Risky Business

so herself.”
    “You’re not using her. If you want someone on the inside, someone closer to the names and proof, I’ll make the drop.”
    Moralas studied him, saw the steady nerves and untiring patience along with simmering temper. If he’d had a choice, he’d have preferred it. “It isn’t you who has been asked.”
    “Liz isn’t going down.”
    “Just a minute.” Liz pressed both hands to her temples. “Are you saying you want me to see Trydent again, to tell him I’ll take the job? That’s crazy. What purpose could there be?”
    “You would be a decoy.” Moralas glanced down at her hands. Delicate, yes, but strong. There was nothing about Elizabeth Palmer he didn’t know. “The investigation is closing in. We don’t want the ring to change locations at this point. If the operation appears to go smoothly, there should be no move at this time. You’ve been the stumbling block, Miss Palmer, for the ring, and the investigation.”
    “How?” Furious, she started to stand. Moralas merely put a hand on her arm.
    “Jerry Sharpe lived with you, worked for you. He had a weakness for women. Neither the police nor the smugglers have been sure exactly what part you played. Jerry Sharpe’s brother is now living in your home. The key to the safe-deposit box was found by you.”
    “Guilty by association, Captain?” Her voice took on that ice-sharp edge Jonas had heard only once or twice before. “Have I had police protection, or have I been under surveillance?”
    Moralas’s tone never altered. “One serves the same purpose as the other.”
    “If I’m under suspicion, haven’t you considered that I might simply take the money and run?”
    “That’s precisely what we want you to do.”
    “Very clever.” Jonas wasn’t certain how much longer he could hold on to his temper. It would have given him great satisfaction to have picked Moralas up bodily and thrown him out of the house. Out of Liz’s life. “Liz double-crosses them, annoying the head of the operation. It’s then necessary to eliminate her the way my brother was eliminated.”
    “Except that Miss Palmer will be under police protection at all times. If this one drop goes as we plan, the investigation will end, and the smugglers, along with your brother’s killer, will be caught and punished. This is what you want?”
    “Not if it means risking Liz. Plant your own pigeon, Moralas.”
    “There isn’t time. With your cooperation, Miss Palmer, we can end this. Without it, it could take months.”
    Months? she thought. Another day would be a lifetime. “I’ll do it.”
    Jonas was beside her in a heartbeat, pulling her off the couch. “Liz—”
    “My daughter comes home in two weeks.” She put her hands on his arms. “She won’t come back to anything like this.”
    “Take her someplace else.” Jonas gripped her shoulders until his fingers dug into flesh. “We’ll go someplace else.”
    “Where?” she demanded. “Every day I tell myself I’m pulling away from this thing and every day it’s a lie. I’ve been in it since Jerry walked in the door. We can’t change that. Until it’s over, really over, nothing’s going to be right.”
    He knew she was right, had known it from the first moment. But too much had changed. There was a desperation in himnow that he’d never expected to feel. It was all for her. “Come back to the States with me. It will be over.”
    “Will it? Will you forget your brother was murdered? Will you forget the man who killed him?” His fingers tightened, his eyes darkened, but he said nothing. Her breath came out in a sigh of acceptance. “No, it won’t be over until we finish it. I’ve run before, Jonas. I promised myself I’d never run again.”
    “You could be killed.”
    “I’ve done nothing and they’ve nearly killed me twice.” She dropped her head on his chest. “Please help me.”
    He couldn’t force her to bend his way. Two of the things he most admired in her were her capacity to give and her will to stand firm. He could plead with her, he could argue, but he could never lie. If she ran, if they ran, they’d never be free of it. His arm came around her. Her hair smelled of summer and sea air. And before the summer ended, he promised himself, she’d be free. They’d both be free.
    “I go with her.” He met Moralas’s eyes over her head.
    “That may not be possible.”
    “I’ll make it possible.”

11
    S he’d never been more frightened in her life. Every day