Dangerous Deception

“How did you get away from him?”

“Basic survival techniques. I bit his hand that he held over my mouth, then I elbowed him in the groin. Luckily, I hit the right spot.”

Dom looked at her in a whole new light. The pampered heiress had defended herself. She’d fought off an attacker like a spunky streetwise woman would have done. “Where did you learn to fight dirty?”

She exhaled deeply. “Look, there are things I can’t tell you. Not yet. Not until I talk to…my father. I need to go back to Chattanooga.”

Dom eyed her quizzically. “I can take you home right now. I have a plane at my disposal.” He lifted his leg, eased up the cuff of his pants and put the Beretta in the calf holster.

She stared at him, obviously puzzled by his comment.

“Look, I think we should come clean with each other,” he said. “I’ll go first, then you.”

“What?” She stared at him, obviously puzzled by his suggestion. “I don’t understand.”

“My name is Domingo Shea and I did come to Palm Beach on business. I work for the Dundee Private Security and Investigation Agency, based in Atlanta. Edward Bedell hired me to locate his missing daughter. I came to Palm Beach to find you.”

“Oh.”

He couldn’t bear the look of disappointment on her face. “But what happened between us had nothing to do with—”

“You had an ulterior motive for being so nice to me.”

Dom grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently. “I came here on an assignment and expected to find a cold, calculating, spoiled bitch, but you don’t come across as any of those things. I was nice to you because I like you. I like you a little more than I should, but once I spoke to your father and told him you were okay, he said fine, just have her call me. Assignment over.”

“And that’s all I was to you, an assignment.”

“No, damn it.” He eased his hands from her shoulders, down her arms and then released her. “That’s what I’m trying to explain. I became emotionally involved and I shouldn’t have. Right now, a potential murderer is getting away because instead of calling hotel security the way I should have, I’m sitting here with you. But once you explain exactly what’s going on with you, why somebody tried to kill you and you don’t want me to go after them, I’m calling the police.”

“No!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Please, believe me when I tell you that if you’ll just take me back to Chattanooga, straight to my father—”

“Why are you so anxious to go home to dear old dad when you’ve been running away for nearly two weeks now? You know who your attacker was or, at the very least, why he was waiting here for you, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “No, I swear I don’t know who he was or why—” she gulped “—he was waiting here to kill me.”

“Which is it—he was trying to kill you or he wasn’t?”

“I don’t know. You’re confusing me. I think he was here to either kidnap or kill me. But it doesn’t make any sense. No one was supposed to know where I was. Not yet. Not until…”

“What’s really going on here? What are you not telling me?”

“Please, Dom, take me back to Chattanooga as soon as possible. Take me to the Bedell estate. I have to talk to my father.”

FOUR HOURS LATER , the Dundee jet landed in Chattanooga. Dom had called ahead so that a rental car would be waiting for them. In Palm Beach the temperature had been in the low eighties, but here in southeastern Tennessee, this morning’s high was seventy. Autumn was in full swing in early October, leaves were already beginning to turn from green to golds and reds, and a definite chill was in the air.

On the trip to Chattanooga, Dom had tried to persuade Audrey to confide in him, but she’d refused, telling him that she had to talk to her father before she could say anything else. He suspected that she knew a lot more about her attacker than she was admitting—if not his identity, then the reason he’d been waiting for her in her hotel suite.

Before leaving Palm Beach, Audrey had packed four suitcases, each filled to the brim. But neither he nor she had showered or changed clothes. Dom had retrieved his jacket and put it on; she’d thrown a beige cashmere sweater over her shoulders before they called the bellman.

During the plane ride, Audrey had dozed off to sleep. When she’d rested her head on his shoulder, Dom had slipped his arm around her and readjusted her so that she’d be more comfortable. She had looked so sweet and innocent while she slept.

“I want all my suitcases loaded in the car before we leave,” Audrey said after they departed from the Dundee jet.

“Sure thing.”

“And I want you to call the house and tell my father that we’re on our way.”

“Okay.”

“And I want you to stay with me when I see my father. Promise me that you won’t leave me alone.”

“I promise.”

