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“If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. If I’m right, I’ll let you take the glory.”
Daniel glanced at Astrid. She resisted the urge to say anything, and instead steeled herself, waiting for Daniel to reply.
Daniel glared at Jake. “If you’re thinking of double-crossing me…”
“No,” Jake said firmly. “But you need to drop this stupid idea that I killed your brother. And I want you to leave us alone after this is over. Drop all charges against us.”
“Don’t you think you deserve to be –?”
Jake slammed his hand down on the table in frustration. “We need to work together, Daniel. This isn’t about us. It’s about doing the right thing – something neither of us has always been too good at. But Astrid has, and we can take her lead now. All you need to do is to make the arrest at the end – and get the glory – I’ll do everything else.”
Daniel picked up a few crumbs on his finger and licked them. “Okay. Then we’ll share the treasure, right?”
Jake’s chest surged with anger. “Why are you thinking about the fucking treasure? You’re a cop – where the hell are your priorities?”
He grunted. “Just because I’m a cop, it doesn’t stop me wanting to make my fortune.”
“Then you joined the police for the wrong reasons.”
Astrid’s patience cracked. “Daniel, my sister’s in trouble, And I’m getting her back with or without your help.”
“I said I’d help.”
“We’ll need police back-up this afternoon, okay?” Jake said. “For when we raid the mansion. I’ll go in first, but I’ll need a few cops there to watch my back. Just in case my hunch is correct and Graves is there.”
Daniel held Jake’s steely gaze. “I’ll watch your back. Alone.”
“Why?” Astrid asked. “Surely you could just –”
“I don’t want any other cops involved,” Daniel said. “Especially not the Feds.”
Astrid glanced at Jake, not understanding why Daniel was so reluctant to involve any other police.
Jake held her hand under the table. “It’s because he doesn’t want anyone to know he’s letting a civilian take charge of a case, when all he’s worried about is the goddamn money I might or might not have stashed somewhere. Right, Daniel?”
“Watch yourself, Jake. You need me more than I need you.”
“Bullshit.”
Daniel smirked sinisterly. “Do you want my help or not?”
“I want your surveillance equipment and data. I want your powers of arrest. This isn’t about me needing you. Got that?”
“Sure. And what do I get?”
Jake stood up and loomed over him. “You might get to avoid going straight to hell when all this is over.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
A couple of hours later, Jake and Astrid met Daniel down the street from the mansion where the kidnapper’s calls had been coming from. Daniel had brought along some surveillance equipment in his car, and he seemed to be playing along as requested – at least at the moment. Jake knew he was only helping because he was thinking about the treasure. He probably planned to demand Jake hand over the map after they’d gotten Emma back. But that wasn’t going to happen. Jake wasn’t going to be blackmailed by the likes of Daniel. Especially not after he’d stabbed him in the back like that in the NYPD.
Jake pushed away his fuming desire for revenge on that particular stunt, and stared at the mansion that stood at the end of a gravel driveway like a house in a horror movie. The gray stone bricks were sturdier than time, and the pitched black roof that pointed up to the blue sky seemed to threaten the surrounding peaceful atmosphere with its spiky turrets and steel girders. It was inherently creepy – standing there by the river, looking like it belonged in an age of ghost stories and superstition.
Jake found a good place for them to hide – a grassy incline that overlooked the house and obscured them. They all gathered around Daniel’s car and gazed at the mansion – safe from observation by anyone inside. With any luck, this would be a surprise ambush on the kidnapper. If he was in there.
“All right,” Jake said to Astrid and Daniel. “You two stay here. I’ll go inside and look around.”
Astrid grabbed his shirt. “I’m worried about you, Jake. What if he’s in there? I don’t want you to get hurt.”
