Page 53 of Luck of the Devil (Harper Adams Mystery #3)

Malcolm handed the beer he was pulling to the other bartender and told him he was leaving while I scooped up all the papers and laptop. I took them back to the office, unsure what to do with the paperwork.

“Where’s your safe?” I asked when he appeared in the doorway.

He stalked toward a painting of a landscape on the wall and swung it open to reveal a safe. After he entered the combination, the safe door swung open, and he reached out his hand.

I started to hand him the paperwork, then hesitated. “Are you going to give this back to me?”

His eyes darkened, and his hands clenched at his sides. “You think I’d keep it from you?”

“In the past, I would’ve made you swear in blood you’d return it.”

“So now I just swear without the blood?” The question wasn’t lighthearted, making it obvious he was still furious.

“Malcom,” I countered in frustration. “You just threatened to keep me from meeting my father.”

We didn’t have time for this, but I didn’t want to bring the documents with me, and I needed reassurance. Sure, he could lie, but call me a fool, I trusted him to keep his word.

He took a deep breath, then let it out. Some of his anger faded, but he was obviously still unhappy about the location change. “When you ask for them, I’ll give them to you. Now put the damn papers inside so we can beat your father there and come up a goddamn plan.”

Instead of handing paperwork over, I walked over to the safe and put the paperwork in myself. I’d half expected to see thick stacks of hundred-dollar bills, but all I saw was a short stack of twenties.

James stood directly behind me, so close I could feel the heat radiating off him.

My breath caught. A single step back and I’d be pressed against him. Every nerve in my body begged me to do it.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Get it together, Harper .

Was the Lorazepam messing with my head? It would be so easy to dismiss that as the reason, but there was no denying I‘d felt this way before I’d started taking the pills. My feelings had been there, simmering below the carefully guarded surface of my heart.

His hand came to rest on my shoulder, warm and reassuring. He gave a gentle squeeze, and I nearly leaned into it, desperate for more.

Then the pressure disappeared, and he stepped back. I realized I was blocking the safe. He’d only meant to move me, not comfort me—or whatever my imagination had come up with.

My cheeks burned with humiliation. God, how many women threw themselves at him? Probably more than he could count. I was just another fool to add to the long list.

I stepped aside, and he closed the safe, locking it with practiced ease before swinging the painting into place.

“Let’s go,” he said, his tone clipped.

He walked out of the office and through the back door without looking at me, not bothering to wait. I trailed behind, shaking my head muttering a curse under my breath.

Once I climbed into the passenger seat of the car, I turned to face him. “What’s the big deal about changing locations? It’s not like there’ll be anyone at the park at this time of night. And even if there were, it could work in our favor.”

He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the county road. “A whole host of reasons. Did you ever confront a dangerous criminal without a well-thought-out plan?”

“You’re right,” I admitted. “It’s not the best idea, but after talking to him, I don’t think he did. He seemed surprised my grandparents didn’t blame him for Andi’s death.”

“Harper…” he said, the first time I’d ever heard a shred of pity in his voice.

“I know you think I’m being delusional, but he seemed surprised. He also claims that woman’s not his mistress, and he seemed surprised to hear she was at the bank this morning.”

He shot me a look that made it clear he thought I’d just taken a trip to the Land of Delusion.

“Look,” I said. “I didn’t say I believed him, but right now, he thinks I’m open to hearing what he has to say. If I asked him to meet at the factory, he would have shown up on the defensive. The park is a neutral location, and he’ll be more likely to talk. Especially if it’s Mulberry Park.”

“What’s so fuckin’ special about Mulberry Park?”

“It was my sister’s favorite playground.” The burning lump in my throat caught me by surprise. “He took us there a couple of times a month when we were little.”

“You think some happy memories of pushin’ you on a swing are gonna keep him from killin’ you?” He grunted in disgust.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m the first to admit that I don’t know him as well as I wish I did, but this seemed like the way to go.”

He was quiet for a moment as though considering my words, then his shoulders stiffened again.

“A million things could go wrong with this plan. In the first place, I’m not familiar with that location.

