“I think their mother did know. He kept in touch with her, when the real Paul Sturvin wasn’t close to her.”
“Now, it’s time for things to move on,” Ed said.
“Sam from ballistics got back to me ten minutes ago. The bullet that killed Paul Sturvin, or whatever name he actually went by, matches the gun that killed Andy. A forty-cal. Same striations.”
“Have we tied the fourteen burner phones to anyone specifically?” the director asked.
“Paul Sturvin. That’s it. One of the phones, the one ending in -5758, dialed Sturvin’s number on a regular basis,” Sin said. “We’re still tracking down the others.”
“And the deposits coincide with the dates of the calls exactly?” Max asked.
Sin nodded. “That’s been confirmed. Carrie has finally been able to get into the hard drive on Anderson’s laptop—with some tweaking. I don’t know if what she found will hold up forensically in court, considering what she had to do to reconstruct, but it gives us a direction. We found scanned copies of his notes. He was trying to tie the phones to five men—from auxiliary.”
Max swore.
The auxiliary team was the backbone of PAVAD. Without those agents there to support the various divisions, and the teams, the job for frontline PAVAD agents would be even more dangerous than what it was.
The idea that agents in that department were dirty—that jeopardized every live investigation they had.
105
He was going to have to change his plans a bit. He hadn’t planned on harming Jaclyn. The redhead was a nice woman and a decent agent. Eugene had never had a problem with her, and she had always treated him with respect.
She wasn’t connected to either of the two men he wanted to stick it to. Well, no more than her mother had been involved with both of those men at one time or another.
Jaclyn most certainly didn’t even know that. He couldn’t see the colonel sharing that his wife had fallen for another man. Not with Boyd’s ego.
He didn’t know much about the other daughter. She wasn’t that remarkable. Small. Hell, she was barely bigger than his ten-year-old grandson. To be honest, Kayden probably outweighed her by a good fifteen pounds.
Not that that gave him pause. Eugene had killed kids before.
When it was necessary.
He had been trained in the army more than thirty years ago to do what was necessary when it was necessary. Those skills were some of the very reason he’d made it this far in the bureau in the first place. That and his previous connection to Edward Dennis.
He snorted at that.
He was the monster they had made him. Good old Ed had had a hand in shaping him just the way he was.
He had always found that ironic.
Natalie Jones turned the dogs loose in the backyard, then stepped up to her sister’s front porch.
Walked right in.
Eugene just sat back and waited.
The women would have to come out sometime.
Then he would have her.
A bullet between the eyes. That would be it.
A clear message to that son-of-a-bitch Boyd Jones that he never should have pissed off the wrong people in Washington. Another message to Ed Dennis, too.
No one was safe, after all.
Then Eugene was retiring.
It was about damned time.
106
“You’ve slept with Max!” Her sister squealed. “It’s about time. I thought you were going to be stupid about him forever.”
Well. Leave it to a baby sister to put it in those terms. “I am not the one who ran for the hills. Max was.”
“Uh-huh. I think you are just telling yourself that. You should have jumped that man and gotten him naked five years ago. The first time he looked at you like you were everything he ever wanted. Miranda and I have been taking bets about when you’d finally figure things out.”
“Nice to know you have my back.”
“Always.” Nat sent her a smile that was identical to their own mother’s. “So what’s next?”
“Not sure yet. We’re going to take it slow, figure things out between us. We need to make certain Emery’s ok with such a radical change. This will be a huge shock to her.”
“Oh, like you being at their house seven nights a week instead of four or five? I think that kid has been asking Santa Claus for a Jac-as-Mommy for years. You’ll make her biggest wish come true. You’ll be a beautiful mother. You already are. I’ve seen that every time I’ve been with Emery. Any children you and Max have are going to be the luckiest kids in the world. No matter how you get them.”
Jac hugged her sister again. “I need to get going. I’m swinging by the hospital to check on the girls. And…return Mr. Bird.” She’d spoken with the head of forensics herself. The stuffed emu hadn’t been processed—it hadn’t been needed. And would be returned to his owner immediately.
Jac had him all ready to go, along with a stuffed horse she’d picked up specially for Livy.
“I may stop by and check on them myself this afternoon. When are you on the clock?”
“I have to be there by noon today, for half a day. I’ve cleared it with Carrie. We’re taking Emery to her favorite restaurant tonight to talk to her about what has happened and what changes there will be. We’re going to go only as fast as she can handle.”
“You’re thinking to move straight in with Max, aren’t you?”
“Yes. We’ve wasted enough time as it is.”
“No kidding. Grab ahold of him, Jacs. And hold on as tight as you can. Time…it’s too fleeting not to.”
Jac wrapped her arms around her little sister one more time, wishing she could erase the grief.
But she would never be able to.
The grief was a part of Nat now. And always would be.
Maybe with time, it wouldn’t sting her sister quite so much.
107
Max finished with the director and headed back to his office. There were a few things he wanted to check into—things the director and Sin had brought up that were tickling the back of his mind.
Max also wanted to text Jac, to see how
