In Too Deep

I’m asking.”
    Isabella stepped back. “Okay, there’s not much he can do here in the Court. He’s got the same problem that we’ve got, too many witnesses.”
    “True,” Fallon said. He moved back but he kept the gun visible. “Five minutes.”
    “Thanks.” Julian stepped into the trailer and pulled the door closed behind him. He gave Isabella a wry smile. “Isabella Valdez?”
    “That’s my name.”
    “Glad to meet you,” Julian said dryly. “You don’t know how glad I am to see you.”
    “Can’t say the same.” She narrowed her eyes. “Did you kill my grandmother?”
    “No, I swear it,” Julian said. “I only discovered a few days ago that she even existed. When I finally tracked her down to this trailer park, hoping to find you, she was already dead. Heart attack, according to what I could determine.” His expression softened. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
    “Yeah, right. Explain those two men in Phoenix if you can.”
    “As I said, Phoenix was a bungled operation. I apologize.”
    “For sending two men to kidnap me?” Isabella said, her voice rising. “You
apologize?
”
    “You were never in any danger from that team,” Julian said.
    “They chased me up to the roof of a department store. They had guns. They were trying to grab me.”
    “Like I said, it was clumsy work and that was my fault.” Julian shoved his fingers through his hair. “All I can say is that we were desperate to find you and bring you in before some really bad guys got to you first. I knew that you were running scared. I was afraid that if you got wind that anyone associated with Lucan was in the vicinity, you’d disappear again.”
    “Good guess,” she said.
    “I told the team to do whatever they had to do to bring you in. Figured I could explain everything once I met with you face-to-face. I made it clear you were not to be hurt. But you ditched my men and we lost you again.”
    “You set me up, damn it. You were dealing para-weapons out of Department A. You knew Max Lucan was getting suspicious, so you put that incriminating file on my office computer. As if I’d be dumb enough to actually use an office computer to keep a file that could get me fired or sent to prison. You don’t think very highly of me, do you, Julian?”
    “You were set up, all right,” Julian said. “But not by me. Caitlin Phillips was the one dealing the para-weapons. She’s the person who installed that file on your computer.”
    Isabella felt blindsided. “Caitlin?”
    “My administrative assistant, remember?”
    “Of course,” Isabella said, struggling to process the new information.
    “She resigned and then she disappeared. We think one of her connections in the black market killed her.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “After we found the file of para-weapons sales on your computer, Max and I tracked it back to Caitlin. But by then she was gone.”
    Isabella frowned. “If you know I’m innocent, why are you looking for me?”
    “Because you’re in danger. Listen to me, Isabella. Caitlin did one last deal before she was murdered. She arranged an acquisition for one of her clients, a South American drug lord. But the transaction was never completed because the broker got himself shot.”
    “That would be Orville Sloan?” Fallon asked, as if he were only remotely interested in the answer.
    Julian frowned. “You know about Sloan?”
    “J&J is a detective agency, if you will recall,” Fallon said.
    Julian sighed. “Right. Sloan was the broker Caitlin used. It looks like he was killed by a disgruntled client. It was bound to happen, sooner or later, given the nature of the profession. But the problem for us is the timing.”
    “I’m assuming that means that the broker was shot after he had arranged for the delivery of the artifact but before he told Caitlin Phillips where the package could be found,” Fallon said.
    “Yeah, that’s about it.” Julian turned back to Isabella. “Word of the missing artifact has hit the underworld. A lot of people are looking for it, including the drug lord and a certain black-ops agency. The agency wants that para-weapon found before the drug lord gets it.”
    Isabella shrugged. “So?”
    Julian cleared his throat. “Due to the rumors that circulated after you took off, a lot of people, including, we believe, the drug lord, think that you might be able to find the weapon.”
    “Crap,” Isabella said. “Now I’ve got a drug lord looking for me?”
    “Luckily I