Best Laid Plans(29)

He couldn’t possibly frame her for Harper’s murder! He couldn’t create evidence out of thin air.

Yet … maybe it was possible. Two months ago he’d had great power. What if he still had someone inside the police force? Someone to plant evidence? Someone to implicate her?

Dammit! What was she going to do? She couldn’t just sit here and take it. And giving him money? She’d had to spend a small fortune to protect herself when Tobias had lost the gun shipment. She’d had to placate people, make sure they understood that it was Tobias, and not her, who had screwed up. It was the cost of doing business, she’d told him, and she stood by it.

She had to fix this. And the only way to fix it was to take out Tobias himself.

Except … she had no idea where he was. She didn’t know what he looked like, or if Tobias was his real name. They worked through an intermediary. She’d talked to him on secure phones, but she’d never met with him in person. He was particular about that—she didn’t know why. Their arrangement had been working beautifully for years until he’d screwed up.

That was on him, not her.

If she couldn’t take out Tobias, she’d do the next best thing—take out his entire operation. And she knew exactly who to call to have it done. She’d use the rest of Tobias’s money to pay for it.

Fitting.

If Tobias thought that she was so weak that she’d cave because he killed her husband, he would learn that he’d screwed with the wrong woman.

She pulled a secure cell phone out of her desk and dialed the private number of Javier Marquez, whom she’d started doing business with exclusively after Tobias nearly got caught by the authorities.

“It’s Sunday,” Marquez said.

“Tobias had my husband killed and threatened me.”

“Why is this my problem?”

“He threatened our new arrangement.”

“Tobias knows better than to come after my operation, especially when he’s been cut off at the knees. You worry too much, Adeline.”

“He’s rebuilding.”

“Hmm.”

“I can tell you who and where. It’s Jamie Sanchez’s old operation. They moved safe houses. I know where they are.”

“It will cost you. This goes beyond our agreement.”

“I understand.”

“Send Mr. Contreras to me with the information and payment. I will take care of it.”





CHAPTER TEN



Once Joseph had left to meet with Marquez, Adeline paced. She nibbled at the food Harper’s grieving friends had brought, but she wasn’t hungry. She was too nervous. She needed Joseph to return and tell her it was taken care of, that Javier would live up to his agreement and Tobias would no longer be a problem.

She was still stunned that he’d killed Harper. Tobias had surrounded himself with dangerous people, but because he was so elusive and secretive, he’d never threatened anyone directly. He’d lost nearly half the gun shipment two months ago when—according to Tobias—a mercenary seized several of the trucks while they were on their way to the buyer. That had been a major blow to the entire organization. Adeline had had to scramble to replace the money Tobias had used to obtain the guns, because the people who were expecting them wouldn’t take the screw-up as an excuse.

Tobias had excuse after excuse, but in the end, Adeline had decided to cut ties with him because he was obviously reckless and weak. She’d built a solid operation without him; she certainly didn’t need him now.

He killed Harper.

She shook her head to clear her mind. Maybe it was for the best. Harper had been so withdrawn lately. She’d worried for a while that he was suspicious about some of her land transactions—he’d asked questions about the land she’d sold to cover Tobias’s screw-up. So what if she’d sold it for more than market value? That was how the game was played—a lobbyist wanted something from her, she needed money to save her ass. It wasn’t like she was compromising her principles—she would have voted for the legislation anyway—so what harm was it that she earned a little extra money on the side?

She’d made up a lie about natural resources on the property and the buyer was betting on future earnings, blah blah. At the time, Harper seemed to accept her explanation and didn’t ask about it again, so she put it aside. But what if he’d started digging around? She hadn’t wanted him dead, but if anyone knew about her questionable practices, they might think that was a motive.

Shouldn’t Joseph be back by now?

Adeline glanced at the clock and saw that only fifteen minutes had passed. She was far too antsy, she needed to calm down. A glass of wine would help.

She went down a curving staircase into the large, finished basement. Half of the basement had been converted into a temperature-controlled wine room with all the bells and whistles. Harper was generally frugal—too frugal at times—and she never understood why he spent so much time with his wines when he never had more than a single glass from any bottle. Such a waste. He always had prided himself on having the perfect bottle with a meal, but never allowed himself to drink to excess.

Adeline had learned a lot about wine from Harper, but she didn’t know what the big deal was. She liked her alcohol straight up, preferring tequila to all else. She knew which wines Harper liked the best, and which bottles—in a special rack—he’d told her were for “special occasions.” Well, he was dead, and all this wine was just going to waste. She considered opening up the wine cellar for the funeral. There were at least a thousand bottles, not like they’d do Harper any good now. His friends could take one to remember him by. Or maybe she’d give them away as gifts.