Drake (Men of Versteck Valley Book 3) Read online

  Impressed by the passionate plea, Faith asked the next question. “He asked you to call me?”

  “No. He doesn’t know I’m calling or that I’m aware of his trip to see you,” Davina said without a smidgen of shame over keeping tabs on her husband. “None of that is important, what’s important is that we work together to find and get her back here before it’s too late,” she insisted.

  “As Francesca’s friend and attorney, I want her found and returned as much as anyone. But I don’t understand what you mean by it being too late. Too late for what?” Faith asked.

  “Too late for Jason to hold onto his seat. Fran and I have worked hard to make that a reality. She would want him to stay and continue the good work he’s done.”

  “Are you saying he’s planning to quit? Or he will quit if Francesca doesn’t return soon?” Faith asked to be sure she understood.

  “Possibly,” Davina said, not sounding as confident as she had a few moments earlier.

  “I’m not sure what you expect me to do,” Faith said.

  “Knowing Fran, she left instructions, clues, something to help find her. Please tell me you’re searching for her. Please say you’ve found something that’ll help locate her,” Davina pleaded.

  “I can’t discuss anything about Francesca with you, but I’m curious, why haven’t you hired someone to search for her?” Faith asked.

  Davina stumbled with an answer for a few seconds. “Jason has, but they haven’t found anything. I was hoping you had better luck. I can see I wasted my time calling you.” She snorted, dropping all pretense of being friendly. “Either you’re a good attorney or a callous friend. You know about my husband and Francesca, yet you won’t help him. That’s not good, not good at all.”

  “Here’s a news flash, Davina. Francesca’s man doesn’t need my or your help to find his woman. From what I’ve heard, they know each other better than anyone else knows them. He’ll find her, and when he does, he’ll discover everyone who was involved with her disappearance. Now, I don’t know the Senator personally, but I’ve watched him on television and read a little about him. He’s not a man who puts up with foolishness or betrayals. I pity any and everyone who had anything to do with Francesca’s disappearance. They might disappear,” Faith said relishing the opportunity to tell this woman off.

  “So you say. I’ve known him longer than Francesca, don’t forget that,” Davina said.

  “Oh, I won’t forget anything, believe that,” Faith shot back.

  “For someone with a second, no, third rate office practice you have a lot to say. We’ll see if you’ll be saying that in the months ahead when you lose your clients and practice. You should’ve worked with Jason to find Francesca instead of letting him worry. For that you’ll pay with the loss of your license and that you can take to the bank. You’ve entered the wrong fight, the sharks will eat you alive, little girl. Maybe you’ll remember to play nice the next time,” Davina said, her tone gloating.

  Chills raced across Faith’s skin. Butterflies flit around her belly. Dark, fearful thoughts of failure swam around her mind as she spoke. “Doubtful. You’re making a lot of assumptions that will bite you in the ass, Davina. You swim with sharks? Cool. You have no idea who or what I’m bringing to the party. A mistake on your part to be sure. If you want to fight, bring it on but expect to lose in a way you’ve never dreamed.”

  “We’ll see,” Davina said after a few moments.

  “No. No, we won’t. Stop talking noise and help your husband search for Francesca. She needs your help, not all this BS. You don’t know me or the reason she came to me. But you know she’s not weak or foolish enough to hire someone incapable of doing whatever she needed done. Breathe your fire someplace else where it’ll make a difference and stop wasting my time,” Faith said sounding a lot stronger than she felt.

  “You’ll be hearing from me again,” Davina said, sounding angry.

  “There’s no reason unless it’s to share the good news that you’ve found my client,” Faith said, her tone upbeat.

  Davina hung up.

  Faith looked at Drake. “She didn’t say goodbye.”

  He removed the earphone from his ear and gave her a crooked grin. “You enjoyed that didn’t you?”

  Faith nodded. “She’s… she’s involved some way. My gut says it.”

