Out of the Mist (Can't Help Falling Book 1) Read online

"Sure, but . . . I gave him the cost-cutting spiel. And— he's new. I had to fire the old manager a few weeks back."

  "Nothing felt different about that visit?" Julie had just given him a hundred more questions to follow up on.

  She shrugged. "The warehouse had product. The tracking system was working, the files-" Her voice trailed off.

  "I sense a 'but'?"

  "You know how something feels off, but you can't put your finger on it?" Her smile was half-hearted. "I was probably just paranoid."

  The film. Awareness jagged down his spine. Hands tightening on the wheel, his gaze locked with hers. "Where's the footage?"

  She stilled. "I gave it to Keyes Group."

  Matt experienced the prickly sensation of progress. He was getting closer. To something. Was her warehouse the connection? "When did Lambeth call you about the client?"

  "Thursday morning. I jotted the directions before I left for Keyes Group."

  "Why would Tori drive all the way out here?"

  The notch between her brows returned. "I figured maybe she just wanted an excuse to get out of the office. We talked about grabbing dinner after."

  Matt's gaze was caught by a passing sign. "Look."

  "The paw mark-" Julie sat up straighter. "My hotel." She blinked several times. "It's like puzzle pieces fitting together."

  Matt checked his watch. They'd make it to the Psychedelic Kitty with five minutes to spare. "So you met with Keyes Group . . . then you followed the directions to the warehouse?" "I stopped for lunch," she corrected. "I was meeting Tori at three."

  "Where?"

  "Where did I meet her?"

  "Lunch, Jules. Where'd you-"

  The confusion cleared from her gaze. "Oh— you need to check my story, right?"

  Was she stalling? Mullaney likely had her credit card transactions.

  "I had to drive past my hotel to get to the warehouse, so I ate there."

  "Okay." He nodded. Easy to verify.

  "A club sandwich. No mayo," she deadpanned. "I ate the pickle, though."

  "Fine." Okay, so it had been an obvious question.

  She shifted to face him, her smile teasing. "Six fries. No . . . probably eight."

  Amusement heated his chest. "You would've had me if you'd copped to eating all the fries."

  Her eyes widened. "I didn't."

  "No one leaves fries, Jules." He shot her a sideways glance. Though she wouldn't meet his gaze, a dimple creased her cheek. "What happened next?"

  "I followed the directions." She wrapped her arms around her middle, almost making herself smaller in the seat. "It was isolated. Like— way back off the road. Tori's car was there." A shudder tore through her, startling him. "But everything felt wrong."

  Fisting the hand that wanted to reach for hers, Matt sighed. "Describe wrong."

  "Creepy. I wanted to leave." Her throat worked convulsively. "But I made myself get out so I could find Tori."

  Unease coursing through him, Matt acknowledged he was picking up on her increased anxiety. "What happened?"

  "I w-walked around the side of the building. There was a d-door with windowpanes." She released a shuddering breath. "I heard something- Someone. Behind me. When I turned— he was there."

  Julie's eyes were huge and vividly green in a face gone ashen. His heartbeat accelerated in response. "Who?"

  "The m-man in the mask. He pushed me into the warehouse." She tightened into a ball. "There were scales and bricks of white powder everywhere."

  "The clouds in your dream," he reminded.

  She nodded. "It was h-hard to breathe."

  "What happened then?"

  "That's when he tried to k-kill me."

  ***

  Finn was waiting in the parking lot when Matt reached the Psychedelic Kitty. O'Brien's ginger crewcut made him easy to spot. Leaving Julie locked in the car, he greeted his best friend's kid brother with a clap to his shoulder. "Last time I saw you, you were still in college."

  Finnegan O'Brien had filled out. Matt did some quick math. He and Teagan were thirty-three. That made Finn at least twenty-eight. Growing up, there had been six O'Brien kids down the block. Translation: always an O'Brien or two available to get in trouble with. "How've you been?"

  "Great. My third year at the Agency."

  "Way to make me feel old." O'Brien looked as though he still drank milk with every meal. It probably hadn't taken long for his team to come up with his nickname. The Kid.

  "I've read the file." Businesslike, Finn glanced beyond him to the car. "Her hotel bill had vehicle information. I've sent that to Mullaney to trace."

