While she’d been studying the photo, Cain had removed her jacket and thrown it on the bed. “Do you remember what you wanted to know?”
Her breathing hitched when the hand at her neck slid down and Cain cupped her left breast. “I was going to ask if you liked my dress, since you never said anything when you got there.”
“I see.” Cain trailed her hand down to Emma’s stomach, then back up to her other breast. “How thoughtless of me not to tell you how beautiful you looked.” A very slight pinch to a very alert nipple made Emma lean farther back into her embrace. “In reality, though, love, you always look beautiful, but I never want to be thoughtless and not tell you so.”
“You make me feel beautiful.” The picture came into Emma’s focus again, and she smiled as the roving hand made its presence known again. “You always have.”
“You’ll always be beautiful to me.” Cain stopped teasing and just held her. “Can I tell you anything now?”
“Just a few things, but they’ll be painless.”
The cheek Emma had slapped was still slightly red, and she laid her palm on it in a comforting gesture. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit you so hard.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
They gazed at each other a moment longer before Cain walked them to the bed, knelt between Emma’s legs, and started whispering in her ear. With the radio Cain had switched on before that, even the most sophisticated listening devices couldn’t have deciphered what she was saying. “Never apologize for doing something I asked you to do. Our little ruse this morning flushed out the watchers quite nicely, but I really need you to be more careful about leaving the house alone. Agent Daniels and whoever she was with were easy to spot, but where there’s one fed, there’s always more. They’re like cockroaches that way, and the other ones were in the square.”
“Still, I shouldn’t have hit you so hard.”
“Put that aside for now, because I have more important things to talk to you about.”
They stayed in that position for twenty minutes, Emma never breaking the silence, only nodding every so often when Cain asked if she understood something.
When Cain finished, Emma examined the contents of the envelope Anya had given Cain, then stood and dropped all of it into the fireplace. She burned its secrets until nothing was left but ashes.
“How would you like to take a ride downtown?” Cain asked her as she stood at the floor- to-ceiling window and pulled the heavy drapes aside. The van parked across the street looked empty, but it was hard to tell with the tinted windows.
“Are you sure you want to do that? Agent Curtis seemed so sure of himself.”
Someone took a series of photos as Cain laughed at what Emma had said. The moving company Emma had hired had acquired a slew of new employees that morning who’d left more than they’d carted out. The fruits of their labors while taking inventory were helping the guys stuck in the van outside looking in. When the music had come on and the two women had lapsed into silence, the men assigned to the surveillance chuckled, figuring Cain and Emma were busy making up for the earlier fight.
“And just how do you know that?” The curtain fell back into place as Cain stepped closer to Emma. “Not working the other side already, are you?”
“Get real.” Emma picked up the frame on the nightstand and handed it to Cain, then looked on as Cain removed their photo and pointed to the inside corner. The thought of someone listening in on their most intimate moments infuriated her.
“By the way, after you left this morning Muriel and I had a talk. She really wants you to call her once you decide on anything.”
“Why take Muriel when I can take you?” Cain put her arm around Emma.
“True. I’ll do my best to protect you, honey, but I really want you to call her. On the way to pick her up I can tell you about the visitor I had this morning.”
“And here you’ve just gotten back to town, lass. You’re such a popular girl.”
“You have no idea.” Emma straightened her clothes and started for the door. “You should keep a close eye, Cain. The competition is getting fierce.”
Emma looked over her shoulder and winked, knowing that nothing in the world could compete with what she found in Cain’s eyes.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
“Did anyone find them yet?” Shelby asked the dispatcher on the way back to the office.
“The group you lost this morning outside the cathedral just walked in and asked to speak to Agent Hicks,” the man answered with a laugh.
“Cain Casey is in the building?”
“Along with Emma and Muriel Casey. That’s what I’m telling you.”
More than one agent gathered around the monitor with Annabel Hicks and stared in amazement at the feed from the waiting room. Cain sat in one of the beige plastic chairs with her legs casually crossed, like she had just checked in for a massage appointment. Next to her, Emma ran her index finger along Cain’s hand, which lay open in her lap. Muriel was reading a file and ignoring the camera in the corner of the room. All of the watchers noticed one thing—the Caseys acted like they visited the enemy camp every day.
A young agent wearing a conservative gray suit walked into the area and verified, “Ms. Casey?”
“Yes?” Cain and Muriel answered together, looking at each other as if they were going to enjoy the upcoming meeting.
“My apologies. I meant Cain Casey.”
“What can I do for you?” Cain didn’t stand up, and she didn’t pull her hand away from Emma’s.
“If you’d come with me.” The agent pointed to the hallway behind her. “Agent Hicks will be with you as soon as possible. Your friends can wait for you here.”
“Cain—” Emma began, stopping when Cain squeezed her fingers.
Cain stared at the camera, ignoring the young agent who obviously still expected her to stand and do as she was asked. “Agent Hicks? I came here today voluntarily. If you don’t want to talk to me, fine, but I don’t have time to play games. The thirty minutes I’ve been sitting here is the extent of psychological bullshit I’m willing to put up with.”
After the tough talk, Cain got to her feet and offered Emma a hand up, and to the consternation of the observers, all three Caseys headed toward the exit. Before Cain touched the doorknob, Annabel Hicks took the agent’s place.
“Ms. Casey, I’d like it if we talked before you left.”
Cain knew it was as much of an apology as she was going to get.
“Mrs. Casey and Ms. Casey are more than welcome to join us.”
They followed her into one of the interrogation rooms, and Cain smiled when she glanced at the wall of mirrors. She wondered if just the sight of them intimidated people into confessing before they knew what they were doing.
“What can I do for you?” Agent Hicks asked.
“I thought I’d save you the trouble of having to find me.”
Annabel didn’t know what Cain was talking about, but she had no intention of revealing that. “Considering our situation and what we both do for a living, Ms. Casey, let’s not pretend the Bureau would have any trouble finding you if we needed to. The city has eyes and ears in the most unlikely places, wouldn’t you agree?”
“If you’re referring to the multitude of listening devices your people planted in my house this morning, then I’d have to agree. You really should inform your men that most moving guys don’t spit and polish their shoes, and I sincerely hope you had a warrant for all of those, especially the ones in the bedroom.”
Cain looked from Hicks to the mirror beyond her and the collection of people undoubtedly standing behind it watching like an audience at a high-stakes chess game. “While what my partner and I do behind closed doors isn’t to everyone’s taste, I’m positive it’s legal. What are you hoping to gather from anything you hear in there? Your agents hoping to learn some new moves to spice up their pathetic little lives?”