  “Listening to her I can believe it. Asher ran a deeper background check on her and her father, we should be getting it soon.” He tapped his long fingers against the desk while staring at it. “The Senator should know about Francesca’s dead security team by now. I’m sure he sent Munns over to sift through the evidence, and he knows Francesca was there. What he’s not sure of is whether she’s dead or alive or where she’s been taken or by who?”

  Faith nodded slowly. “Which may be why Davina called to see if we knew who took Francesca.” She looked at Drake. “Munns nor the Senator called to let us know about the dead guards.”

  “No. Their idea of cooperating is one way.” He shrugged. “Let’s go over the timeline again. Francesca and the Senator talked around six in the evening the night he left town. She was supposed to meet him later that night but never showed up which means she was taken after six. There’s no record of a taxi or limo service picking her up, but Gaspers’, her security guy’s car was found at the private jetport. He may have picked her up since it was supposed to be just her and the Senator at their place.”

  “Someone intercepted them. Took them on another flight to wherever Asher found her,” Faith said.

  Drake nodded.

  “Who would know where they were going and when?” Faith said.

  “His wife could find out. She found out he came here and that had been hush, hush,” Drake said. “Leaks happen all the time, his colleagues could find out as well.”

  “Leaks… my money’s on Davina,” Faith said. “She referred to the Senator as her husband when she could’ve called him by his name or title. Now that Hart’s moved on, she’s left alone. Didn’t Hart say she was jealous of the Senator’s feelings for Francesca?”

  Drake nodded slowly.

  “Is Asher checking into her?” Faith picked up her phone to call Asher.

  Drake covered her hand. “Hold on. Davina’s definitely on the short list. But why now? After all this time? She knew how the Senator would handle Francesca’s disappearance. Would she risk her position?”

  Faith thought about it. The woman probably didn’t like Francesca, but she loved being a Senator’s wife and the influence that went along with it. There was no benefit for her to go after Francesca. “We should listen to the tapes.”

  “Tapes?”

  “In the safety security box. There were two small cassette tapes in the green satchel. Let’s go to the bank and listen to them. We can send Asher a copy or tape it for him,” she said. “We can’t keep going round and round like this. She left that information for us, let’s listen.”

  Drake released a long breath. “I’d forgotten about those. We should’ve listened to them the same time we took the pictures and other stuff.” He held up his hand stopping her. “You just said she left that information for us to go over.”

  There was nothing she could say against that.

  “I’ll get Franco and the others to get the car.” Drake stood and left the room.

  Faith watched the door close behind him and placed her fingertips against her forehead. “I’d forgotten about them too,” she whispered.

  <<<<>>>>

  Faith and Drake sat in the room with the small, portable recorder on the table in front of them. She pulled out the small cassettes and played the first one. Davina, Oliver and another person were having a discussion. It didn’t take long to realize they were discussing money and Francesca’s restaurant.

  Davina argued that her share of the money was short, and she had done a lot of the work by bringing someone named Luchetti into the deal. Faith looked at Drake.

  He shrugged. Parts of the conversation was muted. They pl
ayed the second tape. Faith didn’t recognize any of the masculine voices on the tape. Three men discussed how an amendment under consideration would impact a high dollar supporter who didn’t want the bill to pass.

  Faith sat up and stared at the tape, listening hard as they decided which Senators they needed to change votes and what they would offer in return for their support.

  How had Francesca gotten this information? If anyone knew about this, they would come after her for sure.

  “That happened several years ago,” Drake said. “Two of those men are no longer in office. Macdonald, the current Minority Leader, is the third voice.”

  She stared at him.

  “The company I worked for handled a lot of political clients. I recognize those voices and recall that vote. It surprised a lot of people when it didn’t pass. Senator Bloom fought hard to get it through, would’ve helped the people in his state,” Drake said taking the tape from the recorder and replacing it into the box. “Best leave both of these here. I doubt either of us will forget what we heard and Asher’s already looking into Davina and Hart. Now we know she was involved with the money laundering. Francesca let it all go, didn’t press. If she did, she didn’t mention it, so we don’t go there.”

