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“It’s true I’d have preferred to keep our business relationship quiet. It won’t make my other clients feel too comfortable when they’re told that known criminals keep me on the payroll.”
Rachel’s voice turned icy and she wished she could have reached through the phone to strangle the pompous man on the other end. “As far as I know, Mr. Marsh, your clients don’t include any criminals, known or otherwise. Make sure you relay the message. Am I clear?”
“Sure, sure,” he said. “I just don’t want any trouble. Your relatives make quite a statement, and I’ve got a family to think about.”
“Just do your job and keep telling them you don’t know anything,” Rachel said.
“Idon’tknow anything. Maybe you feel like enlightening me.”
Rachel softened her voice and tried her best to add a little charm, but sometimes even she couldn’t work miracles. “If you play your cards right, Mr. Marsh, you’re going to be one of the most famous attorneys in the United States. I can guarantee you that much.”
He laughed indulgently. “And how do you plan to pull that off, Ms. Valentine? Your father’s as good as dead, so there’s not much of a chance for me to put him behind bars where he belongs.”
Rachel gritted her teeth and held back all the vile thoughts that came to her mind every time her attorney opened his mouth. “No, but you might have heard my uncle is controlling certain areas of the business now.”
“Sure, but everyone knows it’s only a matter of time before he’s taken out. He doesn’t have the charisma that Dom had. Word is there’ve been a few problems on the inside.”
“Could be. I don’t keep up with the family business. I have bigger fish to fry. Like catching the bastards who took my father before he was able to testify.”
“Yeah, it’s a damn shame they couldn’t have gotten him after he spilled the information on all his rivals. It would have been a hell of a coup for the Justice Department. A victory all around.”
“Exactly,” Rachel said, hating the man more with every word that came out of his mouth. “I sent you a certified letter and a package several months ago with instructions to keep the package in a safe place and never open it. Do you have the package close by?”
“What’s in that package, Rachel?”
“Do you have it close by?” she repeated.
“Yeah, it’s in my office safe with all my own personal papers.”
“Good. I need that package today. We’re about half an hour from your office. I’ll swing by and get it.”
“No, I don’t want you coming here. There have been too many people asking about you lately. I’ve already told them I don’t know anything, but I’d hate to think of what they’d do to me if they thought I’d been lying all this time. The office closes at five. Meet me in the parking garage across the street at five thirty. I’ll bring the package as long as you promise to find another attorney when this is all over. I’m too close to retirement to have to worry about looking over my shoulder every time a Valentine comes into town.”
Rachel was silent for a few seconds. She wanted to demand he put the package in her hand now, but there was no reason not to wait and play things his way. She wasn’t completely heartless, and she did understand his reasons for wanting to stay clear of her.
“Five thirty, Mr. Marsh,” she finally agreed. “And I’m sure I don’t have to remind you not to tell anyone of our conversation.”
Rachel hung up and turned in her seat to look at Shane. She hadn’t even noticed he’d parked the truck in an abandoned parking lot just off the highway.
“I take it there’s no love lost between you and your attorney,” he said with a smile.
“You could say that.” Rachel hadn’t realized how much tension had gathered in her shoulders once she’d heard the sound of Galen Marsh’s voice. She slowly exhaled and stretched her sore muscles.
“He won’t give us the package until office hours are over,” she said to fill the empty silence as Shane’s gaze never left her. The pulse at the base of her throat began to flutter and her palms started to sweat. The man made her more nervous than anyone she’d ever met, and considering some of the people she’d known in her lifetime, that was saying something.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to find something to do to fill the time,” he finally said.
That’s what she was afraid of.
* * *
What Rachel hadn’t expected was a trip to the zoo.
“Excuse me, Mr. Hotshot Investigator, but I was under the impression we were running for our lives. Not taking a vacation.”
Shane pulled a black ball cap out of his bag and put it on, along with a pair of dark sunglasses. “Has anyone ever told you that you need to have a little faith sometimes?”
“No, and if you’d come from my family you wouldn’t have faith in anyone or anything other than yourself either.”
