Virgin in Disguise Page 17

  The process continued until she had all the film scanned. Then she sifted through the images, selecting, enlarging and studying each frame. Some she copied and set aside. Others she burned to a CD and closed.

  When she finished, three pictures remained on the screen. She selected one and blew it up until it filled the large monitor.

  Three men sat around a table, drinks in front of them, a cigar leaking a plume of smoke into the already hazy air. They appeared to be in a bar, but the photographer had zoomed in close. Little of the background remained to help identify a specific location.

  “Do you recognize any of them?” He broke the silence.

  She leaned back in the chair and ran both hands through her hair, leaving spikes standing on end and looking a little more like the Elf he knew and loved.

  “This one.” She pointed at one man. “That’s Dex. The man beside him,” she continued, her finger caressing the screen. “He’s my father.”

  Frank rested one hand on her shoulder and gave a little squeeze. Small comfort against the loss so evident in her voice.

  She took a deep breath. “The other man…I’m not sure. It seems like I should.”

  “The film has to be nearly twenty years old. There’s no reason you’d recognize a buddy of your dad’s from back then. You might not have even met him.”

  “But he looks vaguely familiar.” She framed the third man’s face and enlarged it several times. The image degraded, but that worked to their advantage. The softer edge to the man’s features aged him.

  Elf squinted as she studied the picture. “Sanders?” A frown wrinkled her forehead.

  “Who?” The name sounded familiar.

  “I think…Dr. Sanders.” She leaned away from the screen. “He took care of Mom, practically since the day of Dad’s murder. I don’t know how we would have made it through those early days without him and Dex there to help.”

  Frank remembered then. The name had been included in the case notes assembled by The Diamond Group. The doctor had been responsible for the initial misdiagnosis and improper medication of Maryam Donovan. The circumstances surrounding the doctor’s sudden disappearance took on extra importance with this new information.

  He backed away from revealing another betrayal. Not yet. He wouldn’t do that to her. Instead, he redirected her focus for the moment. “What I’m curious about is who took the picture, and why?”

  Elf looked at him. He refused to meet the question in her eyes. She turned back to the computer and expanded one of the other shots. “This is essentially the same shot, just a wider angle.”

  They both leaned closer to the screen, studying the details, trying to make out some clue.

  “Is that a mirror on the wall?” He pointed at a section of the background.

  She marked the section and blew it up. “Yeah. The image is pretty grainy, but we are seeing the reverse of the foreground. That’s Dad.”

  “Do you think we can make out who else was there?”

  “Maybe.” She looked from the computer screen to him. “You’re thinking we might be able to pinpoint the photographer?”

  “It’s a long shot, I know, but worth trying.”

  She shrugged and repeated the enlarging process. “Then what? I get that Dad must have known the photographer to wind up with the film. But there’s no guarantee I’ll be able to ID him.”

  “No, but maybe your mother will.”

  Her hands stopped moving over the keyboard.

  “What?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.

  “I’m not sure showing Mom these pictures would be wise. She’s—”

  “Fragile, I know.” He turned the desk chair, forcing Angel to face him. “Your mother may not be as delicate as you think. You said yourself that she seems stronger, more normal.”

  “Even so, I don’t want to hurt her. If these pictures bring back bad memories for her…”

  He brushed one hand over her hair, smoothing down the spikes. “We don’t have to decide right now. Let’s see what we have and then we can figure out where we go from there.”

  She turned back to the computer screen. “The image is degrading too much. Tina’s way better at this. She might be able to do some techno-wizardry, or run a program of some sort and pull something out of it.”

  Footsteps overhead and down the stairs signaled the end of the sound session in Tina’s studio. “Welcome to my World” accompanied the departure of the client.

  The office door opened.

  Frank stood and turned to face Tina. Her eyes rounded in surprise. “You?” She stepped away, out of reach.

  He smiled. “None other.”

  Elf pushed him out of her way. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything when we got here, but I didn’t want to get into long explanations. Especially not when you had clients waiting.”

  “Well, they’re gone now, and you can take all the time you want. I’m dying to hear.”

  “Maybe later, after a pitcher of margaritas.” A blush warmed Elf’s cheeks.

  Frank held back a chuckle, knowing she’d probably reward him with an elbow to the diaphragm again. She had sharp elbows, and he’d just as soon forgo the experience.

  “You’re on, chiquita.” Tina nodded towards the computer. “What have you got for me?”

  “A couple things.” Relief eased the tension lines from Elf’s face. She slid back onto the office chair. “I’ve scanned in a couple negs I’m hoping you can do a little image refining on. But first,” she said, as she reached into her briefcase on the credenza and pulled out a flat box about twelve inches square. “I need to hear what’s on this tape.”

  “No problem. C’mon upstairs.” Tina led the way back up the carpeted stairs.

  A soundproof booth filled one end of the studio. Facing the booth, a huge sound console dominated the room. Shelves filled with compact discs lined one entire side wall. The opposite side displayed framed album covers, awards and movie memorabilia.

