“Why did the Wolf want her dead?”
“To make an example of her. To keep anyone else from talking. She was with that group staying at the Siren of the Seas. Kill her, and if one of the others thought of something, well, they’d think twice about calling the authorities. Murders cover up murders.”
“Did Machete kill Jose?”
“I think so,” Billie said. “But I don’t know.”
“What did you really see that night, Billie?” Dallas asked.
“A guy—a big guy.”
“Did you see his face?”
“He was wearing a hoodie. I couldn’t see a thing under that.”
Back to basics, Dallas thought wearily. He knew more than Billie, in fact, since he knew the guy he was looking for probably had blue eyes.
He glanced at his watch and was shocked when he saw the time. Time to go.
As he rose, Billie gripped his arm. “You won’t—you won’t let them put me in gen pop, right?”
Dallas shook his head ruefully. The Wolf didn’t pick the bravest or the best, he thought.
But then, the Wolf didn’t care. His people were expendable.
“For tonight, no one will know where you are. You’ll be protected. And I don’t care how many people the Wolf has, the man doesn’t command an army. You’ll be safe. There will be two officers with you at all times.”
“That’s just it,” Billie said, looking up at him. “Cops don’t get paid that much. How do you know one of the cops isn’t in on this?”
*
Valeriya Dimitri tied the plastic handles of the garbage bag and headed for the kitchen door. She’d barely stepped outside when she felt rough hands on her shoulders, pulling her back into the shadows of the carport. The hand over her mouth was massive; she couldn’t breathe, much less scream.
A voice, a harsh whisper—sandpaper scratching the air—spoke to her.
“What did you find?”
She was so terrified she could barely stand, but she needn’t have worried. The man was strong. She wasn’t standing on her own at all. He was holding her up.
He shook her until she thought her neck would break.
“What did you find?” he repeated.
What did she find? What was he talking about?
Oh, Lord, she should have known!
She’d been left money at the house—“tips” that were far larger than anyone left a maid. Money—and cryptic little notes.
Actually, they’d been scary notes.
She should have known better than to accept the money. She should have known there would be a price to pay. Even in the United States, nothing was free or easy. And she should have been smart enough to know that. Maybe she had been. Maybe she’d forced herself to be blind because she wanted things to be good—even when she’d known something wasn’t right.
There was no way she could answer him. He seemed to realize that, but before he eased his hold on her mouth he told her, “I can snap your neck in an instant and be gone before your body hits the ground.”
His hand eased far enough away for her to draw a deep breath, then try to stutter out an answer.
“F-find? I don’t know what—”
“You went in to clean today. You were there a long time. An FBI agent walked you home. There’s only one reason for that. You know something. So I repeat—what did you find?”
She tried to shake her head in denial.
He repeated the question yet again, shaking her harder.
“I didn’t find anything. I got hurt making the bed. She made me sit. Hannah made me sit. And then they made me wait.”
“You’re a liar,” he said, and she felt his grip tighten.
“I’m not a liar.”
“Your mother and your baby are just inside,” he reminded her. “You don’t want anything to happen to them, do you?”
Valeriya thought first about her baby. Kirin. He was just a year old, stumbling around and staring at everything with his big eyes and happy smile. She would gladly die for her child. This man knew it. And her mother! When Valeriya’s husband had died of a sudden heart attack before they’d left for America, it was her mother who had held her up.
“I would tell you if I knew. I would tell you anything!” she sobbed.
“You get back in there. You get back into the Siren of the Sea, and you look until you find it. Somebody found something in there, and now you’re going to find it for me.”
“They won’t let me back in! They told me to stay home until—”