Page 14

I insisted on following Maddox in my car. Partly because I wanted my own vehicle if I needed to hightail it out of there; and partly because I wanted to make some calls. Yet Maddox stuck to his word and made sure I could follow him easily across town, not once speeding his way through a red light to ditch me or leave me behind.

I had to admit I was pleased with this sudden progress. We were two professionals, working together on a case… and only one of us had the hots for the suspect. Not that Maddox was going to admit that, but I had a sneaking suspicion his case wasn’t quite as professional as he made out. Something else was going on but he wasn’t saying anything and refused to be subtly drawn into any admission.

Of course, it could be that Maddox was merely being cautious. Perhaps Cass Temple was even an occasional informant with whom he’d developed a casually friendly handler-snitch relationship.

She was pretty, intelligent, street-smart, and a devastating challenge to the law.

Nope. It was most likely Maddox had the hots for her.

And Cass Temple?

Yes, she definitely looked at him with the eyes of someone who fought complicated feelings.

I knew how that felt… and wished I didn’t.

Maddox and I were in the past and although I thought part of me would always love him, our relationship had come to a horrible, screeching end.

We’d both moved forwards.

Never though, did it feel like we’d left each other entirely behind.

Life was complicated like that.

But I wasn’t jealous.

I had a terrific husband and I wanted Maddox to be my friend, with happiness of his own.

I wanted Maddox to be just as happy.

Just not with the criminal suspect at the center of my case.

For the first time since that fateful day when I’d taken the temping job at Green Hand Insurance, I wondered if it was a forever friendship. Solomon and Maddox got on, sometimes grudgingly, their relationship long pre-dating me knowing either of them, and my family adored him, but would Maddox’s future romantic partner want me around? Would he, one day, want me to step away? Would he fade out of our lives to become a happy memory?

I didn’t like to think about it.

The idea of feeling his loss was too sad.

“How’s the search going?” I asked Lucas, pleased for the mental distraction of a work call while I kept an eye on Maddox’s FBI-issued SUV as it hung a right.

“I got a couple of hits. The same day as the theft, the rental car stopped at Dempster Street and the occupant got out for five minutes.”

“Do you know where she went?”

“No, she disappeared off camera. There’re a few businesses on that block and I lost her heading south past the laundromat. Ten minutes later, the vehicle was captured turning left and heading north.”

“Where did she go from there?”

“I’m still looking. I’ll call you when I get an answer. I’ve got a program scouring for the license plate and the car but nothing yet.”

“Could she have ditched the car?”

“If that were the case, I think my program would have picked it up. There haven’t been any reports of any kind involving a car with that description logged with the police either.”

“Does the rental company have a tracker in the car?” I asked.

“I checked and they don’t in that model.”

“Figures,” I said. “So nothing since we lost it after it left Harmony?”

“Not yet. She may have left it in a parking garage, a private garage, or tucked it out of the way somewhere. It’ll reappear eventually.”

“What about changing the license plate?”

“Also a possibility, which is why my program is scouring for both the car and the plate. There’ve been a few false hits. I’ll call you when I have something concrete but there’s still the possibility she could have ditched the car entirely and switched to something else.”

“Yeah, I thought of that too,” I said, feeling despondent. I thanked Lucas and disconnected, calling Solomon next.

“What’s happening?” he asked.

“I’ve teamed up with Maddox. He thinks our thief might have a safe house here in town.”

“Why the hell would he think that?”

“He’s been on the lookout for Cass Temple and there’s evidence to suggest she’s our thief. He thinks the safe house is legit. We’re on the way over there now.”

“Do you need backup?”

“I don’t think so. I think we’ll assess the situation, poke around, and get out of there.”

“Get confirmation she’s definitely using the safe house and I’ll send a team to watch it around the clock.”

“Will do,” I said, and hung up.

Maddox slowed and his blinker flickered on. He pulled over to the curb on a street of identikit glass and steel apartment buildings not far from the office-laden area bordering downtown and I followed suit. He turned and waved, indicating I should join him in his vehicle. I stuffed my purse under the seat, out of the way, grabbed thin plastic gloves to shove into my pocket and jogged over. When I settled in the passenger seat, he pointed across the street. “Temple has an apartment in that building,” he said.

“How, what, where, why?”

Maddox blinked. “Narrow those questions down for me?”

“How do you know this is her safe house?”

“I told you. I’ve been staking it out and I saw her.”

“Yes, but how . How did you know to stake out here?”

“I followed her and narrowed it down. Do you really want all the boring details? It involved a lot of sitting in my car and listening to a thriller audiobook. I already downloaded the next in the series.”