On the forty minute drive from the airport to the Bedell estate on Lookout Mountain, Audrey had sat quietly with her hands clutched together in her lap. She appeared to be nervous and worried. And afraid? But why should she be afraid of her father? Maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe it was her husband she feared. Could it be that Grayson Perkins had abused her? If that were the case, then Dom would—

He’d stay calm, cool and in control until he found out the truth. That’s what he’d do. And he’d keep his promise to Audrey. He’d stay at her side. He wouldn’t leave her. Not until he knew she was safe. Not until she asked him to go.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ? You were supposed to make sure that she was taken care of.”

“The guy I hired made a mistake. He didn’t count on her putting up a fight. He said I should have warned him that she knew how to handle herself. And he had no idea some guy would come to her rescue.”

“I don’t want excuses. Your failure creates a major problem for me.”

“I’m sorry. I swear I’ve never had any trouble with this guy before. He’s good at what he does and—”

“Not good enough to get rid of one small redhead.”

“Look, I have contacts all over. Just say the word and I’ll put somebody in your area on the job in less than twelve hours.”

“No, not yet. Let me see how this is going to play out before I decide on another course of action. Mr. Shea is bringing her home this morning. They should arrive at any moment.”

“Just let me know what you want and when you want it. No more slip ups, I promise.”

JEREMY LOMAN OPENED the door for Dom and Audrey. “Mr. Bedell and the others are waiting in the study.”

Dom noticed that Loman didn’t speak to Audrey, didn’t even glance at her. And she paid little attention to her father’s all-around assistant, which made him wonder if there was bad blood between the two of them.

“The others?” Dom asked, then slipped his arm through Audrey’s as they followed Loman down the hall.

“Yes, sir. Mrs. Bedell, Miss Cara and Mr. Grayson. They’re all very concerned about Miss Audrey.”

Dom felt Audrey tense immediately and his gut instincts warned him that something definitely wasn’t right.

Within minutes, they entered the study. Wall-to-wall bookshelves, carved marble fireplace, massive wooden desk, and four somber people stood before them. One by one, the family turned to stare at Dom and then at Audrey. Not one smile. Not one welcome home or thank God you’re all right.

“Please come on in,” Edward Bedell said. “Would you—” he glanced at Audrey “—either of you care for coffee?”

“No, thanks,” Dom said.

Audrey didn’t reply.

“When you telephoned, you said you were bringing Audrey home,” Edward said. “Where is she? Did she change her mind about coming back to Chattanooga with you?”

A mental red flag popped up inside Dom’s mind the second Edward Bedell’s question registered. “What do you mean, where is she? She’s right here.” Dom turned and looked at Audrey.

“Please, Mr. Bedell, I can explain everything,” Audrey said. “I know this looks bad, but remember that I came here with Mr. Shea of my own free will and I did it because I think your daughter is in some kind of horrible trouble. Someone tried to kill me early this morning, someone who thought I was Audrey.”

Dom heard several voices questioning, complaining, accusing, but all he could think about was that this woman, a woman he had thought was Audrey Bedell, had just confessed that she wasn’t the woman he’d been hired to find.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here.” Bedell glowered at Dom. “What on earth made you think this young woman was my daughter?”

Dom looked right at Bedell. “Maybe because she told me she was Audrey Bedell Perkins and because she was using your daughter’s credit cards and had registered at the hotel under that name. And the general description I was given of Audrey fits this woman’s general description.” Dom snapped his head around and glared at the woman who’d had his insides tied in knots since the moment they met. “Who the hell are you if you’re not Audrey?”

“Dom, please understand that I—”

“What have you done to my sister?” Cara demanded as she stormed across the room toward the stranger in their midst. “Did you kill her and steal her credit cards?”

Whoever the woman was, she stood her ground. She squared her shoulders, tilted her chin up and balled her hands into tight fists. “My name is Lausanne Raney. I’ve worked as a receptionist at Bedell, Inc. for the past six months and I haven’t killed anyone. Audrey Perkins hired me to impersonate her so that she and her boyfriend could run away together without being followed.”

CHAPTER FIVE

THE TRUTH HAD HIT DOM like a sledgehammer, right between the eyes. Why hadn’t he seen what was right before him? Why hadn’t he realized that this woman wasn’t Audrey Bedell Perkins? He had compared her to the photograph he’d been given and had seen only a superficial similarity. Great investigative work, Shea, he told himself. You were so busy thinking with your dick instead of your brain that you screwed up big time.

