Caden wanted to sigh. Instead, he looked at Ava, who was studying Jesse Fields.
“Your American accent is very clean,” she said. “How long did it take you to lose the Russian one?”
Mr. Fields froze. Then stood and pointed toward the door. “It’s time for you to leave.”
Caden’s heart picked up speed a fraction. “Mr. Fields, what’s wrong?”
“I’m done talking. I can’t—” He raked a hand over his graying head. “I need you to leave.”
This time, Caden heard the slight intonation Ava had referred to. If he hadn’t been listening for it, he would have never noticed it. “Mr. Fields, if someone is threatening you, we can help.”
The man pressed a hand to his forehead and drew in a breath. “No one is threatening us. Just please, find out who killed them.”
“That’s my point, sir. We need every tiny detail you might have in order to put all the pieces together. Whatever you’re holding back could be the one thing we need.”
“It’s not!” Tears welled in his eyes. “I should never—”
“Jesse, I’m not feeling well.” The voice from the kitchen doorway that led into the great room swung their attention to the woman Caden had met last night. Red, swollen eyes, blotchy cheeks, and hair that hadn’t seen a brush, probably since she’d heard the majority of her family had been killed.
Mr. Fields rose and went to his wife. “Martha, honey, what is it?”
She pressed a hand to her chest. “I just don’t feel well.”
Ava stood. “Can I do something to help?”
He waved a hand toward the door. “You can leave. Now.” He turned and gripped his wife’s upper arm. “Come. Sit. Let me check your blood pressure.”
Caden nodded to the door and Zane frowned but gave a quick dip of his head in response. “I hope you feel better, Mrs. Fields,” he said. “Mr. Fields, please. If you can think of anything at all to help us find who did this, you know how to reach us.”
“Yes, yes. Go. I will . . . think.”
This time Caden didn’t have to search for the accent. “Thank you, sir,” he said. He led the way outside to the porch, and Zane pulled the door shut behind him.
“He’s lying,” Ava said. “And I think he’s terrified.”
Caden met her gaze, saw the concern there. “I know. What do you think he’s so scared of?”
“I don’t know, but he didn’t want to admit he was Russian. And that’s a big red flag in my book.”
“None of the information Daria sent us says anything about any Russian connections,” Zane said.
Caden shook his head. “But I heard it too, once Ava pointed it out. Let’s ask Daria to do another search—this time adding in the possible Russian element.”
Ava pulled her phone from her pocket. “You do that. I’m going to make a call too.”
Caden’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve thought of something?”
“Not something. Someone.”
CHAPTER
NINE
Ava left Caden and Zane standing next to Caden’s vehicle and walked far enough down the street that they wouldn’t be able to overhear her conversation. She punched the programmed number on her phone with more force than necessary.
John answered on the second ring. “Ava, two calls in two days? To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I need your help on something and I need it fast.”
“Sounds serious.”
“It is.” She hesitated. “I can’t betray a confidence, but I know you have friends in high places at the FBI. Can you find out everything there is to know about several cases the FBI is investigating and then call me back? Start with the murder of the Michael Fields family.” That was in the news so nothing confidential there.
“All right.” He drew the words out, but she knew John Sparks and was sure he was already typing a message to his Special Agent friend. “Now you’ve got me curious.”
“I know. Call me back as soon as you’re read in.”
“It won’t take long.”
“I know that too.” He hung up and Ava waited, pressing the phone to her forehead.
“Ava? You okay?”
She looked up. Caden eyed her with concern. “I’m fine. Just waiting on a call. Do you mind if we hang out for a few minutes until he gets back to me?” She supposed they could leave and she could take the call in the car, but for some reason, she wanted this to be a private conversation.
“Sure. Zane and I have a lot to discuss, so we’ll just do it in the car.” He mumbled something she thought sounded like, “With the windows down.”
He turned back to Zane, and Ava did what she did best when she had to wait on something important. She paced.
Ten minutes later, her phone rang and she snatched the call. “John?”
“Yep. Okay, I know about the Fields murders, the most recent one in Oregon, and everything else.”
“That was really fast.”
“My friend was busy. He kept it short.”
“Okay, so something’s going on. There’s a connection between all of these families, but more than that, there’s a connection between at least one of those families and my father. I need to know what that is.”
“I have the names of all the families. Is there anything else?”
“Yes. It has to do with Michael Fields. Caden found a picture with my father and Jesse Fields, who is Michael’s father. But I suspect that Jesse Fields isn’t his real name.” She explained about the faint Russian accent and his reaction to her catching it. “He shut down, John. Like fast and furious. I think he’s scared.”
“Of what?”
“No idea. I was hoping you could help me out with that. Like how he and my father knew each other.” She paused. “In addition to that, I need you to tell me. Is Paul Jackson my father’s real name?”
Silence from the other end.
“Well, I guess that answers that question,” she said.
“Come on, Ava. You, more than anyone, know what his job entailed. He went by any number of aliases.”
She did know that, but . . . “Fine. What was the name he used in Russia?”
“That’s classified information. I can’t give you—”
“Someone is killing families, John. Entire families! And somehow my father is connected to it. He’s in a picture with a murdered man’s father. And they’ve got a picture of me too. On a swing when I was a child. I need his name. The FBI needs that name.”
More silence.
Her head started to throb. “He’s dead, John. What does it matter?”
He huffed a short laugh. “You know as well as I do why it matters. It’s called the domino effect. I can’t give you that.” He ignored her groan of frustration. “But I’ll look into this, and if I find anything that I can pass on to you, I’ll do so.”
“John—”
“I’m serious, Ava. Call me back when you’re ready to join the organization. It would make answering your questions a lot easier.” He hung up and she barely resisted tossing her phone. That would be stupid.