A Fortune to Die For (White Oak - Mafia Series Book 1) (14 page)

He chuckled. “I half-way expected you to call him on his big-boss behavior. What held you back?”

“Honestly? I believed I’d do a better job.” Then she glanced at her outfit. “Although he did a really nice job selecting this suit.”

Steve glared at her. “I bought your suit.”

His admission made her heart flutter. “You did?”

He nodded once.

“Well, you did a wonderful job, both in size and style. Although I don’t like heels.”

“I know. Those were the flattest shoes they had.”

“Where’d you go?”

“Some fancy boutique. I couldn’t have you meeting the governor in your PJs.”

“May I reimburse you?”

“Consider it a gift.”

She sat down beside him as her eyes teared up.

“What?”

“Sorry, I just realized no one has given me a single gift since I won the lottery…until now.” She petted the fabric of her jacket. “And it wasn’t just a gift card, but a super nice suit.” She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Thank you, and I promise not to get defensive and go all mean on you now.”

A grin came to his worried face. “Glad to hear it.”

She moved closer to him. “So what do you find so interesting about the list of people?”

He thumped two of the names. “These two have mafia connections…as does the governor and your lawyer.”

Meg’s brain could barely wrap around what she’d just heard. Her lawyer and the governor of the state had mafia connections? The same mafia who had sent a hit man after her? It made no sense. They could have killed her while she slept in the Governor’s mansion. Why have her give the presentation at all? Then the answer came to her.

So they could know exactly what I planned and find my weak points.

She was glad Helen had warned her not to mention the Indian mounds since it could give them grounds to claim imminent domain of her property and take it without restrictions.

Meg leaned in and whispered to Steve, “Are you sure it’s safe to talk in here. What if Joe bugged this place?”

“Actually, he did. He placed a bug beneath your couch.”

Meg jumped up, but Steve pulled her back down. “In the bat cave. Then you made us come in here.”

“What if he bugged this, too?”

“He didn’t. I was watching him carefully, and when you led him out, I double-checked.

“What if he bugged me?”

He held up a thin black box with two short antennae and a row of green lights on its narrow top. “Nope, this is a top of the line bug scanner. I double-checked you when you returned.”

She leaned back, pressing against his side. “You’re really good at your job.”

“When people let me, yes, I am.”

“I’ll try very hard to do whatever you ask me to do.” His muscles tightened in response. She didn’t try to clarify because she’d meant it as his body had interpreted it.

He stood up. “I need to make some calls…in private. If not for the bug, I would step into the bat cave…”

She rewarded him with a smile for using her name for the ugly room. As he continued to stare at her, she replayed his statement. “Oh, you need me to leave.”

He nodded.

“Can I wait in the library section of the this room?”

He shook his head.

“Then I guess I’ll try and figure out how the Jacuzzi works.”

“Your suitcase is against a wall in the front room. I had George retrieve it once you signed the lease.”

“Thank you. Honestly, I figured it was still back at that hotel… Oh, shoot! I was supposed to call Sheriff Cobbs after I arrived in Dubuque yesterday. He probably thinks I’m dead by now.”

“I assured him you were alive and well last night. He was greatly relieved to hear it since Traver wasn’t returning his calls either.”

“Where’s Traver?”

“He should be in jail, but I wouldn’t put money on it. The police seemed awfully chummy with him.”

“He may go out of his way to be friends with them. Sheriff Cobbs thought he was a good guy.”

“Go get your luggage and play with your Jacuzzi. My boss doesn’t like to receive reports after eight p.m. He thinks he should be allowed a life with his family.”

“He’s right.” She ran to the next room, grabbed her luggage, and escaped the bat cave. “Got it,” she declared and hurried into the giant bathroom.

Through trial and error, she determined what all the knobs and levers did. She also determined the best way to lie in the tub to get a stimulating bath. An hour later, she pressed her head to the door. Hearing nothing but the TV, she opened the door and peeked out.

