Lifeguard - James Patterson [45]
When life boxes you in a corner, he would always say, box back!
Ellie was sure that bastard Stratton was involved somehow. In the theft of his own art, maybe in Tess’s murder. The way he laughed at her, it was almost as if he were egging her on. Find something on me. I dare you.
So find something, Ellie. She dragged the fiberglass kayak up to her porch.
Box back!
Like that’s so easy, right? Still in her tight-fitting neoprene suit, Ellie rinsed the salt off the craft’s hull.
She was in the FBI, not the blouse business. There was a chain of command. She had this well-defined job. Someone she reported to. This wasn’t just some hunch she was following up on. This was going over people’s heads.
It was her career.
Ellie leaned the kayak against the wall and peeled off her rubber river shoes, shaking the spray out of her hair. That sure would be a waste of that fancy degree of yours, wouldn’t it? Moretti had sniffed. She was losing ground with him every day. And Ned? Why was she doing this?
“What’re you trying to do,” she muttered, shaking her head, exasperated, “let this guy destroy your career?”
She heard a voice from behind, scaring the wits out of her. Ellie spun around.
“Be careful what you wish for, Ellie. . . . You never know what the tide will roll in.”
Chapter 52
“JESUS, NED!” Ellie’s eyes grew wide.
Or at least it looked like Ned, with his hair short and darker, and a four-day growth on his chin.
“Don’t be scared.” Ned put up his hand. “No abductions this time, Ellie. I swear.”
Ellie wasn’t scared. Just angry and aware this time. Her training kicked in. Her eyes darted to her holster on the coatrack just inside the kitchen. This time, she was thinking, she was going to be the one in control.
She bolted toward the kitchen. Ned ran after, catching her by the arm. “Ellie, please . . .”
She spun wildly in his grasp. “Goddammit, Ned, what the hell are you doing here?”
“Guess I thought, given all the publicity”—he held back a smile—“your office just didn’t seem the place to meet.”
Ellie tried to pull away one more time, but he held her firmly, but not too hard. “I need to talk to you, Ellie. Just hear me out.”
She felt an urge to try and throw him, to go for the gun, but she had to admit that a tiny part of her was actually pleased, pleased that he was all right, anyway. That he was there. In her skintight suit, with his hand on her, she felt a little embarrassment take hold. She was blushing now. “What the hell are you doing, Ned?”
“I’m trusting you, Ellie. That’s what I’m doing. I’m showing you the new look. So what do you think?”
“I think when you get out of prison, you’ll be a helluva candidate for Extreme Makeover.” She pulled against him.
Ned relaxed his grip. “What I meant was, maybe you could start to trust me, too.”
She stood there, glaring at him. Part of her still wanted to make a run for the gun. The other part knew he wouldn’t even try to stop her. “It’s hard to trust you, Ned. Every time I do, someone else you’re connected to seems to turn up dead. You don’t just show up here like this. I’m a federal agent, not your AOL buddy. What the hell makes you think I won’t arrest you?”
“One thing,” he said, still holding her arm.
“What?” she asked, glaring back at him.
He let go of her arm. “I think you believe me, Ellie.”
Ellie took another quick glance toward the gun, but she knew it didn’t matter. She wasn’t going for it. Ned was right. She did believe him. She felt her body coil up with frustration. Then she finally gave in, staring into his eyes. “Did you kill that woman, Ned?”
“Tess?” He shook his head. “No.”
“And your brother? What happened to him?”
“All I did was go see him. That was after I met with my father. Ellie, my brother was dead when I got there. My brother, Ellie. Whoever did it was waiting for me. Nearly killed me, too. Someone sent him, Ellie. He thought I had the paintings. I still don’t even know who he was.”
“His name was Anson. He was a two-bit enforcer from south Florida with a record