Special Assignment Page 10

Cassie gave him an innocent look. What time is it?

  In the past day, she’d largely given up signing. The fact that she was returning to it now made Mike all the more uneasy. He checked his watch. Eleven o’clock, he signed back.

  Then there’s still time.

  He braced himself, waiting for the other shoe to fall. Time for what?

  Blackjack.

  Suddenly her signing made sense. She didn’t want Evangeline or one of the others in the office to overhear her plan. He should have known. He thought about how she ran out onto the road when he’d stopped Durgin, no thought for her own safety. He could see why her family would worry about her, but it didn’t have anything to do with her deafness. The woman needed a keeper.

  Good thing that was his assignment.

  He shook his head. We’re going to the ranch. I want you where I know you’ll be safe.

  I don’t need to huddle at your ranch the whole night in order to be safe. I need to find out what is going on. She shot him a determined glare. I’m going to find Lila Strotsky, no matter what you and Evangeline say. Now you can be my backup or get out of the way.

  Mike let out a breath. He had the feeling it was going to be a long night.

  MIKE AND CASSIE STRODE down Eureka Street toward Main. He could feel the weight of the pistol holstered on his belt with each step. He surveyed the flat, gingerbread facades of the restored gold-mining town, waiting…

  For what? A Russian mobster to spring out from one of the casinos or gift shops like an Old West gun-fighter and gun them down in the streets?

  He forced a breath of thin mountain air. He couldn’t let his worry for Cassie’s safety make him paranoid. He had to get focused. He touched Cassie’s arm. “So what are you planning to learn from Lila Strotsky that you don’t think Sara can get from the FBI?”

  “I want to know if she works with the Russian mob and if they are the ones behind this blind trust.”

  “Oh, that’s all. Nothing like being ambitious. You don’t think she’s just going to tell you, do you?”

  “No. But I saw how you handled Durgin. I figure she’ll tell you.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and grinned.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence. But if Lila is involved with the mob, she’s not going to be that easy to handle.”

  “Then threaten her.”

  “With what?”

  “Jail. For selling drugs to Durgin. Tell her you’ll call the police, just like you did with Durgin.”

  “I don’t think she’ll be scared, Cassie. The Russian mob has a habit of buying police.” He stopped in his tracks. His heart throbbed loud in his ears. Why in the hell hadn’t he made that connection before?

  “What is it?”

  “The Dirty Three. You know, the narcotics detectives I turned in to Internal Affairs.”

  “You think they might be tied to the Russian mob?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe. I lost my gun the night they used me for a punching bag, then it turned up in Kardascian’s murder. I don’t think anyone in their right mind could believe in a coincidence like that.”

  “So the Dirty Three work for whoever is controlling this blind trust?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe they’re on that list of investors. Hard to tell.” Suddenly he wanted very much to talk to Lila Strotsky. Even if Sara Montgomery’s contacts could give them more information than he and Cassie could likely get tonight, he needed to find out whatever he could right away.

  He needed to know who to trust.

  They continued walking to the intersection of Main and Eureka Streets and turned into the historic Teller House. Finding their way into the casino, they located the blackjack tables.

  “Care to play?” A dark-skinned dealer with a wide, pink lipsticked smile motioned them over to her table.

  Mike stepped up to the padded rail. The air was alive with the chime of electronic bells and blips of slot machines. He leaned close and asked, “Is Lila working?”

  “I think so.” The smiling dealer glanced around the tables. “Oh, I guess she’s not.”

  “Do you know where we can find her? We really need to talk to her. I’m Detective Lawson of the Denver PD and this is Agent Allen.” He could feel Cassie smile at the title he’d given her.

  The dealer’s smile turned wary. “She’s not in any trouble, is she?”

  “No. It’s just routine. We think she might have witnessed a car accident.”

  The dealer nodded, her smile returning with toothpaste-commercial brilliance. “Ask at the bar. Sophie, the bartender, is a friend of Lila’s.”

