Chapter 17

Alec sat beside Ian as he drove. He seemed to prefer to be at the wheel. Glancing at her briefly, he turned his eyes back on the road.

“I take it Jac has bad reactions to touching people?”

Blowing out a breath, Alec leaned back in the seat. “Yeah. She can have little ones or almost be comatose. The latter is scary as hell. When we were working on the kidnapping case I watched her collapse on the floor, with Reid having to rush her to the bathroom to throw up.” She shivered. “I don’t know how she does it.”

“No kidding.”

Turning she watched him. “Do you have bad reactions or anything?” She tried to make it a casual inquiry, but he still looked over at her with an odd expression on his face.

“Not like that, but I can find myself stuck in a head if I’m not careful. And if I don’t stick to a certain time frame, I become very lethargic, which can be embarrassing, depending on where I am at the time.”

“So the nights at the bars, it was okay? You didn’t seem lethargic.”

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and then smirked. “No, that was like mind surfing, never stayed in one long enough to work at it.”

“So, it doesn’t take a lot of concentration?” She hoped with more details she’d feel better about it.

“Sometimes it does. Lately, it takes a hell of a lot of focus to get it done.” He was smiling when he said it.

“Because of the noise levels?”

Ian paused long enough, that she felt the tension. “No.” He pulled something out of his pocket and held it out to her. “Because of this.”

Taking the photos, she looked down at them and her heart immediately skipped several beats. She was looking at herself, wrapped around Ian at the club. The way he was looking at her in the picture made her blood pound faster in her veins and sent heat shooting to her groin region. The heated, possessive look on his face was something she didn’t think she’d ever seen on a man while looking at her. Swallowing, she flipped through the pictures, almost sweating by the time she reached the last one. “Who at the station has seen these?”

“Only Reid and Brent since they were printed.”

She knew he was looking at her, but she couldn’t take her eyes off that first photo. “Good,” she swallowed again, trying to calm down.

“That’s not fake,” Ian stated in a hard tone.

Tearing her eyes away from the picture, she looked over at him. “What isn’t?”

His blue eyes raked over her face briefly. “I know we were role-playing, but those feelings, the expressions on our faces, those aren’t fake.”

She could have denied it for all she was worth, but inside she knew he was right and she wasn’t about to lie about it. “I’d like to keep these.”

Reaching over, he plucked the top photo out of her grasp. “I just want this one.” Tucking it back into his pocket, he turned back to the road and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.

***

Ian leaned back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. He could hear Jac and Felicity on the keyboards and hoped they were digging up a lot to give them a direction. At this point, he wasn’t sure if having help was a good thing or a bad thing, it definitely was new for him.

It had been two hours since they’d left Jac’s house and in that time, Ian had surfed through a lot of minds. For the most part, the thoughts were mundane, a few bordered on bizarre and not the type of thoughts Ian really yearned to be privy to.

He had to hand it to Alec though; she had been able to toss in enough mentions of the names on their list to get brain waves flowing so Ian could see if they were trustworthy. After more heads than he could count, Alec decided they were done. The end result, aside from him feeling a little wobbly was three detectives they were one hundred percent sure of and the captain.

With the preliminary reports from the team at the courthouse, they appeared to be on the right side as well, but Ian had learned the hard way that appearances weren’t always true. Right at this moment, he was content to sit here and do nothing. Brent, Reid, and Alec were up talking to the captain; the end result of that Ian was quite interested in. He still couldn’t believe they were leaving his involvement out of it. This whole day had been one of the oddest ones in his life.

“Ian?”

Lifting his head, he looked over at Felicity.

“I was going to grab some coffee, would you like one?”

He smiled. “I would love one, just sugar. Thanks.”

Jac spun around on the chair. “Are you sure you don’t want to try some of my tea? It smells like dirty socks, but it works at rejuvenating.”

“I think coffee will work just fine for me.”

Felicity chuckled. “She tries hard to share that tea.” With a smirk, she left to get the coffee.

“Dig up anything good?”

Glancing over her shoulder, Jac, motioned for him to wait a moment. Ian sat up further in the chair and watched as she clicked through a few sites. He couldn’t make out what she was looking at, but she seemed very focused on something.

When she finally turned, he heard the printer going again. “So, I’ve dug up quite a bit so far. I’m still looking into Christian Veritas, but I know where Kimberley Almay works and it’s not good.”

“How so?” He shook off the weariness and tried to pay attention.

“She’s an intern at the Crown Attorney’s office.”

“That’s not good when you add it to what we found out.”

Ian jolted and turned to look at the door as the three detectives came in.

“Keep going, Jac, we’ll fill you in on our details after.”

Nodding, Jac looked back at the pile of papers in her lap. Hesitantly, she glanced at Alec. “I found a few things out about Bill.”

Felicity came back in with the coffee. Looking at the door, Brent stepped over and shut it after her, then nodded to Jacinda. “What did you find?”

Ian took the cup Felicity handed him.

“About two years ago he arrested Felix Espinosa, who is well known for his work for Nick Colette. Shortly after that, there are pictures of Bill with Pierre Cardiel at some sort of yacht race, along with Vance Shaw. I think they’re part of the race team.”

“Vance from the Daily Post?” Reid inquired. Jac nodded.

Brent whistled. “A reporter, a billionaire, and a detective...”

“Don’t forget a couple of mob heads, their goons, the mayor’s assistant, and the Crown Attorney’s intern,” Alec added.

Reid perched on his desk and looked down at the floor. “This isn’t going to lead anywhere good.” He looked over at Ian. “Are you going to be able to get close to any of these people?”

Ian shrugged. “I just have to find where and...”

“Tomorrow night there’s a big fundraiser and all the people on our list will be there, including the illusive Christian Veritas.”