  Elf and Tina settled into chairs in front of the console. The only place left to sit was an ugly, olive drab, overstuffed easy chair. As soon as he sat, the biggest, fluffiest gray cat he’d ever seen leaped into his lap, swished its tail in his face and settled down to watch.

  “I hope you’re not allergic.” Tina glanced up from threading the audiotape onto the reel-to-reel tape deck. She exchanged a raised eyebrow look with Elf. “So, he’s okay.”

  “Yeah.” Elf swiveled to look at him. “I guess he is.”

  “What?”

  “Czar has very discerning taste,” Elf explained. “He doesn’t like most people. You just passed the ultimate test.”

  “The cat sat in my lap.”

  “Yepper. Most people, he ignores. If he takes a dislike, he’s been known to attack.”

  “Those people,” Tina joined in, “I don’t book with again.”

  “You only work with people your cat approves of?”

  She nodded as she slipped on a set of headphones.

  He looked back at Elf. “You just now decided I was okay?”

  “You have to admit, we got off to a less than auspicious start. An impartial read—”

  “From a cat—”

  “—is good confirmation.”

  Thank you, Czar. He scratched under the cat’s chin and triggered a loud purr.

  Tina pushed, turned and twiddled the controls in front of her. Finally, she pulled off the headphones. “We’re ready.”

  Elf tensed and leaned forward.

  “I’m going to let it run, and dump it to digital as it goes,” Tina explained. “Then we’ll have a copy to work with right from the start.”

  She handed a notepad and pen to Elf. “Why don’t you log it, so we can pinpoint any sections of particular interest.”

  The reels on the tape deck turned. No one said anything as voices came over the speakers.

  Angel checked the time code clock as the voice from her childhood memory filled the room.

  You have the proof we need? H
er father, his tone harsher, colder than he’d ever used around her, but still recognized in a heartbeat.

  Here are the prints from your meeting. Another man’s voice. Paper rustled and a few seconds of silence followed. Do you have a safe place to keep the negatives?

  She tried to make notes as Tina monitored the sound levels, but her hand refused to move as words washed over her. When Cabrini took the pen and pad from her, she didn’t protest. Her hands balled into fists, and every muscle across her back tightened.

  The taped voices detailed a series of meetings between Marvin Dexter and various businessmen and property owners. Shortly after each meeting, the individual fell victim to an arsonist’s torch.

  One to two months after each fire, Dex seemed to tap into sweetheart deals, such as twenty acres of northern lakeshore property at a fraction of the normal cost.

  The last meeting documented on the tape involved a clinic owned by Dr. Sanders.

  The end of the tape ran through the tape deck.

  Silence. Except for the denials her heart screamed.

  She could feel Tina and Cabrini watching her. She shook out her cramped hands.

  “Whoa.” Tina’s soft exhalation sounded loud in the room. “Was that…?”

  “My father.” The voice of a ghost. She stood.

  “Elf?” Cabrini’s voice sounded so far away, but she could feel his touch as he brushed her hair away from her eyes. His thumb wiped across her cheek, smearing moisture in its wake.

  Tears? When had she started crying?

  He pulled her into his arms and she accepted the warmth and strength he provided. She wanted to stay there. She didn’t want to listen to the tape again, hear the voices again. Know the depth of Marvin Dexter’s betrayal.

  “Did you get everything transferred to a digital file?” Cabrini’s voice vibrated in his chest beneath her ear.

  If Tina answered, she didn’t hear.

  “I need photocopies of the log and a copy of that audio file to overnight to my office tonight.”

  “Office?” This time, Tina’s response broke through the buzzing in her ears.

  The tape proved Cabrini had been right. Dex would stop at nothing to reach his goal. Twenty years ago, he’d killed his partner to cover up a string of arsons that had become a lucrative side career.

  History nearly repeated itself when the lakeside cabin funded by those arsons had gone up in flames.

  She released an unsteady breath and stepped away from Cabrini. He kept hold of her hand, not letting her completely separate herself from him.

  “Angel?” Tina watched them from her chair by the console.

  She nodded. “It’s okay. He’s a private investigator. Mom hired him.”

  “Your mother?”

  She waved off Tina’s question. “I’ll explain later.” Adrenaline pumped through her veins with each new realization of what they had in their possession. “Right now, you need to burn two copies of that audio file onto CD, then wipe every trace of the file from your equipment.”

  She pulled away from Cabrini’s loose hold. “We can’t leave any evidence that we’ve been here.”

  He nodded. “I’ll take care of the computer downstairs.”

  “Tina—” she turned to her friend “—you can’t tell anyone about the tape. Or the pictures. You never saw them, you never heard anything, we haven’t talked in over a week.”

  “It’s that serious, isn’t it?”

  “Worse. I never should have come here. I’m sorry.”

  “Hey, I never saw you.” She turned to her machines without another word.

  Frank copied everything from the downstairs computer onto CDs.

  He agreed with Elf one hundred percent. Any trace that they’d been at the sound studio could put Tina in danger.

  They needed to clean up and get out of there.