I looked around the SUV. There wasn’t a scrap of litter to be seen and the car smelled really nice. “Your car looks remarkably tidy post-stakeout.”

“I clean it.”

“Oh.”

“You should try it.”

“I clean my car!”

Maddox frowned. “When?”

“Let’s move to what,” I decided, refusing to be drawn into that very judgmental question. Just because there were a few empty packets and soda cups in my car didn’t make it filthy. “What made her pick this place?” I wondered, peering up at the buildings.

“The building is owned by some shell corporation. It’s mostly vacation rentals and short-term leases so no permanent residents aside from a superintendent who has a first-floor apartment and small salary in exchange for maintenance and monitoring. My guess is that all makes it easy for her to hide her comings and goings.”

“How long has she rented it?”

“That’s two hows and a what.”

I shrugged and made a motion for him to move it along.

“No idea. Her apartment is the only one with a long lease.”

“Isn’t that strange?”

“Very.”

As we were talking, I texted the address to Lucas, asking him to find out whatever he could.

“Where…” I stopped, thinking how to rephrase the question so it made sense. “ Why would she maintain a safe house here?”

“I suspect she has them all over the place.”

“All over the country?”

“The world,” he clarified.

“Sounds expensive and paranoid.” As well as glamorous and exciting, but I decided not to say that in case Maddox thought I was interested in being lured to the dark side.

“Also smart. With safe houses in key hubs, Temple can travel very lightly and not worry about lugging her stuff around or losing anything. She always has a place to stay, protecting her in case of any eventualities.”

I had to admit that did sound smart. “What kind of eventualities?”

“We’re back to the what. Well, let’s see, not everyone she steals from is as calm or non-confrontational as your clients.”

“She steals from dangerous people?”

Maddox held back a laugh. “She steals from anyone.”

“But how dangerous are the people we’re talking about?” I pressed.

“There was a drug lord in Columbia,” Maddox started. As I opened my mouth to ask for more information, he continued, “Then there was the crime boss in Italy.”

My eyebrows rose as Maddox began to count on his fingers. “There was the psycho in New York, and the old lord with the sawed-off shotgun in England. I’m pretty sure she started a gang war in Mexico and I try not to think about the Russian oligarch with the desperate henchmen armed to the teeth.”

“Wow.”

“Do not be impressed by Cass Temple. She is a law unto herself.”

“No, I was thinking about her air miles. With that kind of travel, she must get upgraded every time!”

“She doesn’t travel under her own identity.”

“How do you know Cass Temple is even her real identity?”

“I know.” Maddox was definitively confident.

“And how do you know she committed all those crimes? How can you be sure?”

“I know,” he said again.

“Yes, but how…”

“I. Know.”

“Great! Good information sharing!” I gave Maddox a thumbs up. I thought about it for a moment. “Since she stole from those kinds of people, stealing from a jewelry store must have been a walk in the park. And also, she can’t have charged nearly as much for her services. What does she charge for her services?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Where’s her lair?”

Maddox’s eyebrows popped up as he gave me a sideways look. “Where’s her what?” he asked.

“Her lair. You know, the place she holes up when she wants to take a break. Thieves do take a break, right? All that excitement would make me lie low for at least a month each time.”

“You’ve come up against all kinds of crazy and never lain low for a month.”

“Which has always been a mistake. So, where is her lair?”

“Stop calling it a lair.”

“You don’t know, do you?”

Maddox shrugged. “I don’t, but I suspect she has several lairs as you like to call it. One of which is over there.” Maddox pointed to the apartment building he’d indicated a few minutes ago.

“Weird place to have a lair.”

“Stop calling it… oh, never mind. Where would you have a lair?”

“Somewhere remote. Or glamorous. Somewhere I could get away from everyone but also see anyone coming. A tropical island with a boat gassed up and ready to go in case I needed to make a fast escape. And I’d have an amazing wardrobe.”

“Why?”

“No point being a glamorous thief on a tropical island if I can’t dress the part. I’m thinking bikinis in every color, linen dresses, and sexy caftans.”

“There’s nothing sexy about a caftan.”

“You’ve never seen me in one. I’d put the sex back in caftan.”

“You could probably have sex in a caftan. Those things are like wearing a tent with enough room for two.”

“Multi-functional,” I agreed. “Although I’m not sure how you know what it’s like to wear one.”

“If I want to wear a caftan, I will.”

“Please don’t. Should I carry a lace parasol?”

“Why?”

“Sun protection on my tropical island,” I said, “but I’d get one with a sword in the handle, just in case.”

“Do you know how to wield a sword?”

“No, but I don’t think I should let that stop me. I don’t know how to do a lot of stuff but I can figure it out.”

