Girl Undercover 8 & 9: Traitor & The Smiley Killer (3 page)

He pointed at one of the barstools next to the marble island that separated his small kitchen from his living room. “I put a sweater and a pair of shorts there. I thought you might want some fresh clothes.”

“Thanks,” I said and walked over to the stool. Picking them up, I walked back to the bathroom where I changed into the soft blue cashmere sweater and the checkered cotton shorts he’d gotten for me. I wasn’t surprised that they matched when I threw a glance in the hallway mirror—Ian had chosen the clothes and he always dressed well.

“Are you hungry?” he asked when I returned to the living room. He was no longer behind his computer screens but had moved into his kitchen. “I have some leftover take-out that I can heat up. Some tasty Italian dishes.”

“Sure, that would be great.” I slid onto one of the barstools beside the marble island. I had only eaten part of the pizza Jonah had bought me at Patsy’s, so hunger was catching up with me now. “Want me to help you?”

Ian smiled and shook his head. “No, I’m good. Would you like some wine?” He extended me a glass of red that he had produced out of nowhere. “You seem like you could use some alcohol tonight.”

“I’d love some,” I said, taking the glass and giving him a grateful smile in return.

“Now tell me more about this Burt and what the deal is with him,” Ian said as he put a couple of dishes loaded with food into his big microwave. “And what happened during your date with Jonah. You guys did meet up tonight, correct?”

I nodded and had a sip of my wine, savoring the delicious black pepper and plum notes as it lay on my tongue for a moment before swallowing.

“What else did you learn besides Stenger being his dad? Anything useful?”

“Yes, plenty. Apparently I’m supposed to know what The Adler Group is up to and that Stenger is Jonah’s father because
Burt
at some point told me. Except, Burt never told me anything. Since I didn’t want to appear like I was clueless, I couldn’t ask Jonah exactly when Burt was supposed to have told me all this. And why Jonah didn’t do it himself.”

Ian stroked his chin, looking pensive. “Yes, that is very curious. Why not tell you directly and instead rely on Burt?”

“Yeah, I wish I’d been able to ask him that without making him suspicious. But this guy has some
serious
anger issues, so I let it go.” I gave Ian a vivid description of the scene inside Patsy’s when Jonah had pounded the table so hard our pizzas had trembled, and how I’d been convinced that he would throw himself at me when I’d dared to question his words.

“Blood has always been and will always be thicker than water, huh?” Ian repeated when I finished. “That’s what he said?”

“Yeah, and because he’s Stenger’s son, he’s an untouchable by default, apparently. Though he didn’t seem all that confident about it, which must be why I felt prompted to ask him if he was sure. About being an untouchable, I mean. Which was a mistake.” I grimaced to emphasize my words.

The microwave beeped, so Ian removed the dishes and placed them on the marble island next to me. Silverware and napkins followed.

“So what made him not throw himself at you in the end?” Ian asked.

“Closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. His father’s psychiatrist has taught him techniques to help him control his anger.”

Ian laughed. “Really? How very Zen of them. You’d think Stenger would have drugged him instead.”

I grinned. “Yeah, that seems to be more efficient.”

Coming around the island, Ian sat down next to me and we both spread the napkins over our laps. “And after the pizzeria, what happened?” he asked.

I looked at Ian, remembering how I’d quickly concluded that the best way to squeeze more information out of Jonah was to bring the promise of sex into the mix. Again, because of the tension this had created between me and Ian before, it was better not to mention that, however. There was no need for me to bring up the fact that I had kissed Jonah to grease the wheels, either. So I just said, “He suggested that we go to his house and watch a movie.”

“Ah.” Ian nodded and dug into his food. “Smooth move,” he added, the sarcasm dripping.

“Um, yeah. Anyway, we did go to his house. I hoped that I’d spot something there that would tell us where to find Stenger, or at least learn more about him. I didn’t see anything, not even a photo of the man. The only thing I learned was that Jonah and his twin sister are using their mother’s maiden name because Stenger is a very private man.”

“I didn’t know he had a twin sister. I wonder if she has anger problems as well.”

“No, she’s actually very nice. Quiet. Hangs out with this mulatto trainer girl most of the time. Anyway, their last name is Green.”