  “Thanks.”

  Inside The Face Bar, Cassie stopped at a small wood railing protecting a square of plank floor. “It’s the painting. The Face On The Barroom Floor. The one they say a cowboy painted while pining for his lost love.”

  Mike followed her gaze. Sure enough, the famous face area legends had been spun over stared up at him. A woman with the same heart-shaped face, sparkling eyes and curly auburn hair as Cassie.

  His throat suddenly pinched. He didn’t know how the cowboy in the legend had lost this woman he loved, but he didn’t really want to find out. He didn’t want to think about it at all. Hell, he’d heard that legend wasn’t even true.

  He brushed Cassie’s arm with his fingertips. “There’s the bartender.”

  She tore her focus from the portrait and followed him to the bar.

  “Welcome to The Face Bar. What can I get you?” The bartender’s smile was almost as blinding as the blackjack dealer’s.

  “We’re looking for Lila.”

  “You’re interested in a puppy?”

  A puppy? Mike nodded. Might as well play along. “Very interested. Lila said she’d be working tonight. We were going to talk puppies.”

  “She was scheduled to work. But she called off at the last minute.” The woman looked from him to Cassie. “So you two are looking to adopt one of those cute little dogs, huh? They’re so adorable.”

  “I can’t wait to see them.” Cassie nodded, playing right along. “Do you have any idea how we can get in touch with her?”

  “She had some flyers around here.” The bartender’s blond head ducked behind the bar. When she came up, she had a flyer in her hand.

  Mike took the piece of paper. A fluffy little poodlelike dog stared out at him. Not exactly a ranch dog. He looked down the page. Printed on the bottom was Lila’s name and a phone number.

  “She stays up late,” the bartender was saying. “You can probably still call her now.”

  Mike nodded. “Thanks.” But calling wasn’t what he had in mind. He would have Grady plug it into the reverse directory and give him the address.

  TRADER GULCH ROAD was a long stretch that twisted through the mountains. Beautiful country in the daytime. A precarious, dark maze at night. As Mike wound around hairpin turns and looked over cliffs falling to black, all he could think about was how much he wished he had his truck.

  “It shouldn’t be much farther,” Cassie said. She pointed to a house number at the base of a driveway that led to a house on the top of the ridge.

  “Anytime would be nice,” he said between gritted teeth as he followed the road around another impossible turn.

  “Look.” Cassie pointed up the road.

  Red and blue lights pulsed through the darkness, making the branches of budding aspen stand in stark relief, like black skeletons.

  Mike took his foot off the gas, letting the car slow to a crawl. They rounded the curve ahead.

  Two Gilpin County Sheriff’s cars clustered around a driveway, light bars flashing. The driveway snaked up to a mansion clinging to the side of the rising mountain. A deputy stood by the cars, stretching a ribbon of yellow crime-scene tape across the driveway’s mouth and tying it off around a mailbox marked with the name Strotsky.

  Chapter Eleven

  Cassie’s heart pulsed in time with the flashing police lights. Pressure bore down on her chest, making it hard to breathe. “My God. Do you th
ink she’s dead?”

  Mike’s face looked pale in the light from the dash and the pulsing red and blue. “We aren’t going to wait around to find out. The last thing I want to do is try to explain why we’re showing up at another crime scene.” He shifted the car into Reverse, backing around the bend until he found a spot on the shoulder to turn around.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To the ranch. Where I know you’ll be safe.”

  Safe. What had sounded like hovering just a few hours ago sounded good now. Probably too good. She shook her head, banishing the image of breaking down in the doorway last night. Taking in a deep breath, she gripped her thighs with shaking hands. She was going to remain strong this time, prove what she was made of, that she didn’t need hovering and coddling and special favors to deal with anything life threw at her.

  Even murder.

  She focused on the questions buzzing in her mind. “Do you think it could be the Russian mob? Do you think they hurt her? Or worse?”

