“Then explain why you went to Central America with him for three days. To move money?”
“No.”
“Why did you go, Jordie?”
“It isn’t relevant.”
“The federal government thinks it is. I think it is.”
“Why?”
“Because, dammit, I’ve got to know.” He moved closer to her, radiating an angry heat. “Did you ever fuck Billy Panella?”
Chapter 33
Jordie’s shoulders slumped as she looked into his face. “No, Shaw. No.”
He took half a step back, then turned away from her and walked over to another chair, where he sat down, leaned back against the thick cushion, and momentarily covered his eyes with his hand.
Concerned, she asked, “Are you about to pass out?”
“No.”
“You should be lying down and resting.”
“Later.” He lowered his hand. “First I want to hear about that damn trip. If you weren’t sleeping with Panella, why’d you go?”
“Josh insisted.”
He gave a short laugh. “Josh insisted?”
“You have to understand—”
“Well, I don’t.”
“I’m trying to tell you,” she snapped back.
He said nothing else. However, his steely gaze was unnerving. She left the arm of the chair and moved to a window that overlooked the courtyard. She opened the closed shutters just enough to see between the louvers and looked down on the woeful cherub in the fountain.
“Do you know about Josh’s scars?” she asked.
“Scars? No.”
“Wiley and Hickam know. I thought maybe during your investigation—”
“The target of my investigation was Panella for crimes other than his scam with Josh. Different division. I wasn’t in on theirs.”
She turned to him. “It’s true, then, that you’d never seen me before last Friday?”
“No. I never had.”
“When Josh turned informant, I made the news, too.”
“I must’ve been busy. Or watching pay-per-view. I didn’t know about you until I got here and Mickey told me that Josh Bennett’s sister was our target.”
“In the bar, you decided there on the spot to take me, to use me to catch them?”
“Yes.” She was about to turn back to the window when he added, “But if I hadn’t had that excuse, I’d have come up with something else. I started wanting you then, and it hasn’t stopped.” The way he was looking at her left no room to doubt him.