“Much to the fear of everyone around you.” Maddox checked his watch. “There’s been no movement since we got here, and no recent alerts from my surveillance setup. Let’s go and check it out. Maybe then we’ll find out why Temple chose this apartment as her la… I am not going to call it that.”

“Have you been inside before?” I asked, just as my phone pinged.

“No. Put your phone on silent .”

“I will right after I read this text from Lucas. Ah! He confirms you’re correct about a shell corporation owning the building. He says the shell is owned by another firm that’s owned by another shell.”

“That much I know.”

“It was bought for cash. He also confirms an apartment is rented on a long-term basis to another shell corp.” I lowered my phone. “It all seems very complicated.”

“Not if you want to make sure your name stays off any record and no one can find out where you reside.”

I studied the text again, reading out, “The vacation rentals are managed by a firm here in town and all the funds go through the second shell corp and the super, taxes, and utilities are paid out of that too. The firm doesn’t do any other business otherwise, and once a year, a dividend is paid out to a bank account in Switzerland.”

“That confirms what I already know.”

“You could have said so!”

“It would be great if Lucas could keep digging since he’s on the right track. Our guys hit a brick wall at that point.”

I fired off a text to Lucas asking him to do that and he replied: Done!

“Let’s pay a visit to that apartment.”

We hopped out of the SUV and strolled over to the building, as casual as if we were out for a walk. The building was a neat six-story, two apartments to every floor except the penthouse. It was one of the older buildings on the block but considerable funds had been poured into its renovation. The glass-paneled doors had keypads rather than key locks and the neat strip of garden separating the building from the street was beautifully maintained with real grass, and stone pavers that led to, then around, a slim, stone bird fountain and on to a bench tucked into the hedge at the far end. It was neat, chic, and well-maintained.

“How are we going to get in?” I asked, cupping my hand over my forehead so I could peer into the lobby. Not that I could see much through the wavy glass. I stepped back and glanced up, noticing a small camera blinking in the corner.

“Easy. I rented an apartment for the night,” said Maddox as he pressed four digits into the keypad. The lock clicked and he pushed the door.

“Ooh. Which one?”

“The one below the penthouse. It came with access to the elevator, stairs, and apartment.”

“Way to announce you’re coming,” I said.

“That’s why I got your mom to rent it for me. No link to me at all.”

“Why did you rope my mom into this?”

“She offered! And I gave her the cash plus twenty percent.”

“I never knew my mom was so entrepreneurial.”

“I said she could have it for the night after we were finished. I think she and your dad are planning a romantic evening.”

“I didn’t need to know that. Don’t tell Mom you told me in case she decides she wants to share more.”

“Prude.”

“I like to think of it as blissful ignorance. Do you want to know about your parents’ sex life?”

“Pretty sure they don’t have one. They casually greet each other once a week and return to their respective sides of the house. That’s enough for both of them.”

“Why don’t they just divorce?”

“Why would they do that?” asked Maddox, frowning.

We headed for the elevators, finding the car waiting and rode it to the fifth floor. Hopping out, I turned to the apartments and Maddox turned to the stairs. When he didn’t wait, I spun around and hurried after him. “Stairs aren’t locked on this side,” he said, tugging the door open, then jogging up one flight.

“But they are here,” I said, my shoulders dropping at the sight of another keypad on the door. Maddox stooped to inspect it, then pulled out a small device from his pocket. He wedged it into the lock and pressed a button. The lock fizzled and began to smoke as it released. “What was that?” I asked.

“I gave it an electrical pulse that fried the circuit.”

“You could have done that downstairs and saved yourself the apartment rental fee plus twenty percent.”

“And alert everyone in the building that the lock was tampered with? Plus, why deprive your parents of a sexy night? Nope.”

“Stop saying that,” I said and shuddered.

We stepped into a broad corridor with large windows at either end, flooding the floor with light. The elevator doors were on the same wall we’d stepped through from the stairs’ door but the door to the apartment was at the far end of the hall. In front of us was a tall mirror with a slim console and an arrangement of dried flowers in a large vase. I paused, reapplied a slick of lipstick, and adjusted my ponytail.

“If you’re done…” prompted Maddox.

“Catching criminals is no excuse for sloppiness,” I snipped as I followed him.

Another console with a similar arrangement was in front of the elevator doors. Framed pictures of generic landscapes tried to liven up the beige walls but failed.

“Is the plan to knock on the door and arrest her?” I asked.

“I feel like I should have explained the plan to you in more depth. We don’t want to run into her. We want her out of the building already. Before you ask, I’m reasonably sure she is. We’re going to enter…”

“Break in?” I asked.

“Enter,” Maddox said slowly.

“By non-legal means?”

“The less you know, the better.”

