‘Not yet, but the lab just received it from Ballistics. You’ll know if they’re able to lift a serial as soon as I do.’ Quincy lifted his brows. ‘Now for the second good thing. The SUV the shooter left behind never tried to mask its VIN. The SUV was reported sold last year to a man who’s been dead for ten years. The seller on record was Barber Motors in Fairfield.’
Nash sucked in a breath. ‘The same used-car place where the three cars belonging to the college prostitute were found.’
Excellent. Adam grinned at Quincy, relieved that at least a few things were coming together. ‘Really nice work.’
‘Thanks,’ Quincy said, his returned smile so big that he popped a dimple, making him look even younger than he usually did. Adam had a few doubts that Deacon was right about Quincy. He’d never seen the hard-faced, order-barking ex-soldier that Deacon claimed was on their crime scene tonight.
‘So we pay Barber Motors a visit first thing in the morning,’ Adam said. ‘Scar? You up for a little SUV shopping?’
Scarlett chuckled. ‘I can have any color as long as it’s black?’
Adam smiled at her, feeling more light-hearted than he had in months. He’d been Scarlett’s partner before Deacon came to Cincinnati and they’d enjoyed this banter every day. Until Adam went off to Personal Crimes and returned a different man.
Maybe he was finally finding his old self. He glanced back at Meredith, who was studying her gel pens. She turned her head and met his eyes with a wink and he knew that she’d been aware he was watching her.
I don’t want to be my old self. I want to be a better man.
Adam shifted his attention to Isenberg. ‘If we can get a warrant, I’d prefer to bust in without any subterfuge. If not, we can try an undercover op.’
Hanson looked worried at that. ‘I don’t know, Adam. I’m not sure there’s a face in this room that hasn’t been on the news. Anybody you send will likely be recognized. Especially Agent Novak.’ He looked over to Deacon. ‘No offense.’
‘None taken,’ Deacon said. ‘It’s true anyway.’
Adam sighed. ‘You’re probably right, Hanson, but you were on camera tonight too, at the scene of Bruiser’s murder. Nash? You wanna buy an SUV?’
Nash nodded thoughtfully. ‘Sure. Why not?’
‘Only if we don’t have a warrant before ten a.m.,’ Isenberg cautioned. ‘Plan A is to walk right in and take their files and arrest them if they so much as look at us cross-eyed.’
‘Understood,’ Nash said.
Adam turned to study the whiteboard, specifically the items they hadn’t yet completed. ‘The damn hostess,’ he muttered. ‘We still don’t know who paid her to seat Meredith and Mallory by the window.’
‘And we can’t have her do a voice ID anymore,’ Hanson said. ‘Voss is dead.’
‘You can have her listen to file footage of his shareholder meetings,’ Quincy suggested. ‘It’s not the same but at this point I think we want to rule him out.’
‘She still in protective custody?’ Adam asked Isenberg.
‘Yeah, and a pain in the ass,’ Isenberg grumbled.
Adam feigned shock. ‘That’s a newsflash. Can you have one of your clerks choose some footage of Voss speaking?’
‘Yes,’ Isenberg said. ‘What else?’
Adam’s gaze found the photo of the burned-out house. ‘The fire that killed the family who lived above Andy Gold’s apartment. It wasn’t Bruiser, because he was in Chicago at the time. When we catch the SOB who’s doing this, I want them charged with four counts of murder for that family too. Do we have the arson investigator’s report?’
Trip looked through his file folder. ‘I have it. Arson says an accelerant was used. It appears to be gasoline mixed with some kind of soap. I’ll meet with the arson guy while you’re at the used-car dealer to see what they found at the scene.’
‘Thank you,’ Adam said. ‘Deacon, go with him. I don’t want any of us going solo. Not until we stop these assholes.’
‘I agree,’ Deacon said. ‘Tonight’s shooter nearly took out three armed federal agents. We need to be on alert.’