  “She sure isn’t able to afford that house on what she makes as a blackjack dealer. And we know she got heroin from somewhere.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “Hold on.” Mike pulled off on a side road and took his cell phone from his belt. He flipped it open, punched in a number and held the phone to his ear. After a few beats, he nodded. “Grady. Remember that address you found for me? Looks like something’s going on that I need you to look into.”

  Mike related what they’d found and Lila Strotsky’s name and address to his partner. “Thanks, buddy. I owe you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Again.” He folded the phone.

  “He’s going to call back?”

  “He’s going to find out what he can.” Mike pulled the car back on the road leading to his ranch. “He said there was a report of a homicide in Gilpin County.”

  “That has to be it, doesn’t it. With that many sheriff’s cars, what else could it be?”

  “We’ll wait and see.”

  They didn’t have to wait too long. Barely fifteen minutes had passed when Mike pulled off and reached for his phone. “Lawson.”

  Cassie watched his expression, his face unchanging in the green glow of the dash. He murmured a few words into the phone, meaningless yeses and “I see.”

  Cassie dug her fingertips into her thighs. There were countless times over the years that she wished she could still hear. But none were more sharp and urgent than right now.

  Finally he stowed the phone and turned to face her. “She’s dead. Killed sometime tonight. They can’t be sure when.”

  Cassie leaned back in her seat. The tremble that had started when she saw the police lights swept over her in force. Another murder. “How did they know we were looking for her? The casino?”

  Mike shook his head. “Not if the sheriff was already at the scene. Not enough time.”

  “Maybe she was on the list of investors in that blind trust.”

  Mike shook his head. “Durgin was supposed to be next, if he can be believed. I suspect she could provide the link between Kardascian and Durgin and whoever it is that’s behind this blind trust.”

  “And they killed her before we could talk to her?”

  “Maybe.”

  “How did they know we found out about her? The only people who knew work for PPS.”

  Mike’s lips didn’t move.

  She shook her head. “It couldn’t be someone at PPS.”

  “I’m not saying it is. Lila was tied to Kardascian and Durgin. That could be reason right there for someone to kill her.”

  Cassie nodded. “Yes. I’m sure that’s it.”

  “Whoever killed her, it’s probably safe to assume she knew something someone wanted to keep quiet.”

  Cassie thought about the mess in her apartment last night. The bullet hitting the brick wall inches from her head. The car rolling quietly past the pedestrian mall, searching for her hiding place. “They wanted to silence Lila. Just like they want to silence me.”

  Mike released the wheel and patted her forearm.

  She knew the gesture was meant to be reassuring, but that familiar longing to curl up in his arms and forget all of this was anything but.

  He withdrew his hand and turned his attention back to the road ahead, leaving a void where his warmth had been.

  Silence hung heavy in the car the rest of the drive to Mike’s ranch. Finally they reached the intersection where they’d confronted Durgin. His BMW was gone, picked up by one of the PPS agents. The whole event felt as if it was so long ago, even though it had been only been a few hours. So much had changed, yet they weren’t any closer to discovering who was behind these murders or the disk or the attempt on her life. The only thing that was really different was now the ominous shadow of the Russian mob loomed on the horizon.

  “This is it.” Mike swung the truck onto a gravel road.

  Ponderosa pine, cottonwood and aspen fell away and a valley opened in front of them. With only light from the stars, she couldn’t make out much of the small ranch, but she did spot what looked like two houses, one with soft light burning in the windows, a couple of structures that looked like barns and what seemed like miles of wood fence. All sides of the valley climbed upward, some sides heavily wooded, some slopes bare grass and rock. “I bet it’s beautiful in the daytime.”

  “It is. It’s a long commute, but I love it here.”

  “How could you afford it? Land like this, in the mountains, it can’t be cheap.”

  “I inherited it. From my mother’s side of the family.”

  It felt good to be talking about normal things. Family. Land. Not mobsters and murder. “How do you run a ranch and work as a police detective?”