“Why would Audrey do such a thing?” Grayson Perkins asked, genuine puzzlement in his expression.

“Get real,” Patrice said. “She figured that if she was gone long enough, either you or Edward would sick the bloodhounds on her. I think it was damn smart of her to hire an impersonator to lead y’all off on a wild goose chase.”

“I think we should call the police right now,” Cara said. “How do we know this woman is telling us the truth?”

“I swear that I’m not lying,” Lausanne told them, her pleading gaze moving around the room, pausing for a split second on each person present.

“What you’re saying may be true, but I agree with Cara—we should call the police.” Grayson looked directly at Edward. “We don’t know where Audrey is or what may or may not have happened to her. If this girl is lying—”

“I’m not lying!” There was a hint of panic in Lausanne’s voice.

“Shut up! Everyone, stop talking!” Edward’s face reddened, his nostrils flared. “All this quibbling isn’t getting us anywhere.” He turned to Dom. “You’re the professional, Mr. Shea. What do you recommend?”

Torn between being angry at Lausanne Raney for making him look like a fool and wanting to believe that she hadn’t committed a crime, Dom hesitated briefly before answering. “Call the police. As a matter of fact, I’ll do that for you. I can update them on all the pertinent information.” He glanced at Lausanne. “As for you, keep quiet until the police arrive. You can tell your story to them and to us at the same time.” He wanted to add, Do you understand? I’m trying to help you without betraying my client.

Why the hell did he want to help her? What if she was lying? What if she was somehow involved in Audrey Perkins’s disappearance? For all he knew, this woman could be a cold-blooded killer. But if she was a criminal, she wasn’t a very smart one; otherwise, she wouldn’t have been traveling around the southeast passing herself off as Audrey Perkins while she added up huge bills on the woman’s credit cards.

“Very well,” Edward said. “I think we should all adjourn to the living room and allow you some privacy to telephone the police.” He glanced at Lausanne. “We’ll leave Ms. Raney—if that’s her real name—in your custody.”

Loman followed the others out of the room, closing the study door behind him. Once they were alone, Lausanne rushed over to Dom, who held up a restraining hand. She stopped immediately and stared at him, her eyes dry, her expression stern.

“They don’t believe me, do they?” She searched Dom’s face, then said, “And you don’t, either. You actually think I might have done something to Audrey Perkins and stolen her credit cards.”

“Did you?”

“No, I did not.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“Oh, I don’t know—maybe because I’m telling the truth.”

“The way you were telling me the truth when you told me that you were Audrey Bedell Perkins?”

“I was playacting. She hired me to impersonate her. I swear—”

“Save it for the police, honey.”

She grabbed Dom’s arm and gazed into his eyes. “I’m going to get railroaded on this and we both know it. It’s happened to me before. I’m just lucky that way. I should have known the deal I made with Ms. Perkins was too good to be true, that somehow, someway, it would come back and bite me in the butt.”

“Are you saying you’ve been arrested before, that you have a criminal record?”

She released her hold on his arm. “I have never committed a crime, but this isn’t the first time I’ve been blamed for something I didn’t do.”

Dom nodded. God, how he wanted to believe her. Idiot!

“Have a seat.” He pointed to a nearby chair, then walked over to the desk and picked up the telephone receiver. He reached inside his coat pocket, removed the card with Lieutenant Bain Desmond’s phone number that Sawyer had given him and punched in the digits.

The detective answered on the third ring. “Yeah, Desmond here.”

“Lieutenant Desmond, this is Domingo Shea. I’m with the Dundee—”

“Yes, Mr. Shea, Sawyer McNamara told me I might be hearing from you. So what can I do for you?”

“Did Sawyer fill you in on any of the details?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, here it is in a nutshell—Edward Bedell’s daughter, Audrey Perkins, disappeared nearly two weeks ago. Bedell hired Dundee’s to find her. We traced her whereabouts through her credit card activity. I found her in Palm Beach, Florida, where somebody made a botched attempt at either kidnapping or killing her. I brought her home to her father this morning. But lo and behold, the woman turned out not to be Audrey Perkins, but some lookalike who claims her name is Lausanne Raney. She swears Audrey Perkins hired her to impersonate her so that if dear old dad hired a PI—that would be me—to find her, he’d find the impersonator instead.”

