An Unexpected Clue

Ben closed his eyes and fought a wave of hunger, fear and relief that threatened to make him nauseous. Ava was in Vegas. Close to him but even closer to Nicky Wayne.

“Ben? Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes, I need money, identification and a vehicle I can count on.”

“You know I can’t give you those things without becoming an accomplice.”

“If not for me, then do it for Ava and my child. I won’t let Nicky get his filthy hands on her.” Not after all the pain and agony he’d inflicted on Ben.

A long pause stretched the silence between them, then Tom sighed. “I’ll have someone out there within two hours. How will I be able to contact you?”

Voices echoed in the hall outside the locked office door. Someone tested the handle.

Ben ducked low in case they broke the door down or used a key. “You still have the same cell number?” he whispered into the phone.

“Yes.”

“I’ll contact you.”

“I really wish you’d turn yourself in, man.”

“I can’t. Ava’s in danger. I’ll fill you in when I’m sure she’s all right.”

“If this is the way you want to play it, I’ll get the money and the car to you within the next few hours.”

Ben didn’t risk a response. Instead, he set the phone back in its cradle and waited for Wayne’s people to break down the door or move on. He had to find a way to Emily’s house and get there before Nicky Wayne found Ava.

Chapter Two

Ava paced the length of her sister Emily’s living room, staring out at the tops of the Las Vegas high-rise casinos in the distance. Neon lights lit the night sky like Christmas on steroids, yet the bright colors and blare of traffic did nothing to lift Ava’s spirits.

Emily perched on the arm of her bomber-jacket-brown leather couch, a crease marring her elegant brow. “I wish you’d sit and take a load off your feet. You’re making me tired just watching you.”

With a wobbling about-face, Ava made another pass across the room. “I shouldn’t have taken time off. I’m not used to inactivity.”

“Maybe not, but you’d better rest while you can. After that baby comes, you won’t get a decent night’s sleep.”

Ava ran a hand over her swollen belly, trying to imagine holding the baby in her arms at last. With another month stretching before her like a slow-motion film, she couldn’t stand the thought of spending it twiddling her thumbs or crocheting baby booties. Sorry kid, I’m not that maternal. “I should have stayed in Kenner City.”

“Coulda, shoulda, woulda, good grief, sis. You couldn’t stay in your house and you know it.” Emily was the older sister, and she had a blunt way of telling it like it was, no holding back, no skirting the issue. “If Ben hadn’t run off like the criminal he is, you wouldn’t be here moaning about nothing to do. You’d be painting the baby room and picking out infant furniture together. That is, assuming Ben isn’t guilty like they say he is.”

“Much as I’m sure you’d like him to be guilty and out of my life, Ben didn’t kill Julie Grainger.” She was absolutely certain of that. What she wasn’t so certain of was his affiliation with the Wayne organization and the hit on Vincent Del Gardo. Hadn’t he reported to Jerry Ortiz all this time? And Jerry had been a dirty agent. Did that make Ben a dirty agent? Guilt by association? Jerry had died trying his best to kill Ava for the medal she had in her possession. “Ben, Tom, Julie and Dylan were close friends. He wouldn’t have killed her.”

“Maybe so, but what do you really know about Ben? He could be up to his neck in crime with Nicky Wayne. There’s the note from Julie and the pictures of him with the Wayne organization. The evidence is pretty strong against him.” Emily leaned forward. “He’s lied to you in so many ways, I don’t see how you can defend him now.”

Ava didn’t have a comeback. Ben had lied and hidden things from her from the get-go. And she’d chosen to believe in him anyway. Call it love, call it blind faith. Call it stupidity. Now she was eight months pregnant, Ben was missing, possibly dead and Ava faced a life of raising their baby alone. Her baby would never know her father.

Damn you, Ben! Tears welled in her eyes as she pictured her daughter at five or six years old asking about her father. What would she tell her? Your father was an FBI agent who defected to one of the most notorious crime organizations of the century. Live with that, why don’t you?

“No.” Ava clenched her fist, refusing to believe what others were so quick to grasp on to. “Ben didn’t kill Julie, nor did he have her killed by Boyd Perkins. And I just can’t believe he’s guilty of going bad and working for Nicky Wayne like Ortiz did.” He just couldn’t be a member of the Wayne organization. So what if Julie’s cryptic note and pictures alluded to a more nefarious life. The note could have meant something else entirely.

