Against The Night Part 38

She flicked a glance at her mother, who was busy working away, and walked over to where he stood in the entry. Rick took her hand and led her down the hall into the bedroom he was using.

She stopped and looked up at him. "What is it? You look worried."

He urged her to sit down on the bed then picked his iPad up off the dresser and sat down beside her. "Actually, I'm hopeful. I think we may have found something that will help us end all of this, and there may be a way you can help."

Her eyes found his. She had the loveliest pale green eyes he'd ever seen. "What can I do?"

He set the iPad in his lap. "You've been remembering things. This morning you remembered a little about being on Ortega's plane. It was just a glimpse, you said. So far you haven't remembered anything that happened before your abduction."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"I think maybe it's just too painful for you to recall. But the thing is, we need to know why Ortega took you to that island." He turned the iPad so that she could see the photograph on the screen, a picture of Deputy District Attorney Daniel Turner in a newspaper article he found on the internet.

"Do you know who that is?"

She studied the photo and her breathing grew shallow. "I-I'm not sure."

"Does the name Daniel Turner mean anything to you? You called him Danny."

The color leached out of her face. Her lips trembled. She ran her tongue across them. "Danny?" She looked back down at the screen. "Danny. Oh, my G.o.d, Danny." And then she burst into tears.

Great sobs shook her and a keening sound broke from her throat. Rick's chest clamped down so hard he could barely breathe. He reached for her, eased her into his arms.

"Rachael...honey, it's all right. Everything's going to be okay." He held her, let her weep against his shoulder, made no effort to stop her, just tried to absorb the shaking of her body and lend her the comfort of his own.

They sat that way for several minutes, until her crying began to ease, then finally subsided. She took the handkerchief he pulled out of his pocket, wiped her eyes and blew her nose. A few moments later, she started talking.

"I remember. I was in love with him," Rachael said. "At least I thought I was. I thought he loved me, too." She swallowed. "We were going away together. He had a friend, he said, a man who owned a villa in Belize. It was beautiful, he said, and I was so excited. But Danny... Danny worked in the district attorney's office and I was an exotic dancer. I was going to quit my job at the club, but until I found something more respectable, we had to keep our relations.h.i.+p secret."

She paused, wiped away fresh tears and dragged in a shaky breath.

"Go on, honey," Rick softly urged.

"I used to stay the night at his house whenever we could make our schedules work, but I always left early so no one would know I was there. Then one night...it was late and something woke me, and Danny...Danny wasn't in bed. I could...I could see a light under the door coming from down the hall so I put on one of his s.h.i.+rts and wandered down the hall toward the study. When I realized he wasn't alone, I...I stopped just outside the study door."

Rick took her hand and gave it a rea.s.suring squeeze, urging her to continue.

"There was a mirror on the wall inside the room and I could see two men inside. Danny was talking to them. It took a minute for me to realize they were discussing a s.h.i.+pment of drugs that would be coming into the harbor. They were worried about...about the DEA." Her throat moved up and down. "They said they needed to know if there was a raid coming down. They needed Danny to warn them so they could make adjustments. That's what they called them. Adjustments."

"What did Danny say?"

She looked up at him and those beautiful green eyes flooded with tears. "He said they didn't have to worry. He'd make sure to get them the information they needed. When he told them it would cost them extra, they just...they laughed. One of them said money wasn't a problem."

The tears spilled over onto her cheeks. She mopped them up with his handkerchief. "That's when I knew...I knew the truth about him. I must have made some kind of sound because the next thing I knew, the men were grabbing me, dragging me into the study and telling Danny they would have to kill me."

"But they didn't," Rick said, his jaw clenched so tight it was hard to speak.

"Danny didn't want them to kill me. They talked about it, decided what to do. Danny gave me to Ortega, instead." She leaned toward Rick, slid her arms around his neck. "I would rather have been dead."

Rick wrapped her in his arms and just held her, his heart aching for all she had suffered.

He knew if he got the chance, he would kill Dan Turner with his own bare hands.

As soon as the call came from Vega relaying his conversation with Rachael, Johnnie called Kent Wheeler.

"I've got what you need. Where can we meet?"

"You're at home?"

"That's right."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes."

