He realized he was gripping her shoulders too hard and released them.
She stared up at him. “I have already told you—no one in my family would have anything to do with robbing anyone, much less murder.”
She turned and walked away.
He thought about following her, but he decided to give her some space and headed back into the bathroom to finish removing his disguise.
That spot on his chin still smarted. He rubbed it gently. No doubt about it, she was strong.
When he finished, he found her sitting on the living room sofa beneath a watercolor of the Brooklyn Bridge, staring into space.
“Kieran?” he said.
She looked up at him.
“I can leave if you want. I’ll stay nearby, maybe out in the hall, and keep an eye on your place. But I don’t want you to feel as if I’m crowding you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I would never make a government agent sit in a hallway all night,” she told him.
He sat on the sofa, too, but not so close as to touch her.
She didn’t look at him.
“What aren’t you telling me?” he demanded, aggravation getting the better of him.
She did turn to look at him then. “Did you find out anything while you were in disguise? Did you overhear something that might help?”
He hesitated. He and Mike thought they were onto something. Jimmy had told them that he’d been bringing business associates into the pub. Men who were looking to invest, but smart enough to want to know the details of their potential investments. He’d introduced them to Krakowsky and a few of the other diamond brokers. That was exactly the kind of info both sets of thieves would have been interested in, too.
“I think Jimmy knows the thieves. I also think he doesn’t know that he knows them,” Craig said.
He was surprised when, instead of pressing for more information, she changed the subject.
“So what makes you think that I’m in danger?” she asked.
He hesitated. “I watched the video surveillance from the subway. There’s nothing in the footage that proves anything one way or the other, but the guy in the hoodie did seem to be following you.” When she didn’t say anything, he frowned and said, “Now tell me why you think someone’s after you.”
She inhaled slowly, staring at him. “You have professional reasons why you can’t tell me certain things. Well, I have a profession, too, and I often speak with people in confidence. I have no information that would help you identify whoever’s out to get me, even if I were to break a professional confidence. All I have is something my...client overheard.”
“Kieran, I don’t know what you think your obligation to your client is, but if you’re holding back information that could help stop or solve a crime—”
“I’m not!” she snapped, cutting him off.
“I wish you’d reconsider and tell me what you know.”
“Oh, so my professional obligations aren’t as important as yours since I’m not some hotshot FBI agent? I already told you, I don’t know anything that would help solve the crime, and whether you think I’m worthy or not, I will not betray a professional confidence. You have your secrets, and I have mine.”
“Like your brothers’ sealed juvenile records?” he asked.
She froze. “How dare you?” she said angrily, leaping to her feet and staring down at him. “They never did anything that truly hurt anyone else. They turned the tables on a few bullies, stole candy a few times. They never used violence, much less a weapon. They were a bunch of kids who suddenly lost their mother and started acting out. My brothers are good people, Craig Frasier. And if you try to go after them, I can promise you a fight.”
“Good people—and good thieves,” he said, smiling slowly. “Here’s the thing. I’m a government agent. I need a warrant if I want to search a place. I need to go by the letter of the law. But I sure would love to see Jimmy McManus’s phone without leaving a paper trail. Like I said, good people and good thieves.”
“You want one of my brothers to steal Jimmy’s phone?” she asked, confusion replacing the anger that had animated her features only a moment ago.
“I would never say that. I could never say that,” he told her.
To his amazement, she suddenly smiled. “Piece of cake. You don’t even need my brothers for that. In fact, I’d rather not tempt them. It hasn’t always been easy, keeping them on the straight and narrow. Well, except for Declan. He’s purer than the driven snow.”
“What are you saying?”
“I was always the best thief in the family,” she said. “I’ll get that phone for you. Tomorrow night, if you like. I don’t think Jimmy has missed his five o’clock Guinness in a decade.”
“It would be interesting,” he said, “if he happened to lose it and you happened to find it.”
“Interesting is my middle name,” she said. Then she turned and headed into the bedroom.
He stayed on the sofa, considering his options.
A moment later she poked her head out of the bedroom doorway. “Are you coming, Agent Frasier? You’re welcome to the sofa, of course. As I said, I’d never be so rude as to leave you in the hallway, but if you’re here to watch over me...this is where I’ll be.”
He knew he should say something, but the fact that she was naked had him too stunned to speak.
He rose and started for the bedroom, then turned back to double-lock the front door.
That done, he realized that he was more than a little shaky.
She meant too much to him. And that was dangerous.
The thought made him careful. He made a point of setting his Glock on the bedside table and folding his jacket carefully. Then his arousal got the better of him and he began to disrobe in haste.
She was lying naked on the sheets, hair spread out on the pillow like a dark angel’s wings.
He slid onto the mattress beside her, held her, felt the warmth of her body envelop him.
He was in deep.
Way too deep.
