Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133531 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 668(@200wpm)___ 534(@250wpm)___ 445(@300wpm)
Harvey scratched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve known Jarrod since we were kids.”
That wasn’t an answer. People betrayed friends. Lovers. They broke hearts. Grief nearly overwhelmed her.
“Why were you at the apartments, Harvey?”
She shouldn’t ask. She had no business asking. It was stupid. She’d just told him she wanted nothing to do with him, but she asked anyway. What was the old saying? Curiosity killed the cat? If what Gideon told her about him was the truth, it made no sense that Harvey would be in the lower-rent apartments. He supposedly owned estates worth millions.
“Someone’s been methodically killing key people in our organizations. We never meet in person, and we thought if we did meet somewhere no one would ever consider we would go, we could figure it out. We didn’t want to use phones or email. Nothing traceable. Nowhere we could be overheard.”
“Were you able to figure out who was killing off your people?”
“Not who was doing the killing. But we began to suspect who was providing the information where our people were going to be so they could be killed. Movement was always a closely guarded secret, and few people knew.”
“Someone close had to betray all of you.”
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Usually a woman. Someone close. Someone you love and trust.” He looked sad. “That’s why I told the others not to take that chance. Not to fall. Betrayal is the worst pill to swallow.”
To her horror, for one terrible moment, tears burned and shimmered in her eyes. She swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded. “Sadly, I do have to agree, although I’ll say men are just as capable of betrayal as women. Don’t put your trust in them either.”
There was a long silence. Harvey turned away from her to look out over the flowers lining both sides of the path before he spoke again. “That man is an idiot for letting someone like you go.”
“I’m not such a prize, but thank you, Harvey. You know who betrayed all of you?”
“Jarrod had a woman living with him. Met her a few years ago and fell hard. She was in it for his money, but he couldn’t see it. She cheated on him with a cop. Ret, Dustin and I had her tailed after we started losing our key people and had narrowed our suspects. Unfortunately, Jarrod wouldn’t believe us. I think he confronted her.”
Rory’s heart stuttered. “Please tell me she wasn’t seeing Ramsey.”
Harvey shook his head. “Not Ramsey. We didn’t know who she was seeing. Ramsey was a good cop.”
Rory had the distinct impression that Harvey might have been working with Ramsey to uncover who had been murdering the key people in his organization. Would a criminal do that? Could he do that and not incriminate himself?
“Can’t you just ask her? Did Jarrod ask her?”
“She’s dead. And no, Jarrod didn’t kill her. We believe her lover did.”
Icy fingers trailed down her spine. Harvey was telling her the woman’s cop lover had murdered her. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want the cops or anyone else to see us talking together. The police already suspect I work for you.”
“No one knows you’re here. My men ran interference to keep you from being followed. The cops are a little thin to keep twenty-four-hour surveillance on you. Carver and Westlake are usually the ones to follow you, but they’re busy a lot of the time. They have two friends, retired cops now, Bill Morris and Jerome Michigan, who take turns keeping an eye on you for them when they can’t. None of them can stay on you all the time. Most of the time it’s your man’s friends. They’re harder to spot. We tried investigating them, but they’re ghosts. That means they’re government. Or CIA. Or worse.”
“He’s not my man anymore. I told you, I’m leaving. I’m putting in my notice tonight, and once I work that out, I’ll be gone. Why did you tell me all this?”
“Because I think you’re being set up right along with me. Everything is pointing in that direction. You’re the logical choice. The more knowledge you have, the better the chance you have of protecting yourself. I’m worried about you and your friends staying at the apartments. Particularly the two with the kids. I know you don’t like me or what I do, Rory, but sometimes you need a safe place to go. I’m going to give you a key and a number. That’s it. If you and the women and kids need to get away and hide somewhere, just call the number, get into a car and start driving north. You’ll get instructions on where a safe house is. My people will run interference. The house will be stocked with everything you need for a couple of weeks. Think of it as a vacation.”