  "You got a copy of the bill?" It was little things that tripped people up. Lies about the minutiae. Like Julie's club sandwich.

  "Nothin' special. Room service a couple times." He pulled the file from his makeshift office in the backseat of his car.

  He scanned the receipt. A restaurant charge at 1:12 pm Thursday. She'd probably still fibbed about the fries.

  "You got any better idea on her involvement?"

  Finn's question reined in his thoughts. "Usually I can size someone up in fifteen minutes." He nodded over his shoulder. "With her . . . I'm five days in and I still don't know." He briefed him on the overnight developments.

  Finn's jaw worked a piece of gum. "Aside from the directions, I didn't score much from her room. Clothes and her laptop. But housekeeping had cleaned twice." He reviewed his notes. "I sent the hotel video to Leo thirty minutes ago. They have hall-mounted cameras and a few in the common areas and parking lot." He held up the bagged evidence, hazel eyes narrowing. "This is the impression from the pad."

  Matt stared at the barely visible impression. "Let's hope she can remember." She'd been missing five days. A lifetime in forensics. After the monsoon the previous evening, there was no guarantee they'd uncover anything useful, but the spark of anticipation was still there. He nodded to Finn's government issue car. "You wanna leave that here? Ride with us?"

  "I'll get my stuff."

  ***

  Julie wasn't sure what to make of Finnegan O'Brien. She suspected the polite, yes-ma'am personality covered hidden depths. The button-down shirt and neatly pressed khakis presented a no-nonsense image. A navy blazer likely hung in his backseat. A rule follower. Different from Matt— yet so much alike. After a two second introduction, Finn slid into the backseat.

  Starting the engine, Matt turned to her. "Which direction did you head?"

  She smiled over his bluntness. At least Barnes was consistent. "Left out of the parking lot." Scanning the scenery, she nodded. "This is familiar." Three minutes later, her breath caught when they passed the post office. "Slow down. I passed this."

  His expression resigned, he shot Finn a glance in the rearview mirror. For the first time, Julie understood his thoughts. Barnes wanted clues. A breakthrough. Whether it doomed her or not, she was the key to his progress.

  "There's an industrial park in three miles— you go that far?"

  "Maybe. I'm sort of— distance challenged." As though knowing any comment on his part would only get him in trouble, Barnes kept his gaze on the road.

  "Up there— turn left."

  "Are you sure?" He paused. "The industrial park's still a couple-"

  "Here." She grabbed his arm. "I'm positive."

  He made the turn without comment. Until they started jostling down a rutted, gravel drive. "I'm not sure this is a road."

  A shiver jolted through her, despite the warm, scented breeze wafting through the car. After an endless drive down a winding, overgrown road, a warehouse loomed before them.

  "This is it," she whispered, her fingers clutching the armrest. Remembering their isolated surroundings, Julie swallowed convulsively. "I w-was here."

  "Show me where you went." After parking next to the building, he linked her icy fingers through his. While Finn opened the trunk, Matt steered her resistant body toward the building.

  "I parked there," she pointed out, panic escalating with each step. This is
where it happened, her memory screamed. Battling the voice in her head— telling her to run— she stumbled against him. "Close to the building." Her voice thin with fear, she tugged him past an area thick with vegetation, still dripping from the previous night's storm. "There's a walkway around the side."

  Matt peered around the corner. "There's the door you described." His voice was carefully neutral. Did he still not believe her?

  "What happened after he grabbed you?" Finn's voice rejoined them.

  Heart reverberating in her ears, she wrestled mounting terror. The shadowed grove of trees at the rear of the building screamed of isolation. Menace. As though reaching out to lure her in. "He shoved me . . . back against the building." Still clutching Matt's arm, she backtracked a few steps. "H-here, I think."

  "Indentations there." Finn squatted in the grass to snap a photo, his gaze focused on the damp grass near the building. "The rain helped preserve them." Like Matt, his eyes revealed nothing of his thoughts.

  "But no hope of trace." Matt's voice sounded distracted.

  She tried to focus on their conversation. Something to keep the monsters at bay. The evil emanating from the door a few steps away. "Trace?"