“Green…” Ian narrowed his eyes. “Green. Why does that sound familiar?” He shrugged. “Well, it’s a common enough name, I suppose. How long were you at his house?”

“About forty-five minutes. Luckily, his cleaning lady was there, so he didn’t try to make out with me or anything. It was right after she left that I bumped into Burt—literally. We crashed into each other as he exited a room I mistook for the bathroom.” I was definitely not about to give Ian any details about how I’d teased Jonah, challenging him to catch me as I’d dashed toward what I thought was his bedroom.

“A room? His room?”

“Yeah, Burt’s bedroom. They’re roommates, remember? They were supposed to go out drinking with some guys tonight, but Jonah blew them off to go out with me and Burt needed a nap before going. Anyway, after we recovered from slamming into each other, Burt told Jonah that his father wanted to see him.” I grabbed my fork and stuck it into some pasta. “It was obvious from Jonah’s reaction that, if his father wants to see him, he’s going. So he told me we had to resume tomorrow. As I was about to leave, Burt grabbed my hand and gave me the oddest look—like he wanted to tell me something and that I needed to be quiet—then he told me that I was a team player and how one could always count on me.”

Ian frowned. “Team player? What the hell’s that supposed to mean?”

I tskd. “I’ve no frigging idea. All I know is that we’ve got to get hold of Burt and talk to him as soon as possible. I’m planning on talking to him when I see him at the club tomorrow. I should be able to find an opportunity. He’s usually there. Can I have some more wine?”

One of my phones sounded with an incoming text as Ian went to get me more wine. I bent over to my purse that I’d dropped on the floor to see who was trying to reach me.

I couldn’t help but letting out a sigh when I saw. It was Jonah again.

Hey, not sure if you got my last text. I wanna see you tonight. Call me.

“Here you go.”

Ian’s voice right next to me made me jerk and I let out an uncharacteristically loud, “Oh!”

“Everything okay?” he asked as he handed me the glass. He peered down at the phone in my hand. “Who texted you? Don’t tell me it’s that text stalker again.”

“Yes, in fact it
is
the text stalker. And I know who the person is now, too.”

Ian’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he took a seat on the stool. “You do? Who is it?”

“Jonah. I totally forgot to tell you about that part.”

Ian looked incredulous. “Jonah? Really? How do you know?”

“I told him I would have let him know how I felt about him a lot sooner if he hadn’t texted me those nasty texts. He immediately owned up to it.”

“Wow… That was quite bold of you.” He smiled and ran a knuckle along my cheek. “Not that that should surprise me when it comes to you. You’re a risk-taker.”

“If you consider that I already had a pretty good idea he might be behind it, it wasn’t so bold. I’m not sure I ever told you, but Jonah was at Nikkei the night I was supposed to meet up with my text stalker. Sleeping in one of the beds in the trainers’ lounge. And when I found out he also had my number in his phone already, I just put two and two together.”

“You never told me he was at the club that night. Why was he sleeping in the lounge?”

I shrugged. “I guess he came early and decided to take a nap before meeting up with me on the sundeck. Then he just overslept. The point is the security people told me he’d been there.”

“Right. Makes sense.” Ian snorted and shook his head. “This bloke’s getting crazier by the second… Why did he text such texts in the first place?”

“I’m not one hundred percent sure about that since I had to pretend like I already knew so much about what Adler is up to. So I didn’t ask for details. He basically told me he did it because he wanted to get rid of you.” I gazed at Ian sincerely, taking his hand. “This guy really, really hates you, Ian, so you must be careful around him. Not that you don’t already know this, but it doesn’t hurt to stress it again.”

Ian chuckled. “Yep, I’m aware. Thanks for reminding me, though. What did he want to tell you on the sundeck?”

“That I would have nothing to worry about if I became his girlfriend. I wouldn’t die like so many other people soon will. He thought that if I heard it directly from him, I would take it more seriously. Since I’ve spent so much time with you already, I’m already considered a threat and all threats will be eliminated eventually. Even if things have changed somewhat.”

Ian looked confused. “Changed somewhat? What’s that supposed to mean?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea. He babbles a lot, not always making sense. Again, I didn’t want to prod too deeply.”

“That’s understandable. What did he want now?”

