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Connor returned that gaze, then moved on. Shocked to see Louis Armond lying unkempt in a dirty hospital bed, he stared at the old man and wondered how he’d survived this long. Then he did a quick appraisal of the rest of the room. Lou Junior and Vanessa sat in a corner, their mouths taped over, their hands and feet tied. They both looked fatigued and terrified.
“Looks like I’m a little late to the party,” Connor finally said. He took another quick glance around the room, then rested his gaze on Josie.
When Armond heard his voice, he lifted his head. “Connor, no. Connor, leave.”
Sherwood’s chuckle cut through the tension hanging over the big room. “No, no. You’re right on time, Randall. Or maybe about thirty years too late, depending on who’s doing the talking.”
Armond grunted again. Sherwood stalked to his bed. “Shut up, old man. I told you you’d regret stepping over that line, but you wouldn’t listen to me, would you? You went and got involved with Randall here again, asking him for help. Did you think you’d really get away with that?”
Armond glared up at Sherwood, but he ran out of steam and slumped back against his pillow.
“He looks bad,” Connor said in a nonchalant tone. “What’d you do to him, Sherwood?”
Joseph Sherwood turned then, all kidding aside. “You know what I did to the old man, Randall. He tried to double-cross me, so I decided it was time to haul him in, dead or alive.”
Vanessa moaned through her taped mouth, her dark eyes flashing fire at Sherwood. He walked over and leaned down in front of her. “I tried to warn you, too, darling. Told you two to stay away, but you were so afraid that everyone would find out the truth, you nearly ruined all of our plans.”
Armond’s wife gazed up at Joseph Sherwood with a dark plea in her eyes. Then she glared at the man in the bed.
The whole scene was like something out of an opera, Connor decided. All they needed was an orchestra and a soprano.
Connor pushed the issue, his mind whirling with ways to play all the main characters against each other. “So you two were in this together? Is that why you gathered all of us here?”
Sherwood turned around and stalked back to Connor. “You have no idea, none at all, what a hornets’ nest you stirred up by agreeing to help this pathetic old man.”
Connor cut his gaze to Sherwood. “Why don’t you tell me, then?”
“Give me the goods,” Sherwood said, grabbing the necklace Connor wore. “Since you’re so attached to this, I guess you’ve got what I need hidden in here somewhere.”
Connor halfheartedly pretended to hold on to the gold coin. “No, I told your goons I wouldn’t let go of this until I knew Josie was safe.”
“And doesn’t she look just fine? Comfortable and with a front-row seat to all the action.”
“I thought I knew you,” Connor retorted. “We all thought we knew you.” He glanced back at Josie. The disappointment on her face broke his heart. “You used Agent Gilbert and me, sending us here and there, while you transported Armond and his family out here. Why? For your own kind of justice?”
Sherwood grabbed the necklace again and, with a grunt and a yank, broke it away from Connor’s neck.
Connor gritted his teeth against the ripping pain, his raw skin burning with perspiration. But he refused to give Sherwood any satisfaction. “I didn’t know you liked gold so much, Sherwood.”
Sherwood turned the coin over several times. “What is this? Some kind of a joke? Where is it, Randall?”
“Where’s what?” Connor lifted his eyes to meet Josie’s, hoping he could convey everything he wanted to say to her.
“You know what,” Sherwood shouted, his voice scaring Vanessa Armond into a fit of tears. “She knows what I’m talking about and she’s scared, so scared that you’ve figured things out.”
“What’s to figure out?” Connor asked, holding his hands up, then dropping them back down. “You tell me what you think I have, Sherwood, and then I’ll tell you if I have it.”
“Oh, I get it,” Sherwood said. He stalked back to Connor and glared at him. “You don’t really know what I’m looking for. Are you bluffing me, Randall?”