  "Trace evidence," he explained. "Tire tracks . . . footprints. Broken branches . . ." He frowned. "But that impression held." He nodded to where she'd stood.

  "My heels . . . sunk in. I couldn't run." They were exposed. Vulnerable. She glanced to the trees, boughs dancing in the sudden breeze. Why couldn't they sense it?

  Finn retrieved his phone. "We need a forensics team."

  Yes, more people. Julie shivered. You're safe, her mind echoed. Standing between two armed drug agents.

  Matt's expression was resigned. "What happened next?"

  She touched her jaw. "You know that expression? About seeing stars?"

  Blue eyes turned flinty. Unyielding. He doesn't believe you. Defeat crashing down, Julie tried not to think what lay ahead. "I saw them when he hit me," she admitted. "Next thing I knew— I was inside."

  "Drag marks over here," he muttered to Finn, not looking at her.

  A sudden image made her stagger. "No-" Trapped in the memory, her vision faded to pinpoints as she felt herself slumping to the ground.

  "Jules? What the hell? Stay with me," he ordered.

  Matt's arm locked around her waist as he gently lowered her to the overgrown walkway. Still fighting the wave of lightheadedness, she groaned. "The old man," she whimpered. "I tripped over his b-body."

  ***

  "What?" Finn unholstered his gun, nodding around the corner. "I'm going to check that door."

  "She remembered tripping over a body. Face down. White hair." Had he not been watching her so closely, Matt wouldn't have imagined someone could undergo the transformation Julie had. The sheen of terror in her eyes had turned them glassy green in a face gone ashen. Her vibe one of absolute terror.

  Matt stared at the warehouse door where Finn peered through the dirty panes before taking several pictures.

  "It's abandoned," he reported two minutes later. "There's a layer of dust on the floor." He glanced at Julie, sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk, head between her knees. Matt read his expression. She'd described white clouds. If the dust was drug residue-

  "We'll get some prints out of it." Finn texted the information to their SAC. "Whoever operated out of this space cleared out fast. I saw shoe prints."

  His pulse quickened over the treasure trove of evidence.

  Finn nodded to Julie. "What happened after you saw the old man?"

  Matt helped her to her feet. Trembling violently against him, she dashed at tears. "I d-don't remember anything until he piled me in the trunk."

  The trunk where she'd rolled around in the dust of nearly pure grade heroin.

  "I kicked out a tail light." Shifting away from him, Julie dragged in a shallow breath.

  How had she kept her wits about her? Matt tried to imagine being locked in the trunk. She'd been injured. Terrified. Yet focused on escape. His heart hammered in his chest, a gut-level, instinctive response at war with his brain.

  He believed her story.

  "How long were you in there?" Finn's voice disrupted his thoughts.

  "It felt like forever," she admitted, voice husky. "When he finally opened it, I pretended to be unconscious."

  Matt was surprised by the flicker of a smile on her face. "That was smart."

  "I made him lift dead weight." Her amusement faded. "He swore at me in Spanish and sort of dropped me on the side of the road."

  "Then what?" Finn's curiosity was sparked.

  "He climbed back in to get something. I figured it might be a gun, so I bolted."

  When Julie's balance wavered, she reached for Finn's arm to steady herself. Something sharp and unpleasant twisted Matt's stomach.

  "It was so dark. I didn't realize I was on an incline. I tumbled down the embankment. The next thing I remembered was rain splashing my face." She scrubbed the goosebumps on her arms. "C-can we go back to the car? I don't . . . like it here."

  Matt wasn't crazy about it, either. Viper never left witnesses. That's why Munoz had returned to the hospital. Unfinished business. It meant Matias had observed the cops the night they found Julie— or he'd lingered in the area waiting for news. His thoughts returned to the local cop, Paul. Despite Matt's precautions at the lake, Matias had known exactly where Julie was holed up. And he'd wasted no time launching another attack. Had Paul given them up?

  The more they uncovered, the less comfortable he felt. This wasn't over yet. And they were exposed. Vulnerable. Something else pulled at him. "You said Matias spoke— what did he say?"

  "He said 'puta' a few times." Julie's face stained with needed color. "I'm pretty sure I know what that means."