“For me to come over to his place. It’s the second time he texted me since I got to your house. Apparently, there was a change of plans. He never did go and see Stenger in the end.”

“I see.” He looked at me for a long, quiet moment, then, “What will you do?”

“I have no reason to go see him,” I responded. “At least not tonight. I think we’ve gotten all the information we need out of him. Really, the only reason for me to keep seeing him at all, pretending I’m as in love with him as I made him think today, is to protect you from his wrath.”

Ian smiled and cupped my cheek then, gazing at me warmly. “Gabi, I appreciate the concern, but I think I’ll be fine. If Stenger himself hasn’t had me killed so far, I doubt his son will be able to. I’m obviously kept alive for a reason.”

“Yeah, that may be true…” Involuntarily, my eyes went to the phone in my hand and I read Jonah’s two texts again. Doing so made me realize that it wasn’t as simple as I had just made it seem to Ian. Jonah would not let me go that easily. The guy clearly had severe issues. Who knew what he would do if he found out I had just manipulated him to get something out of him? If I all of a sudden began to avoid him, what else could he think but that?

For now, it was wiser to keep seeing him. In fact, the more I considered what Jonah would do if he learned the truth, the more I realized that I really didn’t have a choice.

Chapter 3

When I woke up the following day, in my own bed and alone, there were four texts in my phones.

After Ian and I were done with our late-night meal, I had said goodbye and left. That was despite that I, for the first time, had wanted to just sleep with him but not have sex, and despite that Ian had offered me to spend the night if I wanted to. I had wanted to cuddle close to him and then fall asleep in his big, strong arms, inhale his particular smell, forget about Jonah and all the horrors looming before us. I wasn’t sure why I felt this way and if it was only temporary, which was why I had finished my wine, barely having touched the pasta, and then taken a cab home. In addition to being confused, I worried that, if I’d accepted Ian’s offer, he’d choose to sleep on the sofa while letting me use his bed.

Given how I’d felt last night, that would not have made me happy.

Three of the texts were from Jonah, sounding increasingly frustrated with the fact that he wasn’t hearing from me. The last one had come only a few minutes ago. Quickly, I typed a response to him so he wouldn’t keep texting me.

Hey. So sorry. Went to bed early last night. I only just got these messages. Coming to work soon. See you there.

I contemplated adding XOXO at the end of the text, but soon decided against it. I might be seeing Jonah still, but I was going to do what I could to discourage any displays of affection between us. The mere thought of having to kiss him again made me shudder.

His reply arrived in my phone only seconds later:
I’m already here

Of course you are,
I thought and sighed. Not bothering to respond, I put that phone away and took a closer look at the text from Dante in my disposable cell. He was supposed to go visit Captain Brady at the hospital. His text was much longer than Jonah’s:

Finally saw B last night. Had to wait hours before they let me speak to him. He’s still weak and I’m not sure if it was the pain killers, but he didn’t make much sense. He didn’t seem to know who the two men were that he had arrested. But the good news is, he’s getting better. The nurse told me he should be off the pain killers in a couple of days and then I could come back and talk to him again. Sorry. That’s all I have for now. Besos, D

I typed back a short response to Dante, thanking him for trying. And to keep trying. I still wanted to know what it was that had made Brady so confident he’d found the right men.

Stretching my arms over my head and yawning big, I slid out of bed and hurried to get ready for my first client.

I managed to avoid Jonah for next few hours because both of us were busy training people—he especially, being one of the club’s highest-ranked trainers now. Each time we spotted each other on the gym floors, we just smiled and waved at each other. As I moved up and down the club with my clients, I kept my eyes open for Burt. The more time that went by and I didn’t see him, the more worried I got. Given how uncomfortable he’d looked when he’d left with Janine and what had happened to Ariel and what Emma had done to herself, I thought I had good reason to be anxious.

Oh God, please let him be okay,
I kept repeating to myself in my head.

When it was four o’clock and I still hadn’t gotten a glimpse of Burt and no one else had either for that matter—I’d asked around—that growing sense of impending doom in my stomach was so big it was painful. Nadja, the membership advisor that Burt had been waiting for last night, wasn’t at the club, either. When I went down to ask for her, I was told that today was her day off.