All of the evidence so far was supposition and conjecture. As a member of the Kenner County Crime Unit, Ava wouldn’t convict him on circumstantial evidence that could be explained away with one interview with the suspect. Even when the evidence had cut her to the core.

Ben hadn’t told her about his activities. Seeing pictures of him with the Wayne organization had been devastating. It was as though he had led an entirely different life than the one he’d had with her. Seeing her husband in those pictures reminded her that she didn’t really know him. The strain of that realization more than his potential part in Del Gardo’s and Julie’s deaths had caused her to go into early labor.

Other than lying to her, the worst crime Ben had committed against Ava was leaving her and their baby. A tear breached the corner of her eye and trickled down her cheek.

“Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t let that son of a gun make me mad.” Emily hurried across the floor and wrapped Ava in a hug, smoothing her long red hair down her back. “He’ll come home, you wait. He’ll come home and explain everything to you.”

Ava let her sister hold her, taking comfort in the arms around her. Despite her doubts about Ben and his role in the organized crime world, she missed him lying beside her in their bed. She missed waking up next to him in the morning. She missed sharing the joyous moments of carrying his child, and she hated that he was missing all the changes, as well.

More tears threatened to fall, but Ava gritted her teeth and willed them to dry. She swallowed several times before she could speak. “We’ll be fine. Don’t worry about us.”

“But I am worried. It’s not like you to be so down.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just hard having your home searched over and over for any scrap of evidence leading to the whereabouts of a husband accused of being in a crime organization and responsible for a murder.” She pushed away from her sister and shoved a hand through her hair. “Everyone at work has been super nice about it all. They talk about the baby to my face, although I know they’re talking about the case behind my back.” Another wave of emotion blocked Ava’s throat, forcing more tears from her eyes.

Emily reached out to brush the moisture from Ava’s cheek, smiling at her with that gentle, it’ll-be-all-right look she’d given her as a child with a skinned knee. “But they do talk behind your back and that’s what bothers you?”

Ava raised a hand. “No, they’re just trying not to stress me. They care what happens to me and my baby. They’re my friends and it’s their job to find the truth.” She turned back to the windows and stared out at the brightness lighting the sky above the Strip. “I just wish I knew the truth,” she whispered, swiping at another errant tear. She forced a strained smile to the corners of her mouth and squared her shoulders. “I shouldn’t let it bother me.”

“Shouldn’t let it bother you? How could it not? The bastard—man—is the father of your child.” Emily hugged her from behind.

“Yeah.” Ava stepped away from Emily and dried the tears from her eyes. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m not normally this weepy.” She couldn’t give in to raging hormones. Her baby needed a mother who was strong and determined to see her through life without a father. “I guess I’m just tired from my walk.”

“You shouldn’t have gone so far. Two miles is a bit much when you’re as far along as you are.”

“And as big as I am, is what you meant to say, isn’t it?” Ava grinned. “Go ahead, your turn to tease me. I did enough when you were pregnant with your two.”

Emily’s mouth twisted. “It’s funny how they drive you nuts and you look forward to having a spare minute without them, but then you miss them so much you can hardly stand it when they’re gone.”

“When is Drew bringing the boys back from his mother’s?” Ava asked. Drew was Emily’s ex-husband.

“Day after tomorrow.” Emily gathered her keys and purse. “I’d have taken them myself if Theresa hadn’t quit the day before we were supposed to leave.”

“They couldn’t find another blackjack dealer to fill in?”

“I wish. I miss my boys when they’re gone.” Emily sighed. “I’ll be home by two-thirty. I’ll have my cell phone on vibrate. If you need me, leave a message. I’ll check it every fifteen minutes.”

“Don’t worry. It isn’t as if the baby’s due yet.”

“You never know. Babies have a way of coming when you least expect, and you were having premature contractions just a week ago.”

“I haven’t had one since I’ve been here.”

“Don’t take any chances, sweetie.” Emily kissed her on the cheek and opened the front door. “And don’t open the door for anyone but me.”