  The agency’s tech gurus could take care of analyzing the file copies they sent. Not that he needed a report to know what they had. Hearing the tape, watching Elf’s reactions, had been proof enough for him.

  For her, too. Her tears had surprised him.

  The speed of her recovery worried him.

  Angel gave the studio one last idiot check sweep to make sure she had everything.

  “Will you be okay?”

  Tina’s question brought her up short. Would she be okay? Maybe. Once she caught her father’s murderer. She nodded and picked up the notepad used to log the tape.

  That’s all it took to trigger a flood of memories. Memories of what they’d heard. Memories of her childhood and the man her father had been.

  Anger burned through her veins with each one.

  Dexter would pay for what he’d done. For killing her father. For destroying her mother’s life. For robbing Angel of two loving parents.

  She forced her breathing to stay slow and even. She had to look calm, seem normal. Maintain the facade.

  Tina, worry shadowing her eyes, laid the CDs and boxed tape reel on top of the notepad.

  She slid the pile into her briefcase. “Double check your computers—make sure everything’s gone.”

  “I will. Be careful.”

  “Of course.” She gave her friend a quick hug.

  Her next hurdle waited at the bottom of the stairs.

  The way Cabrini stood guard over her only exit, she could tell he suspected something.

  Smart man. But she was just as smart. She’d play the part he wanted to see, mislead with subterfuge, pretend they’d work the situation through as a team.

  Then, the first opportunity she could make, she’d take care of her business her way.

  Chapter 15

  Frank saw through the expression on Elf’s face. Did she really think she could fool him with the calm front?

  If she did, she’d soon find out differently.

  They left Tina’s studio. Neither said a word as they retraced their winding path to where they’d parked the Lexus.

  Birdsong and the rush and whoosh of evening traffic filled the silence. A gentle breeze laced the fragrance of roses and fresh mown grass with Elf’s warm vanilla scent.

  Elf and vanilla. The two were forever associated in his brain. Memories of their “introduction” held the odd juxtaposition of cold metal handcuffs with the gentle aroma of home baking.

  Elf slowed her pace. “Looks like company.”

  Parking so far away from Tina’s studio had seemed overly cautious at the time. Now he was glad they’d taken the extra step. A dark sedan, with two suspicious-looking occupants easily visible, sat parked between them and their car.

  “I see them.” It was possible there was no reason for suspicion. Then again, considering the run of luck they’d had so far today, the odds weren’t in their favor. “I think it’s time for that alternate mode of transportation.”

  She nodded and turned the next corner, heading for busy Hennepin Avenue. A bus pulled to a stop as they reached the intersection. “I hope you have change.”

  He followed her onto the bus, paid their fares and joined her on the back seat. “Any idea where this takes us?”

  “Uptown. We can get off at the transit station.”

  “That’s close to my place.”

  She nodded.

  “Maybe we could stop in there?”

  She shrugged.

  “You aren’t curious why? No issues with who we might run into? No concerns the place is being watched?”

  She looked at him with a “What do you think?” expression.

  “Look, we need to figure out our next step. You know we can’t do that wandering around on the public transit system. A change of appearance wouldn’t be a bad idea, either.”

  “And you think your room is a good place to do that?”

  “At least we’d have a little privacy.”

  “I have another idea.” She slipped her sunglasses in place. “I think it’s time to split up.”

  “No.” No way in hell was he going to let her go off by herself again. Not before they
talked through a few things.

  “It makes perfect sense. It worked back at the hotel. Apart, we have a better chance of eluding them.”

  “Apart, we’re vulnerable. We need to stick together this time to watch each other’s back.”

  That hit a nerve. Her shoulders stiffened and she lowered her chin. Looking over the top of her sunglasses, she narrowed her eyes. “Cabrini, I may be just a woman, but I have been working alone a very long time. One thing I do know is I do not need a man to do my work for me.”

  “I thought we’d gotten past that.” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “No, you don’t need a man to help do your job. And I don’t need a woman to help me with mine. Leave gender out of it and consider this—together, we’re stronger. We have different resources to call on and complementary skills. Let’s use that to our advantage.”

  “What do you have in mind?” she asked after a short silence.

  “Regroup, reassess, respond.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, we need to understand what we’re dealing with and come up with a plan before we charge off anywhere.”

  The bus pulled into the transit station. Frank stood and held his hand out. She ignored it, brushed past him and left the bus.

  Somehow, he needed to get through to her. She hadn’t said a word about the tape and what they’d heard. Nothing to give him an idea of what she really felt beneath the calm face she insisted on presenting to the world. To him.

  That’s what ate at him most, the fact that she tried to hide her feelings from him.

  When would she accept that it wouldn’t work? Not anymore. He knew hearing proof of Dexter’s betrayal had to be eating at her. And he knew if she didn’t let out the emotions, they would destroy her.

  He cared too much about her to let that happen. Loved her too much.

  They walked side by side to the large house where he’d rented a room. He slipped his hand under her elbow when her steps slowed. Her muscles flexed beneath his touch. He almost hoped she would resist. At least it would be a reaction of some sort.