Ian looked over at the printed announcement Jac held up. “I guess that’s the where.”

“Mandy is getting me some tickets and I’ve already looked into the catering company to see if we can get someone else inside.”

Reid chuckled and shook his head. “Is there anything you need us to do?”

Getting up, she walked over and hugged him. “Well I’m not going to do something with that many people, so I guess you guys get the honors.”

“And if Bill’s lurking about, he’ll automatically be tipped off if Reid and I are there.” Brent tucked his hands into his pockets and sighed.

Felicity smiled over at Brent. “Oh, but you and I are going. A Drummond being present won’t be questioned.”

Sipping the coffee, Ian watched Alec, he could tell she was dying to be part of it. “If Alec wore a wig and glasses, no one would recognize her. She could grab a spot as a server or something.” He was rewarded with a smile from her.

“I can do that. What’s the catering company?”

Jac went over and shuffled through the pages and handed her one. “I know Sandy will feel better if Brent and Alec are there.”

Reid nodded. “We’ll see who else we can have nearby.” Looking over at Ian, he paused, his jaw clenching. “So, you’re sure about Leigh, Max, and Lenny?”

Ian set the cup down and leaned forward in the chair. “Yeah, when Alec tossed out Colette’s name, the only thoughts in their heads were ‘sign me up’. They want justice, nothing more.”

“Good. We’ll rely on them as much as possible.” Nodding over to Brent, he moved around and sat behind his desk.

Brent dropped the folder he’d been holding onto the table. “So, Willard Jacks picked up an envelope from an unknown, that received the envelope from a runner that works for the Crown Attorney. We’re running the pictures of the two unknown parties.” He studied Ian for a moment. “Are you too tired to try a few more brains?”

Ian shook his head. “No, once I get something to eat, I’ll be good to go again.”

“Well, you’ve got time. We were going to have them pick up Willard after they followed him to Andrea Weaver, but were able to get close enough to hear her telling him to meet Mr. Pelts at the track tonight.” He motioned to Alec. “I think you and Alec should place your bets tonight.”

“I want a piece of Pelts.” Alec almost growled.

Ian agreed with her completely. “Am I just listening in or is there another agenda?”

Brent rubbed the back of his neck. “We’ll have Leigh and Max set up there, but if we can get either Willard or Pelts on anything, they have the go-ahead.” He gave Alec a brief glance. “The sooner we get our hands on Pelts and see what’s planned for Alec, for sure, the better.”

“All right. I’ll see what I can find out.” He stood up, trying to get some blood flowing again. “Did we find out what’s in the envelope?”

Reid dropped his feet down off his desk and got up. “No, but I have an old friend keeping an eye on it right now. If it moves, we’ll know.”

Ian bobbed his head like he understood but really wasn’t sure what that meant. “I’m going to go grab something to eat and head home for a bit. Let me know what time we’re going to the tracks.”

“Will do.”

He stood there and watched Jac go back to the computer. She was one hell of a researcher. Felicity and Brent broke away from the others and were talking quietly off to one side. Reid moved over and stood behind Jac, watching what she was bringing up on the screen. Rolling his tired shoulders, he turned to Alec.

She held up the page Jac had given her. “Can you drop me off here at the catering company on your way out?”

Nodding, he motioned to the door. He needed to go home and draw this out and try to make some sense of it. Somewhere out there were some key people that they had no idea about and Ian didn’t like surprises. That and he needed a bit of space between Alec and himself. He’d said he wouldn’t push and having her by his side all day long wasn’t going to help him keep his word.

Halfway up the stairs, he felt like he wanted to do nothing more than sit down. How many minds had he scanned through today? He still had no idea what the number was, but it had been a long time since he’d done that many in such a short time. Blowing out a breath, he continued up the stairs until he reached the top. Digging in his pocket, he pulled out his keys and held them out to Alec when she reached the top. “You drive and drop me at my place. My head is spinning from earlier and driving might not work out so well.”

With an astonished look on her face, she took the keys. “You’re telling me to take your car?”

He shrugged. “Unless you want to cab it to the catering company.” Ushering her toward the door, he coaxed her through it before she could pause. When he was this tired, too many unwanted thoughts swamped his mind, the sooner he was at home alone the better he’d feel.

Alec paused beside his car. “Are you sure?”

Nodding he opened the door for her and went around to the passenger side. Dropping into the seat, he leaned back and closed his eyes.

“Are you all right? Should you have done that many in the same day?”

Sighing, he opened his eyes and looked over to see genuine concern on her face. “It’s been a while since I did that much surfing in such a short time. I’m just a little drawn right now.”

“Why didn’t you say something? We could have taken a break or something.” She started the car.

He took notice that she didn’t really have to adjust the seat, just the steering wheel. Love those long legs. As soon as he realized where his brain was headed, he looked away and out the window. “I wanted to know who could be trusted. I don’t like wasting my time and if we set things up and Brent and Reid start bringing them in, I didn’t want to see them let go because of the wrong date or any other bullshit reason.”

“Put your seatbelt on.”

She watched him until he did it. He tried not to smirk like a child for having to be told.

“When all of this has settled and we know where it’s going, I want Bill served up on a shiny silver tray. There’s nothing lower than a dirty cop.”

Ian couldn’t think of one single thing to say in the man’s defense. Closing his eyes, he played the list of names over in his head. Where was this leading? Reid was right it wasn’t going to be anywhere good. What end game could all those people be aiming for?

“It would be easier to take you home if I knew where that was.”

Opening his eyes, he leaned forward and hit the GPS screen. Punching in a few numbers, his address came up from the memory. He grinned at her. “So, you don’t get lost.”

Rolling her eyes at him, Alec looked back at the street and pulled out into the traffic.