Page 51 of Seduced By the Billionaire
“You can’t. No one has.”
“I’m going to catch him.”
“You’re not.” But it was quieter this time.
“Juliette.” The way her name rolled off his tongue made her resistance crumble. “I’m going to catch him. You and your mother are going to be safe from now on.”
Her lip trembled, eyes burning. She wanted to believe him, but how the hell was he going to accomplish that? Was money really enough? Plus… “You already lost your job. You’re out of law enforcement. If you’re anticipating a citizen’s arrest, I don’t think?—”
“I just said that because Daniel has access to my cell. I got word from the chief today that someone saw us having sex at the reservoir.”
Juliette’s head was spinning. “The… where?” What was he talking about?
“On the phone, I told my partner that I took you to the reservoir to interrogate you. In the hospital room, where I didn’t have my cell, I told him I questioned you in a motel outside the city. I planted different information at every potential leak point. And I told the chief I was doing it.”
“So you’re… not fired?”
Ronan smiled. “No. And they don’t know who you really are yet; don’t know you and I are together, either. But we’ve all known men like Daniel Graves. And the officers I work with aren’t going to let a few bad apples ruin the force’s reputation. We’re not all abusers. Most of us are desperately trying to stop people from being harmed, and you’re no exception.” His gaze bored into hers. “I wish you’d told me sooner.”
“I—”
“I know. You couldn’t. You tried that before—called the authorities, and he hurt you, hurt your mother. Made the deputy who tried to help you vanish and pinned his disappearance on you. Right?” He traced his thumb gently along her jawline. “We have two goals. One is to catch him. The second is to clear you.”
A spark flared in her chest—hot and bright—but it took her a moment to decipher what it was. Hope? “Do you think… I mean, is that actually possible?”
“We have his man—the one you saw in the motel parking lot. And Ortega is an honest-to-god genius. Daniel might be the sheriff, but he’s not a forensics expert.”
“Put security on Ortega, too, okay?” He seemed like a nice man, albeit more suspicious than she’d have liked that day in the morgue.
Ronan’s gaze did not falter. “You’re worried he’ll vanish like Deputy Sanchez?”
Her eyes filled. She nodded.
“If we can find Sanchez, it might go a long way toward clearing your name. Is there any way he ran off like you did, or?—”
“Daniel told me he’s buried under my mother’s house. Presumably covered in trace evidence that will point squarely at me—evidence I won’t be able to explain away.”
Her breath shuddered from her lungs, secrets pouring out of her, but there was no point in holding back now—he already knew what Daniel wanted the world to think. The least she could do was defend herself.
“Daniel made it look like we were having an affair,” she went on. “He wrote fake journal entries, called Sanchez from my cell phone late at night, but he was happily married. His only crime was believing me about Daniel’s abuse.”
Ronan dropped his hands and stepped back, heading for the table by the windows. “Daniel has a lot of contingency plans,” he said, retrieving his laptop. “But so do I.”
He returned to her side and flipped the computer open. “He might shell out cash to have you watched, but it’s easy enough to explain his interest in finding you—you’re a wanted woman. What sheriff wouldn’t want to track you down? And what criminal wouldn’t want to be on the sheriff’s good side by finding his estranged wife? He could even argue that they took it on themselves. But he’s not stupid enough to hire a hitman.”
“I know.”
“You do?” His lip curled into a smug half-smile. “Do you also have the video feed of him sneaking out of the alley right after Mercer’s death?” He tapped a button, and she peered around his shoulder at the hooded figure creeping from the alley. “Can’t see his face, but we managed to place the watch—a gift from the Nebraska governor.”
Her heart was beating so violently that she could barely breathe, but she forced out, “How did you?—”
“Cleareye Traffic Solutions: the company who owns the traffic cams down there. They’re contracted through that big-box warehouse.”
She stared at the screen, watching Daniel saunter out of the alley. When he walked out of frame, she tapped the replay button. Again, again, studying the black jacket with bright orange flames on the sleeves. She didn’t recognize it, but he always wore a distinctive coat. It was one of his favorite tricks. If they were looking for a guy in that jacket, they weren’t looking for a guy… not in that jacket.
Ronan sniffed, interrupting her train of thought. “Your tattooed-compass friend bribed Cleareye with cash and a threat. The man in charge of monitoring the feeds has a brother in jail for negligent homicide—his parole hearing is coming up. The deal was, get rid of the videos, or baby bro stays behind bars. He wiped the feeds, but they didn’t account for the backup on Cleareye’s main servers in Washington. That data isn’t accessible locally.”
“I’m surprised a cross-state warrant went through that quickly.”