  Faith gave it some thought. “Where does this leave us? If it’s not Davina or Hart, who tried to kill Francesca? They killed her guards and left her for dead. That’s not a kidnapping for leverage. They wanted her out of the picture completely.”

  “It had to be someone who would’ve known about the Senator’s relationship with her, too.”

  “They had been together so long, I’m sure a small select circle knew about it,” she said. Not in their sorority, though. Or if her sorority sisters knew, no one talked. “If that information on the tape was old why include it for me to listen to?”

  Drake shrugged. “It was old when she acquired your services. Maybe she wants us to look at them. Like I said, Macdonald’s the only one still on the hill.”

  “And the rich donor? Is he still around?” she asked.

  “Probably. We can search to see whose names come up but why would they care about Francesca? They won.”

  She stood. “Good point. We’ll leave everything here until next time.” She eyed the red satchel. “Wonder if the answer is in there?”

  “Possibly.”

  Faith looked at him and then at the satchel. “I can’t.”

  “I know.”

  “Wish I could. Not knowing, not having answers or clues is messing with me. How can I look at her and not have answers?”

  Drake stood. Locked the box and handed her the key. “We will get answers, I promise. Just because it doesn’t seem like anything is happening doesn’t mean that’s true.”

  Patience. Take a deep breath and pull it together she said to herself when he walked to the door and opened it. The clerk walked inside, took the box and together Faith locked it away with her.

  Drake took her hand and squeezed it as they headed toward the bank lobby. When he released her hand, she slid her fingers through his to keep the connection. He squeezed her hand again while his gaze swept the area searching for Franco and another member of their team. Franco stood near the door, talking on the phone. He nodded.

  Faith and Drake walked toward the entrance and stopped.

  “Car will be here in a minute, had to park across the street,” Franco said meeting them.

  “Excuse me, Miss Gardner? I’m D. Vinson, with Pilgon and Pilgon, attorney of law. Ms. Francesca Blake is our client. I’ve been instructed to give you this.” He handed her a flat, sealed box, the length of an envelope.

  “Good day.” Vinson nodded and walked off.

  Faith stared down at the box. “I’m not taking this anywhere. Should we open it in the vault?”

  Drake frowned. “Open it here, while we wait.”

  “What if it’s poison or something?” She remembered the anthrax threats.

  Franco gave Drake a pair of latex gloves.

  Drake frowned at him.

  Franco shrugged. “You want it opened here.” He looked outside. “Car’s here.”

  “Go ahead, I’ll open this and toss the envelope.” Drake slid on the gloves while Franco took Faith outside and she slipped in the back seat. He opened the envelope. Pulled out the slip of paper and tossed the envelope into the trash bin outside the bank. He shook the page for good measure, refolded it and slipped into the seat next to Faith.

  She read the letter and handed it to him.

  “If I haven’t been found yet, I’m probably dead. Open the red satchel. Give the letter I’ve left for Jason to him when he’s alone. Make sure he knows I asked you to speak to him alone and give him the letter. You have my final will. Please wait three days after the memorial service before letting anyone know about it. Take your final payment from the account. Thanks for all your help. Francesca.”

  He returned the letter to her.

  The drive to the house was done in silence.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Once the bodies of Francesca’s bodyguards were discovered, Faith’s home and office had been under heavy surveillance. The Senator and other interested parties had people watching Faith.

  Being constrained to the house took its toll. She snapped at everyone for the smallest thing. Rather than wait for the middle of the week, Drake bumped up their departure for a change of venue.

  Drake, Faith, and Franco walked through the jetport situated near Denver’s airport to the helipad. Asher had sent the helicopter for them. They would arrive on the roof of the Mecca and disappear.

  He assumed they would be followed into Versteck. Asher already informed everyone, including the Sheriff, that there would be outsiders snooping around. He would be notified immediately once they entered town.

