a total psychopath because he was still capable of loving her?
Nolan said, “He’s been living a parallel life. There’s the guy who’s married to this beautiful woman and has this successful career and lives in a million-dollar mansion and then there’s the real guy who’s not very nice.”
“Not very nice,” Claire echoed. What a massive fucking understatement. “You said they found him non-violent.”
“They did, but I’m the dumbass who took a hit in the eye, so I’m bound to think otherwise.”
“Why were you helping him if he’s such a bad person?”
“Because the real Paul Scott knows the identity of a very bad man who needs to be in prison for a very long time.” Nolan glanced back at the mirror. “That’s all I can tell you. Straight up, no bullshit. That’s how the system works. You do something bad, we let you go if you can point us toward somebody doing worse. And believe me, this is a hell of a lot worse.”
Claire looked down at her hands. Clever Paul. He hadn’t just fooled Claire with his movie-editing skills. He had fooled the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They had found the disgusting movies on his work computer and he had dangled the identity of the masked man in front of their faces in return for his freedom.
She asked Fred Nolan a question she knew she would eventually ask herself. “You said he wanted to go into witness protection. He was just going to leave me? Just like that?”
“I’m sorry, but trust me, you’re better off.”
“Did Adam Quinn know about the other stuff Paul was mixed up in? The name of the bad man?”
“No. We grilled the shit out of him. He had no idea.” Nolan picked up on her distress. “I can see why you stepped out on your husband. He really didn’t deserve you.”
Claire agreed, but she had caught Nolan in a lie. “If Paul was planning to run, why would he slip me something before we went into the alley?”
“Back-up plan?” Nolan guessed. “There was no guarantee he’d be able to get the drop on me.”
“I want to get this straight.” Claire turned around all the cards he’d just laid out so he could see them from her perspective. “You caught Paul doing something bad, something worse than embezzling. He told you that he knows the identity of this boogeyman. You said he was taking you to his car to show you some kind of proof, so I’m going to guess that’s a photograph or a document or something electronic, which means it has to be stored on a piece of paper or a disk or a flashdrive or something like that? Something he could fit in his glovebox? Something that could be slipped to me before we went into the alley?”
Nolan shrugged, but she could read him now and she could tell that he was getting nervous.
“You also said that Paul’s life would’ve been in danger if it got out that he was sharing this information about the boogeyman.”
“Right.”
“So that gives you all the power. Paul needs you more than you need him. I mean, yes, you want to make a case, but Paul wants to live. You said his life was in danger. You’re the only one with the resources to protect him. So why is he hiding from you?”
Nolan didn’t glance back at the two-way mirror, but he might as well have.
Claire tried to look at the situation from a different angle— Paul’s angle.
He’d escaped from Nolan, but he hadn’t run off to an island country with no extradition treaty. Claire had no doubt that Paul had a secret stash of money waiting for him somewhere. He’d probably already ordered the Gladiator cabinets for the garage. He’d admitted to her over the phone that the timeline had been pushed up, but that didn’t explain why he was sticking around. The FBI couldn’t find him, but as Lydia would say, so what? Paul was a free man. He didn’t need to go into witness protection. He didn’t need the FBI. He didn’t need anything.
Except for whatever was on the USB drive.
The door shook as someone pounded a fist against the flimsy wood. “Claire!”
Claire recognized the angry voice of her lawyer on the other side of the door. Wynn Wallace, the Colonel.
“Claire!” Wynn tried the knob. The door was locked. “Keep your Goddamn mouth shut!”
Nolan told Claire, “You can refuse his counsel.”
“So you can keep lying to me?”
“Claire!” Wynn yelled.
Claire stood up. “You’re asking the wrong question,