Shadow of Suspicion Page 14

Laney shook her head, nibbling on her fingernails, a bad habit that Nate used to always call her out on. “I’m telling you, there’s no record of her birth. However—Sol spoke a different language, and he spoke it fluently. I wonder if he’s lived somewhere else?”

  Mark began pacing again, obviously feeling stressed out. Laney wished she could urge him to sit down. Maybe rub his shoulders. Do something to make him feel better.

  But she knew she couldn’t. She’d be overstepping her bounds. Despite the connection she felt with him, their relationship was strictly professional.

  She’d be wise to continue to remind herself of that.

  “The fact is that I can’t bring up anything that we saw. If there’s a case against Sol, it can’t include that information we found illegally at his house. It would be thrown out in court.”

  “So what do we do?”

  He rubbed his chin and let out a long sigh. “We have to find other evidence—the legal way.”

  “How?”

  He nodded resolutely. “First thing in the morning, I’m going to go talk to him.”

  She twirled around in the chair so she could face Mark, so he could see her eyes. “I want to go with you.”

  He shook his head, leaving no room for doubt. “You can’t. For so many reasons. Most of all, we need for you to remain hidden. It’s imperative on more than one level. Do you understand?” His gaze locked on hers.

  After a moment of thought she nodded. “Yes, I understand.”

  This was one argument she wouldn’t win. She could see it in his expression, and he had a point—if someone was to abduct her and was able to manipulate her to use her abilities, they’d all be in trouble.

  * * *

  Upstairs there was a small sitting area with a couch and a TV. After Laney had finished on the computer, she and Mark sat there. He’d fixed them both some coffee, which she desperately needed in order to stay awake after the exhausting night had begun to stretch into the early morning.

  “Can I ask you something?” Mark turned toward her and took a sip of his coffee. Laney realized that they were sitting closer than she’d planned. Close enough that she could feel his body heat, smell his piney scent. Near enough that she could easily reach up and feel the scruff on his cheek.

  Not that she would do that.

  She cleared her throat, urging her thoughts to stay on track. “Of course you can ask me something. Anything.”

  “At your house after Sarah had been abducted, you noticed that one section of the fence was uneven. How?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve always had an eye for detail.”

  “My guys checked it. The fence was only off by half an inch.”

  She shrugged again. “I know it sounds weird but, at times, I have a neurotic obsession with what I notice. For example, did you know that one of your eyebrows is higher than the other? Or that, on the first day we met, I knew right away by how your tie was knotted that you’re left-handed. Devon—the other guard downstairs—he recently got divorced. I can still see the lines from his wedding ring.”

  Mark nodded as if impressed. “You do have amazing powers of observation.”

  “I’ve always had an eye for things that are out of place,” she reminisced. “It used to drive Nate crazy. There was one time he put new tile in our bathroom. Honestly, it looked great. I wasn’t going to say anything. But he noticed me looking at one spot, and eventually coerced me into admitting that the tile there was crooked. I try to stop myself. I really do. I’m usually not successful, though.”

  “I suppose that quality helps you when working with technology?”

  “It does. I have to look for weaknesses in certain code. This is just the way God wired me. I used to want to change it, but now I just try to use it for good.”

  “I can admire that.” He paused for a moment and studied her face. “You still miss your husband, don’t you?”

  She glanced down at her coffee mug, absently rubbing the side. “I do. I always will. But I also know that part of my life is behind me. I can’t bring Nate back. He wouldn’t want me holding on too tightly to the past. One of his favorite mottoes was Seize the Day.”

  “It’s a good mantra to live by, especially with all the uncertainties in life.”

  She nodded, feeling a desperate need to change the subject. “How about you? You said you once came close to being married?”

  He leaned back slightly as if more comfortable talking about Laney than himself. “Before my sister was abducted, I was living a not-so-admirable life. I was making a lot of money with my job in sales. I used it to impress the ladies. After she died, I dove into anything I could to drown the pain. I took it to an all new level. One day, it was like a switch flipped in me and I realized I had to...seize the day, I suppose.”

  “I can’t even imagine you being anything but purposeful.”

  He heaved in a breath. “You might be surprised. After I joined the police force, I did meet someone. Her name was Chrystal. She was broken down on the side of the road, and I stopped to help her. We had an instant attraction.”

  “What happened?”

  “I was in the middle of a big trial—the biggest in my career, up to that point. It was a woman who’d killed two people as she drove under the influence of drugs. This woman denied it. She claimed one of the prescriptions she was taking had an adverse effect on her. It was a hard case with a lot of circumstantial evidence.”

  Laney waited, curious to know where his story was going.

  “It turned out that Chrystal was an old friend of this woman who was on trial. She’d been going through my notes whenever I turned my back. She was trying to find something that would clear her friend. A mistake I made. Procedural errors.”

  “She was using you?”

  He pressed his lips together. “Unfortunately.”

  “How did you realize it?”