  "Anything else?"

  "There was another word— it sounded like 'vibora'." Slender shoulders lifted. "And something about being sick of the boss lady."

  She was interrupted when Finn's phone buzzed. He glanced at the number. "It's Leo. Let me take this."

  "Wait." Matt hesitated. "Ask him . . . but don't ask him," he directed. "Let him believe he thought of it first. You know . . . 'do you want us to wait for the locals?'"

  Finn's eyes flashed with understanding. "Got it."

  As the younger man strode away, Matt glanced at Julie. Eyes wide as saucers, the fading purple bruise on her cheekbone stood in stark contrast to her chalky complexion. His jaw tightened at the ugly reminder of why they were there.

  "What did that mean?"

  "I wanna get in that warehouse." The locals were ill equipped for processing a large scene— assuming they even had the manpower to try. There wasn't a huge demand for forensics expertise where they were. When it was needed, they called the state police. "Before the local cops mess it up."

  But Leo had to think so, too. His boss had the luxury of rank to protect him. Procedure warred with Matt's eagerness for progress. Hopefully, Finn would receive the go-ahead for a probable cause look at the warehouse. While headquarters wrestled with the search warrant issue, he and Finn could be extracting evidence.

  Several minutes passed before Finn returned. The flash of excitement in his eyes spoke volumes. "Leo said open it up." Finn smirked. "He asked if 'Magic' brought his tools."

  "Hell, yeah." His mouth lifted. There wasn't a lock designed he couldn't pick. The locks most people trusted were mere inconveniences to an investigation. The warehouse door appeared to be standard-issue. Perhaps Viper's first mistake.

  "He's working on the warrant," Finn reported. "State police are en route. Should be here in an hour."

  "That'll be Mullaney. He's great to work with."

  Finn glanced beyond his shoulder. "Get your tools."

  ***

  "What's taking so long?" Julie peered over his shoulder as Matt used a tool to finesse the lock. Not that she was crazy about the idea of entering the place of her nightmares. But the determination in his eyes indicated she wouldn't be given a choice
.

  "If you could take two steps back, I'd probably accomplish this a whole lot faster."

  His tone suggested annoyance. But— she'd led him to the damned warehouse. She'd upheld her end of the bargain. Reading amusement in Finn's eyes, she stepped back. "Fine."

  Another minute passed. Despite her irritation, Julie couldn't help admiring Matt's intensity. Exhibiting a wealth of patience as he skillfully worked a tiny tool in the lock, she wondered why that same patience wasn't in more abundance when he dealt with humans. A sudden thought had her frowning. Maybe it was just her he had no patience with.

  It was a new experience. Julie was accustomed to men (board members excepted) feigning respect. Because they reported to her. Or they viewed her as a potential acquisition. Her balance sheet commanded fawning attention with Boston's cadre of upwardly mobile men. Before today, she'd never viewed herself as a pain in someone's ass.

  "I thought you were good at this." She heard a sudden click under his gloved fingers. The door opened inward with a slight squeak.

  "You were saying?"

  His satisfied smile made her breath catch. That sparking awareness of him— of being drawn to the man who currently controlled her every move— sent a wave of frustration over her. When she would have brushed past him, Finn's hand closed around her arm.

  "Where are you going?" Matt rose to his feet, annoyance simmering in his gaze.

  "My purse might be in there." Like she even needed to explain? Pictures. Credit cards. Hell, she could charge a rental car and be home in a few hours. The potential for freedom outweighed her fear of the body she remembered tripping over. Glancing over his shoulder, she saw only the concrete floor. No bodies. Maybe she'd imagined-

  Disbelief in his eyes, he advanced on her. "This is a crime scene, Jules."

  Annoyance flared. "My phone could be in there."

  Finn stretched a pair of latex gloves over huge hands. "Don't move from this spot."

  Matt joined him, blocking the open doorway. "Don't sneeze, cough or breathe unless we say so." Barnes awaited acknowledgement of his orders. Eyes impatient, expression grim. "Or I can lock you in the car."

  How could she not have seen this coming? "I need my credit cards to get home. My ID." She was so close. To confirming her identity. To finding her way home.