Caught in the Frame Read online

  The sound of throat clearing behind them interrupted the series of open mouth looks being exchanged. As one, the four of them whirled guiltily.

  Javier stood in the doorway blocking Lila from the room. The photo in Chloe’s hand and the look on her face told him it was time to come clean. With everyone. His hand speared through his hair in an uncharacteristic gesture, leaving it ruffled and messy. Behind him, Lila gave a nudge, then stood on tiptoe to peer around him in order to see what was holding him up.

  Grudgingly, Javier moved into the room. “That’s my brother Tomas.” He reached out to gently take the photo from Chloe’s hand. “Come, Lila, sit here with me. I need to tell you some things.” Deep regret colored the words. Not regret for having to finally tell the whole story, but for keeping any of it from her to begin with. She knew most, but not all.

  “A year and a half ago, my brother, Tomas, was the victim of identity theft. In the computer age, this is a common occurrence all over the world. At first, we assumed that freezing his accounts and getting new documents would be enough to protect him. But it was not. The thief created an elaborate network of stolen identities, while leaving a false trail of evidence that pointed straight to my brother. I’m sure you all know by now that the actual culprit was Remy Vincent.”

  “I don’t understand, the name we found in connection with Remy was Tomas Delarosa. Not Tomas Rosales.” Scorn was rife in the words Chloe flung at him and she noted the frown that her words brought to Lila’s face. Apparently Javier had not told her mother the entire story.

  “Tomas is my stair brother—” he paused to think, “step is the term, I believe. My mother remarried after my father died. Tomas was very young. His father and my mother had both lost their first loves and, together, they found solace, family.”

  Gently grasping Lila’s hand, Javier continued. The prospect of speaking this next part out loud had his heart thumping in his chest. He stood to lose her if she couldn’t forgive him for what he had done.

  “When the police came to arrest my brother, I vowed to him that I would do everything in my power to clear his name. Even now that more evidence has come to light, he has not been fully exonerated. Remy Vincent cost Tomas everything. He spent his savings to mount a defense, then he had to leave our business to keep it from going under due to the strain on his reputation. We cut all ties to, and then buried his connection with Garritek to preserve our livelihood.”

  Lila squeezed his hand. Javier had told her about Tomas, though not in great detail, and certainly not that Remy had been the man behind the frame job his brother had been caught in.

  “Six months ago, Tomas broke under the strain. He walked away from his family,” Javier’s voice sounded choked with emotion. “He tried to kill himself. It was only through God’s mercy that I found him in time.” He paused for a long minute to pull himself together. “I vowed that I would clear his name, no matter the price.”

  So far, Lila had not pulled away. Now he would say the words that might cost him his future with her.

  “I cashed in favors with everyone I knew from my security work. Private investigators, Interpol—I even hired a hacker—and followed the trail to Remy, but there was never enough evidence for a warrant. I investigated every connection I could find—including EV and you, Lila.” He turned to her. “Please don’t hate me. When I found you, it was under the guise of learning more about Vincent. I planned to shamelessly exploit the connection if there was any way you could lead me to him. If I had known that you would turn out to be the love of my life, I’m not sure I would have done anything differently. In fact, if I had known the trail would lead me to you, the only thing I would alter is that I would have put my feet on it earlier. Every day of my life without you in it was a paler version. Say you’ll forgive me.”

  Javier’s eyes searched Lila’s for signs of recrimination. If she turned away from him now, his world would become a bleak, colorless place.

  At that point, Chloe broke in, “I knew you had an ulterior motive. I just expected it to be money, not revenge.”

  He turned toward Chloe, and when she saw the naked fear written on his face, now pale and grave, she relented. “Give him a break, Mom; takes a pretty decent guy to go to such lengths to protect his family. You could do a lot worse. Besides, he’s growing on me.” Javier gave her a half smile and a nod of thanks.

  “She’s right.” EV tossed in her two cent’s worth before Nate spoke up.

