Smoke and Sin (The Perfect Gentlemen 4)

“You know you can’t.”

“I sure as hell can.” Liz sat back. “I won’t work again, according to that asshole, but maybe I don’t have to. Maybe I can take up the hobo life. I like trains.”

“You like trains that have first-class accommodations.” This was not their first conversation about Liz’s professional future. “Sweetie, I don’t think they have a bar in hobo-class seating.”

“Okay, that’s terrible,” Liz admitted. “Maybe I can marry an incredibly wealthy foreign leader and get him to nuke Zack. Only Zack though.”

“Throw Roman in. It won’t be hard. They’re always together. I swear those men would have been far happier if their sexuality had permitted them to marry.”

“I called Zack a spineless moron in front of the whole staff.”

Shit. “And what brought that on?”

“I was testing a theory.”

“He’s not going to fire you.” They’d been over this before.

Liz groaned. “I know. What is he doing and why?”

“I suspect he’s hiding something. This is likely a way to keep you close so he can watch after you, all the while maintaining distance in the world’s prying eyes. Zack thinks he’s in danger and he’s trying to both protect you and stay clear.”

“Why wouldn’t he just tell me that? We’ve been friends for years, Gus. Years. I’ve been his advisor on everything from campaigning to dealing with his father to how to avoid war with North Korea. I don’t understand why he would stop talking to me. It makes no sense at all.”

“Because he’s male and that means his brain is unfortunately wrapped up in his dick, and his thought process depends on which one is getting the most blood flow.”

“Well, I’m sure it’s his dick that’s making all the decisions right now.”

She knew what Liz thought. Gus wasn’t so sure. “I find it interesting that he’s gone from being dateless to taking out more single girls than The Bachelor in a few weeks.”

Liz’s face fell. “He told me he was sick of not having a love life. He was ready to move on from Joy, and waiting until after he left office would be too much of a hardship. He also said he never meant to hurt me, but he doesn’t have romantic feelings for me. I’m apparently like a sister to him.” She gritted her teeth. “A sister.”

Bullshit. “Do you want me to push this? I can fix this if you need me to. I might have to burn a bridge or two…but I can.” She had some sway with Zack. Of course, if he was covering up the secret she suspected, then she didn’t really know Zack at all.

Zack couldn’t be the one who had Mad killed. God, she prayed he hadn’t.

If she was wrong, if her faith in him was misplaced, it would rock everyone and shatter everything she and her loved ones had held dear for decades.

Liz shook her head. “No. Leave it. I’m going to stop fighting him and simply do my job. I’m not going to hate him. And one day I won’t feel anything for him at all. That’s the goal.”

“And if he’s doing all of this to protect you?”

“Then he can’t possibly trust me,” Liz said sadly. “And something more meaningful between us would never have worked. Zack was a stupid, girlish dream on my part. I need to wake up. I don’t know who he’s turned me into. A shrew. I can’t believe I yelled at him like that.”

Maybe what Liz needed was a distraction. “You could help me out.”

Liz leaned forward, her voice going low. “You’re still looking into Maddox Crawford’s death?”

Gus glanced behind her, making sure they were alone. “Yes.”

“Okay. Tell me what you have. You know I thought this was a wild-goose chase, but I have to wonder. So much is happening behind closed doors now.”

“It’s like they’ve battened down the hatches and we’re left on the outside,” Gus agreed. It wasn’t the first time she’d found herself watching that door close with Roman and her brother and their friends on the other side. Now their wives were part of their inner circle, too. Somehow that hurt more than it should.

Liz sat up suddenly. “We don’t need them. And you know what? We can’t trust them anyway. Share what you know and we’ll figure out the rest. Did my source at the FAA give you anything?”

Gus hesitated. Maybe this was a mistake. This investigation could get dangerous, and she wasn’t sure Liz could handle more proof that Zack might be dirty. She sighed. Break her friend’s heart or provide the distraction Liz needed? Not an easy choice.

“Don’t you hold out on me, Gus. If I’m going to stay here and survive, I have to be able to help someone. You’re my closest friend. Don’t push me away, too.”