“I’m literally next to you.”

“Close your eyes.”

“I don’t think I should.”

“Why not?”

“You might tickle me.”

Maddox rolled his eyes. “We’re going to enter the apartment, poke around a little, and see if we can figure out what’s going on. Find out who her client is, what identities she’s using, and where she plans to be next.”

“What are the odds she has all that written in a handy, little notebook?”

“Low. But we have to work with what we’ve got.” Maddox inspected the keypad on the door. “Close your eyes.”

“So I can’t see you break in? I just saw you break in over there.” I pointed to the stairs. “And, just so you know, I’m impressed that you’re breaking in. Usually, that’s me.”

“Just close your eyes.” Maddox sighed.

I closed my eyes and Maddox booped me on the nose and laughed. I shook my head, sighed, and opened my eyes in time to watch him stick his electrical pulse thingy into the keypad. The lock popped and Maddox pushed the door. He listened for a moment, then stepped inside.

“You’re getting fired for this,” I decided as I pulled on my gloves.

“Let’s hope not.”

We stepped into a small, partially open-plan lobby that was closed in on the left side with a coat closet behind sliding doors that I slid open to reveal absolutely nothing. Not a single coat. Not even a forgotten hat or a pair of slippers. The other two sides opened into an airy kitchen. White units spanned one wall with smart, integrated appliances. The counters were devoid of the usual kitchen detritus. There wasn’t even a coffee pot in sight. I walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Several bottles of water and two fresh deli lunch boxes. “The fridge is pretty empty,” I said, “but the food cartons are recent.” I looked around for the trash, opening doors to reveal generic pans, plates, and counter appliances. “There isn’t a trash can.”

Maddox paused at a doorway. “She probably disposes as she goes. Let’s split up. I’ll take the bedroom. You take the living space. Look under things, behind things, vent covers. Anywhere she could stash something.”

“You got it.”

As Maddox headed into the bedroom, I rounded the kitchen island, running my fingers under the counter edges, then stooping to check. Of course, there wasn’t anything to find. No one would hide their nefarious notebook of illegal activities under a breakfast counter. Much less, a vintage ring.

The kitchen opened directly onto a living room furnished with a long couch upholstered in gray linen and two easy chairs around a marble coffee table. A pale wood cabinet had a TV mounted on the wall above it. A bookcase occupied the corner, which was decorated with objects I could find at any chain store in the country: glossy coffee table books for luxury locations, a large seashell, and several other trinkets. The wrap-around windows showed a nice view of the city with barely any overlooking windows. As far as privacy went, any occupant would find it here.

I started with the cabinet since it was the only enclosed furnishing. The sole thing inside it was a TV remote. I pressed and prodded at the insides, disappointed not to find any false walls.

Moving over to the couch, I was preparing to pull out the cushions when I saw it.

A mug of half-drunk tea on a side table, only visible now that I was in front of the couch.

I pressed the back of my hand to the mug.

“Maddox!”

“Did you find something?” he called back.

“Yeah.” I said, straightening to turn slowly, every bit of me on alert. “Someone’s here.”

Maddox burst out of the bedroom, his gun drawn. “Where?”

I pointed to the mug. “This tea is still warm.” I looked around. “There’s nowhere to hide in here and I already checked all the kitchen cabinets. How could she get out without us seeing her?” I asked. “We came through the only doors.”

“There must be a concealed exit. Head out into the hallway and see if you can spot anything.”

“Okay,” I said, feeling skeptical. Safe houses, secret doors… usually, this kind of fantasy was my job to think up. It felt weird that Maddox was rolling with it.

“I’m going to try and figure it out from this side.”

“What if she’s still here?”

“She probably bailed before we even got up here. We might have tipped our hands.”

“There was a camera over the entry,” I said. “She probably got an alert and saw us and took off. She was ready to go.” I was already walking across the room, aiming for the main door, wondering if there was anywhere to hide in the corridor.

“Figures,” said Maddox, his voice almost lost as I hurried out the front door. There wasn’t anything to hide behind or under out here and I tapped all the way along the dividing wall. The mirror was firmly fixed to the wall. I pulled out the console tables and checked behind the picture frames even though the idea of her wiggling out from a hole behind them was ludicrous. Then I turned, noticing something from the corner of my eye. There was a panel in the wall between the elevator doors and the stairs, around waist height. I pressed it and it popped open, so I peered into the darkness. I flicked on the flashlight in my phone and inched forwards, then a little further, uncertain what I was looking at, my head and shoulders now inside.

Just as the chute became clear, my legs lifted abruptly, my head dropped with the sudden inversion of my body, and I was forcibly thrust by a firm shove.

All I could do was scream.