She didn’t see Steve anywhere. A seed of worry settled in her gut. She exited in her favorite PJs, which she thought had been left at the governor’s mansion. To her surprise, someone had washed and neatly folded them in her suitcase.

Finding no Steve, she walked to the living room section and turned off the TV, discovering her favorite agent stretched out on the couch, dead to the world.

She edged closer, wanting to make sure he wasn’t
truly
dead to the world. She visually checked his chest for signs of blood. Finding nothing, she moved close to his mouth trying to feel his breath. Still uncertain, she placed her fingertips on his neck. Instantly, his hand snared her wrist. His eyes went from deadly to surprised in a second.

She smiled at him. “I was checking to make sure the mafia hadn’t come in and shot you while I bathed.”

His adorable grin appeared. “No, but you shouldn’t be so close when you wake me. It’s not safe.”

Had he not said “it’s not safe”, her feelings would have been hurt, but those three words changed the intent in his response. “Because you’re trained to kill?”

His gaze held to hers. “I was a marine before I became an agent. And when you are woken up by someone touching your neck, odds are it’s an assassin.”

She sat on the edge of the couch near his waist. “Well, I’m not an assassin, although I can be an ass at times.”

He studied her, but he didn’t argue with her comment.

“You can disagree if you want,” she muttered.

A faint chuckle rumbled from his chest as his fingers tugged a strand of her hair. “Why’d you say it if you didn’t think it’s true?”

“Oh, I think it’s true, but you don’t have to agree with me…” She sighed and met those gorgeous blue eyes. “I’m sorry I’ve been so hard to deal with.”

He shook his head. “You can’t be too bad. I asked for this assignment.”

His response pleased her…for a second. And then she remembered all her fiancés had said exactly what she’d wanted to hear.

She started to get up, but he held firm to her wrist.

“Talk to me. Don’t worry about hurting my feelings. Tell me what just went through your head.”

She laid her head upon his chest. His thumping heart gave her comfort. “What you said about asking for this assignment made me happy, which reminded me of how my ex-fiancés would say things all the time just to make me happy.”

His hand stroked her head like she was a puppy. “Should I only scold you in the future?”

“Please don’t. This is my flaw, not yours. I’ve just been burned so many times.”

“I know, and I’ve no advice on how to get beyond it. Maybe you can’t. Maybe it’s just a part of your new life.”

She pushed herself up, shaking her head, refusing to believe she’d never be able to trust a man again. “I want to trust you. And I do, more than any other male. But my trust in men, in general, keeps taking blows left and right. When you told me my lawyer bugged my couch and could be connected to the mafia trying to kill me, it made me realize he’s probably the one who shared my real identity to the governor.”

Steve sat up, almost knocking her to the floor before she could stand and get out of his way.

“He gave the governor what?” His blue eyes sparkled with anger.

“The governor knew who I was. When I asked him how he had come by the information, he said he thought the profile had come from Helen. I explained how confidential the information was and asked him to verify where he had gotten it from. He then promised me he’d let you know if it had come from someone other than Helen. So he should have called you because I am quite certain Helen wouldn’t have knowingly given my profile to anyone. She was very determined to protect my past, even when it would have helped prove she was still in her right mind.”

Steve rubbed his temples. “More details, please.”

She sat down beside him again and told him about her lawyer, Jonas, who expected Jeffrey to contest the sale by claiming Helen was not competent to enter a contract any longer. “Jonas is the one who recommended Joe. I think she had Jonas do the profile on my old self, and he passed it along to Joe…or maybe Joe helped him construct it to begin with.

“One of those two are sharing information with others and not just my identity. Helen’s son Jeffrey knew I was planning to visit her before I ever arrived at her house. Helen thinks Tess’s phone was tapped, but maybe Jonas is her leak.”

He stroked her cheek. “You are a fountain of information.”

“It’s more like suppositions.”

“Facts come later, but until you have a clue as to what the hell is going on, you’ve no idea where to look for evidence.”

She grimaced. “So do you have a clue what’s going on?”

“It’s coming together.” He smiled at her, but then his brow furrowed, and the smile faded. “I’m going to ask Burrows to start working on a new identity for you. We may need to pull you out fast.”

