The Heart of Lies

chapter 19



Colin drove Emily home from Maggie’s after Emily and Isabel had a chance to talk about Jethro on the front porch. She was quiet on the drive home, lost in thought about what Isabel had disclosed to her.

Colin walked her to the front door, the interior lights giving the porch of her bungalow an inviting warm glow.

“Would you like to come in for a few minutes?” she asked as she unlocked the door.

“I’d better get going. It’s getting late and I still have to pick up my gear from Ernie’s house. I don’t want to wake them.

“I thought you drove directly to see me.”

“I stopped at Ernie’s first, I had brought something for him. It was in my bag and I accidentally left it at his place.”

“I wanted to go over what Isabel told me tonight.” She moved in close to Colin, placing her hands on his muscular chest.

He responded by sliding his hands around her waist.

“Aren’t you even a little curious?” she asked.

“I’m very curious, but—”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” she cut him off, her lips forming a pout. “Besides, I thought you’d want to stay and enjoy a little private time with me.” She did—he would be gone back to California soon. “But, I guess you don’t.” She let go of him and started to turn away.

“Hey, don’t be like that,” he said, catching her by the hand. “If I can finish up with Ernie quickly, I’ll come back. Otherwise, I’ll just head to my apartment and see you tomorrow, then you can fill me in on all of it. Okay?” His lips curled into a sexy smile, and before she could answer, he pulled her into a tight embrace.

She felt the warmth of his body as she pressed against him. He kissed her thoroughly and removed any doubt that he truly wanted to stay. She would have to settle for this one satisfying kiss to keep her until tomorrow.

He stepped off the porch and waved good-bye as he got in his car and drove away, only waiting long enough to make sure she had gone safely inside.

Kicking off her shoes, she headed to the bedroom to slip into her pajamas, then to the kitchen for a cup of chamomile tea. As she waited for the tea kettle to whistle, she thought about what Isabel had told her. Jethro had put out feelers, he said, asked around and showed the photo to a few colleagues. One man thought that maybe he recognized Evan, but not the girl.

He did say, Isabel recalled, that when he had another friend run Evan’s photo through facial recognition, there seemed to be a match, for a different name, but access to any information was denied. As for the woman, his friend did not find a match, however, he thought he remembered the girl, the daughter of an FBI agent he knew, who had been tragically killed in France years ago.

The kettle whistled and Emily turned the burner off and poured the boiling water into a mug, bobbing the tea bag in it. She was disappointed he couldn’t tell her more, but his promise to keep searching encouraged her.

Isabel also said Jethro had asked about seeing the gun again, but she reminded him it was just a hypothetical question Emily had asked. Emily wasn’t ready to show anyone and she was almost sorry she had mentioned it. She was quite sure he didn’t believe the questions were hypothetical.

She ripped open a yellow packet of Splenda and stirred it into her cup, again thinking of the photo that was now missing.

Why didn’t I make another copy? Emily questioned herself as if she could have known she would need it. Why didn’t I email it to Isabel as I’d planned? Then she remembered she had scanned the photo, to email it to Isabel the day they met with Jethro, just in case, but she had gotten distracted and not actually sent it.

She ran to her laptop which lay open on the breakfast bar and she searched through her downloaded files. Yes! There it was, not lost after all. Relieved, she attached it to an email and sent it off to Isabel. Now they’d both have it.

~*~

The alarm clock sounded its rhythmic screech and Emily slapped at the snooze button. Bleary-eyed, she rolled over, hoping for a few more minutes of sleep. Tossing and turning most of the night, she had replayed Lucas’s murder scene in her mind and her conversations with Josh and Sully, along with some eerily-realistic sensual dreams about Colin, who would morph into Evan, and then back to Colin again.

Not bothering to check the time on the clock, the sun streaming in her windows told her it was time to get up. Her cell phone chimed on the night table, alerting her to a new text. She rubbed her eyes, pushed back a few strands of hair, and picked up the phone, trying to focus on the tiny words.

The text was from Colin and read, Sorry I didn’t come back. It was late. Didn’t want to wake you. Bringing breakfast. Be there in 15.

“Shoot!” She flew out of bed and straight into the shower as her nightgown flew over her head and onto the floor.

Dabbing a little mousse into her tousled curls, brushing her teeth and throwing on her favorite jeans and T-shirt, as well as a little lip gloss and mascara, she dashed to the front door just as he rang her bell.

“Whew,” she exhaled before opening the door to him, greeting him with a bright welcoming smile.

“Good morning, beautiful.” Colin stepped inside with a box from her favorite coffee shop, Moxie Java, full of Chai latté for her and black coffee for him, along with fresh slices of lemon poppy seed bread. He swept her up in his free arm and kissed her soundly.

When he let go of her, she was breathless. She grabbed hold of his arm to steady herself. “You sure know how to greet a girl,” she laughed, giving him a playful push for not showing up the night before.

“Let’s have our coffee while it’s hot and you can tell me all about your talk with Isabel last night.”

He followed her into the kitchen and took a seat at the table while she grabbed a couple of small plates. “Sorry I couldn’t come back last night—I know you wanted to talk.” Pulling the bounty out of the box, he waited for her to sit. “I’m all ears.”

She laid the plates on the table and sank down into her chair. “Isabel didn’t have much for me, but little by little, maybe I can piece this thing together.”

“What did she say?”

“She said Jethro told her he’d asked around, emailed the photo to a few of his connections in the FBI and the CIA, hoping someone could identify either of them. He said one of his contacts thought he recognized Evan, thought he had been in the CIA years ago, but that wasn’t his name, which I kind of figured at this point.”

“What was his real name?”

