Wanting the Detective

Chapter 15

Nothing but a view of the parking lot through the rear window.

The woman felt both her sides until she found her holstered gun. "You didn't think I'd forget this, did you?" She unsnapped the strap holding it in place and took it from her. "Where's your cellphone?"

"In my purse." What the hell was she doing? She could still get away if she just—

"Hand your bags back to me."

Lucy picked the bags up slowly and handed them back. The woman ripped them from her hand and threw them to the floor on the rear passenger side.

"Okay, start the car and follow my directions."

"Where are you taking me?" Lucy started the car and drove toward the parking lot exit. Regret stung her when she spotted the taxi she'd called waiting at the hotel entrance.

"I told you, I'm taking you to see your sister."

Her gut twisted. If her sister was alive, why would this woman want to bring them together? To kill them both? Use her sister as bait and get the FBI agent off her back?

What about Kurt?

Nausea threatened to overtake her. "Where's Detective Milton?"

"Well, I don't know if you realize this, but you two caused a lot of problems for me. Killed one of my mercenaries, arrested another, made me kill three of my own men in that fire after Wayne squealed on them. So, long story short, I'm a little understaffed. We still have to get our hands on Milton. But that shouldn't be too hard now that I have you as bait." She stroked Lucy's hair as she purred the last sentence. "Take the next right."

Oh, God, what have I done? She'd walked right into this woman's trap. Her sister wasn't waiting for her somewhere. She was already dead, just like Lucy and Kurt would be.

She took the right turn, her thoughts racing as she tried to figure out how she could turn the tables on this woman. Think. Who is this woman? She knew that voice, but her mind, in panic mode, wouldn't give her the answer.

Then it came to her.

"You're Wayne Carringer's lawyer, Celia Russel."

"Yeah! Hey, you have a great memory. Pretty funny, huh? He thinks I'm working for him but he's the one working for me. I like to keep close tabs on my weak links, and he proved me right. I'm still trying to find some way to off that guy..."

"You don't have any contacts in the prison system?" Lucy needed to keep her talking.

"I do, but it's all about having a link in the right place at the right time. I've got a couple in the Atlanta PD. One of those was in the right place when you and Detective Milton handed that data card over to whatever the hell that tech guy's name is."

"Oh really? Who's that?" Lucy faked casual interest—what she wanted was ammunition.

"You're talking like you think you're going to live through this or something. Come back and bust the crooked cops!" Celia laughed cynically. "When people think about bad apples in the department they're never thinking about the mail guy, or the receptionist, or the janitor. Those are the ones I buy. They're easier to get to because they really need the money. So when I say, 'keep tabs on the pretty little FBI agent and her detective friend,' they come running to me with every little detail. My God! I just about cried when one of them told me about big strong Detective Milton having to carry you out of the station when you thought your sister died—that was so emotional."

There it was again, Celia kept referring to Dawn as alive. "If you killed your employees and your girls at the lumber yard why would you have kept Dawn alive? I would think she was your biggest liability—"