“Whoa…that’s quite a story there, Mr. Shea.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Dom replied.

“Does this Raney woman have any proof that Ms. Perkins hired her?”

“Don’t know. Haven’t asked.”

“Okay, so I guess this means you’re waiting for me to do all the questioning, right?”

“Right.”

“Sawyer gave you my cell phone number. I’m off duty right now, but if you’ll give me about an hour to round up my partner, we’ll meet you at the Bedell estate.”

LAUSANNE HADN ’T BEEN this scared in a long time. Not since she had been arrested as an accessory to armed robbery. Not since she’d trusted the wrong man and paid for her mistake with five years of her life. She felt like the biggest fool on earth for believing she’d hit it lucky when Audrey Perkins offered her a deal she couldn’t refuse. It would be so simple, Ms. Perkins had explained. All she had to do was travel around from city to city, stay at four-star hotels, move every few days, and go on shopping sprees as often she wanted. And to seal the deal, Ms. Perkins had given her fifty thousand dollars, which Lausanne had promptly deposited in a savings account. That money was earmarked to pay for an investigator to unearth the whereabouts of Lausanne’s daughter.

I’m going to find you, sweet darling. I’m going to make sure you’re well and happy and want for nothing.

Lausanne had no intention of interfering in her child’s life. But she had to know, had to be certain, that her daughter was living the kind of life she deserved.

That fifty thousand could well be the only proof she had that Ms. Perkins had hired her to gallivant around the southeast pretending to be Audrey. Damn! She’d been paid in cash, something that hadn’t concerned her at the time. After all, it wasn’t as if she’d thought she’d need to prove she hadn’t killed Audrey Perkins and stolen the money from her.

“Is your name really Lausanne Raney?” Dom asked.

She snapped her head up and glared at him. “I’m Lausanne Inez Raney, born twenty-eight years ago in Booneville, Mississippi.”

“You know that I can run a check on you and find out if you’re lying to me.”

Her lips twitched in a hint of a smile. A hard, sarcastic smile that told him she wasn’t afraid of him and wouldn’t succumb to any bullying tactics.

“So check me out,” she said. “I’m not lying.”

“Want to fill me in on—”

“No, I don’t. I’ll tell the police what I know, then if either they or you want to know more, y’all will have to dig up the info on your own. Why should I make things easier for you, especially considering the fact that you don’t believe me?”

“You sure fooled me, honey.” He sat down in a chair directly across from her.

“And that galls you, doesn’t it? It wounds your male pride. You really believed I was Audrey Perkins.”

“My male pride will survive. This wasn’t my first mistake and it won’t be my last. The thing I don’t understand is why you insisted on being brought back here to Chattanooga, straight to Edward Bedell.”

“Somebody tried to kill me—kill Audrey. Impersonating Audrey for money and the perks of first-class travel and expensive shopping sprees is one thing, but I didn’t sign on to be a body double in a murder case.”

“So why not just split?” Dom asked. “Why come back to Chattanooga to see Audrey’s father and be found out?”

“Because he has the right to know that someone wants his daughter dead and that I’m not going to be her stand-in any longer. He’s a rich, powerful man. He can do something to save her life…and mine.”

Dom studied her curiously, and she knew he wasn’t sure he could believe her. “Do you think Audrey hired you because she knew someone wanted to kill her and set you up as a moving target?”

“Yeah, the thought has crossed my mind a time or two since that guy tried to slit my throat this morning.”

“You do realize that the police might come up with another theory.”

“I did not kill Audrey Perkins. I didn’t harm a hair on her head.”

“Can you prove it?”

“Can you or the police prove otherwise?”

“No, but if we can’t find Audrey, you might want to hire yourself a good lawyer.”

Lausanne shrugged. “I guess I should have known that once you found out I wasn’t a rich heiress, you wouldn’t give a damn about me, that you wouldn’t be on my side, wouldn’t stand by me.” She shrugged. “That’s the story of my life.”

“The story of your life, huh? So, you’ve impersonated a rich heiress before?”