  “I don’t. Not really.”

  She gave him a funny look, half confusion, half suspicion he was nuts.

  He chuckled. She might not have been able to hear the sound, but she could feel it in the air around her. She could see it in the slight smoothing of the stress lines around his mouth, illuminated by the dashboard’s soft green light.

  She liked the feeling his laugh gave her, as if she was giving something back to him. A gift he deeply needed.

  His lips formed an explanation. “First, it’s not a working ranch. It’s more of a hobby ranch. We don’t have cattle, just a few horses.”

  “But even just a few horses take a lot of work.”

  “True. We didn’t have any animals until my dad retired from the force. That’s when he moved out here and got into horses. He has six quarter horses now. He was supposed to be breeding and selling them, but he’s more into breeding and keeping them. He lives over there.” He pointed to the house with the light in its window, then swung the truck toward the darkened house. “This is my place.”

  The house looked like a ranch house from an old Western with gray clapboard siding and a porch that encircled three sides of the home. It even had a rocking chair perched near the front door.

  Cassie smiled, soaking in the normalcy of it all like a soothing balm. “It’s charming.”

  “It was my grandparents’ house when I was growing up. I couldn’t bring myself to change anything about it. Well, not much, anyway. I did add a dishwasher.”

  “Smart man.”

  He stopped the car next to the porch steps and they both climbed out into the cool night.

  Cassie drew in a deep breath. There was nothing more fragrant and clean than spring in the mountains. She could see why Mike would deal with the long drive to Denver. Living in a beautiful spot like this was more than worth it.

  Mike pulled the overnight bag Lily had packed for Cassie out of the trunk, led her up the stairs and unlocked the door. Before ushering her inside, he entered a security code into the touch pad inside to turn off the alarm. “All clear.” He motioned her into the house.

  She stepped past him, catching his scent as she brushed by. He smelled as crisp and clean as the air outside. Yet earthy, too. Sensual. The memory of his arms around her, his lips on hers kicked up tha
t tremor in her chest. Suddenly she was hyperaware of how alone they were. Just the two of them. With nothing but the night around them.

  She gave her head a shake. She couldn’t let herself fantasize. That would only lead her places she didn’t want to go. She’d spent too long building her life. Too long learning to be strong. Too long to fall back into the weakness of relying on someone else to take care of her.

  If she ever had a relationship with a man again, she wasn’t going to enter it out of weakness. She wasn’t going to fall for a guy just to feel safe. She wanted a partner, not a protector. And as much as she was starting to feel for Mike, he had protector written all over him. Not just as a result of his role as her bodyguard, but as the most prominent part of his personality. Evangeline ordered me to get some rest, so I’d better get to it.

  She wasn’t sure why she’d returned to signing. Somehow speaking seemed too intimate. And with out knowing how her voice sounded, too out of her control.

  Mike exhaled as if relieved as she was to have the moment broken. He led her through a comfortable if overly manly living room furnished with a gun cabinet, several Western-looking leather chairs and a couch upholstered with a nubby red fabric that looked like burlap. Turning, he climbed the wood-railed staircase next to the mouth of the darkened kitchen and motioned to a door at the end of the hall. “That’s the guest bedroom. And next to it is the bath.”

  “Thanks,” she said abruptly. “Good night.” She ripped her gaze from him and forced her feet to move down the hall, feeling his gaze on her—and the need to return it—all the way.

  CASSIE OPENED the door of the guest bedroom, half-hoping to see Mike out in the hall. The hall was vacant, a light still glowing downstairs from what she guessed was the kitchen.

  Breathing a sigh of relief, she made her way toward the bathroom. She’d slipped on the sweatpants and sweatshirt Lily had packed for her, no doubt making herself look like a dark gray blob. Just as well. The last thing she wanted was to look sexy if Mike happened to run into her on her short trip to the bathroom.

  Reaching the little room, she paused outside. Something didn’t seem right.