“I’ll be fine.” Ava shooed her outside and held the door. “You’re such a worrywart.”

“I’m just a concerned sister. Now go lie down.”

“Yes, Mother.” Ava smiled and waved as Emily drove off. Then she turned and trudged back into the house, her body tired, her mind churning up old memories of her and Ben, a constant reminder of what she’d lost.

Ever since he’d disappeared, Ava had called herself every kind of fool. She’d fallen into the same trap as her mother.

Falling in love with a bad boy was always a mistake. They never stuck around for the duration. Her own father had been a sexy devil with dark hair and green eyes. Emily took after their father. Ava resembled their red-haired mother, but she got their father’s green eyes instead of their mother’s pale blue.

Her mother had been lured into believing her father had mended his gambling ways and finally settled down to raise their children. He’d promised to love, honor and cherish her until death. In her father’s case, until he could no longer fight the addiction. Gambling.

When he’d disappeared, he’d left her mother heartbroken and destitute with two small daughters to raise by herself.

She’d gone to work at a casino using skills her husband had taught her and working her way up to card dealer in less than two years. The hours were terrible, but the money put food on their table. She traded babysitting with another mother working the day shift. They’d struggled. And they wouldn’t have had to if their father had lived up to his promises.

Ava swore she’d never marry anyone remotely connected to gambling. She’d never marry a liar or a man who didn’t honor his promises. Ha! Eating your own words didn’t taste so great. She’d committed sins against every one of her promises to herself.

Her feet hurt and the small of her back ached, testimony to walking too long that day. She’d have to relax or risk going into labor early. The doctor had warned her about overdoing it during her last month. The baby needed the last few weeks of pregnancy to fine-tune its developing organs.

Ava switched off the lights, intent on going to bed. Instead, she eased her body into the lounge chair. She should put on her nightgown and climb into the four-poster in the guest bedroom, but she wouldn’t be any more comfortable lying down as reclining. The baby already weighed heavily on her internal organs. She couldn’t imagine getting any bigger.

As she flipped through the channels, she came across an oldie and would have skipped right past it, but she hesitated when An Affair to Remember blinked onto the screen. Before long, she was bawling her eyes out. With tears streaming down her face, she finally shut off the television and lay staring up at the ceiling until her eyes burned and she blinked. Once, twice…Give it up, girl. She closed her eyes.

A little girl in a flowing white nightgown ran through the dirty backstreets of Vegas crying out for her daddy. Ava ran after her, her heart breaking for the child. Soon she couldn’t distinguish between herself and the child and she was crying out but not for her daddy.

Ben! She ran toward a tall, dark-eyed man with dirty brown hair and a stubbled beard that darkened his face. The more she ran, the farther away he drifted. Breathing so hard her sides hurt, she staggered to a halt, holding her hand out to the man who was now nothing more than a shadowy image.

How long she slept she had no idea. A minute, an hour, it didn’t matter. The noise that woke her did matter, however.

She struggled to consciousness, sure she’d heard a door open somewhere or the sound of metal clattering. A glance at the clock reflected nine. Hell, she hadn’t been asleep for more than thirty minutes. Had Emily forgotten something?

Ava rocked forward in the chair and stood. Yet another reason to sleep in a lounge chair, easy in and semi-easy out.

She walked to the front door and pressed her eye to the peephole. The front porch light shone down on the lighted porch, darkness lay beyond the square of concrete.

“See? No Emily, no salesman, no bogeyman and no Ben.” When she said his name out loud, she closed her eyes, her desperation morphing to anger as an image of him appeared in her thoughts. She held out a hand to him, but he didn’t take it. Why? Why did you leave us? One day your daughter will be out there alone, crying for her daddy. Sadly, I’ll be all alone, too.

The image of Ben stood in stoic silence.

Don’t you have anything to say for yourself? You’ve ruined our lives, do you hear me?

His image faded.

Ava’s anger faded, replaced by sorrow. She reached out to keep him from disappearing, to keep him by her side, but her hand touched the cool wood panels of the front door. All her life she’d dodged love, afraid to commit for fear of being deserted. She couldn’t become her mother, wouldn’t let her child mourn the lack of a father. She wouldn’t let him disappear again, damn it!