Damn it. Liz knew exactly how to get to her. “All right. Yes, I’ve been looking into Mad’s crash and I’ve found a few things that don’t add up. Did you know Zack personally asked for all the details of the FAA investigation? While it was active?”

“Mad was one of his best friends. I know it doesn’t look good to have the president stick his nose into an active investigation, but it’s understandable.”

“Twenty-four hours later, the FAA abruptly changed their initial determination from likely criminal action to pilot error.” She switched seats to move closer to Liz. The Secret Service was always around somewhere, and unfortunately they played a part in creating this complicated web. “I talked, off the record, with your friend there and she says the unofficial gossip is that Zack requested that they close the investigation.”

“Why?” Liz looked stunned. “I know that Mad called Zack’s private line the day before he died. They were arguing about something. I didn’t hear much, but I think it was about Gabe’s sister. She worked for Mad for a while or something.”

Or something was right. She knew what the rest of them were trying so hard to keep from the public. Gus had known all along because she’d played fairy godmother to those two. “I convinced Mad to give Sara a job at Crawford. She needed some intern hours to finish her MBA and I convinced her that working at Crawford would be more impressive than working at Bond Aeronautics.”

“The rumor is she’s pregnant,” Liz murmured quietly. “I suppose Mad was… Well, Mad had earned his reputation, maybe even more than the rest of his friends.”

“Mad was in love with Sara for fifteen years. And his reputation might have been well earned, but there was so much more to him. He was such a good friend. I’ve never known anyone more loyal than Mad.”

“You had an affair with him, right?”

Ah, the gossip mill. “I wouldn’t call it an affair. Mad and I understood each other. We were close friends and when we weren’t involved with anyone else, we would go to bed together. I enjoyed Mad a lot, but I wasn’t in love with him. And he wasn’t in love with me. We cared about each other. Mad helped me through some dark times.”

“That’s why you’re so determined to figure out what happened.”

“Yes. Even if I don’t like the answer.”

“I might hate Zack right now, but I still find it hard to believe he had anything to do with Crawford’s death. And why would Zack kill Mad over Sara? I would think he would rather have had a shotgun wedding than a funeral. He wasn’t even seeing her at the end of his life, was he?”

“No. He’d broken it off with her a couple of weeks earlier. I was out of the country at the time. I called him, and he wouldn’t say anything except that their split was for the best and he would talk to me when I came home. He died before I got back.” Gus wished every single day that she’d cut her trip short and raced to his side. “The last couple of times we talked, he seemed on edge. He was definitely more secretive than usual. Maybe even a little paranoid.”

“But he didn’t tell you why?”

“No. He refused to go in depth over the phone, even to discuss why he’d broken things off with Sara. He just kept reiterating that their relationship hadn’t worked out. But I didn’t believe him because I’d seen them together. And I know something no one else knows. Something I haven’t told anyone, s

o I expect you to keep it secret, too.”

Liz nodded. “My loyalty is all to you now, Gus. We’re in this together.”

They were the outsiders. Despite the fact that she hated how Liz had been made to feel, it was good to have someone she could count on. “I helped Mad pick an engagement ring for Sara two weeks before he broke up with her. He wasn’t even thinking about separating from her then. He was in love and he was planning a lavish proposal. Something changed, and it wasn’t his heart.”

“That sounds familiar,” Liz muttered in frustration.

“Yes, I think whatever caused Mad to dump Sara is what caused everything else to turn upside down. If we figure out why Mad was killed, I suspect we’ll figure out what Zack and the others are hiding. And why he’s suddenly decided you’re like a sister.” Gus rolled her eyes.

“I can’t go down that path,” Liz insisted. “I’ll be your investigative right hand because I want to help you, but I won’t keep gnashing my teeth about why Zack no longer wants me. The answer to that question is meaningless, but I’ll work with you however necessary to find the truth about Mad’s death. I know how it feels to lose a friend, one I had complicated feelings about.”

Joy. Like everyone who knew the woman, Liz had loved her, but she’d also loved Zack. Hell, Gus had complicated feelings about Joy herself.

Joy might have married Zack, but their union had been more of a friendly partnership. The man Joy had really loved was Roman.

I’m the world’s worst wife. I can’t stop thinking about him. He makes me feel special.