Anger, passion, confusion, need, chemistry...they all seemed to combine that night. They made love urgently, then gently, then urgently again. In the end they lay spent and exhausted in each other’s arms, drifting in an otherworldly afterglow, wondering whether what they’d shared had simply been sex done right, or whether their feelings came from someplace deeper and more powerful than pure physical passion.
She curled against him, and he thought about all the things he could say.
I care about you so much...
You’re so beautiful...
I think I’m falling in love...
He didn’t have time to say anything, because Kieran spoke and suddenly the magic was gone and reality was back in charge.
“What’s up with Joe?” she asked. “Why does Detective Mayo have me looking for customers named Joe?”
He held her more tightly, picturing Maria Antonescu dead in the alley just outside the store.
“The dead girl from the last robbery, Maria Antonescu...she was seeing a guy named Joe. And,” he added almost unwillingly, “we think Finnegan’s is one of the places where he hung out. We’re trying to ID him. Any idea who Joe might be?”
She shook her head. He felt her hair shift against him as she lay with her head against his shoulder.
“I went through our credit card receipts from the past few weeks and gave everything I found to Detective Mayo. I even gave him all the information I could on the men I knew. The thing is, lots of people pay cash. Or they’re with other people and someone else picks up the bill. Even if you follow up on every Joe I found, there’s no guarantee you’re going to find the Joe you’re looking for.”
He rubbed his chin; it still smarted. “We’ll find him,” he said with complete certainty.
“Are you sure that girl’s boyfriend was involved?”
He nodded. “As sure as we can be. Maria must have turned off the alarm. There was no evidence of a break-in.”
“How do you know he gave her his real name?”
“We don’t, but we have to follow every lead.”
“Every lead,” she repeated. “With most of the leads leading to Finnegan’s?”
He hesitated, about to deny it. But his gut told him it was true. Enough leads pointed to Finnegan’s that he had no choice but to assume the place was connected somehow.
Not to mention his undercover work that day had paid off big-time.
Joey, yeah. McManus had said he knew a Joey, and the guy seemed to be a real player. Smart man, wanted to see where his money went, wanted to understand all the ins and outs, whether they were talking stocks, gold—or diamonds. There was a distinct possibility he was Maria’s Joe.
Craig trusted Kieran; he believed in her. He was worried about her safety. And he meant to use her talents, even the illegal ones.
But he still couldn’t tell her everything he knew.
“I just realized,” she said suddenly. “Mayo was there today and he didn’t recognize you, did he?”
“Neither did Eagan when he saw us yesterday,” Craig said.
She punched him lightly on the arm. “Don’t you ever do that to me again—ever. Because I’ll know. I’ll always know it’s you.”
He didn’t doubt that she would. He pulled her close. “I won’t.”
“Because you don’t want to deceive me—or because I’ll catch you anyway?”
“Both,” he told her honestly. “Kieran, I am what I am.”
“An agent first and always.”
No, not really, he thought, or I wouldn’t be here.
He pulled her closer, stroking her hair tenderly. He felt her body ease, felt her breathing grow rhythmic as she dozed.
It took him longer to sleep. And when he did, he dreamed that something was whizzing toward him through the air. Something moving faster than sound, faster than the speed of light.
But he was trying to catch it anyway. Catch it before it reached Kieran, who was standing directly in its path.
He realized then that it was a bullet.
And that no matter how fast he ran, he would never be able to stop it.
He woke drenched in sweat, frozen for a moment as he realized that they were both safe in her bed, in her apartment. She was still sleeping soundly in his arms.
And he knew that he had to make sure that bullet was never fired.
* * *
Kieran was never sure just how Craig always managed to see that things were arranged for her so easily—and apparently via telepathic communication. In this instance, she found Mike Dalton standing at her door just as it was time for her to go to work.
“He may be younger and cuter,” Mike told her, nodding in Craig’s direction, “but I’m your man this morning.”
He wasn’t in his usual suit; he was more casually dressed in jeans, a plaid shirt and a windbreaker.
“My man?” she asked, looking from one man to the other.
“I have to meet with Mayo this morning,” Craig said. “Mike will stay with you this morning, and this afternoon he’ll be spelled by another agent, Marty Salinger.”
“Marty is kind of a pain-in-the-ass kid, but he’s a good agent,” Mike assured her.
“I have twenty-four-hour bodyguards?” she asked.
“Someone did try to kill you—we’re all agreed on that,” Craig said.
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it,” Kieran told them, and smiled in unexpected relief. It was nice to feel protected. “In fact, I like it.”
“Good,” Mike said enthusiastically. “In that case, Miss Finnegan, shall we?”
“I’ll see you tonight,” Craig told her. “And you’ll know it’s me—whether it’s me or not,” he promised.
She didn’t argue with him.
“Could we stop by the hospital to see Bobby?” she asked Mike as they walked down the stairs.
“Your chariot awaits, Miss Finnegan. I’m at your disposal,” he said. “No problem with getting to work late?”