  “I caught her going through some of my notes one day at the office. She’d stopped by for a visit—she did that often—and when I stepped away for a minute, she got nosy. She denied it at first, but then I started looking into her background. I realized that she had gone to the same high school as the defendant, and that they’d graduated the same year. That’s when I broke things off with her.”

  “I can’t imagine...”

  “It wasn’t my best moment.”

  “You couldn’t have known.”

  “No, but I put a case in jeopardy, and I never want to do that again.”

  Something about his words made her jolt. Was he talking about her, as well? Did he think that his relationship with her was compromising this investigation?

  “That makes perfect sense,” she finally managed to get out. “Work is the most important thing. I mean, not work. People are—”

  “I understand, Laney.” His words sounded so gentle that they helped calm her anxiety.

  “I’m rambling, aren’t I?” She offered a sheepish smile.

  He grinned. “Just a little.”

  “Sorry.”

  His smile faded, and he leaned closer, lowered his voice. “You know, when all of this is over, I’d like to get to know you outside of this investigation, Laney Ryan.”

  Did he mean it? Especially given what he’d just said about the other case that he’d put in jeopardy. All along she’d thought her attraction was one-sided.

  They stared at each other a moment. She could see it in his eyes that he wanted to kiss her. The thought made her breath catch.

  They both leaned toward each other. Laney’s heart reached into her throat, pounded into her ears, raced with anticipation.

  Just as suddenly as it started, Mark pulled back and jumped to his feet. “I’d better get to bed before I do something I shouldn’t.”

  Laney stood, feeling entirely too self-conscio
us. “Right. Of course. Me too.”

  He studied her another moment before taking a step back. “Good night, Laney.”

  She swallowed hard. “Good night, Mark.”

  That had been close. Too close. Even more confusing was the fact that, for a moment, she’d wished Mark hadn’t stopped.

  She knew one thing for sure: At least for tonight, the nightmares would take a backseat to dreams about Mark.

  FIFTEEN

  First thing the next morning, after a good night’s rest, Mark and Jim met with Sol at his home. According to Jim, no money had been withdrawn from Sol’s account and, even though the kidnappers had promised Sarah would be returned after he dropped off the jump drive, Sol claimed he hadn’t heard from them again. He’d been apologetic about taking matters into his own hands, but had claimed he was desperate.

  “You’re looking into me? I’m a suspect?” Sol’s face reddened as he sat across from them at his kitchen table. The man looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep in months. His hair, usually thin and too long on top, didn’t lay in place, his shirt was wrinkled and bags hung under his eyes.

  “No one said you were a suspect.” Mark was careful to keep his voice even. “We’re just exploring every angle possible right now. We don’t want to leave any stone unturned.”

  “We thought maybe something in your past connected with this case,” Jim said. “We have to examine everything. You want that, don’t you? For us to do whatever it takes for Sarah to come back?”

  Sol sighed and hung his head before pinching the skin between his eyes. He seemed to be processing what they’d said and contemplating his options. Finally, he looked up, but his eyes looked burdened. “The fact is that I adopted Sarah.”

  Mark blinked, surprised at his revelation. “That’s not what we heard.”

  Sol rubbed his fingers together on the table, a new melancholy washing over him. “I told Sarah that her mother died in childbirth. I didn’t want her to ask too many questions or to make her feel like she’d been abandoned. But I adopted her at two years old. She doesn’t even remember life without me.”

  “So you were never married?” Mark asked.

  Sol shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid no woman would ever have me. I’m a bit of a bear to live with sometimes. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want to have children.”

  Mark examined Sol as he spoke. He didn’t show any signs of depression—only signs of grief. Had he really been this off base? Had he been listening to Laney too much? “Do you have paperwork to prove this?”

  Sol raised his chin. “Of course. Would you like to see it?”

  “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  “I’ll find the information you requested, but you’re wasting valuable time.” Sol’s nostrils flared. “My Sarah is out there. Someone has her. And with every second that passes, I fear I’ll never get her back.”

  “I assure you that we’re working on it.”

  “Shouldn’t you be questioning Laney? She should be behind bars now.”

  “You’ve got to believe us when we say we’re doing our jobs,” Jim said. “Now, that information? Please?”

  Mark let out the breath he’d been holding as Sol disappeared upstairs. That had been uncomfortable. He was used to asking difficult questions in his role as detective, but turning the tables on a victim—making them feel like a bad guy—was one of the worst feelings ever.

  Mark let out a long breath as he relived sneaking into Sol’s house yesterday. It could have turned out badly. Very badly. He and Laney had escaped with new insight, but now he had to figure out the best way to use that intel without showing his hand.

  Sol was acting suspicious, though. He couldn’t deny the possibility that Sol was hiding something. Speaking in a foreign language, those driver’s licenses, the drop-off that he didn’t mention to the police...those things raised some red flags.