She emitted a mirthless chuckle. “No, this was a first for me. What I meant was that this isn’t the first time a guy who whispered sweet nothings in my ear wound up disappointing me. The only difference is I don’t think you’re really an uncaring, unreliable son of a bitch like the others.”

Dom stared at her, but said nothing.

Then again, maybe he was just like the others, only wrapped in a prettier package. Just because Dom professed to be one of the good guys didn’t make it true.

So, here she was one her own once again. All alone and in trouble up to her eyeballs. She couldn’t count on Dom Shea to help her. The only person she could rely on was herself.

SERGEANT MIKE SWAIN stood five-nine, was built like a fireplug and chewed gum while he talked. His carrot-red hair was cut military short and his large brown eyes were hidden behind a pair of thick glasses. His superior, Lieutenant Bain Desmond, was older, close to forty where Swain wasn’t a day over thirty. Tall and lean, with an easy smile that proclaimed him a good old boy, Desmond entered the Bedell living room as if he owned it. The guy wasn’t cocky, just self-confident. He surveyed the group of people one by one, then turned his baby blues on Lausanne.

“Start at the beginning, Ms. Raney, and tell us exactly how and why Dom Shea found you in Palm Beach impersonating Audrey Bedell.”

Lausanne swallowed hard. This wasn’t the first time she’d been interrogated by the police nor was it the first time she’d been presumed guilty.

“I’ve been working as a receptionists at Bedell, Inc. for the past six months. Ten—no, eleven days ago, I received a telephone call from Audrey Perkins, asking me to come to her home. She said she’d seen me when she’d visited the main office and thought I’d be perfect for a special job she needed done.”

“And so you went to see her?” Desmond asked. “At her home?”

“Yes, I went to her home. After all, she was Audrey Bedell Perkins, the boss’s daughter.”

“Was there anyone else there when you arrived, a maid…a secretary…anyone who can verify that you met with Ms. Perkins?”

“No, there wasn’t anyone else there. She’d made certain that we met alone, in private.”

“I see.” Desmond nodded. “Go on.”

“When I arrived at Ms. Perkins’s home, she asked me if I’d like to earn fifty thousand dollars and—”

“Did Ms. Perkins pay you that amount?” Desmond asked.

“Yes, she did.”

“Cashier’s check, personal check—”

“Cash,” Lausanne replied and heard the collective ah-ha sigh reverberating around the room. “I deposited the money in a savings account. Regions Bank.”

“And what service were you to provide to earn the fifty-thousand?” Lt. Desmond watched her carefully.

“Ms. Perkins offered me the money, plus an extravagant vacation, new clothes, and use of her credit cards. And all I had to do was travel from one city to another, moving every three or four days, registering under the name of Audrey Bedell Perkins and pretending to be her for a few weeks. She said that the reason she’d thought of me for the job was because she remembered seeing me at the office one day and had noticed that we were about the same height, same size, same coloring and even close to the same age. When she offered me a chance to earn fifty-thousand dollars, she also promised me that my job at Bedell Inc. would be waiting for me when I returned to Chattanooga, that she’d make certain of it.”

When murmurs rose from others in the room, Sergeant Swain requested quiet; then Desmond continued with his questioning.

“Did Ms. Perkins tell you why she wanted you to impersonate her?”

“Yes, she did. She told me that she intended to run away with her boyfriend and she didn’t want her husband or her father to find them, that all they needed was a good head start on any search her family might instigate.”

“And you didn’t have any qualms about—”

“Yes, I had my doubts, but when she handed me a bag filled with cash, I pushed aside all my doubts. Fifty-thousand is a great incentive for most of us who don’t have that kind of money.”

Desmond nodded, as if agreeing. “Do you have any idea where the real Audrey Perkins is right now?”

“No, sir. I have no idea.”

“And do you have any proof—other than fifty-thousand dollars in your bank account—to back up what you’ve just told me?”

“No,” she admitted. “The only person who can verify that what I’ve told you is the truth is Audrey Perkins.”

“And Ms. Perkins just happens to be missing.”

“Yes, sir. And considering the predicament I’m in, I want her found as much, if not more, than anyone else in this room.”

Dom had watched and listened, studying Lausanne’s body language, her voice, every aspect of her responses. He wanted to believe her; some part of him did believe her. But was that part his head or his heart? Or a region a little farther south?