by C. A. Szarek
“It’s certainly helpful,” Gio said. “But it’s not foolproof. He could claim someone—you—used his login to frame him.”
“He could make the argument that you started laundering money when he arrived, just to make him into a scapegoat,” Maddie added.
Elise honest-to-God growled low in her throat. “Fuck him!” She sat down in a huff.
“I know it sucks, Lise, but he’ll get a good lawyer, and all these things are Law School 101. We need to have him dead to rights.”
“Then what do we have to do?”
Maddie set her current stack of papers down and reached for the next group.
They’d been at his place for hours that felt like days, and she’d already looked at everything a dozen times, attacking the poor dead trees with three colors of highlighters to differentiate her work from his sister’s.
“Why don’t we get some grub?” Gio asked. “We’ve been at this forever.”
“No.” His sister’s mouth was set in a stubborn line. “Not until we work this out.”
Maddie exchanged a glance with him.
He knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth. It didn’t make him like it anymore.
“You could get him to tell you.”
“She’s not wearing a wire,” Gio barked.
“I would totally wear a wire,” Elise retorted.
“It’s too dangerous,” he said.
“He’s my fiancé,” his sister said. “He has no clue I know.”
“It could work,” Maddie said, perking up.
“No,” he growled.
“You don’t get to pick. You’re suspended.” His sister looked at Maddie, completely dismissing him. “We can make this work, right? I’ll do it. I want to do it.”
“Mads…”
His lover shrugged and maintained eye contact with Elise. She didn’t acknowledge him, either. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. I’m not afraid of him. I’ve been living with him for six months. He’ll be there when I get home. The biggest challenge will be not giving in to the urge to smash his balls the minute I walk in the door.”
“Six months?” Gio grumbled. “You moved him into your penthouse after knowing him only three months?”
Maddie ignored him. “Elise, try to be nice for one more night.”
“Six months?” he repeated, but neither Maddie, nor his sister said a word about his protest.
Jesus, was he invisible?
The two females he cared most about in the world were not only ignoring him, but were doing a champion job of ganging up on him.
What kinda shit is this?
“I think it’s time to call Griggs,” Maddie said.
****
Roger Griggs wanted to see the proof before he agreed to a damn thing, and he wanted to do it alone, in case involving the team turned out to be a moot point.
Maddie had always liked the guy, and she had to give him some grudging respect, even if he was being a pain in the ass. He could’ve hung up in her face, instead of giving her the courtesy of listening to their revelation.
It was a start.
Gio remained not completely on board, but only where his sister was concerned. He was all about slapping cuffs on Falcone’s wrists.
Or maybe shooting him for what he’d done to Elise.
The only Giovanni daughter had grown up a lot, too, and Maddie could only admire the woman. She wasn’t convinced the firecracker had completely forgiven her, but they were well on their way of reviving the closeness they’d shared eight years ago.
Working on the case as a team helped, and it was fun as hell to gang up against Gio. Not that Maddie would ever admit that out loud.
Elise was certainly whip-smart when it came to the numbers, and she’d spotted the issues at first glance, without much digging.
She admired that. Had no doubt Gio’s sister was running the casino with efficiency and good leadership.
Elise was excited to meet Jake, and hadn’t really butted into the whys of Maddie keeping him from his father over the years. Maybe she felt it wasn’t her business, or maybe it would be for later, but Maddie would roll with the punches.
She’d always adored Gio’s siblings, and the guilt about keeping her baby from his dad had already been insurmountable at times. She hadn’t spent a ton of time contemplating how her actions had also kept him from the other Giovannis.
“You’re sure you want to do this, Miss Giovanni?” Griggs pinned Elise with his very green gaze. He hovered over scattered financials at Gio’s kitchen table. He had a piece of paper in his hand. It was the manifest, with Falcone’s alias printed on it.
“Fuck yes,” Gio’s sister said. Her dark eyes said so much more.
Maddie felt a pang of regret. Not because of Falcone, but because this beautiful woman she cared about had been hurt because of her case. The mobster scum had weaseled his way into Elise’s life, and her heart. Only to frame her for his crimes. She’d hurt her, too, although unintentionally.
Like Gio, Maddie suddenly kinda wanted to gut the fucker.
The Giovannis were her son’s family, but weren’t they hers, too?
She wanted them to be.
The idea wasn’t for now, so she pushed it away. She needed to focus on wrapping up this case—finally.
Griggs squared eyes with Maddie. “Okay then, let’s do it.”
Gio grumbled something under his breath, but it wasn’t intelligible.
“I’ll make sure your sister’s safe, Detective. You can bet on that.” Her colleague stood with his arms on his utility belt, so confident with what was about to happen.
Maddie wanted to reach for Gio’s hand, but kept hers on her lap, and her eyes on the table. She wanted to be included in this operation; maybe selfishly so. She hadn’t broached the subject with Griggs yet, but he was running things, since Randall had removed her from the case.
Someone was going to have to disobey orders for her to participate, and her confidence that Roger Griggs would do so for her was a tossup. Trying to add Gio in, something he’d insist upon, might be the deciding, hell no.
They’d worked together many times in Chicago, but she didn’t really consider him a friend. He was a colleague.
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Gio crossed his arms. “I’ll be there to do that, myself.”
