LITMIR.BIZ

       Chapter Three

      “Did you get what you needed?” Brandon asked as he and Andrea stepped into the surveillance van that was parked farther down the block from the beach house.

      Ren shrugged. “I didn’t get a location on Freihof, so not exactly.”

      He’d had both audio and partial video of Andrea and Brandon’s discussion with Natalie. The questioning had gone down like he’d expected it would: without any cooperation from her.

      “Maybe we should’ve pushed harder,” Brandon said, sitting in the van’s only other seat and pulling his wife onto his lap.

      “No.” Ren shook his head, glancing at the feed they had of the front of the house. “We needed to keep the situation open. Make Natalie think that she has options, can still get word to Freihof if she wants to. Maybe run to him and both of them flee the country.”

      Whatever she did, they would be watching.

      “I don’t think she’s working with him,” Andrea said. “I should’ve brought up the not-married aspect earlier. That was key, I realize now. If I had been able to see her when I said that, I’d be able to tell a lot more about her.”

      Andrea was a gifted behavioral analyst. Her abilities to read people’s nonverbal cues were uncanny.

      “Do you think she was upset that she’s not legally married to him anymore?”

      She gave a small shrug. “I don’t know for sure, since I wasn’t able to see her. But the news definitely affected her. Her knuckles were white in her grip and she stopped pushing on the door because she wanted to hear what I had to say.”

      “She could’ve been upset because Freihof hadn’t told her about the divorce. Any wife would be pretty miffed to get that news.”

      Andrea nodded. “That’s possible, certainly.”

      Ren studied her. “But you don’t think so.”

      Brandon curled his arm around his wife in support. Out of everyone in Omega Sector, these two had had the most contact with Damien Freihof. Freihof had written letters to Andrea while in prison, then had come after her once he’d escaped.

      “Freihof is obsessive. Controlling,” Brandon said. “Hell, the man once saved Andrea’s life just because he wanted to kill her himself.”

      Andrea nodded, leaning into Brandon. “Freihof is a master puppeteer. He’s been collecting people who have some sort of gripe with Omega for months. Inciting them to violence. Getting them to do his dirty work for him. Or at least trying to.”

      The number of people connected to Omega who had been hurt or killed by either Freihof or one of his puppets over the last few months had been pretty staggering. Omega was still reeling. It was the reason Ren was on this case personally.

      “Agreed.” Ren nodded. “But what does this mean with Natalie? She didn’t even admit to being Natalie Freihof much less give any info on him.”

      “There’s something we’re missing,” Andrea said. “Honestly, I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I know it’s important. We don’t have all the information.”

      Ren didn’t need all the information to make his move. “It doesn’t matter. Your presence shook her up. She’ll do something now. Hopefully lead us directly to her not-husband husband.”

      Andrea tilted her head to the side. Ren could feel her studying him. Gauging his nonverbal behavior. “And if she doesn’t know where he is? If she’s been dead all this time to get away from him?”

      “She’s been running three businesses without anyone even knowing she’s alive. She’s either one hell of a businesswoman or she’s doing it for Freihof.”

      Andrea shrugged again. “All I’m saying is that we’re missing pieces of information. Important pieces.”

      “That’s why I’m going to be ready for anything. She’s going to run. Hopefully trying to get somewhere where she thinks it’s safe to contact Freihof. Where she’s forced to contact Freihof. We’re just going to make sure we control that spot when she does.”

      “And if she really doesn’t know where he is? If she’s been trying to stay away from him all this time? Hide from him?”

      Highly unlikely, but Ren was willing to consider it. “Then we go to plan B. If she can’t take us to Freihof, then we use Freihof’s obsession to get him to come to her.”

      “That may be risking her life,” Andrea said quietly.

      “Natalie is a criminal here. Let’s not forget that. She could’ve gone to law enforcement if she wanted to get away from her husband. It’s much more likely that the two of them have been in on this together the whole time. That Freihof is trusting her to run her businesses to get him money.”

      “She didn’t recognize Omega Sector at all when we mentioned who we were with,” Brandon said. “Even I could tell that, and I’m not nearly as gifted at reading people. If she’s working with Freihof, he’s keeping huge chunks of information from her.”

      Or maybe she was just a much better liar than they were giving her credit for. Trained by Freihof to completely school her nonverbal reactions so they couldn’t read her. “Look, I don’t have all the answers. All I know is we’re out of time, especially now that Freihof has those canisters. We shook things up, caught Natalie unaware. That’s good. Now I suspect that tonight or early tomorrow she’s going to make a break for it. We watch carefully and—”

      Ren’s words were cut off by Brandon’s muttered curse. He pointed at the screen. “Actually, looks like she’s already on the run.”

      The screen showed Natalie, the small backpack she always carried over one shoulder and a larger one over the other, already on the move, coming out her front door.

      “Damn it, I wasn’t expecting her to move that fast. Get Lillian Muir on the phone and tell her to get in place down at the bus station.”

      Andrea stood and grabbed her phone.

      “There weren’t any calls from the house phone or the taps would’ve automatically turned on,” Ren said. “She must have already had an emergency plan in place. Which doesn’t strengthen the case for her being an innocent party.”

      “Unless she’s just that scared,” Brandon reasoned.

      “Lillian will be at the downtown bus station in fifteen minutes,” Andrea said, disconnecting the call. “It might be cutting it a little close if Natalie goes straight there, but Lillian should make it.”

      “Good. Muir is a good choice. If you don’t know her, her size helps her come across as very nonthreatening. Natalie will respond to the suggestion more easily.”

      They needed to direct Natalie’s path without making her suspicious.

      “Brandon and I want to stop Freihof more than anyone,” Andrea said, staring at him. “Trust me, I can still feel the explosives he strapped around my neck. So I hope you can get what you need from Natalie, Ren. And in a lot of ways I hope you’re right and she is working with Freihof.”

      “You do?”

      “Yes. Because if not, we’re about to ruin an innocent woman’s life.”

      * * *

      NATALIE HAD BEEN taking the bus from the Santa Barbara oceanfront to downtown since she started house-sitting two weeks ago. She’d always been cautiously aware of anyone around her.

      Now she was downright suspicious.

      Were some of these people cops? Were

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