much.”
“Alice and the kids are at her parents. Everyone’s okay but naturally, they’re all worried about you.”
“Thanks for keeping an eye on them. These two refuse to put the TV on and it’s like living in an information blackout. The minute we got that call, we were out. Was it credible?”
“You had visitors,” confirmed Solomon.
“Close call,” said Flaherty with a whistle.
“Problem is: we don’t know which of the visitors was the true threat,” I said.
“There’s more than one?” asked Daniel.
I nodded. “How’s your head?”
“Better after a lot of sleep and plenty of hydration. Some things are a little hazy still but I remember a lot more. I’m so sorry for scaring you when I turned up at your house like that. I don’t really remember how I got to you or if anyone else saw me,” said Daniel. “I guess my instincts were still intact even if I weren’t all that coherent.”
“Let’s take a seat and you can tell us all you do remember,” I said. “We’ve pieced together several things but there’s a whole lot missing.”
“And you need me to fill in the blanks. Okay. I gave my statement already but I guess it won’t hurt to go through it again.”
“What do you mean, you gave your statement?” I asked, with a frown. “To the police?”
“No. I’m still hiding from my own people,” said Daniel, frowning back. “I meant...” He stopped as a sharp rap sounded on the door.
Solomon nodded to Delgado and Delgado headed to the door. “Are we expecting someone?” I asked, looking around for an exit. We were in a large open plan room that looked like it once was an office at some point. Desks and chairs were heaped in a corner of the room, a bookcase was stacked with dusty boxes and files, and the carpet was the thin, mottled, commercial kind that could handle heavy traffic. A couple of cheap couches occupied one end of the room, near a kitchenette that was carved out of a corner. Three duffel bags were piled on the floor next to the couches and a bag in the kitchenette appeared to contain some basic essentials. It wasn’t as nice as I imagined the safe house probably was but the apartment was dry and not overlooked.
When I pulled my attention away from Daniel and our surroundings, I was surprised to see Maddox and Farid strolling into the room. I held my breath, waiting for the inevitable moment when they told us we were all under arrest but instead, Maddox said, “I could do with a coffee.”