  “We should get out of here,” he said, “and give them some privacy.”

  “No. Stay right here.” Lila finally spoke. “There’s nothing to forgive. You could have told me before, and it would have made no difference.” She cupped his cheek in her hand, “I don’t care what your motives were for finding me, I’m just glad that you did.” Her kiss was gentle, a soothing balm to his soul.

  “Well, it took him more than fifty years, but it looks like Remy finally did something right.” EV’s humorous observation broke the tension. She ran through the Ponderosa Pines part of the story quickly, bringing Javier up to speed. “Now can we please make a plan for dealing with the piece of slime? Or do the two of you need to get a room?”

  Color returned to Javier’s face and he could take a full breath without worrying that his world was about to come crashing down; his mind cleared.

  “We have a room, but I think we can hold out while we discuss the business at hand. With our combined evidence and testimony, we might just be able to nail him to the wall.” Javier couldn’t stop grinning though the look in his eyes was fierce.

  “Assuming Vincent had an opportunity to lift EV’s key card, it had to have been him who went through Chloe’s things.”

  “What about the other incidents we’ve been hearing about?” Dalton questioned.

  “Non-issues.” Javier said, “a misplaced piece of jewelry that turned up later—money borrowed by a teenager from his father’s wallet. Nothing of consequence. The glitch in the system that caused safe doors to reprogram inaccurately was down to one of the security technician’s error. This is the only genuine break in, and assuming it was Vincent, the only question is: what was he looking for?”

  “All of that makes perfect sense,” Nate said thoughtfully, “it comes down to why he went rifling through Chloe’s things? You’re sure nothing is missing, Chlo?”

  “Not that I can see.”

  Javier suddenly lost all the color his face had regained only moments before. “Baylee.”

  “Baylee?” Lila said.

  “I’ve one more story to tell.” Javier strode across the room where he stood, facing out the balcony doors with his back to the others who stood waiting for his next revelation. “Now that you know about Tomas, you’ll have realized Baylee is his wife. We made arrangements to access the safe in his room in our search for evidence.”

  “HA! That explains the conversation Nate and I overheard,” Chloe’s outburst caused Javier to turn in surprise.

  “Now I can see why you’ve been suspicious of me for so long. In any case, no one has seen Baylee since she left to search his room.”

  EV’s voice dripped ice, “And you’re only telling us this now?”

  “I received a text from her later with the all clear message, and then Ross said she had contacted him, so I assumed she had other reasons for not wanting to be with people right now; that she was dealing with distress over coming up empty yet again.”

  “What does that have to do with Remy breaking into my room?” Chloe didn’t see the connection.

  “If she was in trouble, Baylee would come straight to me, so it makes perfect sense that she might have made her way back here. And yet, she’s still missing. Perhaps she was intercepted by Vincent. You must help me find her.”

  Chapter 18

  Nate laid a sheet of paper out on the table. His hands flew across the pristine whiteness to sketch a quick diagram of the castle’s layout between Remy’s room and Lila’s suite. “Stashing her in his own room would be risky.”
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br />   “Lacking a key card, he wouldn’t have had access to a vacant room, even if he could find one,” Javier agreed.

  “That leaves storage areas and the portion of the castle that hasn’t yet been renovated.” Nate looked up to see nods of agreement. “He’d have to get her out of sight quickly, which means he would have gone for the nearest area to where he caught her. Dragging a resisting woman through populated corridors would be stupid.”

  “This is all my fault.” Javier paced the room like a caged animal. “I shouldn’t have let her get involved. We thought if we had some evidence to show the authorities—any kind of proof—they would have to take action.”

  “We’ll find her.” Nate bit the words out.

  EV stood behind Nate to look over his shoulder. “Assuming she made it back to here,” EV pointed to the area that corresponded with her own room, then glanced at the exterior photos on the castle brochure spread open near Nate’s drawing, “there’s an unused turret section there.”

