Covert Agent’s Virgin Affair Page 9

  When he let her go and set her back from him, she looked up with glassy eyes. “That’s not helping. It only makes me want to go back to bed all the more.”

  “Ah, but it’s going to be a beautiful day.” He forced the covert agent inside him to regain control of the situation. “No rain for a change and temperatures will be more like summer. Let’s go to town. I want to talk to the sheriff about that attempt on our lives last night.”

  “It’s not Wes’s jurisdiction. That cliff was nearly a hundred miles north.”

  “Yes, I know. But I believe the driver was someone from Honey Creek, don’t you? I find it too coincidental that a perfect stranger would want to shove us off the side of a cliff. The assault on us must be connected somehow to your father’s murder and the sheriff should know about it.”

  Mary was shaking her head. “But why? I’ve thought and thought and I can’t come up with a reason why anyone would want me…us dead. It’s almost as if someone heard us talking about suspects. But that’s not possible.”

  Jake ran with it. “Maybe it is possible. I don’t remember every place where we talked about the murder. We could’ve accidently mentioned it in public.”

  Mary was quiet for what seemed like a long time. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat and then you can take me home. I want to change clothes.”

  “After that, will you come with me to see Wes?”

  Mary touched his chin as though she was fascinated with his stubble—with him. “Of course. But only if you shave first. I don’t want everyone in town to think I have a scruffy boyfriend.”

  His eyebrows shot up at her use of the quaint term. “Am I your boyfriend?”

  Grabbing his hand, she dragged him inside toward the kitchen. “That’s exactly what you are.”

  No. No he wasn’t. He was a liar on a mission. And it was a frigging disaster that he couldn’t tell her the damned truth.

  “Too bad your mother wasn’t at the farm while we were there this morning. I would’ve liked to meet her.”

  Not that Jake thought for one moment that Jolene Walsh would arrange to kill her own daughter. But she could very well be up to her neck in the money-laundering scheme. And, after all, that was what his investigation was all about.

  Keeping his eyes on the road ahead, he waited for Mary’s reply. He had several people in mind as potential suspects for involvement in the international money-laundering operation he’d been sent to Honey Creek to investigate. Jolene was only one of them.

  Mary sat straight up in her seat. “You would like to meet my mom?” He could feel her grinning all the way across the front seats of his SUV. “I want you two to meet. But Mom usually works at the family business office in the mornings. In the afternoon, she takes care of Patrick, my brother Peter’s little boy, after school. Maybe we can catch her at one place or the other later.”

  Jake nodded. He had a great interest in gaining access to the Walsh business offices. All he needed was a few minutes alone with one of their computers.

  Pulling the SUV into the lot belonging to the sheriff’s office, Jake noted that the small redbrick building, situated on the frontage road, was typical of small-town sheriffs’ offices throughout the West.

  “Are we sure Wes will be in?” Mary undid her seat belt and hesitated with her hand on the door handle.

  “Yeah. I called his office while you were changing. The secretary…or dispatcher, whoever answered the phone, said he would be in the office doing paperwork all morning.”

  Mary opened her door, but Jake spoke before she could step out. “Wait there,” he demanded.

  She turned her head to look at him but he was already heading around the front of the truck. “It’s the boyfriend’s job to help his girlfriend out of the vehicle.”

  Mary laughed and the sound tingled inside his chest. “Vehicle? You sound like a cop. But I like the general idea.”

  He fitted his hands around her waist and lifted her to the ground. Golden sunshine sparked in her hair on this cloudless day and made him think of burnished copper pans. The mere sight of her many ripe colors glowing in the sunlight made his gut tremble.

  “Thank you,” she told him demurely. “I’ve been on my own a long time. It may take me a while to get used to considering someone else.”

  “I’m not worried. We’ve got time.” And he would burn in hell for that statement along with all the other lies.

  Jake took her by the hand and marched toward Wes Colton’s office. Somehow he was going to finish this investigation in record time, and Colton had best find his murderer in record time, too.

