Lil Watts liked pumping up the drama and the gore. Like Napoleon, his small stature dictated that he constantly attempt to make up for what he lacked in size. He wouldn’t rest until he’d made a circus act out of the situation and proved just how big and powerful he was to the world he now represented.
“Your head,” she said bluntly, “delivered to him on the proverbial platter. He chose six of his most devoted followers—whichever one brings him what he wants gets to be his right-hand man.”
Now there was some heavy incentive. A scuzzball’s wet dream.
“So, basically, I’m a dead man.”
Those brown eyes searched his before she nodded, her expression grim.
If Sam was nowhere to be found, the more ambitious and intelligent of the chosen hunters would go for his unsuspecting family. He didn’t need the good detective to tell him that.
“What about Sanford?” Detective Charles Sanford had hated allowing Sam to walk away. He’d taken it badly when he hadn’t been able to prove Sam’s involvement in the murders of those who had killed Anna. Sanford hadn’t given Sam a minute’s peace as long as he had remained in Los Angeles.
“In a nutshell,” she replied, “he’s hoping to be the one to ID your remains.” A weary sigh escaped her. “He doesn’t know I’m here. The whole division thinks I’m on vacation in Mexico.”
Sanford would love nothing better than to dance on Sam’s grave. No surprise there. The truly startling idea was that she was here. That she’d warned him what was going down. “If your partner finds out you lied to him he’s not going to be happy.” Sanford wasn’t the type to forgive this kind of perceived betrayal, no matter if justice was Smith’s primary motive, and Sam wasn’t entirely sure about that. Sounded a little too simple to him.
“I don’t intend for him to find out,” she countered, the frankness in her expression credible.
He got the picture now. “You think we can do this under the radar?”
Another of those barely discernible nods. “We’ll go in dark. Keep a low profile while we try and neutralize this situation before anyone gets hurt. If we prove you weren’t involved in the murders, assuming you weren’t, then Watts should back off.”
“Impossible.” She was out of her mind. If this was her way of getting him to come clean about what really happened, she could forget it.
“It’s the only way I can help you.” For the first time since she’d arrived, he saw a flicker of trepidation in her eyes. “You have to trust me, Sam.”
He ignored the new kind of tension that filtered through him when she used his first name like that… like she cared. He couldn’t afford any soft feelings where this woman was concerned. “What you’re suggesting, Detective—” his gaze bored into hers “—will not set me free. It will only get us killed.”
“You’re dead, anyway.”
He couldn’t argue with that. “There are far better ways to achieve a promotion, Smith.” If she wanted to make the next pay grade she should focus on kissing up to the brass, not digging around in cold cases that would get her six feet under.
Her one hand resting on the railing, she plowed the fingers of the other through her hair as if her patience had thinned. “I told you—”
“I know what you told me,” he cut in. “Don’t play games with me, Detective. Give it to me straight. If I’m going back to L.A. with you, I at least need to know you’re not a head case. I have no desire to go dark with a cop who’s suicidal.”
Well, hell, he’d really messed up now. He’d given her that inch she wanted so desperately. He’d admitted that he was going back to L.A. It wasn’t as if he had a choice. When had his brain staged a mutiny and decided he was going with her?
This time when she met his eyes there was no trepidation. That unyielding determination was back, full force. Maybe even had a little anger in the mix. “I want to help you get your life back…for real.”
That tug he hadn’t felt in months—not since the last time they’d stood this close—had him fighting the need to lean closer…to taste the grim line of those lush lips. Oh, yeah. Ten minutes around her and he’d already lost his grip on reality. He had to be out of his mind to even consider what she was proposing.
He was a fool, that was for sure.
Sam drew back a step, mentally shook off the too-intense moment. There wasn’t any going back now. “We should go back to Victoria’s office and work out the particulars.”
“Does this mean you’re going back to L.A. with me?”
If she was surprised at his decision, she kept the reaction carefully concealed behind that inflexible cop demeanor she’d yanked back into place.
“It means I’m going back. Whether I go with you or not is yet to be seen.”
He walked around her and headed up the stairwell.
It wasn’t like he had a choice. He couldn’t let Watts carry out his vengeance on his family.
Going back to L.A. was the last thing he’d ever expected to do.
Ironically it probably would be the last thing he ever did.
LISA SMITH couldn’t take the first step upward. Not yet. His answer had shocked her. She hadn’t expected him to agree to go back to L.A. quite so easily. Not in a million years, actually.
A dozen steps up he abruptly stopped and turned to her. “You coming?”
Heat rushed up her neck and across her cheeks. If he noted her hesitation, thought for one second she couldn’t handle this, he would refuse to cooperate. She knew the kind of man she was dealing with here. “Yeah. I’m right behind you.” She took the steps two at a time until she’d reached the one just below him.
Instead of giving her his back and resuming his climb upward, he studied her…too close. She banished all emotion. Stared right back at him. Whatever he was thinking, she wouldn’t have him reading her. She remembered all too well just how good he was at that particular skill.
When he decided the intimidation wasn’t going to work, he turned forward and headed back up to Victoria Colby-Camp’s office. Lisa didn’t draw a deep breath until they were inside that neutral territory. Victoria had agreed to help her. That put her on Lisa’s side. Strange, that decision also seemed to pit her directly against her own son. Lisa wasn’t sure of the story there.
Jim Colby still stood in front of his mother’s desk, looking annoyed at the whole situation. Victoria remained calm and as regal-looking as when Lisa had first met her yesterday afternoon.
“I have to go back to L.A. and handle this,” Sam said to Jim Colby. “There really isn’t any other way.”
“I can send Anders with you,” Jim suggested. “You’ll need backup.”
Sam shook his head. Lisa had known he would do that.
“I have to do this alone.”
Lisa