” He got more worked up with each word. “I need be somewhere close enough to hear what’s going on but also stay hidden. ”

“I told him to meet me by the playground,” I said. “There’s a section that has a playhouse with a slide. I figured you could hide up there.”

“What?” he barked. “You expect me to come down the goddamn slide with my gun blazin’? This isn’t some goddamn action movie!”

I stared at him, confused. “It’s not that big of a deal, Malcolm.

I’ll stand next to the slide, and you’ll be able to hear everything.

” Then like a fool, I added, “If you like, I’ll position my father at the bottom of the slide, so all you’ll have to do is come down and knock him over like a bowling pin. ”

“This isn’t a goddamn joke!” he shouted, giving me a look of frustration.

That was a lot of goddamns, even for him.

But I had to admit he had a right to be pissed.

I’d changed the plan last minute and now I was treating it like it was a trip to the grocery store.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that other than I was trying to make you realize it’s not as dangerous as you think it will be.

Besides,” I said, lowering my voice and hoping it would help calm him down.

“You have the paperwork. If something happens to me, you’ll still be able to use it. ”

That only seemed to make him angrier. The veins on his neck bulged and throbbed. “You think I’m worried about—” He cut himself off, then shook his head.

“All I can tell you is that my gut says it’s a better location, and I’m going with my gut.”

He wrung the steering wheel with his clenched hand, his knuckles white. I suspected he wished it was my neck he was wringing. “It’s too damn late to change plans now, so we’ll go with it.” He turned and shot me a dark look. “But I’m fuckin’ not happy.”

“Really?” I countered before I could stop myself, because this man brought out my ornery side. “I couldn’t tell.”

Something in him loosened, not much, but enough that the line of his shoulders eased. He was still wrapped up tight, but if he was a boa constrictor wrapped around me, I would have gone from being strangled to being able to take shallow breaths.

His gaze jerked to the rearview mirror. “Someone’s following us.”

I turned around in my seat to see the headlights of a car, gaining on us.

“Did your father know you were at the tavern?” he asked.

I kept my eyes on the car, which looked like a large SUV. “No. I didn’t tell him where I was, and he didn’t ask. If anything, I think he thought I was at my apartment.”

Malcolm sped up, and the car sped up too, tailing us at a distance of about twenty feet.

“They’re probably after the papers,” James said, sitting up straighter as he maneuvered around a curve.

“Why would my father send someone after us to get the papers when he thinks I’m bringing them to show him?” I countered, then I realized I’d been stupid. “It’s the woman.”

“His mistress?”

“He said she wasn’t his mistress. I’m starting to think he wasn’t lying.” I groaned at how closed-minded I’d been. “What if she’s one of the people listed in those documents?”

“We didn’t see any women in those documents.”

“She doesn’t know that. Maybe she thinks she is,” I countered, the pieces starting to fall into place.

“What if she showed up at my mother’s house, offering to help her, but she wanted the papers?

Maybe she tried to get my mother to open the safe deposit box for her—the woman had the key—and my mother refused, so she killed her? ”

“You think that older woman pushed your mother’s car into the river?” he asked derisively.

“You think that woman is driving that SUV that’s gaining on us?” I snapped. “She’s obviously got help. Those are pros, Malcolm, and you of all people know that only takes money.”

“Fuck,” he grunted, then activated the AI on his phone, telling it to call Carter.

“Hey, Skeeter.”

“I need a photo of Rutherford Knox’s wife.”

Carter must have heard the urgency in his voice. “I don’t know if that I’ve ever seen a photo of her. Knox was always careful about keeping his family out of public view.”

“See if you can find something,” James said, glancing up at the rearview mirror. “Because I think she’s sent someone to run us off the road.”

“His son Gerald took over after Rutherford was killed.”

“Maybe so, but I think his wife might be involved in the family business too. Get a name, an age, a photo if you can. Anything, and make it fast. I’m gonna try to lose them up ahead.”

“On it.” Carter disconnected the call, and I glanced at the road in front of us. “Where do you plan to lose them? There are no turn-offs for at least a couple of miles.”