  When Jake was ready to leave town and disappear back into covert life, he wanted no chance of Mary being hurt by some panicked murderer with nothing to lose. Everything had to be wrapped up here before he left.

  Yeah? And how was he supposed to wrap up his love for her then? Not such a simple thing. Nearly impossible, in fact. Sighing inwardly, he supposed he wouldn’t even bother to try. He’d better get used to the idea of living without her.

  “I’ll be back in a few minutes, Jake. I want to step outside and call my mother. I need to ask where we can meet her today.”

  Mary hesitated at the door to Wes Colton’s office. She’d given him her statement. But she couldn’t add much to what Jake had already told him. Neither of them had seen the driver of the truck or gotten a glimpse of the plates. Jake said the truck was probably long gone by now and Wes agreed.

  Still, the idea that someone had tried to kill them occupied too much of her thoughts. Mary would much rather be thinking of Jake and trying to decide if they had a future together. She wished she could be like her sister and her best friend, holding back and not jumping ahead into a relationship too fast. But Jake kept spinning her head around with his kisses and those longing looks.

  “That’s fine, Mary.” The reply came from Wes. “I have a couple more things to ask Jake anyway. But don’t wander too far away from the front door.”

  “You think someone might try to hurt me here? Right in front of the sheriff’s office?” She was aghast.

  Wes opened his mouth, but Jake answered first. “No one knows. That’s the whole point. When I’m not around, you watch out for yourself. Keep your eyes open, and try not to be alone for any longer than is necessary. I don’t want anything happening to you.”

  She nodded at him and turned away. But his words made her feel stupidly happy as she stepped out into the brilliant, sunshine-filled day.

  “So you believe your cover is blown?” Wes leaned back in his desk chair with a thoughtful look on his face.

  The sheriff was taller and broader than Jake, and maybe a couple of years younger. But Jake’s instincts told him Wes would turn out to be a good ally.

  “Not necessarily,” Jake hedged. “It’s possible the assault was not about me, but it could’ve been someone who wants to harm Mary. I’m trying to get her to confide in me. Maybe somewhere in her subconscious she has information that could be dangerous to her.”

  Wes wiped his hand across his mouth as though his next words would be distasteful. “I’m not comfortable with you using Mary Walsh this way. It’s obvious she’s infatuated with you. You can see it in her eyes. And she…has no experience to fall back on.

  “I’ve always liked Mary,” Wes added. “I don’t want to see her hurt.”

  “I like Mary, too,” Jake told the sheriff truthfully. “A lot. I was deadly serious when I said I didn’t want anything happening to her.”

  With elbows on his knees, Jake hung his head for a moment, trying to decide how much to tell Wes about his true feelings. “I’ve got a big problem with Mary, Colton. I care for her. I didn’t mean to, but I…

  “Well, let’s just say she’s special,” he finished. “But I believe she is in real danger. I’m not sure whether I brought the trouble down on her or not.” Like hell. He knew his presence in Honey Creek had contributed to Mary’s troubles.

  Wes shook his head; he wasn’t as positive as Jake. “What’s the pr
oblem? Tell her who you are and what you’re doing in Honey Creek. You know she’s not involved with either the murder or the money-laundering scheme. Maybe if you were truthful with her, she might be willing to help you.”

  “Believe me…” Jake pursed his lips to keep from shouting out his frustration at the situation.

  He counted to ten and then said, “I’ve thought of that a thousand times over the past couple of days. But even if I broke cover for her, I know enough about Mary now to know she could never forgive the lies. I started out on the wrong foot with her—lying to her and keeping her in dark. And now I’m paying for it.”

  Wes took a deep breath. “I see. You do care for her and you’re in a hard place right now. But when this assignment is over… What then?”

  “Tell her the truth and beg her to forgive me.” Jake opened his hands, palms up as though he needed forgiveness from the whole world. Maybe he did.

  “She won’t,” he continued. “But at least I have to try. And in the meantime, I intend to protect her with my life.”

