Page 19 of Blood Money

She took a deep breath as if to compose herself. “My real name is Aileen Alexanderson. I grew up in the L.A. area. About six and a half years ago I had a child, Nicky. Nicky’s father was not a good man, and he threatened to take my son out of the country so that I would never see him again. I couldn’t take that chance.”

“So you purchased fake ID,” Gray interjected.

“Yes.” Alex held her head high, but from the sadness in her clear blue eyes he could tell she wasn’t proud of what she’d done. “I purchased a fake social security card, driver’s license, and a birth certificate for both Nicky and myself.”

Gray fisted his hands beneath the table. The level of bad Alex was facing just climbed into the red zone. Not only had she falsified her employment documents, but she’d also admitted to committing multiple felonies in another state.

Damn. Gray forced himself to unclench his hands. Last week he’d known Alex was lying to him about something, but nothing could have prepared him for this.

She was right about the city not normally filing criminal charges for submitting false application forms, but given the totality of the circumstances—and her connection to the Pyramid—the DA might make an exception. It was within the DA’s power to charge her with the purchase of false identity documents and the subsequent use of those documents to obtain government employment. Employment that would put her in a position to know and hear confidential things.

For fuck’s sake, maybe the Pyramid was paying her to get close to him. The thought had him wanting to unload his gun into the ceiling. He was the NYPD’s lead investigator on the Pyramid investigation, for Christ’s sake. What better way to obtain confidential information than to sleep with him in the hope of obtaining valuable pillow talk?

As Gray stared at Alex something inside him died. He’d thought perhaps he could finally leave Afghanistan and the past behind. And here it was, staring him in the face.

Feelings didn’t come close to describing the intensity of what he’d begun to experience with Alex, and look where that stupidity had gotten him. At least this time, he’d discovered her treachery before fifty people got blown to bits.

“What did you pay for these documents?” Simonetti asked.

“For the combo—the driver’s license and social security card—I paid a hundred and twenty-five dollars. The birth certificates were an extra hundred. I took Nicky and ran as far from L.A. as I could get and still be in the continental U.S.”

Simonetti pursed his lips. “You do realize this is grounds for termination.”

“I do.” Alex met Simonetti’s glare with one of her own. “I’m sorry for what I did, but I would do it again, if given the choice. I came here with no money and no past. I couldn’t risk any ties to my old life. Without prior credentials, finding a decent job was hard enough, let alone one with good enough benefits to pay for Nicky’s special medical needs.”

Simonetti opened his mouth and from the predatory look in his eyes, Gray could tell he was about to lay into Alex again.

Before he could utter a word, Gray held up his hand to silence the other detective. “What special medical needs?” He felt like a shithead. He’d been working with Alex for nearly a year and hadn’t known her son was ill.

She swallowed. “Nicky has a rare form of leukemia, one that doesn’t respond well to traditional treatment regimens. As a result, he’s now part of an experimental program that isn’t totally covered by medical insurance.”

A six-year-old with cancer. That was one helluva heavy load Alex had been carrying around.

“So you lied on your application forms to get this job,” Simonetti all but growled.

“Yes,” Alex said in a firm tone, but Gray could tell she was shaken.

Dammit, if she needed money, why didn’t she come to me?

Gray gave himself a mental punch to the head. She didn’t come to you because until last week, you wouldn’t let her into your life.

He shouldn’t still care, but he did. He tried putting himself in her shoes. If his child were seriously ill, would he do whatever was necessary to get that child treatment?

Yes.

But would he purchase phony ID then make false statements on official government documents to get a job?

Maybe. Probably.

Hell, he didn’t know. He didn’t have children, so who was he to judge what a parent would or wouldn’t do?

Gray didn’t think Alex was lying about Nicky’s condition, but given that she would probably go to any lengths to care for him, he didn’t think it outside the realm of possibility that she’d also accepted money to get close to him. What he’d thought was genuine interest on her part could be part of an elaborate ruse to pay back the Pyramid for the money she received. It killed him to admit it, but that little prick, Simonetti, might be right about one thing. Maybe she’d only confessed about the money in her account because she’d seen him and Dom start to go through bank records last week.

There was one big-ass headache brewing behind Gray’s eyes, and he pressed two fingers to his forehead in a lame attempt to keep the stabbing pain at bay. It didn’t work. His brains felt like they were bouncing around in his head like marbles in a jar.

Would he ever know the truth? Would he ever be capable of perceiving what about Alexandra Romano was real, and what was bullshit?

He honestly didn’t know. The only thing he was sure of was that the last time he’d been mistaken about someone, people he cared about died.