“Oh good. I feared I’d be living in this stupid apartment for a year.”

He chuckled and covered her hand, squeezing gently. “You have amazing resilience. To be honest, I was confused by your nonchalant response when you discovered your lawyer might be working for the other team.”

“Honestly, he seems to be working for his brother-in-law, the governor. He evidently convinced him not to meet with Jeffrey because the facts he pulled up said Jeffrey and his partner should be charged with attempted murder.”

“Did he state what facts he had?”

“Nope.”

“Interesting. His placement of the bug in the bat cave may have been just where it would do the most good, assuming I didn’t see him place it.”

“You would have called your boss with your update from there,” Meg stated. “So Joe could be part of the mafia who doesn’t like Jeffrey and his partner—they still fight among themselves, right?”

“Yes, they do.”

“You know, the only time the governor pushed back was when I said Tess would be the eventual Forest manager of the park. He didn’t like the idea at all.”

Steve breathed in and focused on her. “I know you’re probably exhausted, but I really need you to tell me everything you heard from the moment you met the governor until you left.”

“I’m not exhausted. I slept ’til three. But you are.”

“I was, but right now I’m wide awake. I can sense I’m really close to figuring out what the hell is going on here, and you might actually have the bit of information I need to put the picture together.”

It was one in the morning before Meg finished giving Steve a recap of her discussions with the governor. Upon realizing she had perfect audio recall, he turned on a tape recorder and let her talk.

By the time she ended, his lids were at half-mast.

“Bet you’re sorry I have such precise recall now…

He sat up straight and stretched. “Not in the least.” He broke for a heavy yawn.

“I’ll share my bed with you if you’d rather sleep there,” she offered. “It’s a very large bed.”

His eyes darkened as he studied her before slowly shaking his head. “Thanks for the offer, but it’s firmly against protocol. However, if you want to throw me a pillow and sheet, I would greatly appreciate it.”

Both disappointed and relieved, she returned to her bedroom area and checked the cabinets until she found one with extra silk sheets. She chose the flat sheet, pulled a giant pillow from the bed, and returned, only to discover Steve already stretched out on the couch with his eyes closed.

“I’m going to lift your head and put a pillow beneath it, so don’t kill me,” she said.

A faint smile came to his lips.

She knelt down and gently lifted his head, moved the couch pillows away, and settled his handsome face upon the giant pillow.

“Thanks,” he murmured.

She then flapped out the sheet and draped it over him. “Sleep well.” On impulse, she bent down and kissed his cheek.

He made no response, but he still had his angelic smile. She stared at him a long while. He was possibly the best-looking guy she’d ever met, and he seemed really nice…but then so did her four ex-fiancés.

Once in bed, she dreamt she and Steve fell in love and ignored the protocols, only somehow the FBI found out about it and pulled Steve off her case. When the new agent arrived, it was Traver. He declared the apartment unsafe because she had leased it in her name. His solution was she buy a lakeside mansion but put it in his name so no one would find her. He also insisted she buy a Mercedes Benz sports car in his name. A week later, he declared the FBI didn’t have the manpower to continue babysitting her and told her to leave…on foot.

Consequently, she woke up in a bad mood, angry not just with Traver for being a con-artist, but with herself for falling for the same shit all over again.

Fortunately, hunger distracted her, so she went in search of a kitchen—having determined it wasn’t in her master bedroom. She found the laundry room, a storage room, and finally, the kitchen. It had a row of glass door refrigerators and freezers, but sadly, no food. Why would anyone require so much food storage? She’d have to empty half a grocery store to fill them up.

Familiar hands settled on her waist. “What are you doing?” Steve asked.

“Trying to imagine how many people would have to be stuffed into the bat cave—and for how long—to justify this kitchen.”

A soft laugh erupted from him, and she was pretty sure he kissed the back of her head.

She turned to face him. “Do you, by chance, have Sheriff Cobb’s number?”

His brow furrowed. “I do.”

“May I have it? I need to apologize for not calling him.”