  “Yeah, that’s a damned hard rock you’re sitting on.” The expression on Wes’s face was sympathetic. “Can I do anything to help?”

  “Find the murderer, Colton. I have a feeling he or she is the one also targeting Mary.”

  “You have any suggestions along that vein?”

  Jake started to shake his head, but then he said, “It’s occurred to me that if Mark Walsh was such a playboy, there might be a couple of spurned women out there who would gladly have taken his life.”

  “Yeah?” Wes made a note on the legal pad sitting on his desk. “Well, there’re a few women right here in Honey Creek that had both a motive and the means.”

  Jake cleared his throat, knowing this one was going to be tough. “Have you considered Jolene Walsh as a murder suspect? I mean, talk about a woman spurned. Not to mention that she might be very glad to get rid of her supposedly dead husband in order to take up with his best friend.”

  Nodding, Wes said. “She’s right on top of the list. But you haven’t met her yet, have you?”

  “Not yet.”

  “She’s one of the least threatening people I’ve ever known.” Wes chopped the air with his hand as if that was a pure truth. “Look, some members of my family have been pissed at her and Craig Warner for fifteen long years because of my brother Damien’s incarceration. But I’m absolutely positive she had nothing to do with that one.”

  Wes tilted his head for a second as though he was considering his next words. “My gut says she didn’t do the crime this time, either. But I intend to eliminate her as a suspect the right way. With facts. For your sake, I hope I’m right.”

  “For my sake?”

  “I can’t imagine how hard that would be—watching the woman you love find out her mother is a murderer.”

  Love. Jake had never mentioned the word but somehow Wes had known.

  Wes was right. Seeing Mary’s faith in her mother dissolve would be tough. Just as tough as if he proved Mary’s mother was involved in racketeering and money-laundering.

  Jake swallowed the truth down hard, and found himself wishing he was anywhere else but in the middle of this mission. It might cause the death of him yet.

  Chapter 9

  “I’m sorry, Mare.” Craig Warner sat behind a desk piled high with work and looked up at Mary through reading glasses. “Your mother had to run a couple of errands and couldn’t wait for you.”

  “But I talked to her on the phone a little while ago.” Mary heard a whine in her voice and fought it. “And she said for us to meet her here at the office.”

  Disappointed, Mary sat against the armrest of a leather office chair and waited for Craig’s explanation. Craig looked especially good today. His crisp navy-blue suit went well with his salt-and-pepper hair and chestnut-brown eyes. But he was such a dear that she thought it could be his warm goodwill making him look so handsome.

  Mary wasn’t sure what she would’ve done without Craig Warner after her father had supposedly died the first time. He’d stepped up and became a father figure to all the Walsh kids. If only he’d been her real father, her whole life would’ve been much different.

  Craig folded his hands on the desk and looked over the rim of his glasses. “Your mom won’t be too long. But she wanted to know if you and your…friend…would like to join us for lunch today. We’re both eager to meet him.” Craig looked behind her toward the open door. “Where is he?”

  “Jake’s waiting in Mom’s office. I didn’t want to miss her in case she was only across the way at the brewery and would be right back. I figured we’d catch her one place or the other.”

  Craig nodded. “Listen, it’s almost noon. Why don’t the three of us ride out to the farm together to meet your mother? Your friend Susan should be delivering a catered lunch for all of us about now.”

  “Oh, yum. I love Susan’s cooking.” Things were definitely looking up. “Will she still be there when we arrive?”

  “No, sorry again. Susan said she had a million things to do today. You’ll have to settle for your mother and me.”

  Mary chuckled, glad that she had so many people in her life that loved her. Her mother, Craig, Susan…and now Jake?

  He had not said a word about love. But perhaps that was one of those man things she still didn’t understand. Of course, she hadn’t told him she loved him, either. Mary felt unsure of herself—of him.

  Well, she tried to think on the bright side, he was here now. If it didn’t last, she would be okay. She hoped. But meanwhile, she intended to take advantage of him—every chance she got.