  During the flight home, Drake admitted Faith wasn’t the only one with problems from being cooped inside all day. He missed being outside in nature. The unmarred and untamed beauty of the place soothed him. His skin prickled as Versteck came into view. This place called to him on a visceral level. The tension from his shoulders and back eased. The mountains welcomed him. The sight of the picturesque valley seeped into his soul. He took a deep breath and relaxed further as they drew closer to home.

  Growing up, he didn’t appreciate it as much as he did now. Going away, dealing with corrupt businessmen, being the face for his and Asher’s business, smiling in the faces of men he wanted to punch, that subterfuge came with a high price. It ate at his soul until he hated going to work and sought dangerous assignments to provide balance.

  Asher understood.

  Going after Menendez, a high-profile criminal figure had been the thing Drake needed at the time. Taking down the man who tried to kill Asher had been a serious rush and the catalyst that confirmed to Drake it was time to go home. In Versteck, he could work cases that fed every part of him.

  They touched down. Asher stood near the door and embraced Drake when they reached him. “Welcome to Versteck, Faith,” Asher said.

  “It’s beautiful here,” she said looking around.

  “Franco bring the equipment inside and take the car to this address. Park inside the garage and chill until I call you later,” Asher said.

  “We’ve got guests?” Drake asked when they entered the corridor, and Franco had left.

  “Yes. Should be here soon. I don’t think they factored in the helicopter. At any rate, one of the Senator’s men has been here a couple of days.” Asher looked at Faith. “When I say here, I mean in Versteck not here at this building.”

  She nodded.

  “No doubt he’s waiting below to follow Franco thinking you’re in the car.” Asher shrugged. “All’s fair I suppose.” He punched a code into the elevator and used his key before it moved. “No change in Francesca’s condition, I’m afraid. While you’re here, you’ll meet Maggie, the nurse assigned to Francesca. I wanted to ask you about round-the-clock care. The doctor said Francesca wasn’t in danger from her bruises
and while in his care it wasn’t round the clock. Once he examined and treated her, he visited her, a few times a day. She’s resting and on equipment.”

  “Is that safe?” Faith asked concerned and uncertain.

  “Doctor said it was and consults with Maggie daily. Her body has to heal on its own, there wasn’t anything he or Maggie can do to speed that up.” He paused. “I know the doctor will never reveal treating Francesca, neither will Maggie. She’s worked for me for years. However, the more people Francesca’s exposed to, the higher the risk of leaks,” Asher said.

  “What if she wakes up?” Faith asked frowning. “This is going into the third week of the coma, right? She could wake any time.”

  “An alarm goes off, and we come to check on her,” he said.

  “But if you’re not here, she would be alone and afraid until you or someone got here,” she said.

  Asher nodded. “That’s why we’re having this discussion. The more people you add, the less safe she will be.”

  Faith looked up at Drake. “Does this mean we have to stay here and watch over her?”

  Asher’s brow rose as he turned away with a slight smile.

  “Not really.” Drake had no intention of babysitting someone in a coma. What if it was Moses or Asher? He would do it in a hot second. No questions asked. Francesca was a client. She and Faith didn’t have the same kind of relationship he had with his brother or cousin.

  “While you’re here, we can work something out with Maggie. When she’s not here you can visit, read to her or watch television,” he said watching her expression change from confused to neutral.

  “You’re right. I’ll see what she says,” Faith turned to look at Asher. “Let me think about it, and I’ll let you know. There are pros and cons to both situations. What I’d really like to do is make it safe for her to be in the Senator’s care.”

  Asher nodded as they walked down a hall. The heels of Drake’s boots clicked on the concrete floor in contrast to the soft-soled shoes Faith, and Asher wore. Accustomed to the slick, bare, clean walls, wide halls, sealed doors on both sides and industrial appearance, Drake stopped when Faith did, just short of the area holding Francesca.