He opened his mouth, but she placed a finger over his lips. “I also need to ask for the address of the shop where my rental is located so I can call the rental place and let them know what happened and where they can pick up their crappy car.”

He removed her finger from his lips. “The car is evidence. Hopefully, it’s being taken into impound today.” He huffed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe how hard it is to get anything done in this state if your family hasn’t lived here for a hundred years.”

“Can I still have the number to apologize?”

He opened his phone and read off the number, which she put into her phone. She then called Sheriff Cobbs.

“This is Lee,” a firm voice replied.

“Sheriff Cobbs, this is Meg Williams. I’m so sorry I didn’t call you before now. Things have been a bit crazy.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, sir, I’m fine.”

“Is Traver with you?”

“No, sir.” She couldn’t tell this nice old man the “good boy” he’d sent her off with was a damn con artist who’d ripped her off for thirty-eight grand and then skipped town.

“He may have gone off with one of his friends fishing. I leased him a truck to make up for the one I broke.”

The sheriff’s tone hardened. “You didn’t break nothing. Someone tampered with the car. Didn’t Agent Williams tell you?”

She glanced at Steve and smiled. “Yes, sir, he mentioned it.”

A long sigh blew through the phone, then the sheriff spoke, his voice calmer now. “Still, I’m sure Traver appreciates the truck. How long did you lease it for?”

“A year.” She grimaced, expecting him to scold her.

“Thank you. It’ll give him time to recover.”

“Recover from what?”

“The garage burnt down last night destroying everything inside.”

“Including the rental?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I sure do wish the FBI would have picked up the car sooner. They might have been able to recover prints, but it’s water under the bridge now.”

“Did you tell Agent Williams about this?”

“Not yet. We just got the fire under control. We’ve been battling it all night. Sure could have used Traver’s help. It’s not like him not to respond to the fire sire
n
.
Did he say where they were fishing?”

“No, sir. I’ve no idea where he went.”

“Who’d he go with?”

“A guy at the Ford place, Jimmy Decker, I think.”

“I’ll call his father and see if he knows where the boys have gone off to.”

“When you speak to him, tell him Meg said hi and thanks for being so fair with me on the car.”

“I will.”

The moment she hung up, Steve snatched her phone. “What the hell are you doing? You don’t taunt the mafia!”

“I wasn’t.”

He echoed her last words to the sheriff. “Thanks for being so fair?”

“Oh…it does sound like a taunt. I meant for it to sound like ‘you ripped me off, which I didn’t appreciate, but I’m not going to make a fuss about it’.”

He sighed and stared at the ceiling. “People like Drecker don’t need to be told you aren’t going to make an issue over the matter. They assume it to be the case. They rip off people every day, none of whom like it, but most have the sense to shut their mouth and move on.”

“Why would he assume I wouldn’t go to the police? I didn’t know he was mafia.”

“Had you realized you didn’t have the keys to your car and gone to Drecker’s dealership, which doesn’t even sell Subaru’s, they would have denied ever seeing you before. When the police checked out the car you claimed to have bought, it would have come up stolen. If the cop works with Drecker, he would have warned you to walk away and stop making false accusations against prominent businessmen, or if you preferred, he could arrest you for car theft.”

“Wow. He probably does get by with this all the time. But after a while, wouldn’t everyone know better than to buy anything from him?”

“Which is why Traver brought him the new girl in town.”

“New
stupid
girl…” she muttered.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her from the kitchen back to the living room. “You aren’t stupid. You just aren’t crime savvy. And living in Danville, you didn’t have to be. Other than a few crooked councilmen and a rowdy bunch of teens, your community has to be one of the most law-abiding towns I’ve ever seen.”

She’d barely sat on the couch when her phone rang. He looked at the caller and frowned. “It’s your lawyer.”

She held out her hand, but he wouldn’t pass it over. “You cannot mention anything I’ve told you.”

“I wasn’t going to.”

“No secret message taunts.”

“Just give me the phone. I’ll be good. I’m from Danville.”