  Spinning the drawing to face him, Dalton pointed toward the south wing, “And an entire area blocked off over here. So we concentrate on this section? How did he get her past the security cameras?”

  “I can answer that, I had the cameras along her route on a loop. Once Baylee was clear, she was supposed to text me so I could put them back on live feed. I waited an extra five minutes in case she’d gotten held up. By then, it was too late.”

  “Is there anywhere between his room and ours where another camera may have picked up something?” EV ran her finger along the most direct route between Remy’s room and her own. “Be worth checking the videos to see if he shows up. Do the cameras record sound?”

  Javier turned pale and slumped heavily onto a chair. “Yes, of course. I should have thought to check immediately. The footage would still be in the system.” He ran a hand over a day’s growth of whiskers; the perfectly pressed and groomed man was slowly devolving into a haggard, sleep-deprived one. Baylee was family, or close enough to it that he had let worry overrule common sense. “I’ll go right now.”

  “I’ll come with you.” Lila insisted, “two sets of eyes and ears are better than one.” He squeezed her hand as the two headed for the door to be stopped by a question from Chloe.

  “Is it going to be enough? What she found, I mean.” Chloe fidgeted with her hair; twirling it around a finger absentmindedly. “It would have to be, right? Otherwise, what reason would he have had to detain her.”

  “Probably would have been.” The glance Nate cast at Javier was filled with pique. “If her bout of B&E hadn’t rendered the evidence useless by being obtained without a warrant.”

  “I was trying to help. I had no idea anyone was actively pursuing Vincent. I’m sorry.”

  Knowing that Baylee had put herself in danger for nothing took even more of a toll on Javier. Head down, and, shoulders slumped with defeat, he led Lila out the door to see if there was anything he could do to help salvage the situation.

  “If we can’t count on Baylee’s evidence, it’s back to plan A. EV, are you sure you want to go through with it?” Dalton laid a hand on her shoulder giving it a gentle squeeze.

  “If I get him to confess, can we put him behind bars?”

  “Fraud and identity theft carry a fifteen year maximum in the states—and we can prove multiple counts. Now that we know his crimes were not confined just to the U.S., I’ll need to contact Interpol. Even without Evan being alive to testify, I think we can add extortion to the list—and kidnapping. He’ll have good lawyers, but he’ll do time.”

  “What about Baylee and Javier?” Chloe asked. “I assume there will be repercussions.”

  Nate’s shoulders lifted. “That will depend on whatever the evidence shows. It will be up to the local authorities to pursue. It was a foolhardy thing to do.”

  “What would you have done in his position?” Chloe demanded. Now that she’d accepted him as family, she would defend Javier to the bitter end.

  Nate’s sheepish grin was enough of an answer, but he clarified anyway. “I’d have done the same.” His face firmed. “But, we can’t cover this up, or ignore the facts. Even with extenuating circumstances, he broke the law. Whatever happens, it’s out of our hands.”

  * * *

  The stage was set, the players ready to take their places. Javier, Lila, and Chloe would search for Baylee while Nate, Dalton, and EV handled Remy—keeping him away from Baylee and, with any luck, extracting a confession from him at the same time.

  There was one more thing EV needed to do before it was time to act. Unable to sit still with nervous energy coursing through her veins, her feet carried her back and forth across seating area in Lila’s suite.

  “Nate, I…”

  “You’re not backing out on me are you, EV?” Looking up from the notes he was making on his laptop, Nate took in the set lines of her face, the stiff shoulders, and jumped to conclusions.

  “Of course not.” EV crossed the small space, sliding into the chair next to him. One way or another, she needed to get Remy back to the suite so this could all go down in a private setting. On the other side of the door connecting Chloe’s bedroom to Lila’s suite, Nate would be waiting to ensure her safety once she had Remy in there. For Dalton, being half a castle away, even while she was amid the crowded dining room wasn’t good enough. Disguised by a hat pulled low over his face, a pair of thick glasses, and enhanced with makeup applied by Chloe’s skilled hand, he would be sitting several tables away from where EV and Remy were to meet.

