More Than a Mission - Caridad Pineiro [66]
He walked over slowly, disbelievingly, until he got closer and closer and there was no denying what he was seeing.
Picking up the frame, he ran his fingers over the photo of the two women standing before the Spanish Steps in Rome. Two identical women. No delusion could have fabricated this, he realized.
“Red Rover. Come in, Red Rover,” he said and turned to face Lizzy.
She must have realized what he was holding, for her earlier anger and confusion fled from her face. She smiled, crossed her arms over her chest and said, “I told you I wasn’t crazy.”
He acknowledged it, but then Lucia finally responded.
“Come in. Walker wants to know if you have proof of the Sparrow’s allegations?”
“I’m holding it, Lucia. I think you two need to get here so we can all discuss this.”
As he spoke he looked at Elizabeth, who immediately said, “You’re damn right that we’d better discuss this. My sister—”
“Is the Sparrow. She’s a world-renowned assassin. We think she murdered the prince.”
“And I should believe that because your information has been reliable so far?”
She didn’t wait for his answer but turned on her heel and headed downstairs.
He watched her go and confessed to admiration at her spunk. He only hoped it would last past the interview with Walker and Lucia.
Elizabeth waited patiently for Aidan’s colleagues to arrive. Or at least, she hoped she looked patient, since she was anything but. Her emotions were a jumble from the revelations that Aidan suspected her sister was a cold-blooded killer and that Aidan himself had been deceiving her. He had lied his way into her bed. Into her heart.
The former concerned her more since she knew he was wrong about Dani. Her sister could never do what he claimed. The latter…she couldn’t begin to deal with the latter. With her poor judgment.
It took just five minutes or so after his call for a knock to come at the door. During those minutes, she and Aidan stared at one another awkwardly.
He looked guilty and upset. Good, the bastard deserved major angst after what he had done.
She picked up her chin and glared at him, conveying her rage as he walked to the door to allow his colleagues to enter.
Another man, one very similar in size and looks to Aidan, and an attractive coffee-color-skinned woman walked through the door. Aidan motioned them in the direction of the couch where she was sitting. “Elizabeth Moore,” he offered in explanation.
Elizabeth rose slowly.
The tall sandy-haired man held out his hand. “Dr. Walker Shaw.”
The woman was next. “Lucia Cordez.”
She noticed that the woman had a laptop in her other hand and Elizabeth motioned to it. “Is that where you have your proof?”
“No sense delaying, is there?” Shaw said and held out his hand, inviting her to sit once more.
She did, and the woman and Shaw bracketed either side of her. Aidan took a seat across the way, obviously having no need to see the proof.
Lucia powered up the laptop and, once it was running, assisted Shaw as he detailed their evidence that Dani was the Sparrow.
Elizabeth listened. Looked. The dates and facts for certain times she could personally confirm. Dates like the one that fell during the week that she and Dani had met in Rome.
Thinking back on it now, Dani had been so happy for the first few days and had even hinted at a new man in her life. One with whom she could get serious. But then, something had happened. Dani wouldn’t say what, but her sister had been a changed woman by the end of the week.
And then there was the weekend for the cooking expo in the town near Prince Reginald’s estate.
Dani had been home that weekend. A surprise trip, she had said. She had even gone by the expo to see Elizabeth, although she hadn’t come home until very late that night.
The night the prince had been murdered.
As each fact seemed to point to the possibility that her sister was what they said, Elizabeth scrambled to find an explanation for why she wasn’t. Why they were wrong.
The explanations were hard to find.
“She couldn’t have done all these things that you say,” she countered