Showdown in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #3)(26)

“Unless you can find Melissa Franco.”

“Yeah, there is that angle.”

Raissa stared at him for a couple of seconds, then sighed. “The FBI wants me to testify against a mob boss, but they had some trouble keeping me safe. I left protective custody nine years ago and never looked back. Well, not for the FBI, anyway.” She tapped one of the monitors. “I keep the mob boss in my sight on a regular basis, which is probably why I’m still alive.”

Zach nodded. What Raissa said made complete sense, given her lack of background history. “Were you an informant?”

“I was an agent.”

Zach straightened in his chair, unable to control his surprise. “Shit! I mean, I knew you could handle a weapon, but lots of criminals can, too. Not that I’m saying I thought you were a criminal…Oh crap, I’m messing everything up.”

“It’s okay. You’d have been stupid not to think I was a criminal. I would have.” She smiled. “Although that does bring into question exactly why you were caught in a compromising position with a woman you thought was a crook.”

“I didn’t think that, exactly. Not really. Oh, hell, the reality is that all the evidence pointed to you being a criminal, but for some reason it never felt right. Intuition sounds stupid, but I guess that’s all I’ve got.”

“Intuition is far from stupid. It’s kept me alive more times than I can count.”

“Yeah, but still. An FBI agent? Wow. Sorry, but that’s really not what I was expecting to hear—” He jumped up from his chair and stared down at her. “Holy shit. You investigated the other abductions. That’s why you know so much.”

“Actually, I fell into the investigation by accident when I was undercover on another case. In fact, investigating those abductions is what blew my cover. The bureau wasn’t thrilled.”

Zach sat back down. “What did you find?”

Raissa sighed. “You’re going to think I’m crazy again.”

“Maybe. But I’m not going to think you’re lying. This case isn’t exactly normal.”

“I saw an alien suit in the closet of one of the people I was investigating. Not hanging, like you would a costume, but in a trunk by itself. A padlock was on the trunk but not fastened all the way, so I took a look inside. I had no idea what to think about something so weird and dismissed it, figuring I didn’t want to know. Then a friend of mine told me about this abduction case he was working where the MO matched some previous cases. I asked about dates and times. Every time an abduction happened, this particular guy was ‘unreachable.’ ”

“And the other girls had already been returned, so you knew about the alien part.”

“That’s the thing that really got me. I mean, why else would that suit be locked away like that unless it was something that could create a lot of trouble? It was too much of a coincidence to ignore.”

“Why didn’t you follow him?”

“He wasn’t my primary, and he didn’t live in New Orleans. So the next time he told my primary he was going to be off the grid for several hours, I went to Baton Rouge to follow him.”

“And got caught,” Zach finished.

“Yeah.”

“And your primary…who was he?”

Raissa hesitated for a couple of seconds, then finally said, “Sonny Hebert.”

Zach felt his heart pound in his chest. He stared at Raissa, at a complete loss for words the first time since he’d met her. “You were undercover in Sonny Hebert’s organization?”

“Yeah, for almost two years.”

“As what? I mean, what did you do that you got that close to him?”

Raissa gave him a small smile. “Can’t you tell?” She pointed to the row of equipment. “I’m a computer whiz. I could move money in ways that even the banks holding it couldn’t trace. And I dabble a bit with security systems. I’m probably indirectly responsible for the alarms being bypassed at the kidnapping scenes.”

“Jesus. I can see where that might make you a valuable commodity in Sonny’s world.”

“Oh, you have no idea. Sonny paid me a quarter million a year. Not that I got to keep it.”

“Holy crap! I think I’m playing for the wrong team. Damn my conscience.”

Raissa nodded. “I damned mine a time or two when I was moving millions to tax-free shelters overseas. Or driving around in my ‘company’ car—a Bentley, by the way.”

Zach whistled. “So Sonny caught you following up on his guy?”

“No, the guy did. Monk Marsella. He was Sonny’s cousin and ran the Baton Rouge side of things.”

“And you think this Monk is the guy who took Melissa Franco?”

Raissa frowned. “I did, but now I’m not so sure.”

“Why not?”

“You remember that guy in the bar? You know, the one I was going to castrate with my nine-millimeter?”

Zach felt his heart beat stronger for a beat or two, but his mind had flashed firmly back to Raissa’s lipstick-coated finger pressed against his cheek. “Yeah,” he said, and cleared his throat, hoping it might clear up his mind. “Hard to forget.”

“Spider hasn’t likely forgotten, either. I picked Spider to question because he’s a weak link, a real pansy compared to the others. He says no one’s seen Monk in six months. I’ve asked around, and he’s not lying, as far as I can find.”