Free In Love and Rescue: When love is the perfect rescue... by K. Alex Walker Page B

along?”
    Another curse resounded. He’d forgotten about that as well.
    “Yes, but let me explain,” he rushed out before she had a chance to speak. “I wasn’t sure who’d abducted you back at the old house.”
    “But you had a hunch.”
    “A hunch doesn’t mean much in this line of work.”
    Her eyes darted between him and Doug. “Really? You guys operate off your gut and intel. A hunch means everything.”
    Desmond and Doug began to plead their case, but she put a hand up before squaring her eyes on Desmond. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll deal with you later.”
    A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Ignoring it, she faced Doug again. “So, has anyone pointed out yet that three of the key people involved in the Jarvis case are missing?”
    “That’s the funny thing.” Doug pulled up a copy of the Washington Post. “Yes, but not in the way that you think. T he media is calling the case a curse. The FBI, they’re thinking an external source. That one person is behind all three of the disappearances.”
    “ Is that one person Eddie?” She asked.
    “No .” Doug swayed in his chair. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Desmond?”
    “That Larke has a mole in her office?” Desmond asked, glancing at Larke. “And that this could be the same person who leaked to the FBI that she’d gone missing?”
    Doug also looked at her. “Did anyone else in your office know about what had been happening? The threats? The stalking? Any of that?”
    “No,” she answered, trying to conjure the memory and failing.
    “You’re sure?”
    “ Pretty sure.”
    He twisted his mouth. “Still doesn’t feel right.”
    Desmond reached for a folder that was sitting on top of the desk. “What have you found so far on the Jarvis-Delgano connection?”
    Doug tapped a few more keys. “Not much. They grew up together, but Eddie chose to move to the US while Richards stayed in Jamaica. Virtually everyone on the island knows their story, and that they’re involved in some sort of intricate drug smuggling operation, but I couldn’t find a shred of evidence that Delgano ever stepped foot onto US soil. It almost looks like they haven’t had any contact since Eddie left eighteen years ago.”
    He turned the monitor towards them. “But have you ever heard of a police officer that, on just his salary, can afford a property on the Amalfi coast in Italy? Or purchase a Lamborghini roadster in cash?”
    Larke moved closer to the screen. “So, Eddie and Gano are still working together.”
    “And are somehow able to exchange money without leaving a paper trail,” Desmond added.
    “But why come after me?”
    Doug pulled up another screen. “Larke, how much was Eddie worth when your team looked into it?”
    She thought back to the trial. “About forty-five million.”
    He chuckled and pressed a button as numbers began to scroll across the screen. “Try one-hundred and twenty-million dollars.”
    Desmond sucked air through his teeth. “Damn.”
    “Damn is right,” Doug added. “With men like Jarvis, that money means that they have absolute power. The fact that he was able to keep more than half of his net-worth hidden from the IRS means power even over the US government. Your conviction trumped that power. You threatened his livelihood. That’s why he targeted you.”
    Desmond handed the folder to Larke before grabbing another. “Did you find anything on Cory?”
    “No, but my instincts tell me that he’s not alive.”
    “ But he didn’t kill me right away,” Larke suggested. “Couldn’t that mean that Cory is still alive somewhere?”
    Doug and Desmond glanced at each other.
    “Larke,” Desmond began, “the most logical reason explaining why Jarvis ordered to bring you in alive, is because he wanted to kill you himself. You were the direct threat. Cory was the accessory. So, it was less important to him to have a direct hand in Cory’s death.”
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, wishing