The Outlaw Prince's Captive - Holly Rayner Page 0,36

Laird said. “Bad enough that you’re in the suspect’s house and I haven’t reported it. If I was asked outright where you were and lied about it…I mean, God, Frannie.”

“All right,” she said, accepting that her cover had been blown. “You’re right. I know. So he’s found us out. But listen, Matt, I have to tell you what happened today. It might change everything.”

“No,” Laird said. “You listen. We’ve been doing this your way until now, but you’ve got to pay attention to what I’m about to tell you, because it is going to change everything, and I need you to take this seriously.”

“Matt, what’s going on?” Francesca asked, suddenly frightened by the seriousness in her partner’s tone. He was usually so lighthearted. She had never heard him quite like this.

“The investigation is being terminated,” Laird said. “We’ve been called home.”

“What?” Francesca could hardly believe what she was hearing. “After they sent us all the way over here? They’re just going to turn around and bring us right back?”

“That’s about the size of it,” Laird said.

“But why?” she asked. “It doesn’t make any sense to stop the investigation now. I’m just starting to get to the heart of things. All I need is a few more days, and I’m sure I would be able to figure out exactly what happened. Whether he’s guilty or not.”

Laird sighed. “Francesca, we know he’s guilty. What are you talking about?”

“That’s the thing,” she said, speaking quickly, anxious not to be interrupted “I don’t think he is. I think there’s a chance, at least, that he might be innocent. And that has to be explored.”

“No,” Laird said. “It doesn’t. What needs to happen is that you and I need to do as we’ve been told. We need to stop investigating immediately and go back home to New York. This case is over.”

“You can’t possibly be fine with the idea of just walking away from an unresolved matter like this,” Francesca said. “And we can’t go anywhere for a few days anyway. Until the snow melts, we can’t leave the island, and I can’t leave this house.”

“You’re just going to have to avoid him as much as you can until you leave,” Laird said. “You’re not to tell him anything about the case. Don’t tell him the investigation has been canceled. Understand?”

What would Laird say, she wondered, if he knew how much she had already told about the case?

“Where is this decision coming from?” she asked. “We just got here.”

“You really don’t know?” he asked.

She heard the exasperation in his voice. “Should I?”

“It’s because of you, Frannie,” he said. “Thanks to you, the royal family knows that one of their own is being investigated. We weren’t supposed to let him know that we were here.”

“But he already knew he was a suspect,” Francesca said. “It’s been in the news. It’s public information. I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know.

Anything except the full complement of the evidence against him, that is.

“You told him that the FBI had pursued him here,” Laird said. “He thought he had shaken us off at the border, and you gave away the fact that he hadn’t. And what’s more, you entered his house without a warrant. Voles is waiting to receive a phone call from the king about it. There’s concern that your actions could lead to an international incident.”

“What?” Francesca sputtered. “That’s crazy.”

“Is it?”

“He hasn’t even told his family that I’m here!”

“How on earth do you know that?” Laird asked. “I assume he’s not with you right now, is he?”

“No.”

“So he could absolutely be on the phone to them, telling them everything about you. Everything he knows about our investigation. This is going to be a big deal, Frannie.”

“Am I going to lose my job?”

“You’ll be lucky if that’s all you lose, frankly.”

Her heart sank. Viggo wasn’t close to his family. She truly didn’t believe he had told them anything that happened.

But she couldn’t be sure. Laird was right. And if she told him what she thought, he would just tell her that she couldn’t possibly know.

It was clear that he was no longer on her side.

“They know you’re involved,” Laird said. “Voles says that the best thing we can offer is disciplinary action against you, and to hope that will placate the royal family.” He hesitated. “And I suppose there will have to be action taken against me, too, since you told the suspect that I was here with you.” He sighed. “I don’t regret telling you to