“The man was hesitant to divulge the name, but I guess Jethro convinced him that it would be all right since he was dead, that his widow had a right to know. The other man said he thought it was David Gerard. Isabel asked that I keep it confidential, though.”

“I won’t tell anyone, Emily—cross my heart.” He made a crossing motion on his chest with two fingers. “Was that one of the names on the passports you found?” Colin took a sip of his coffee and waited for her answer.

“No, but it makes sense he wouldn’t have used his real name,” she replied, picking at her lemon poppy seed bread.

“What about the woman?”

“Isabel said he found out that the woman was the daughter of an FBI agent and she had been killed in a shootout between Evan, or David Gerard, and someone else—a terrorist or enemy spy, or something.”

“The daughter of an FBI agent? Did he know who?”

“Jethro said he couldn’t reveal the father’s name, but maybe the man wanted payback against Evan for his daughter’s death. It was just a theory Jethro had.”

“Are you okay, hearing about all this?” Colin stroked her arm gently.

“It’s upsetting, of course, knowing the man I married was not at all who he said he was, but I’ve been dealing with that fact for months now and Isabel’s been preparing me for something like this. She warned me he was probably running from a previous life.”

“A previous life? Like what?”

“She said I might find out he was an NSA agent, or a CIA assassin, or maybe he was in witness protection because he’d been a criminal who testified against someone high up in a criminal organization, like the Irish mob, or something like that. I kind of laughed it off at the time, but it stuck in the back of my mind and I wondered about it now and then.”

“You seriously thought he might be a CIA assassin? Or a member of the mob? You never said anything to me about it.”

“It was just a possibility. I didn’t want it to be true, so every time the thought popped up, I beat it back down.”

“I wish you’d told me.”

“I might have, eventually, but then you took off back to California.”

“I had to, I didn’t have a choice. You make it sound like I ran off and left you,” he defended.

“No, I know you had to go. Your mom and dad needed your help. Sorry, I’m just being a little selfish, throwing myself a pity party.”

“You know what they say about pity parties,” he grinned, lightening the mood.

“No, what?”

“Few people want to come and they don’t bring presents,” he replied with a smirk, making her laugh.

“Touché.” She stuck the last bit of lemon poppy seed bread in her mouth.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“First up, we need to get a hold of Ernie and get him and the forensic team back to Lucas’s office to search for the murder weapon.”

“Why is that?” Colin cocked his head with a perplexed look.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. When you and the boys were out on the deck last night, I was talking to Maggie and the girls about the mountain-shaped paperweight. Remember how the medical examiner said it was a perfect fit for the wound?”

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“But the one I had couldn’t have been it?”

“Right.”

“Well, get this. Maggie told me Lucas had one, too, just like it, sitting on his desk.” She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms, letting that bit of news sink in. “If we can find it, I’m sure it’ll have his blood all over it. Whoever’s prints are on it will be our murderer.”

“Assuming it hasn’t been bleached, this could break the case wide open.”

“It could.”

“We need to concentrate on finding that paperweight. If it’s not at the office, Ernie’s going to have to search some homes,” Colin stated.

“He’ll want to search Maggie’s place first. Josh had better be telling us the truth. If they find a paperweight at Maggie’s and they already know they have the one I took—if it has his prints on it—he’s hung.” She grimaced. Ernie would most certainly want to search Sully’s as well as Fiona’s homes, too.

“Since you’re the one with the relationship with good ol’ Ernie, could you give him a call? Tell him about the other paperweight and get him back out to search the office again.”

“Be glad to,” Colin agreed, flipping out his phone and punching in the numbers.

While he was busy on the phone, Emily climbed up on a stool at the breakfast bar and went on her computer to Google the name David Gerard. She found a magician, a cartoonist, a musician, and a few others with the name David Gerard. When she had more time, she’d have to dig a little deeper.

“Ernie’s rounding up a team right now to search the office.” Colin stuck his phone in his pocket and joined Emily.

She was finished searching for now and she closed the program, leaving the photo of Evan and the woman on the screen.

“Isn’t that the picture someone broke into your house for?” he asked.

“Yes, I thought it was lost, but I remembered last night that I had scanned and saved it.”

“That was lucky,” Colin remarked.

“It was, just don’t mention it to anyone. I don’t want someone breaking in and stealing my computer next.”

She’d said it half joking, but someone didn’t want her to have the picture and it wasn’t that far-fetched to think they would take her computer, too.

“Okay, boss, what’s next?” Colin asked.

Emily’s phone sounded its tone alerting her to a new text. Alex had texted, Josh’s arraignment is 10 a.m. today.

“I’d better call Maggie and see if she’s up to going,” Emily said. “She may need me to be there for support.”

Emily dialed Maggie’s phone and Camille picked up. Alex had already called and given them the time and Maggie was set on going, she said. Emily assured her they would be there too, and told them not to worry—Alex was the best trial lawyer in town and Josh was in good hands.

When she hung up, she noticed Colin studying the photo on the computer screen.

“You’re going to think this is funny,” he said, “but she looks a little like Delia, only younger.”

“Delia McCall?” Emily questioned. “Yeah, a little. It’s probably just the dark hair.”

“Yeah, you’re right. Besides, Delia would have been older than this woman, even back then, don’t you think?”

“Maybe.” She slid off the bar stool, brushing against Colin’s chest with hers. “I should go change for court,” she said with a little smile spreading on her lips. She hadn’t intended to brush against him like that, but he had just been standing so close to her, looking over her shoulder at the screen. His nearness made her heart skip and a tingle feathered up her spine. Peering up into his smiling eyes, she could tell he enjoyed the sensation too. “I’ll be right back.”

She felt his gaze on her as she padded off to the bedroom.