He smiled and passed it over.

“Hello?”

“Meg, I got worried when you didn’t answer the phone right away.”

“I was in the bathroom.”

“Ah, well, I’ve managed to pull all the players together for a Wednesday meeting at noon in the governor’s conference room. The place will be secure, so you don’t need to bring your security guy.” Why was he calling Steve “security”? He knew he was FBI.

She pressed the speaker phone, so Steve could hear. “I’ll let my ‘security guy’ know the meeting will be in a safe place, but he may still want to come.”

“Why?”

“Well, since my safety increases once we complete this donation, I think he’d like to check out anyone not helping to get it done.

Steve’s brow furrowed.

“Did he tell you that?” Joe asked.

“No. I just get the feeling he’d like this assignment to be over.”

“Well, I advise against him coming. It will weaken your position, which is not very strong, anyway.”

His last statement pissed her off. “I think my position is very strong. I’m offering the state free land that will generate revenue and jobs plus a good deal of money to fund it into perpetuity.”

“And a good many conditions, which will anger certain people.”

“Which people?”

“Barkman, for one. There is no way he’s going agree to hire Tess.”

“Why didn’t you bring this up before?”

“I have brought it up before.”

Had she just stepped into an alternative universe? “No, you haven’t.”

“I most certainly did in our first meeting. You evidently forgot. Not surprising with all the stuff going on in your life right now. If you want, I can handle matters from here. In fact, it might be better if you don’t attend this first meeting if you insist upon bringing security.”

“Joe.”

“Yes?”

“If you have any meetings about this land donation without me, I
will
fire you.”

Steve gave her a thumbs up for her hard stand.

“What?”

“I wish to be involved in all meetings. I understand you feel there are some I should not attend if I have security, but it’s not your say. So I want to be very clear about the consequences if you act against my wishes.”

“Then fire me now,” he challenged.

“I don’t want to, but if you’re telling me you won’t abide to my request that I attend all meetings, then you are fired as of now.”

“Hold on. I never said you couldn’t come to the meetings. I just advised against bringing security.”

“And I told you I heard your advice and chose to ignore it. So do you wish to continue this case or shall I find another lawyer?”

“There are no other lawyers who can do this.”

“I’m sure I can find someone who thinks he or she can.”

“You’ll just spin your wheels and nothing will get done.”

“Then I’ll give up on the state and open those woods as a private park.”

“What?” he yelped.

“I’ll make it a private park.”

“It’ll never happen. Without the state, you can’t get roads into those woods.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised what I can do,” she growled. “Those woods go to the Mississippi River and border Wisconsin and Illinois. I can bring tourists over in small boats if necessary.”

“Not if Iowa claims imminent domain of your lands.”

“On what grounds?”

“According to Jeffrey, there are Indian mounds in those woods.”

“Possibly, given its location. But I’ll take the case all the way to Supreme Court if they try to claim any of my lands on a vague possibility there might be a mound somewhere on the property. And assuming you can find a lump or two which may or may not be mounds, you cannot take the two hundred thousand acres around it. So I can create a private park, anyway.” Now he’d riled her up, so she gave him no chance to respond.

“But before you can claim my land, you have to find and verify there are Indian mounds, and unless Jeffrey knows exactly where they are, you could spend years searching, which you’ll have to do from the air, because until then, it’s my private property.”

After a long pause, he replied, his voice considerably softer. “Meg, I’m not the enemy here. I’m on your side. I told you from the first time I heard your plan that I loved it.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “Since you were stating, vehemently, why I can’t do things, I assumed you were playing devil’s advocate. So I responded to the devil.”

Steve walked away so he could chuckle without being heard while another long pause came from her unfaithful lawyer.

“I’ll keep you informed of all meetings,” he stated, his words curt and tense.

“I would like a list of the attendees of the next meeting emailed to me at once.”

“I’ll send them once the meeting is confirmed.”

“No. Send them now.”

“I don’t know who’s coming,” he snapped.

“Joe. You began this conversation stating you had the meeting set up for Wednesday at noon.”