Page 29 of Temptation and Treachery
Gatlin snorted. “That’s what she calls him.”
Celeste sat there absently pushing back her cuticles as Gatlin relayed the details of her life. “So why were you getting together this time?” Rio asked.
Gatlin waited. “I got a message to come,” Celeste directed her reply to Gatlin, who plugged in the information.
“So what did you discuss during the visit?” Rio insisted.
“We didn’t,” Celeste said in a clipped tone.
He raised his chin. “You’ve been with him several weeks and you didn’t talk?”
“I was waiting for Oz, but he hadn’t shown up.”
Gatlin brought up two timelines on the screen. The timeframes over the past few years ranging from a long weekend down to a few hours in recent visits. Had they been planning something? Checking in once their scheme went live? Or would a father really travel halfway across the country on his child’s birthday to meet for just a few hours?
Gatlin’s voice brought him back to the present. “—plotted points where they were together then checked against Oz’s murder board.” Celeste shifted uncomfortably while Gatlin overlaid the timelines. “From those, we found six points in common.” The series disappeared, leaving only the overlapping points, three of those marked by large red dots. “Including the three major events in Mazatlán, Tampico, and Monclova. Mazatlán being the worst.” Gatlin zoomed into the first one, the screen filled with one distorted body after another. Celeste shrank back in her seat, her face going ashen despite the new tan. She bit her lip before she averted her eyes from the gruesome scene.
“Move it along,” Rio suggested. Gatlin looked over, confused, leaving an image with decapitated bodies on the screen. Rio glared, his eyes shifting to Celeste then back.
Gatlin’s back stiffened as he realized what he’d done. “Um…” He hit the remote, clicking through the rest of the shots. “We did find three other, minor incidents, escalating to Mazatlán. Known cartel members were among the dead at the first location. Oz took credit for the third incident with a bloody message on the wall. And he was seen in Tampico, the fifth scene, which is how he ended up with credit for the mass—incident.”
Rio looked up at the screen. “The whole writing on the wall thing has always bothered me. It doesn’t go with anything else he’s ever done.” It also didn’t fit the man on the video.
“We assumed he went after a contact at the resort, then literally sent a message.” Gatlin shook his head studying the original board. “Now I’m not so sure.”
“The first one looks like gang on gang. Ayala cartel versus Guerrero’s. We’ll double-check to be sure.” Gatlin nodded in agreement. “The rest is escalation by whoever’s trying to pass for Oz.”
“You still think there’s an inside guy?” Celeste looked up at that, her face pale. Her eyes found his, filled with a glimmer of unshed tears and a heavy dose of hope. It took everything in him to keep from wrapping his arms around her.
“Yes,” he said quietly. Her shoulders sagged, and she released a breath she’d been holding. His attention shot back to Gatlin. “Our guys are pulling out today,” Rio informed. “So if you have questions for Ayala, you need to get them asked ASAP.”
Gatlin dropped the remote beside him and pushed off from the desk. “Roger that.” He picked up his notes. “Let me head next door to use the phone.”
Rio nodded, looking past to where Celeste sat on the far side of the room. She looked so damn small, staring into space, shoulders hunched as if she carried the responsibility for her father’s actions. I hate you. How could you do this to me? Her words echoed within the hollow in his chest. Although the office seemed bigger than ever before, he knew the space between them was a lot more than the few yards separating them.
“If we’re done,” Celeste asked, clearing her throat, “may I go back with Kari?”
“Yes.” He stood, drawing her gaze to him. For half a second he saw recognition of him, as a man. As something he’d been to her back in Breman. But she blinked it away. “I’ll walk you back.”
She shook her head, crossing her arms. “That’s okay. I’m just going next door.”
He had the urge to tell her he’d go, because he made the rules at the facility. But he bit off his words. She didn’t need to hear that, or to know he could make exceptions. “Guests need to be escorted around the grounds. Even next door,” he added. Disappointment, annoyance, and resignation flashed across her face. Her pattern held strong, but she nodded and moved forward, scraping the floor in her government-issued steel-toe boots.
Maybe she’d be more at ease if she realized he wasn’t the enemy. What was a guy supposed to say at a time like this? Most guys would be glad or regretting their actions. He just felt her words echoing inside him. But that was secondary to the fact she carried his child. For a guy who’d grown up alone, shipped off the moment he was born, he was surprisingly good with becoming a father.
Steeling himself, he said, “I got the results of the test.”
Celeste straightened her spine. When she looked up, her expression, or lack of one, knotted the muscles along his throat. “You don’t have to worry,” she said with a cool, businesslike tone. “I’ll take care of everything.”
What? His chest tightened, the pressure splitting the halves in two. No, she couldn’t be thinking of ending the pregnancy.
Her hands covered her stomach. “We’ll be fine once I’m far away from here.” And from him, though she didn’t say it out loud. Still, the simple action gave him a sliver of peace.
With that, she went past him to the hallway, carrying herself with the same serene bearing he’d first seen at the airport. If he hadn’t caught that spark of something in her eyes, he might have believed she was unaffected.
If things were different, he’d be glad she was handing him an easy way out. Otherwise, he’d play the asshole and give her a reason to stay away. But as things were, he didn’t want her to stay away. He needed to find the quirky, fun, sexy woman who’d haunted his dreams for weeks. He had questions that needed answers, for both him and her. They wouldn’t have much time. He’d already laid out a plan to lure in the impostor. At most they’d have a couple of days together, at worst, only a few hours. He had to move now, and he knew exactly where to start.