Adam clapped his hands once. ‘And to do that, we need to recharge. It’s almost midnight. Let’s go home, get some sleep and meet back here at eight o’clock.’
Everyone filed out until the only people left in the room were Meredith, who was packing up her gel pens, and Nash, who came to stand next to Adam at the whiteboard. He thought Nash would be looking at the photos of the used car lot, but his old friend’s gaze was locked on the crime scene photos sent by Reagan and Mitchell in Chicago.
Adam found himself studying the photos for only a few seconds before his attention bounced to something else. Someone else.
Anything else. The Chicago crime scene photos were hard to view.
‘What?’ Adam asked Nash softly, because Nash was staring at the photo with an intensity that was a little creepy, if Adam was being honest.
‘Nothing,’ Nash said, breaking his gaze. ‘Sleep well, Adam. I’ll see you tomorrow.’ He waved at Meredith who was all packed up and waiting. ‘Good night, Dr Fallon.’
When Nash was gone, Adam put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Ready to go?’
‘Absolutely,’ Meredith said.
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Monday 21 December, 12.45 A.M.
‘Took you fucking long enough,’ Mike grunted as he emerged from the shadows of the deserted strip mall behind which he’d hidden. He dragged his right leg behind him and his left arm hung uselessly at his side. A deep gash across his cheek still oozed blood.
He leaned heavily against the brick wall of the dry-cleaner located at the end of the strip mall, needing more medical care than he could provide. Although in about a minute, that wouldn’t matter anymore.
Because Mike just reached his ex date too. ‘What the fuck happened?’
‘The women had guns,’ Mike said, irritated. ‘And knives. They shot me.’
‘And stabbed you.’
‘Yeah. Bitch. It was the little cunt Mallory that had a knife.’
He drew a deep breath, let it out. ‘You were supposed to shoot the little cunt through the head. With the rifle. From far away. Why did you drag her to your SUV?’
Mike’s jaw cocked, his eyes narrowing defiantly. ‘You are not my boss, boy.’
‘The hell I’m not! I’m the one taking the risks here.’
Mike approached slowly, a thunderous look on his face. ‘You selfish little prick.’
‘Me? I didn’t disobey an order. I didn’t leave my blood all over the crime scene.’
Mike shrugged. ‘Won’t help them none. They got nothin’ to compare it to. Certainly doesn’t connect us.’
Because he and Mike didn’t share blood. ‘But it will connect you to my father.’
Mike rolled his eyes. ‘Like anyone’s gonna go there. Look, boy, I need you to stitch the leg up. And get me a doctor. I figured you’d bring one with you. Like that pretty one I saw standing outside the shelter last night.’ His eyes glittered with lust, surprising considering all his injuries. He should have been half-dead from blood loss alone. Sex should be the last thing on Mike’s mind.
Oh. He abruptly halted mid-thought as understanding rushed to fill his mind. The horny little asshole. ‘You wanted one last taste of Mallory, didn’t you?’
Mike’s eyes narrowed. ‘Yeah. I did. Sue me.’
Oh, I’ll do a lot more than that. ‘You risked everything for one last go at that little whore?’ He got up in Mike’s face. ‘Are you fucking insane?’
‘No,’ Mike said, behind clenched teeth. ‘I’m quite sane. And my memory is better than decent. You promised her to me, but it was always your way. Your terms. Your leftovers. I’m fucking tired of taking your leftovers.’
He lifted his brows, hearing all the things Mike didn’t say aloud. Remembering the cash that hadn’t been found in Voss’s safe tonight. ‘What other leftovers have you taken, Uncle?’ As his enforcers, Mike and Butch had collected the blackmail from the victims who’d paid with cash. He’d never stopped to count it, not in a long time. He’d trusted them. ‘I know you took cash out of Voss’s safe after you killed him.’
Mike’s chin lifted. ‘I earned it. I took the risk.’
‘Did you also earn the money you’ve been skimming from your collections?’ Mike’s tight jaw told him he’d guessed right. ‘Have you been forcing my girls to give you freebies?’