Laura Scott - Twin Peril

A tense silence stretched between them. She sniffled loudly and swiped at her eyes. When her chin came up again, he almost smiled, impressed by her ability to pull herself together. Mallory was obviously a lot tougher than she looked. “You better. It’s only fair to warn you, I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and besides, I can call 9-1-1.”

When she actually punched in the buttons, prepared to make the call, he reached over to take his phone back. She didn’t let go. In the brief tussle, she brushed her arm against the side of his chest.

“What is this? Are you bleeding?” She stared in horror at the stain on her arm.

He glanced down in surprise, feeling the dampness against his shirt. It wasn’t easy to see in the darkness, but he could feel blood oozing through the dressing along the right side of his chest.

“Yuck. I faint at the sight of blood.” She rummaged through her purse, pulled out a small packet of wipes and cleaned the stain from her arm before glancing over to frown at him. “Are you sure you’re okay? Were you hit by a bullet back there?” The concern in her eyes was nice even though he didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t here just to save her life—he was here to close his case.

“No, I’m fine.” He realized the fresh surgical incision located along his rib cage was throbbing painfully. There was ibuprofen in his duffel bag, which was all he was willing to take. “It’s just an old injury that must have opened up a bit.”

“We’ll have to stop at a drugstore and get some bandages,” she murmured. “Too bad I’m not Alyssa—you could probably use a nurse.” She made a face as she placed a hand over her stomach. “I really am not much help when it comes to blood.”

He gave a brief nod, even though he had no intention of stopping at a drugstore anytime soon. Right now, his reopened wound was the least of his worries.

First he needed to find a safe haven, somewhere they could stay for the next twenty-four hours. And then he needed to figure out a way to make Mallory trust him enough to tell him the identity of the man who was in charge of the money-laundering operation that had almost gotten them all killed.

* * *

Mallory sensed there was far more to the story regarding how Alyssa was injured than Jonah Stewart was telling her. But as much as she wanted to keep after him, she couldn’t fight the wave of exhaustion washing over her, the adrenaline crash hitting hard. She wished she could talk to Alyssa.

She supposed it was logical that Gage wouldn’t answer the phone in the middle of the night. And if Alyssa really had lost her cell phone, then there was nothing more she could do except wait until morning. She wondered how Gage and Alyssa were getting along. Jonah had made it sound as if they were a couple saying they were both worried about her. But Mallory knew better than to think Gage was worried—she could only hope he wouldn’t let his personal feelings toward her get in the way of responding to her voice-mail message.

Back when Gage and Alyssa had started dating, she hadn’t trusted Gage’s feelings, especially the way he’d proposed so quickly. She’d shamelessly flirted with him as a way to test his feelings because, in her experience, men usually went for the easy, no-strings-attached type of relationship. But he’d surprised her by instantly shutting her down. He had claimed to love Alyssa, although just a short month later, she had returned his engagement ring.

Mallory suspected Alyssa still harbored deep feelings for Gage Drummond.

Since thinking about her past—and the way she’d messed up one relationship after another—was depressing, she concentrated on the present. Glancing over at Jonah, she focused on his wound. It wasn’t easy to see the stain on his navy T-shirt, but she could tell the damp spot was spreading.

“Jonah, what happened? Why would an old wound bleed like that?”

“I had surgery about a week ago, and a few of the stitches must have popped open.”

“What happened? Were you injured on the job?”

He clenched his jaw. “I was stabbed by a dirty cop Gage and I discovered was working for Hugh Jefferson.”

Mallory twisted her fingers together nervously. The architectural firm she worked for had been awarded the design contract for the Jefferson Project—fancy high-rise condos overlooking the Milwaukee River. She was the firm’s interior designer, and her boss, Rick Meyers, was the one who’d introduced her to Anthony Caruso.

Caruso had talked often to Hugh Jefferson. The mere memory of what she’d overheard made her stomach roll with nausea. “What are you saying? That you have proof Jefferson was involved with illegal activities?”

“Yeah. We have proof of how he was involved in a money-laundering scheme. But now he’s dead.”

Her mouth dropped open in shock. Hugh Jefferson was dead? “Are you sure all this happened while I was making my way to the cabin?” She hated thinking she’d left Alyssa in danger.

“I’m sure.” Jonah’s tone was terse. “Jefferson’s yacht caught on fire, and while Gage and Alyssa managed to escape, he and his cohorts didn’t. All three of them died—Aaron Crane, the dirty cop, Hugh Jefferson and Eric Holden, the newly elected Milwaukee mayor. Well, technically, Holden died before he could be sworn into office.”

She was disappointed that he hadn’t mentioned

Caruso. Listening to Jonah talk about the Jefferson Project confirmed that everything she’d suspected all along was true. There hadn’t been some horrible mistake. Caruso really had sent that thug to kill her at Alyssa’s town house, hoping to silence her forever. And then Caruso had found her again, at Uncle Henry’s cabin. She licked her suddenly dry lips. “I’m relieved to know Alyssa and Gage escaped. But why were they even on the yacht in the first place? What possessed Gage to put Alyssa in danger?”

“Gage didn’t put her in danger on purpose. In fact, he went to great lengths to keep her safe. But we didn’t know exactly who she was running from, because of her amnesia.”

She rubbed her temples, trying to make sense of what Jonah was saying. “I was the one they wanted to silence.” She felt sick at the thought she’d inadvertently put Alyssa in danger. “They must have thought she was me.”

“No, it wasn’t that,” Jonah said reassuringly. “Alyssa was working in the trauma room the night Councilman Schaefer was brought in with his stab wound. He told Alyssa that Jefferson was responsible. She believed him and reported the crime to Officer Crane, who happened to be working for Jefferson. He tried to kill her. More than once. If not for Gage’s help, he might have succeeded.”

Mallory shook her head, unable to process what he was saying. Wave after wave of regret battered her. She’d been so worried about her own well-being, especially after Wasserman followed her to Alyssa’s town house, that she’d never considered her sister might be in just as much danger. She’d left the urgent message—assuming Alyssa would drop everything to come out to meet her—then ditched her phone, worried that

Caruso had the means to track it. If only she and Alyssa had been able to talk to each other. They could have disappeared together.

“So now, Mallory, it’s your turn. We know why Alyssa was in danger, but we don’t know what happened to you. Did you stumble onto something you shouldn’t have? Did you find out about the money-

laundering scheme?”

“I don’t even know what money laundering is.” She kept her tone even with an effort.

“It’s taking money received from illegal activities and putting it into legal activities,” he explained, not willing to be distracted from his purpose. “You left a lot of blood on the floor of Alyssa’s town house, along with a blood-stained blouse.”