He made a face. “If he thinks I have a plan, he’ll be less worried.”

James Malcolm didn’t want to worry his attorney? I wasn’t sure why that surprised me, especially after everything else I’d learned about him. I’d seen them together, and I was guessing they were friends.

“So what’s the plan?”

He sent me a quick glance. “How do you feel about firing on them?”

“They haven’t shot at us yet,” I said. “And they’re definitely close enough to take some shots and expect to hit us. Which means they don’t want us dead.”

But why didn’t they want us dead? In case we didn’t have the papers with us? So why not ambush us somewhere else?

Or maybe this was how they operated.

“Did my mother’s car have paint marks or dents on the side panels?”

His brow furrowed as though wondering why I was asking about my mother, but then I saw the realization hit his face. “There was a dent, but the report says it likely happened when she ran off the road.

Red-hot anger burned in my chest. “Ten to one those fuckers ran her off the bridge.”

He made a face. “You might be right.”

My gut told me I was. “My father met with that woman either to warn her my mother was collecting evidence, or maybe the woman found out and told my father to control her.”

“That makes sense.”

We drove for another minute, our speed hitting eighty. Thankfully, the road was empty, but if we encountered another car, we’d be putting innocent people in danger.

James’s phone rang and I pressed answer on the screen.

“What did you find?” James barked.

“Nicole Knox, age fifty-nine. She’s a bit reclusive, but I found a photo. I’m sending it to your phone.”

The phone pinged, and I picked it up and realized it was locked.

James grabbed my hand and held it up to his face to unlock it, then released me.

I pulled up his messages, and gasped when I saw the photo.

It was a surveillance shot of a woman in a parking lot, and she was very clearly the woman who’d shown up at the bank and my mother’s house.

My gaze jerked up to Malcolm. “It’s her.”

Which meant we likely had the mob on our tail.

“Get a team together,” James said, “because even if I lose them, they’ll be back.”

“It’ll take at least an hour,” Carter said, his voice tight. “Maybe longer.”

“Do what you can.” He reached up and tapped the screen to end the call. He was silent as he gripped the steering wheel. “We have two choices. One, we keep heading into town and try to lose them in a public place.”

“If we lose them, that means they get away,” I said. “What’s the other?”

“We take a side road that’s about a hundred feet ahead, then turn the tables on them and get them to pull over.”

The second option sounded like the more dangerous one, but the only one that meant we’d get answers. “Take the side road.”

“You sure?” he asked, his voice softening. “It’ll likely involve a shootout.”

“If we lose them, you’re right. They’ll be back.”

“We can wait for backup and hunt them down ourselves,” he said. “I highly doubt Nicole Knox is in that car.”

“She was at the bank this morning, so she might still be in the area,” I said. “We can get them to take us to her.”

His brow lifted as he considered my suggestion. “And then what?”

Something in my chest hardened. “I guess we’ll find out once we get there.”

He accepted my answer without further questions. The side road appeared ahead, and he positioned his hands on the steering wheel, preparing to make the sharp turn.

He whipped the wheel, the back fishtailing as he turned and then he punched the engine, shooting down the road. I watched out the back window as the SUV slid past us, tires squealing as it stopped and then reversed before turning and following us.

“Now what?” I asked.

“We let them catch up,” he said as he decelerated.

“Shouldn’t we try to get ahead of them so we can be in a better position?” I countered.

“We could, but I want them to think they’re on the offensive.”

I didn’t have time to argue with him, because another SUV appeared out of nowhere, pulling in front of us from the shoulder.

Had they planned on us turning onto this road? Had we just driven into a trap?

Malcolm cursed and swerved into the oncoming traffic lane, which was thankfully clear, with no cars in sight on the deserted-looking road.

The car fishtailed, and he punched the gas, trying to shoot past the new SUV, but it rammed into the side of our car, sending us toward the shoulder on the opposite side of the road.

The car behind us had caught up. It rammed into the back bumper, and our car went off the side of the road, rolling down the embankment.