She opened her eyes to the solid wooden door standing between her and an unknown future. She’d make it on her own, if she had to. And she’d love her child enough for two parents.

When she turned back to the living room, the man of her dreams and nightmares stood in front of her, dressed in a crumpled tuxedo, the shirt unbuttoned at the neck, the tie gone, a ragged beard covering his chin and more handsome than any man had a right to be.

Ava’s vision blurred at the edges. “Ben?”

“Ava.” The deep timbre of his voice filled her senses, dispelling her dream state in that one word.

Gray turned to black as Ava’s knees buckled and she sank to the floor.

HE HADN’T MEANT to scare her, but he couldn’t come through the front door without possibly alerting the neighbors. When he’d climbed over the privacy fence, he’d tripped over the trash cans on the other side, making enough noise to disturb someone’s dog. Between barking and trash cans rattling, he thought for sure Ava and Emily would be calling the police. He’d hurried to the Florida room on the back deck where he found the screen door unlocked and the sliding door into the house equally unsecured.

Had Nicky Wayne already been here?

Was Ben too late? Panic had seized him and he charged into the house. That’s when he’d seen her standing by the front door, her back to him, her long auburn hair hanging down over her shoulders in loose waves. To be this close after so long, he stopped and stared, his heart lodged in his throat.

Then she’d turned, her face losing all color, her beautiful green eyes widening in shock.

When her eyes rolled backward, Ben lunged for her, catching her before she hit the floor.

He struggled to steady her, his body weak from lack of nourishment and the long jog across town. But he cushioned her fall with his own body. For the second time that night, his shoulder took the brunt of the impact, pain shooting through him in waves.

He didn’t care. Ava was there in his arms and she’d grown even more beautiful since the last time he’d seen her. The color returned to her pale cheeks, infusing the porcelain whiteness with the faint blush of a rose.

“Ben?” Her auburn lashes fluttered upward and emerald eyes stared up into his. “Am I still dreaming?”

“No, sweetheart, it’s really me.” His chest filled with such an aching sweetness, he thought he would explode. All those weeks in captivity, he’d dreamed of her, of when they’d met, when they’d first made love, and when he’d finally hold her in his arms again. She was the reason he’d survived.

Her hand lifted to her hair, pushing it out of her eyes. “Ben? How…what…where…you’ve been gone so long, I thought I’d imagined you.” She stared around as if the rest of the room had finally come into focus. “Why are we sitting on the floor?”

A chuckle escaped his lips. “It’s where we landed.”

She stared at their tangle of legs. “Did I—?”

Ben’s chest tightened and he turned her to face him, sitting squarely in his lap. “Yes, you dropped like a rock.”

Her dark, coppery brows knitted and she struggled to stand. “I haven’t done that since…”

“Since you were in your first trimester?” He held her steady until she managed to get to her feet and then he stood up behind her. He wanted to laugh out loud at the joy of being with her, but knew that she wouldn’t be as amused, probably thinking she looked huge.

In truth, she hadn’t changed much, other than the roundness of her belly. If anything, her pregnancy made her even more beautiful.

All Ben wanted was to hold her in his arms and make up for all the weeks they’d been apart.

When she turned to face him, he knew folding her into his embrace wasn’t an immediate possibility.

Her green eyes darkened and she crossed her arms beneath her breasts, resting them on her protruding baby bump. “Where have you been?”

He could go into a long discussion about what had happened to him in the past weeks, but he didn’t have clearance to discuss his mission until he talked to his supervisor, Jerry Ortiz.

The important thing was to get Ava to safety. Nicky Wayne had connections and it wouldn’t be long before he discovered her whereabouts, if he hadn’t already. “I’ll answer all your questions later. Right now, we have to get out of here.” He hooked her arm with his hand.

Ava jerked free of his hold, her feet planted firmly in her sister’s Berber carpet. “I’m not going anywhere until I know what the hell happened to you and why you disappeared off the face of the earth.”

The sound of a car door slamming outside made his pulse jump. Ben raced to the front windows and inched the wooden blinds away from the frame. A woman walked up the drive of the neighboring house and entered.

“Expecting someone?” Ava stood behind him, her frown deeper than before.

