Caruso?” Jonah interrupted with a frown. “Who’s he?”
“He’s an Illinois senator. I’m not normally into the political scene, but when I met him, I liked him. He told me he was providing Hugh Jefferson with capital for his condo project.”
At the time, dating him had seemed harmless. Caruso had been older than most of the men she’d dated—thirty-nine to her twenty-seven—but he’d been charming so she’d figured, why not? Looking back, she wondered how she could have been so stupid.
“An Illinois senator,” Jonah repeated under his breath, as if he couldn’t believe it. “I recognize his name now. It’s been all over the news. He’s a big deal in Washington. Exactly how did you meet him?”
“My boss, Rick Meyer, introduced me to him at one of the meetings about the Jefferson Project.” She glanced away, not wanting to see the censure in his eyes. “I— Things moved pretty fast. He literally swept me off my feet. Bought me gifts, took me to fancy restaurants and even flew me to New York to see a Broadway show.” She felt like an idiot now, knowing she’d been blinded by the wealth. And power. Anthony Caruso wielded a lot of power—more than she could have possibly suspected. “I never, in a million years, suspected he would get involved with anything illegal.”
She forced herself to look at Jonah. Sure enough, his eyebrows levered upward in surprise. “Caruso himself is involved? Seriously? Are you absolutely certain?”
He didn’t believe her, and that hurt. Why didn’t anyone take her seriously? She tilted her chin stubbornly. “Yes, I’m sure. I was leaving his office suite in the hotel after we’d had lunch but I forgot my purse. I went back in quietly so I wouldn’t disturb him. I saw him standing out on his terrace by himself, talking on his cell. He sounded very angry. I paused and overheard him telling the person on the other end of the line to do whatever was necessary to make sure the condo project went forward as planned because he had too much riding on it.”
“That statement isn’t necessarily incriminating,” Jonah pointed out. “Could be interpreted as having money on the line, which isn’t illegal. Anyone would be upset with losing money on a business deal.”
“I know. But then he said, ‘My sources tell me Schaefer was alive when he hit the E.R., so you better make sure our guy on the inside convinces the public his death was the result of gang violence.’” She remembered how horrified she’d felt in that moment, realizing the senator was actually discussing how to cover up a murder. “I retraced my steps, trying to sneak away, but I think he must have heard me. I caught a glimpse of his face as he came in from the terrace just as I closed the door behind me. I ran down the hall and avoided the elevator, choosing the stairs instead. I managed to get out of the building, but I couldn’t go home. I kept calling Alyssa’s place, but she didn’t pick up. I eventually went to her town house, using my key to get in. I had this crazy idea of borrowing her identity, but then I heard someone at the door and assumed it was my sister. Kent Wasserman barged in, holding a knife. We’d briefly met a few weeks earlier through Anthony. I was shocked to see him at Alyssa’s and knew he must have followed me. He lunged but I managed to get away, taking him down in the process. He fell on his knife.”
“You took him down?” Doubt radiated from his tone.
She narrowed her gaze. “Try me.” She didn’t bother explaining she’d been training in martial arts since her senior year in high school—specifically, since the night of the assault that had changed her life forever. She had absolutely no intention of explaining the private horror of her past to Jonah.
Besides, her past was old news. She’d moved beyond the assault, and she’d get herself out of this mess, as well. If necessary, she’d figure out something on her own. But she wasn’t going to allow any man to hold her helpless ever again. That included all of the thugs
Caruso sent out after her.
And Jonah Stewart, who was perhaps the most dangerous of all.
* * *
Jonah tried to mask his surprise. First, he found it hard to believe a state senator could actually be calling the shots in the Jefferson Project. And then of course there was the rest of Mallory’s story. Including the part where she claimed to have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. But she didn’t hedge the way people sometimes did when they were lying, and he found himself believing her.
“That’s a very serious allegation, Mallory. You’d better be sure about this. Anthony Caruso carries a lot of weight on Capitol Hill. There’s been talk about him being a candidate for vice president, or even for the presidency itself in a few years. I don’t think many people are going to believe your word over his.”
“I know.” She twisted her hands together in a nervous gesture. “That’s the reason I ran. But I promise you, I’m not lying about this. I know what I heard.”
“I believe you. But we need proof, Mallory. If we’re accusing a state senator of being involved, we need hard-core proof.”
“I know,” she murmured. Her face was grim and she sighed heavily. “Up until that point, I had no idea Anthony was involved in anything shady. I’d been dating him for almost a month and I never heard so much as an inkling of anything dangerous. It was a total fluke that I heard that snippet of his conversation at all. But I knew Councilman Schaefer had been stabbed so it didn’t take much to put two and two together.”
Jonah nodded, discovering he didn’t particularly care to hear about how she’d dated the guy.
Not that Mallory’s personal life was any of his concern.
He told himself to get a grip. “Okay, so you left
Alyssa’s town house after being attacked by Wasserman and escaped to Crystal Lake. Then what?”
She lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug. “Then nothing. I left Alyssa a message to meet me and hunkered down to wait.”
“Anything out of the ordinary happen before tonight?” he persisted. “Anything at all to indicate Caruso had found you?”
“No. Not until I heard the guy sneaking through the cabin.”
If nothing else, the guy in the ski mask helped reinforce her story about overhearing Caruso’s conversation. There was no other reason for Caruso to try to kill her.
Unless there was far more to the story than she was telling him.
He didn’t want to think Mallory may have been a part of the crime, but he couldn’t totally discount the idea, either.
“Why didn’t you go to the police with your story?”
In the darkness he saw her scowl. “Because Anthony referred to our guy on the inside, making it difficult to know who to trust. Besides, I was waiting for Alyssa to meet me at the cabin. I guess I hoped we’d work together to figure out the next step.”
Grudgingly, he had to admit her instincts were right. It was actually a good thing that Mallory hadn’t gone to the police or Crane might have tried to silence her, too, the way he’d gone after Alyssa. “Do you remember anything else?”
“No. I wish I did. I wish I had proof I could simply hand over to you.” She looked totally dejected. He found himself wanting to reassure her, to make her feel better.
Which was