  “It’s just that there’s something you need to know about Remy and me before I can go through with this. Something that’s bound to come up, and I’d rather you hear it now than be surprised by it later.” EV spoke quietly, but with heavy intent. Nate gave her his full attention.

  Each telling of the story of her final days with Remy became easier. By the cold fury that leapt into Nate’s eyes, EV could tell Chloe had kept her secret—this was the first Nate had heard of her history. He called Remy a spate of names that were vicious enough to slap an admiring grin on EV’s face, and release the tension she held inside. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, how do you want me to play this?” Nate’s indignation on her behalf had lightened her mood considerably.

  “Javier spent some time with the head of security for the castle. The staff here uses handheld communication devices, so it wasn’t that hard for the two of them to rig up a couple of wired microphones and transmitters. We can follow your conversation with Remy in real time.” Nate held up a smallish piece of electronic equipment. “I’ll be on the other end, recording everything.” He spun the laptop so she could see the program open and ready.

  “I’ll be wearing the same gear and sitting behind Remy—far enough where he won’t hear me, but close enough so you can see me. I won’t let you out of my sight,” Dalton assured her.

  “Javi and his team have a set of handheld radios, which I will also be monitoring, but you’ll only be able to hear Dalton or me through the ear piece. Your hair covers your ears, so Remy won’t see it, and we’ll tape everything down so you won’t have to worry about it coming dislodged when you move. I’ll be here to guide you, but we’re relying on you to pull a confession out of him.” Nate patted her shoulder awkwardly, then turned back to his typing.

  “Now, Dalton will do the honors of getting you fitted out with the equipment.” Nate’s face burned red at the thought of touching EV intimately enough to run the wires and tape them where they would stay concealed by her clothing. His embarrassment brought a smile to her face.

  Gentle on her skin, Dalton’s hands sent tingles of electricity shivering across it when he tucked the thin, black strand into her bra. His eyes lifted to hers, held there for a moment to speak promises for their future when this was over. He leaned in to whisper, “I believe in you.”

  Pulling her eyes away with difficulty, EV checked her watch. Five minutes and counting before she had to leave in order to meet Remy in the cafe; her hear
t kicked in her chest. Never before had the weight of caring for her town—for Ponderosa Pines and every soul who lived there—pressed so heavily on her shoulders. Concern for Baylee’s safety only added to the burden. If she couldn’t figure out a way to lead Remy into confessing his reason for targeting her town and committing crimes in the process, he would feel free to continue on with his vendetta.

  More, she had to time this right in order to give Lila, Chloe, and Javier a chance to find Baylee in case she failed. If Remy decided they were on to him, there was no telling what he might do to Javi’s sister-in-law before they could stop him. Or what he might have already done to her, which was EV’s biggest fear. She was going on the assumption that, even after all this time, she was at the heart of his motive. If Baylee got hurt because of her, EV would never forgive herself.

  A second laptop sat on the table—this one Dalton’s—linked to Javier’s, which currently displayed the castle’s security camera feed. Feeling like a guillotine hovered above her neck, EV watched Remy leave his room. Once upon a time, this man had been the boy who she loved with her whole heart. Looking at him now, all evidence of that boy seemed tarnished and jaded—and she mourned their loss even as she burned with fury at everything he had done. The pedestal she had set him on at fourteen had obviously been formed from wet sand, tempered by time—not into cement, but into a crumbling foundation that toppled him to the ground. The time for mercy was long past. She reached for Dalton’s hand; let his strength course through her one last time before he left the room to find his place in the cafe.

  * * *

  In the cramped security room, Javier slammed his fist down on the table, jarring the state-of-the-art laptop resting there. He’d split the display into four separate video inputs: one replaying security footage of the hallway outside Baylee’s suite, one of the hallway outside Lila’s, and a third showing the perspective from the only camera close enough to have caught any extraneous images at the time of Baylee’s disappearance.