  Jake barely had the time to replace the back of the computer before Mary and Craig came to get him for lunch. He’d managed to plant a wireless transmitter that could access all the computers in the office. His partner could capture not only everything now on the computer’s hard drive, but also everything placed on it at a later date.

  This part of his mission had taken a court order, but Jake had no intention of announcing that fact to the potential suspects. He also had another court order in his pocket for planting a transmitter in a different office in another part of Honey Creek. But he wasn’t even close to figuring out how to access that one yet.

  “It’s really nice to meet you, son.” Craig Warner gave him a curt smile and shook his hand. “I’m sorry Jolene isn’t here, but she can’t wait to meet you. Are you ready for a fantastic lunch?”

  “I’m always ready to eat, sir. Is Mary’s mother a good cook?” He took a deep breath and smelled the pervasive odor of hops coming from the brewery. That sweet molasseslike smell was hard to miss.

  Both Mary and Craig laughed at his question and he noted both their eyes crinkled at the corners in the same way. They didn’t look like father and daughter, but many of their mannerisms were the same.

  “My mother can barely boil water,” Mary told him. “But she has other good qualities.”

  Jake chuckled along with them, trying to match his demeanor to theirs. “Well, then, who’s cooking the meal?” He hoped it wouldn’t be him. He needed the time to do a little covert snooping and for asking pointed questions.

  “Come on,” Mary said as she took his arm. “We’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

  Sitting across the table from Craig and Jolene, Jake paid close attention to them for any deception cues. But so far, neither had showed any of the usual signs. He wasn’t a world-class detector of liars like those on TV, but he’d been trained by the best of them. With these two suspects, he hadn’t noticed even one sweaty palm nor had either touched their forehead tentatively. They never even looked down into their plates. Not once, through the entire long lunch and conversation afterward. They’d both been all smiles and appeared to be trying to please their daughter’s new lover. If one or both of them was a liar, they were damned good at it.

  Jake kept the conversation steered in the direction of Mark Walsh’s murder. Everyone at the table had an opinion to share on the subject o
f Mark Walsh. But Craig and Jolene were not as gracious as Mary had been on the subject of the dead man. Still, neither of them seemed to hate the man enough to murder him.

  The longer he sat with Craig and Jolene and enjoyed their company, the more he was coming to believe Wes Colton’s declaration. Jolene Walsh possessed a nonthreatening personality. In some ways she reminded him of Mary. Sweet. Unassuming. Intelligent. But without her daughter’s biting wit and sure mind.

  He could easily picture Mark Walsh or someone else just as strong manipulating her into assisting with a money-laundering scheme.

  As he studied her, he noted that Jolene also had the same coloring as her daughter. Mary’s earnest amber eyes and long red hair were mirrored in the woman sitting across the table. But unlike Mary’s, Jolene’s beauty was delicate. Almost vulnerable.

  On the other hand, Craig seemed happy enough with Jolene. Every once in a while in the middle of the conversation, Craig’s hand would sneak over and give Jolene’s hand a tender squeeze.

  Jake was about to come to the conclusion that if anyone in this room could’ve been a murderer, it was Craig. Passion swam in Craig’s eyes whenever he looked at Jolene. And Jake knew extreme passion could sometimes be a precursor to violence.

  Despairing of ever learning anything helpful to his mission from this couple, he said, “It’s been a terrific lunch. But don’t you two have to return to work?”

  “I’m due to babysit my grandson this afternoon after school.” Jolene beamed as though the idea itself was as grand as the boy. “I’ll drop Craig off at the office on my way into town.”

  Jolene scooted her chair back and stood before either Craig or himself could assist her. “Mary, before I leave,” she said, “I’d like to show you a couple of outfits that I bought for you today. Can you come with me to your bedroom?”

  Mary raised her eyebrows as though the idea of new clothes was a surprise, but she followed her mother down the hall.

  “I’m glad we have a moment alone, Jake.” Craig stood next to the table beckoning Jake to follow him into the family room.