The lanky agent arrived right on time and Johnnie led him into the kitchen. Amy made a pitcher of iced tea and poured gla.s.ses for Wheeler, Johnnie, Ty and herself. They sat back down around the table.

"So what have you got?" Wheeler asked, taking a drink of tea.

Johnnie told him about finding Rachael's phone and making the call to Turner, repeated Vega's conversation with Rachael, explained that her memory was returning. He told Wheeler the reason for her abduction, who was behind it and why.

"Sounds like we've got more than enough for search warrants for Turner's home and office," Wheeler said. "If we're lucky, we'll find enough to link Danny boy to Rachael's abduction. We've been looking for a leak for weeks. We never thought it would be so close to the top. I'll talk to the district attorney, myself."

"It doesn't stop with Turner," Johnnie said. "I think Mitch Lansky's involved."

"I heard about the shooting. Lansky's been on our radar since before he was transferred out of missing persons. He always seemed to be in the wrong place at just the right time."

"I wonder how Lansky hooked up with Turner? Seems an unlikely partners.h.i.+p."

"We'll figure it out." Wheeler turned to Amy. "I don't want you to worry about Rachael. We'll keep her in protective custody till all of this is straightened out."

Amy smiled with relief. "Thank you. You've been wonderful about everything."

Johnnie caught Amy's hand, brought her fingers to his lips. "It's almost over, baby."

Wheeler drained his iced tea and set the gla.s.s down on the table. "I've got lots to do. I'll keep you posted."

"Thanks, Kent."

"I've gotta run, too," Ty said, finis.h.i.+ng his tea and carrying the gla.s.s over to the sink. Johnnie walked the men out the front door. By the time he returned, his phone was ringing again.

Jake Cantrell's deep voice boomed over the line. "Sol got into that police file, got the info you wanted on d.i.c.kie Talbot."

"Talbot's dead. Police shooting. Detective named Mitch Lansky. Claims Talbot resisted arrest."

"Pretty convenient."

"Too convenient. Good chance Lansky's involved."

"I'll take a chunk of that wager."

"We found Rachael's connection to Ortega. A deputy D.A. she was dating named Daniel Turner."

"So we were right...Rachael overheard something she shouldn't have, and Turner got rid of her."

"Yeah. Turner was in love so he wouldn't let them outright kill her."

"Nice guy. You might be interested to know there's nothing in Talbot's file that connects him to Ortega. He was arrested a half-dozen times, drug dealing mostly, served time for that. Once for a.s.sault, once for attempted kidnapping. Charges were dropped."

"Kidnapping?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Missing Persons would have been involved in that. Lansky was transferred to Homicide out of Missing Persons. That must be how he knew Talbot."

"Actually-" Johnnie could hear paper shuffling "-a lieutenant named Meeks was in charge of the investigation."

And with that last bit of information, the puzzle pieces all fell together. "Listen, I gotta go. Thanks for the info."

"Keep me posted."

"Will do." Johnnie hung up the phone. He stood up, pulled Amy into his arms and kissed her. "Guess who Dan Turner was working with?"

"I thought you said it was Lansky."

"Not exactly. Carla Meeks handled d.i.c.kie Talbot's case, got him off an attempted kidnapping charge in exchange for his services. When Rachael came home, Meeks went to Talbot for help and he hired Henley to kill her. When that went bad, the lieutenant had to get rid of Talbot so no one would make the connection between the two of them."

"What about Lansky?"

"Meeks was Lansky's boss. He's her stooge. Meeks was paying Lansky out of the money she was getting from Turner. Meeks is the reason your sister's disappearance was being glossed over by the department. The lieutenant works for Turner. Turner needed to get rid of Rachael because she found out he worked for Ortega."

"Oh, my G.o.d."

Johnnie phoned Wheeler. He gave the agent all the information without saying how he'd found it, since he didn't want the whiz kid going to jail.

"I'm not telling you I've seen Talbot's file, you understand, I'm just saying if you look at it, you'll find the connection isn't Lansky, it's Lieutenant Carla Meeks."

"I'm on it. With Rachael's cell phone and her statement of what went down, along with Lansky shooting Talbot, we've got enough to bring them in. Good work, my friend."