  “I can understand why he wouldn’t be forthcoming with this data. Especially if he didn’t think it affected Sarah. He didn’t want to risk it being leaked,” Jim said, tapping his pen on the table. “Finding out you’re adopted can shake up a person. My wife found out when she was ten that she was adopted as an infant. She went to counseling for two years for abandonment issues.”

  Mark flexed his jaw as he processed Jim’s comment. “But that fact could be a major factor in this kidnapping. What if the birth mother is involved in all of this?”

  “The birth mother wouldn’t ask for a ransom.”

  “You never know what people will do. We’ve been surprised on many occasions. There are people who kill for love. People who steal in order to afford food. Others who think they’re doing what’s best for their child by abusing them. Deep inside, perpetrators are able to justify their actions, from the harmless to the devastating.”

  “I can’t argue that.”

  Mark glanced at Jim, studying his partner’s face. The man was smart. He’d been a cop for a decade longer than Mark, and he’d always trusted his opinion, even if he could be a hothead at times.

  “Have you heard any updates on those men we shot yesterday?” Mark asked, remembering the invasion at Trent’s house.

  Jim shook his head. “We still haven’t been able to locate them.”

  At that moment, Sol pounded back down the stairs with papers in hand. He slapped them on the table. “There. Are you happy now?”

  Mark picked up the document on top. It was a contract with an adoption agency. His name was there as well as Sarah’s and it looked legitimate. Maybe this was another dead end. What if Jim was right? Had Laney planned this to buy more time? Was she just like his ex-fiancée—a master at manipulating things?

  He mentally gave his head a little shake as he remembered the various attempts on her life. Maybe she was just as much a victim here as Sarah. There were a lot of facts and speculation that he needed to sift through.

  “I’m sorry we bothered you with this, Mr. Novak,” Mark said.

  He scowled, as if Mark’s apology meant nothing. “I insist that we keep this between us. When Sarah comes home, I don’t want her to find out she was adopted. Not like this. She’s already been through enough.”

  “I understand.” Mark stood but paused before stepping toward the door. “Just a few more questions. Where did you move here from, Mr. Novak?”

  His steely gaze met his. “Detroit.”

  “And are you thinking about moving again?”

  He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve thought about it. Why? Is that a crime?”

  “Your daughter mentioned to her friend that you might be moving soon.”

  “My daughter can be nosy and overreact. That idea was simply thrown out as a possibility. Nothing was definite.”

  “And could you run through the scenarios with me one more time—about what happened yesterday when you left the envelope in the park? We’re trying to identify the brunette who took the package you left.”

  His scowl deepened. “I’ve been through this multiple times already. I’ve already explained myself. These scumbags said if I got the police involved, Sarah would be killed. I wasn’t willing to risk that. There was a jump drive inside with my bank information and pin numbers.”

  “I understand,” Mark said.

  Sol wasn’t finished. “But you guys got involved anyway, and now you’ve probably ruined everything. These men—women—probably think I’m working with you. If Sarah dies, her death is on your hands.”

  Jim cut a glance at Mark and raised a hand, interceding between the two men. “We just don’t want to miss anything. We realize this is stressful for you.”

  He glared and leaned closer. “You have no idea.”

  “We’re not trying to cause you more distress,” Jim continued.

  “Well, you are. Now I could use some privacy. If you
have questions about the drop I made yesterday, then refer to the notes I already gave the FBI.”

  Mark’s thoughts felt heavy as they stepped outside. As they reached his sedan, Jim turned toward him.

  “So what happened yesterday? We didn’t have time to talk before you were shuttled off and hidden away.”

  Mark gave him a rundown on the events that had led up to Laney going into hiding. Maybe his partner would have some insight or see something Mark hadn’t. This whole case grew bigger by the moment.

  “So let me get this right. This chick—Laney, right?—she suddenly becomes proficient at shooting a gun?” Jim’s eyebrows hung suspended.

  “So she got a burst of adrenaline and wanted to defend herself. What’s weird about that?”

  “It just doesn’t fit with what I know about her. I thought she was some kind of computer geek.”

  “She went to MIT. She’s brilliant when it comes to technology.”

  Jim leveled his gaze. “She could have arranged all of this, you know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If she’s so smart, she could hack into whatever systems she wanted and change details to fit her story.”

  “If she was doing that, why wouldn’t she conceal her text messages and email and bank accounts better?”

  Jim shrugged, looking unconvinced. “You tell me. She’s smart. Smart people can be conniving. You need to keep that in mind. It seems like the two of you are getting close.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m just keeping an eye on her.”

  Jim gave him a knowing look. “Is that what they call it these days?”

  Mark felt himself bristle. “That is all I’m doing.”

  “Well, the woman’s nice to look at. I just don’t want her to pull the wool over your eyes. I know a lot of good cops who’ve made bad decisions because of a woman.

  “There’s something I think you should see,” Jim said.

  “What’s that?”

  “Arnold—our new tech guy—was able to find some erased documents on Laney’s computer. There were some email messages I think you’ll find interesting.” He handed Mark some papers.