“I helped with a situation yesterday, so I’m sure they’ll comp me the time.”
Once they were in the car, Kieran excused herself to Mike and put a call through to the office to ask Jake to explain to their employers why she was going to be late.
Dr. Miro took the phone from Jake almost immediately. “Kieran? I gather you’ll be in late today.”
“Yes. I hope it’s all right.”
“You take all the time you need. I just heard from Tanya Lee Hampton’s attorney, and Tanya is out on bail, reunited with her children for the time being. You did that, didn’t you? How on earth did you manage it?”
Kieran looked over and saw Mike’s curious eyes on her. Dr. Miro’s voice seemed to be exceptionally loud; he could probably hear her. “I, um, know some good people,” she told Dr. Miro. “Of course, if she doesn’t show for her court date, I’ll be down one friend.”
“She’ll show. I have no doubt of it. I understand you have to redo your report?”
Kieran winced at that. She’d hated lying to Ms. Terry, but she’d had no choice. Now she had to deal with the consequences of that lie.
“I just need to add a few more details,” Kieran murmured.
“Fine. You take all the time you need this morning. If you can give me that finished report by this afternoon, that will be fine,” Dr. Miro said.
“Of course,” Kieran agreed.
Mike was still watching her as she hung up. She glanced over at him. “A client my bosses took on pro bono. Dr. Miro is passionate about helping abused women.”
“So why is she the one in jail?” Mike asked.
“She, um, she cut off her husband’s penis.”
“And she was the abused one?” Mike said, startled.
“No, she was arrested for that. She called 911 right away. Saved his life and his penis.”
“How...nice,” Mike said.
“Believe me, if you knew what he’d done to her, you’d applaud what she did.”
“I don’t know about that, but I’m sure you deal with some pretty awful stuff,” he told her.
“So do you.”
“Yep. But sometimes we get to make it right.” He grinned at her and nodded toward a neon ticker tape on the building they were passing. “‘Any decent person would lend a hand,’” he said.
She groaned. “Why couldn’t I have thought of something else to say?”
“You saved a woman’s life.”
“Only fair, since it turns out I was the intended victim,” she said. “Trust me, I’m no hero. I just reacted without thinking.”
Mike smiled. “Hey, courage is a strange thing. It’s stupidity, not courage, to put yourself in danger without considering the consequences. Courage, as we’ve all heard, is doing the right thing even when we’re afraid.”
She grinned at him.
“What?” he asked.
“You and Craig are pretty stupid,” she teased.
He grinned back. “Yeah, I guess,” he said. Then he studied her again. “I’m glad my boy has found you. I hope that, as stupid as he may be, he’s smart enough to keep you.”
Kieran stared back at him, a little uncomfortable all of a sudden, but also glad that she’d earned Mike’s approval.
“Thanks,” she said simply.
They had reached the hospital by then, and he pulled up in front and started to get out of the car.
“Oh, Mike, we can’t park here,” she began, then cut herself off. “I keep forgetting. You guys can park anywhere.”
“Ju
st about,” he told her cheerfully.
She noticed that he stayed close to her as they walked inside, and she smiled. Stupidity, maybe. But of the nicest possible kind.
These guys were willing to take a bullet for her.
She prayed that it never came to that.
* * *
Craig went home for a change of clothes and then headed into the office. He reported in to Eagan quickly, then hurried down to Wally’s office.
“I have something for you,” Wally said, picking up several sheets of paper. “Something, but not enough, I’m afraid. I have the numbers Maria Antonescu called and the numbers of the people who called her. She called her aunt at least once a day. She called Sylvia Mannerly twice a day. These numbers here...” He paused to point out several lines highlighted in pink. “...are her coworkers. I checked them all out. They’re legitimate, phones like hers, cheap with pay-as-you-go plans. There is one number from a different no-contract company, but the phone was purchased with cash.” He grimaced as he looked at Craig. “The phone is no longer active. It was only used to dial Maria. There’s no way to trace who owned it.”
“Do you know where it was purchased?”
Wally nodded. “A pharmacy in Tribeca.”
“Let me have the address. I’ll see if I can find out anything.”
Wally brightened. “I can hack into their system and find out which salesperson sold it.”
“Wally,” Craig said, shaking his head, “no hacking—not from a government office, anyway. I’ll head down there and hope the manager is a good guy. Thing is, those people probably sell these phones fairly frequently. I doubt anyone will remember who he sold this particular phone to.”
“I’m sorry,” Wally said. “Wish I could have given you more.”
“You may have given us everything we need,” Craig said. “We’ll just have to find out.”
Craig headed to Marty’s office before leaving. “Hey,” he said, and Marty looked up at him hopefully. Craig felt a moment’s regret for being so hard on the kid; Marty had wanted to be an agent since he was a kid and just wanted to do well. Yes, he was dedicated to doing things by the book, but most new kids were. They had to get their feet wet before they could realize they had to think on their own sometimes.