"Keep me posted." Johnnie hung up the phone. He turned to Amy. "Wheeler's going to let us know as soon as they've been taken into custody. In the meantime, I'll call Vega and bring him up to speed."

"So it's finished."

"Just about."

Amy gave him a halfhearted smile. "That's really great news." She glanced away but not before he caught the resignation in her face. He knew she was happy for her sister. Rachael would be safe and all of this would be over.

But it would also be over for them.

Johnnie figured the sadness in Amy's pretty face was reflected in his own. For now, they were together, but a few days from now, she would be heading back to her life in Grand Rapids.

He looked at her and his insides tightened. Love for her echoed in his very bones.

If they just weren't so different...if they weren't so d.a.m.n far apart. But they were, and it would never work between them. He knew it and so did Amy.

He spent most of the next hour tying up loose ends, making calls, then waiting while Amy talked to her mother and sister. She was smiling, but he could see she was fighting back tears.

When she hung up the phone, he went to her, eased her into his arms. She was so tiny she fit well beneath his chin. He wanted to tell her how much she meant to him, how much he cared, but it wouldn't be fair to either one of them.

Instead, he bent his head and very softly kissed her, hoping he could show her without words the feeling in his heart. Amy went up on her toes and kissed him back. He could feel her trembling and drew her more tightly against him, kissed her even more deeply.

A noise sounded behind them, finally penetrated the haze of his growing need and he broke away.

"Well, now...isn't that touching." Carla Meeks stood in the kitchen doorway, her Glock 9 mil pointed at Johnnie's chest.

Johnnie silently cursed. He should have counted on Turner tipping Carla off to their phone call, should have known she wouldn't go down that easy.

Johnnie eased Amy behind him. "What's this about, Carla?" As if he didn't know. The woman hated his guts. She'd been willing to kill to keep her secrets and now she was there to kill him for destroying her life.

Carla sneered. "Don't give me that c.r.a.p. You know what's G.o.dd.a.m.n going on. Dan called. He told me he got a call from Rachael, but I knew it had to be you and your little wh.o.r.e. I take it you found Rachael's phone."

"We found it. Turner's going down and so are you and Lansky. It's over, Carla. You might as well put down the gun." He had to keep her talking. He needed time to think, try to find an angle. His knife was in his boot, but getting to it wouldn't be easy.

He eased toward her, hoping he could get close enough to knock the pistol out of her hand before she could get off a shot.

"Hold it right there." Her fingers tightened around the trigger. "Move again and I'll f.u.c.king kill you."

He'd only made it a couple of inches. It wasn't enough. "What are you doing, Carla? Along with everything else, you want to face murder charges, too?"

"I don't care. If I'm going to prison, killing you might just make it worthwhile." The gun wavered. She steadied it. "This is all your fault. You and that little tramp of yours. If you'd just left things alone, just let Rachael Brewer disappear, everything would have been fine."

"Fine, Carla? You think people being kidnapped and raped, taking drug money from criminals for not doing your job...you think that's fine?"

"Why shouldn't I have it? It's not like I'm stealing it from someone. People want drugs. They're willing to pay for them. That isn't going to change."

"Let me have the gun, Carla." He started forward, stopped at the vicious gleam in her eyes.

"Just keep coming," she taunted. "We'll make this end right now."

Amy was right behind him. If he didn't do something, Carla Meeks was going to kill them both.

He heard the front door swinging open.

"Yoo-hoo! Johnnie, are you and Amy in there?"

For a heartbeat, Carla's gaze swung toward the door and Johnnie launched himself across the kitchen, taking her down, the gun flying out of her hand and slamming into the wall as she hit the tile floor beneath him. She struggled like a wildcat, tried to claw his face, tried to knee him in the groin, but he had her by at least seventy pounds, and with his training, had her pinned in seconds.

Amy rushed forward, unfastened the handcuffs attached to Carla's belt and handed them over. "Here, Johnnie, take these."

"Thanks, baby." He rolled Carla over, dragged her arms behind her back, and clamped the cuffs around her wrists. As he climbed to his feet, he saw that Amy was shaking, but she seemed to be all right. Ellie stood in the kitchen doorway, hands propped on her hips, looking pleased with herself.