Vortex by Catherine Coulter

Mia

Thursday night

Tommy Maitland was coming out of Mia’s kitchen when the doorbell rang.

He called out, “I’ll get it, Mia. Hope it’s our pizza.”

He opened the door, eyed the bundled-up woman standing there. “You didn’t bring the pizza? I don’t see the box.”

Juliet blinked at the big man standing in front of her in jeans, boots, and a thick light blue sweatshirt. He had dark hair and striking light gray eyes, rough chiseled features. Tommy Maitland, she assumed, here earlier than Mia expected. She said, “Not unless the concierge at my hotel gave me a lovely surprise and put a pizza in my overnight bag. Shall I check?” She leaned over, sniffed. “Sorry.”

Tommy grinned at her, shook her hand. “You’re Juliet Calley, right? I’m Thomas Maitland though Mia still insists on calling me Tommy.” He paused a moment, grinned. “Actually, all my friends and family do too.”

Mia walked over, poked him in the side. “He tells me no self-respecting FBI agent is called Tommy so he insists crooks call him Thomas. Juliet, come in. I’m so glad you decided to come stay with me.”

Juliet said to the big man, “Mia didn’t expect you until tomorrow.”

“One of my snitches gave us the break we really needed, so we closed the case faster than expected.”

“Where’s Sherlock?”

Mia said, “She’ll be back later. She volunteered, well, really, she insisted she be the one to follow Kent since she’s certain he’ll hightail it right to Alex Harrington. She’ll call us later with an update.

“As for the big guy here, Tommy pulled some strings and arrived an hour ago. Come in, Juliet. Tommy, please put Juliet’s carry-on in the bedroom and I’ll hang up all her winter gear.” Mia leaned forward, hugged Juliet, whispered in her ear, “Everything will work out, you’ll see.” She leaned back. “You got checked out of your hotel all right? You left your forwarding address for curious minds?”

“Yes, just as Sherlock told me to. You think someone might come here?”

Mia said as she hung Juliet’s coat and scarf in the small entrance hall coat closet, “Sherlock believes it’s possible. But we’ll have Tommy now and both of them later, and they’re as tough as his hiking boots, so Tommy says. Come in, come in.”

Like everyone else who visited Mia, Juliet walked directly to the wide picture window and stared down at Central Park. “It’s beautiful even though you know you’d freeze in a Boston minute if you were out there.”

Tommy said, “Boston minute? That’s not right, it’s stealing. Even in Washington, we call it a New York minute. There’s the doorbell again, that’s got to be the pizza.”

While Tommy was at the door, Juliet said, “It’s very kind of you to let me stay here.” She huffed out a breath. Even at the hotel I felt antsy, jumped at every noise.”

“Not a problem. Do you know what Sherlock said about you? She said she wasn’t surprised you’re so brave, that after listening to you play Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique, someone with your passion could face down the devil.”

“Me? Brave? Passionate?” Juliet looked surprised and delighted. “That’s the nicest thing anyone could say to me. But the truth? If it weren’t for you and Sherlock, I might have never confessed to anyone what they did to me.”

Mia said, “I agree with her, so shut up. I’ve told Tommy about our interview with Kent Harper and Sherlock keeping an eye on him tonight.” Mia shrugged. “Now we wait.”

Tommy carried two big pizza boxes into the living room. “No, don’t move, Mia. Only girls need napkins and paper plates for pizza. It’s like pouring beer into a glass. Dive in, ladies.”

Tommy watched Juliet pick up a slice of pepperoni pizza, take a bite, sigh. “Better than the concierge offered me.”

Tommy waited until she swallowed, then asked her, “Do you think Kent Harper will go running to Harrington like Sherlock believes? And what do you think Alex Harrington will say? Do?”

Juliet said thoughtfully, “If you’d asked me that question two years ago, my stomach would have gone queasy. I’m sure Mia told you what they did to me. I’ll be frank. I nearly fell apart, but at least I had the sense to go on sabbatical, to try to get my life back together. And I did. I took back control. I learned self-defense, and after two years, I’m pretty proficient at tae kwon do. And today? Seeing Kent? I was scared going in, but it turned out to be a revelation. Kent was—just a man.” She took a ferocious bite of pizza. “I scared him. Mia and I scared him. You wonder what Alex will do. He won’t scare, he’ll examine everything in detail, and he’ll make his plans. He’s as cold as ice.”

She patted her stomach. “Look at me—not queasy. Another slice of pepperoni, I think,” and she grabbed another slice, bit in, and a string of cheese clung to her chin.

Tommy stared at her. He knew what she’d been through, could imagine the helplessness and impotence she’d felt. He reached over and flicked the cheese off her chin, said easily, “Mia tells me you play the piano for a living.”

“I try.”

Mia leaned over, punched her lightly on the arm. “She’s having you on, Tommy. This woman has performed at Carnegie Hall.”

“Yeah, I knew that,” he said, grinned at her. “Looked you up on my way here.”

Juliet shook her head at him. “Do you have the warrant for Alex’s cell phone records yet?”

“The warrant will come in sometime soon. I know you’re scared, Juliet, I don’t blame you. What you did today—it was a huge step, you faced down Kent Harper. The FBI has impounded the Jag. Like Sherlock said, if there’s a single hair—” Tommy swallowed, then forced her name out as he went on. “If there’s a single strand of Serena’s hair, the CSI team will find it.” He sat perfectly still, frozen, the pain of her loss clear on his face.

Juliet lightly laid her hand on his arm. “I’m so sorry, Tommy. I can only imagine what you went through seven years ago, what those memories and feelings coming back now must be like.”

Tommy felt his voice shaking and hated it. “At least now there’s a good chance Serena’s folks will get some justice. It’s not enough, nothing could be.” He paused, then said, his voice harsh, “Even if we get them both in prison for what they did, it won’t mean a bloody thing until we find her.”

Mia said quietly, “We will find her, Tommy. It will mean a lot to her folks and to us.”

The FBI agent was suddenly back, his voice strong and controlled. “Harrington and Harper will have a dozen lawyers speaking for them. Everyone in law enforcement has seen it often enough. Sometimes, whatever you have, it isn’t enough. But this time, it will be. This time I’m not about to stop.”

Mia said, “And your dad, Tommy, he’s not going to sit on the sidelines. He’ll be leading the charge with us.”

Juliet cocked her head.

Tommy said, “My dad’s a big kahuna in the FBI, assistant director.” He looked over at Juliet, really looked. “I’m very sorry about what those bastards put you through.”

“Thank you. Do you know, I’ve fantasized about visiting them in Sing Sing, and crowing. Taking a big photo of the two of them and posting it in Times Square, with a caption like, Aren’t You Glad He’s Not Your Mayor?”

Tommy raised his beer, clicked it to hers. “We’ll make it happen.”

Mia’s cell phone rang. She looked down, frowned. “Hello, Mia Briscoe here.” They both watched her face freeze.

Then Mia pushed the end call button and stared blankly at them. “That was Sherlock. Kent Harper’s been shot. She was there. She’s riding in the ambulance with him to Bellevue. She’ll give us all the details when we get there.”