“Yeah.”
“It’s stress relief. That’s my excuse and it’s a damned good one, so I’m sticking to it.”
He laughed and pulled me into a kiss. When we separated, he looked up at the darkening sky. “Could stay here. Quiet. No hitmen.”
“Always a bonus.”
“It is. I—”
My cell phone rang, the sound muffled. I glanced toward my jeans, a few feet away.
“So much for quiet.”
Jack rose and snagged my jeans and tugged out the still-ringing phone.
“If it’s the guy who’s trying to kill me, take a message,” I said.
“Nah. Almost as bad. Evelyn.” He lifted the phone. “You want me . . . ?”
“No, I’ll take it.”
He handed it over, and I answered.
“It’s me,” she said. “I tried calling Jack, but he’s not answering his phone.”
“I think he left it in the car.”
“You’re not in the car?”
“Nope.”
“Where are you?”
I looked around. “A park. We went for a walk.”
She grumbled at the preposterousness of that. Hitmen apparently did not take walks, unless they were stalking someone.
“Okay, then, where is this park? How far are you?”
“Mmm, I dunno. Few hours from Chicago?”
“Either I just woke you up from a lovely nap or . . .” She paused. “A walk, was it? Well, I did tell you to make him happy. That’s one way.”
“It is.” I stifled a yawn. “We’re on schedule. I know that much. Do you want to talk to Jack?”
“Actually, I need to speak to both of you. Does that thing have a speaker?”
“Mmm, huh. Apparently, it does.”
“Then use it and try to wake up. Give Jack a shake, too. I’m sure he’s not in much better shape.”
I put her on speakerphone. I expected her to make some comment to Jack about what we’d been doing. When she led with, “We have a problem,” instead, I sat up quickly, drowsiness falling away.
“I need you to head back to the car,” she said. “Now.”
“Um . . .” I looked at our scattered clothing. “Right.”
I tugged my jeans over as Jack grabbed his. We tried to be quiet about it, but the sound must have carried.
Evelyn sighed. “Get dressed and then head back to the car. Quickly, please.”
“Keep talking,” Jack said. “We’re moving.”
“I got our answers from the Contrapasso guys,” Evelyn said.
“What cost?” Jack asked.
“We’ll discuss that later. For now, what’s far more important—”
“That’s important,” Jack said. “What did you—?”
“It’s okay,” I said as I pushed to my feet. “Evelyn’s right. We can get that later.”
Jack and I started walking, quickly, back along the darkening path as I asked Evelyn, “What’s wrong?”
“The Contrapasso Fellowship did not order a hit on Drew Aldrich.”
“Wh-what? Sorry. I heard you. I just . . . They didn’t order the hit? But I’m sure Koss killed him. Are they saying he didn’t?” I paused. “No, they’re saying Koss isn’t one of them. That’s where we made the wrong connection.”
“No, the connection was correct. Sebastian Koss is a part of Contrapasso. They confirmed he’s been a high-level member for years, and his primary role is bringing them cases exactly like Aldrich.”
“So they rejected Aldrich, and Koss took matters into his own hands.”
“No. Drew Aldrich’s name isn’t in their files. No one there has ever heard of him. Koss acted completely on his own.”
I swore. “So what does that mean?”
“I have no idea, and it’s not important right now. The point is that to get this information from them I had to tell them about Aldrich, obviously. And about Sebastian Koss and the fact that he used a car rented by their fleet. Now they want answers. From Koss. They’re going after him and once they get to him, we lose him. He disappears into their custody until they sort this out, and they won’t give a rat’s ass about you, Dee. Anything Koss knows is about to disappear with him.”
CHAPTER 47
“Koss was Aldrich’s partner,” I said as Jack peeled from the parking lot. “He had to be. Koss . . .” My stomach lurched. “Amy . . .”
“Don’t know that.”
Jack drove as fast as he dared. As urgent as the situation was, getting pulled over for speeding would consume any extra time we gained.
“I never even considered the possibility,” I murmured after a few minutes. “Why the hell didn’t I consider it?”
“Because it didn’t fit. We knew Koss was Contrapasso. That answer made sense. He killed Aldrich for them.”
Jack’s gaze was fixed on the road, his face expressionless. I knew that face. It said he was keeping it blank on purpose, so I didn’t read something in it.
“You did consider the possibility, didn’t you?” I asked.
No answer.
“Jack . . .”
“Considered. Only to be thorough.” He paused. “That PI we were meeting? Asked him to look into Koss. Any connection between Koss and Aldrich. Other than Amy’s trial. Honestly? Didn’t expect anything. Would have told you otherwise.”
“Does Evelyn know you suspected him?”
“Nah. Wasn’t really suspecting. Covering all bases.” He paused. “I mentioned it to Quinn.”
“Quinn?”
“Yeah. Before the fight. Wanted him to look into Koss. Said he doubted any connection. Koss is one of the good guys. Quinn didn’t even like me suggesting he might not be. So I called the PI.”
Another few minutes of silent driving. Then, “Maybe I should have told you. Didn’t think so. Not without proof.”
“Because I would have reacted just like Quinn did.”
“Nah. Not exactly.”
“But close enough. I know Koss’s reputation and I admire it. Even after meeting him and suspecting he could be the one trying to kill me, my opinion didn’t change. I’d have thought you suspected him because, in your world, guys like Koss are never as good as they seem.”
He shrugged. “Tough call. Long shot, too. Even now? Koss as Aldrich’s partner? Amy’s killer? Huge leap.”
“It is if I keep looking at him as Sebastian Koss, defender of justice, protector of women. But if I strip that away, and he’s just any other guy? I can imagine what happened.”
“Tell me.”
Did Jack really need me to lay it out? Probably not. He would have come up with his own theory when he considered Koss for the role of partner. But he wanted to hear mine, untainted by his own conjecture.
“Koss and Aldrich knew each other somehow, before Amy’s death. I don’t remember exactly how old Koss is, but if he’d just passed the bar before the trial, he’s within a year or two of Aldrich. So same rough age, same rough geographic area. I’d theorize that they knew each other. Aldrich was already preying on young girls. Koss . . . I couldn’t speculate how he got involved, because it’s not like having a friend who likes to race motocross and thinking that sounds like fun. Somehow, though, they hatched the plan. Aldrich gets me; Koss gets Amy. Maybe Aldrich convinced Koss that Amy would be into it.”
I paused, considering before I continued. “Yes, that fits. Koss thinks Amy will be a willing partner, except she isn’t, and he panics and kills her. Koss flees the scene and is spotted, but Aldrich is the one who’s caught. He doesn’t roll on his buddy because Koss has a plan. He’s just been hired by a big Toronto firm. He’ll convince them to take Aldrich’s case, and Aldrich will get off, because he wasn’t the killer anyway. It works. Aldrich is free. Koss helps set him up with a new identity and tries to wash his hands of the business. Driven by guilt, he makes crimes against women his life’s work. But he stays in touch with Aldrich. Or, more likely, Aldrich stays in touch with him—blackmailing him into helping him change identities, maybe hitting him up for cash. Koss goes along with it until Aldrich calls to say I’m following him, and Koss has had enough. He knows how to kill Aldrich from his work with Contrapasso, so he does. Then he sends a hitman to the lodge to kill me if I was there. I show up in Chicago . . .”