Then it had been killing. But killing those who needed to be killed. It had been exhilarating. And it had been justified.
But then the Wolf had become obsessed. And Machete’s job had turned into watching. It strained the eyes, cramped the body....
Toyed with the mind.
Except for those rare times when something happened.
And now, finally, things were happening. This was it.
Valeriya Dimitri was in.
But even while he was pleased, he was also worried. He’d thought Valeriya was one of them, at least in a way. He’d thought that, now and then, he’d heard the voice of a woman speaking softly in the background when the Wolf spoke to him. And he’d thought that woman was Valeriya.
He’d heard her often enough, knew her voice. And she was in the house the Wolf considered the key to the treasure. It had made sense that she had a connection to the Wolf.
He’d even left her money once, because of that. He’d told the Wolf that he’d left money for the housekeeper, and the Wolf had been pleased with him.
Now he wondered.
A mistake. A major mistake. You couldn’t make mistakes in the Wolf’s world. Then again, the Wolf had been pleased when he left the money, so what did that mean?
There had been a time when it had been easy to slip into the house. He was a neighbor, liked and respected, and no one had been afraid. It was a bed-and-breakfast—people came and went.
He’d left her the money and the note, thinking she was part of the gang. Thank you for all you’ve done for us—and all that we know you will do when we ask.
Whether she was part of the Wolf’s team or not didn’t matter. Because she was doing what he’d told her to do, and that was what mattered.
She didn’t know she was looking for a treasure. But she would be looking for anything valuable, and that was good enough.
Just a little more waiting. And watching.
He knew what he had to do. And the time was coming.
Soon. Very soon. In fact, he suddenly decided, he’d had enough waiting and watching. The time was now.
Machete walked across the street, waving to the cop in the patrol car. He walked over to the window and leaned against it, as if he just had a friendly question to ask.
It was so easy....
*
Dallas couldn’t help but think about what Billie Garcia had said to him: that the police themselves might be involved. The thought worried him. No one knew who the Wolf was, and no one knew who else might work for him.
He didn’t want to believe the Wolf had law enforcement in his pocket, but he had to acknowledge the possibility.
While he and Logan were in the car, taking the safely bagged knife to the lab, Dallas’s phone rang. It was Dirk Mendini.
“You’re going to want to get up here,” the M.E. told Dallas.
“What’s going on?”
“I heard you were looking for a young Hispanic woman, the sister of your man Rodriguez. I have a woman here who fits the general description. She was fished out of the water off Grassy Key. No ID. She’s pretty bloated. I’m thinking she’s been in the water at least a week. She may have nothing to do with your case, but...you might want to take a look.”
“Yeah. I didn’t know Jose’s sister, but...yeah, I’ve seen her face in the file photo. We’ll be there,” he told Dirk.
When he hung up, he started to recap the call, but Logan had overheard.
“She might not be Alicia,” Logan said. “Odds are against it. Alicia disappeared months ago.”
“I know, but hell, we’re heading north anyway,” Dallas said. “And,” he added, “whoever she is, she was someone’s daughter, lover, friend.”
*
“You know how people tip me sometimes for cleaning the rooms?” Valeriya said to Hannah. “You told me that the tips were mine to keep, that I didn’t need to share,”
“I’m not worried about people leaving you tips,” Hannah told her. “I’m trying to figure out how a guest leaving you a tip meant that you were somehow being threatened.”
Valeriya let out a breath and looked at them, realizing how stupid she’d been in her eagerness to accept the money.
“It was a really big tip,” she said. “Two hundred dollars.”
Hannah’s brows shot up with her surprise. She held still a minute, willing her temper to cool before she spoke. She needed to keep Valeriya as calm as possible. She glanced at Kelsey, but her cousin was waiting for her to speak.
“Someone left a two-hundred-dollar tip and you didn’t think to at least mention it to me?” Hannah asked quietly.
Valeriya lowered her head. “I needed it. And there was a note with it.”
“What did the note say?” Kelsey asked.
“‘Thank you for your service, now and in the future,’” Valeriya said as if by rote.
“Do you still have the note?” Hannah asked her hopefully.
Valeriya winced and shook her head.
“Okay,” Hannah said slowly. “You got a two-hundred-dollar tip but you didn’t keep the note that came with it.”