Chapters (46)
- Dedication
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
- Chapter 11
- Chapter 12
- Chapter 13
- Chapter 14
- Chapter 15
- Chapter 16
- Chapter 17
- Chapter 18
- Chapter 19
- Chapter 20
- Chapter 21
- Chapter 22
- Chapter 23
- Chapter 24
- Chapter 25
- Chapter 26
- Chapter 27
- Chapter 28
- Chapter 29
- Chapter 30
- Chapter 31
- Chapter 32
- Chapter 33
- Chapter 34
- Chapter 35
- Chapter 36
- Chapter 37
- Chapter 38
- Chapter 39
- Chapter 40
- An excerpt from Generous Lies
- Dear Reader
- Also by Robin Patchen
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
"His last name is Cop?" Rae raised her eyebrows.
Marisa nodded. "But it's K-O-P-P."
Rae smiled. "Appropriate."
Brady glanced at Rae while she wrote something on her note pad. He turned back to Marisa. "I'm guessing this agent tells Vinnie to cooperate, or he's going to bring him down, too."
"Yeah." Marisa could still remember the fear in Vinnie's eyes when he'd relayed the information to her. And the shame. She'd been horrified to discover her fiancé was a crook. She'd told him that if he didn't come clean and straighten up, they were finished.
Not that the threat had been necessary. Vinnie had known what he had to do. He was a young man, not even thirty. Why spend his life as a felon?
"Okay," Brady said. "Then what happened?"
"Vinnie contacted Kopp, and they set up a meeting for a week later. But a few days after that, Vinnie was beaten to death." For the first time, those words barely raised any emotion in her. Right now, all she cared about was getting Ana and Leslie back.
"I'm sorry," Brady said. "That must have been terrible."
"I was convinced Charles and his men had done it to keep him quiet. Vinnie thought he was being followed and even talked about running away. He was going to try to meet Kopp earlier, but before Vinnie could work it out, he was killed."
Reagan was taking notes but looked up and gave her an encouraging nod.
Brady leaned forward. "The question is, who told Charles Gray about the meet?"
Marisa opened her mouth, closed it again.
"What?" Nate said.
"I can't be sure, but..."
Nate turned to face her, leaned forward, and said very quietly, "You need to tell us everything, Marisa. Now is not the time to hold back."
She nodded. Swallowed. Said, "I know. You're right. It's just... I'm not sure."
Nate waited.
"Leslie." There, she'd said it. She'd never had the courage to confront her sister all those years ago, and she would never have told the FBI her suspicions, but now, with both Leslie and Ana kidnapped, the secret no longer seemed to matter.
Nate sat back, looked at the table. "Leslie." He met her eyes again. "I can see why you didn't say anything. You probably should have, but—"
"Who's Leslie?" Brady asked.
"My sister."
"Oh." Rae made a note. "She's the one who was taken with Ana?"
"Yeah." Marisa turned to Nate. "If it was her, I'm sure she didn't mean any harm."
"Of course." Nate's words didn't match his expression, though. His eyes had narrowed, his mouth pinched shut like he was working to keep his thoughts inside.
"Wait," Rae said. "Explain how that happened."
Marisa explained Leslie's business and the cleaning contract for G&K, how she'd known Charles Gray and Vinnie and a lot of the guys up there.