“Yes. That’s why we need to leave here immediately.” He grasped her shoulders and stared down into her eyes. “You’re in danger.”

Her gaze went to where his hands gripped her. “As I see it, the only person I’m in danger of is you.” She looked up at him, her face stony cold. “Let go of me.”

Hurt tugged at his chest, making it hard to breathe. Ben didn’t have time to explain what had happened. He just needed to get her the hell out of there. “Look, we don’t have much time. They’ll be here any moment. Get your purse and keys. We have to go, now.”

Her brows rose on her forehead. “I’m not going anywhere with you until you tell me what’s going on and where you’ve been.”

“I was held captive by Nicky Wayne. I escaped. Now he’s after you and me. The end. Can we go now?” He reached for her arm again, anxiety mounting. Any minute Nicky’s thugs could storm through the door and…

She stepped back, that stubborn look he’d always found amusing pinching her lips together into a tight line. “And you’re just now getting loose? I’m supposed to believe you?” She snorted. “Everyone else must be right. You have gone to work for the Wayne organization. I should have known it.”

“Ava. I wouldn’t lie to you about this. The stakes are too high.” He couldn’t help glancing at her belly and she noticed his glance, her hand coming up to rest on the swell. “Wayne was drugging me. I was in too much of a fog to know until I got sick and couldn’t hold down the food he’d drugged me with.”

“What about Julie? Were you responsible for her murder?”

“Are you crazy? I loved Julie like a sister. I would never have hurt her.”

The hard line of her jaw softened briefly before it hardened again. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this.” She turned away from him and walked into the kitchen.

“Do what?” He followed, his ears straining for any sound out of the ordinary. Once in the kitchen, he reached for a loaf of bread and fumbled with the tie, his hunger threatening to overwhelm his other survival skills.

Ava grabbed keys from the counter and her purse. “I can’t fall back into your plans that easily. I don’t know who to trust anymore.”

Ben set the loaf of bread aside, all thoughts of food taking second place to what Ava said. “You have to trust me on this one, Ava. Your life and the life of our child depend on it.”

“My child, Ben. I’m not the one who disappeared. I’m not the one wanted for murder. I’m the one carrying this baby. Alone. My baby. I’m the one who will be raising it alone if you decide to disappear again.” She looped her bag over her shoulder. “I can’t do it. I can’t be your yo-yo, springing back every time you decide to take off.”

Anger and frustration swelled in Ben. “I didn’t take off. I was captured. I’m not running out on you or the child. I’m here to help keep you two alive. Nicky Wayne is coming for you.”

“Why? Why would Nicky Wayne want me? I’ve done nothing to threaten him.”

“You have something he wants.”

“What?” Ava’s eyes widened, both hands going to her protruding belly, her head swaying side to side. “Not my baby.”

Ben frowned. He hadn’t wanted to scare her, but, damn it, she had to cooperate. “No, he doesn’t want your baby. He wants that necklace I gave you with the medal of St. Joan of Arc on it.”

“Well, he can’t have it.”

“Why? What’s happened to the medal?”

“I don’t know. I don’t have it.”

“What?” He grabbed her shoulders. “Where is it?”

She looked away, her gaze darting to the corner of the room. “I don’t remember.”

She did, but she wasn’t telling him.

“Look at me, Ava.” He held her, his fingers digging into her arms, the soft scent of spring flowers twisting around his starved senses, making him dizzy. Forcing himself to focus on the seriousness of the situation, Ben stared into Ava’s eyes, willing her to understand. “This is not the secret to keep, Ava.”

“For the second time, let go of me.” Her jaw tightened and she matched him stare for stare until he dropped his hold. Immediately, she stepped out of reach, pulling her purse in front of her like a shield. “I’m not a puppet you can string along for your own purposes, to pick up when you feel like it and drop when you’re bored.”

God, he was losing her. Ben’s knees shook. What did he expect? After so many weeks gone and his previous connection to Del Gardo’s organization, did he think she’d trust him, fall into his arms and be the loving wife he’d left?

Hell, yes! He’d been through enough under Wayne’s treatment, he certainly didn’t want more abuse by his own wife. Anger made his muscles stiffen. “You’re coming with me.”