Oh, here we go.
Griggs frowned. “Granger, you on board with that?”
Surprise washed over her and she straightened. “I am, but LMVPD sure as hell won’t be.”
Gio snorted, but his mouth set in a hard line. He was projecting, ‘I don’t give a fuck,’ just like this morning.
Holy shit, was it only that morning?
Hours felt like days ago. An eternity.
Her Fitbit told her it was just past seven p.m. She’d wanted to check in with Jamie and Jake before her son’s bedtime. She’d missed the window.
“She’s not doing it if I’m not there.” Gio grunted.
Elise’s immediate protest died when Griggs raised a palm.
“I don’t have issues with your presence. Just stay out of it, if only to save your job. Can you be an observer?”
Disagreement darted across his blue eyes, but Gio didn’t speak. He lifted his chin, as if nodding would be giving in too much.
Maddie shook her head.
“Granger, you in?” Griggs asked.
Her eyes shot to his. “Randall’s not gonna be down with that.”
The marshal smiled; it took years off his stern expression, and his mustache twitched. “Randall’s not my boss now, is he?”
She laughed.
Griggs was on loan from the Chicago office, so he was correct. He might be in charge of the taskforce in Maddie’s stead, but his immediate supervisor was definitely not in Nevada.
“Forgiveness permission sitch?” she asked.
“Something like that.” He nodded. “Besides, you did most of the legwork.”
“Thanks, Griggs. I r
eally appreciate it.” Maddie smiled, and her body warmed to the guy. Maybe he was more friend than associate, after all.
“When are we doing this?” Elise asked.
“Tomorrow morning.” Griggs gave a definitive nod. “We’ll fit you with the wire in the morning, and go over what’s next.”
“Brief the team at seven?” Maddie asked.
“You got it. Meet you at The Giovanni at eight?”
“Sounds like showtime to me,” Gio said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
None of Maddie and Gio’s former teammates batted an eye when they showed up at the casino the next morning, and climbed right into the surveillance box truck parked outside the back entrance that lead right to the executive offices.
Garcia had even waved from his seat in front of the bank of monitors.
Half the team was posted in the truck; the other half were in nearby places, some in vehicles, and some outside. All watched, and all with earphones listening in.
Elise had already been briefed and was wired up, inside the building and ready to go. The test-talking she’d done to her receptionist had come to the truck loud and clear.
Before she’d gone inside, she’d slipped Griggs a keycard for the back door.
They were prepped and ready.
Maddie’s heartrate was already faster than a patter, and she donned a Kevlar vest before trying to take a seat, but she only managed to be perched on the edge, her knee bobbed a-mile-a-minute while they waited.
Elise had told them her soon-to-be former fiancé usually graced the office with his presence about nine a.m., and he’d still been sleeping when she’d left their apartment.
Last night had been a long one, despite Gio by Maddie’s side. She’d spent it in his arms at his place, after a call to Chicago. Stared at the ceiling more than slept, even though they’d burned off some energy christening his bed.
Jake had indeed been cajoled to sleep at the hotel Colt had taken them to, but she’d talked to her sister, promising Jamie the situation would soon be over.
Damn, she hoped she’d told her the truth; Falcone would go down quietly today and no one would be hurt.
Gio had come armed, of course, despite having given his duty weapon and badge to his boss. He wore his own vest, too.
She’d rolled her eyes when he’d told her not to ask any questions—plausible deniability and all that. “Yeah, right,” Maddie whispered.
Randall could fire her for her involvement. But if this endeavor led to catching their man, he’d have to forgive her, right?
She blew out a breath. Sure as hell hoped so.
Since when had her job become nothing but hopes and prayers?
“Falcone’s headed down the hallway,” Inspector April Bailey said.
The small wall of monitors in the truck displayed cameras in and outside of the casino’s executive suites. Evidently, they’d tapped into The Giovanni’s security system.
Gio muscled his way to the microphone, but Garcia let him have control. “Lise, he’s headed your way.”
“Thank you,” Elise replied. Her voice came out of the speakers, strong and confident. “I’m leaving my office for the conference room, then I’ll go to his office. I hope people don’t think I’m talking to myself.”
Maddie smirked. “Tell her to put her phone to her ear, if she’s worried about it.”
“Or one of the in-house radios,” Garcia said.
Gio rolled his eyes and grabbed the mic. “Remember, if the cockstain goes too far, just say ‘big brother.’”
Elise snickered. Maddie smiled.
She had a feeling if his sister appeared to be in distress, Gio would rush in, and the team would follow no matter what.
He wouldn’t wait for any signal.
The exchange she had with Paul Allemand’s forensic team was also transmitted with no issues; they could even hear the other people Elise interacted with in the conference room.
All good news.
The system would have no issues recording her conversation with Falcone.
She needed to get him to confess.
“He’s in his office. She’s headed there, now” Garcia announced, but it wasn’t necessary. Maddie’s eyes were glued to the monitors in the truck.
“Showtime, Lise,” Gio said into the microphone. “Be strong.”
Elise nodded almost imperceptibly, from the screen.
“Kick his ass,” she whispered.
Falcone was at his desk, sipping coffee and typing on his keyboard when Gio’s sister opened the glass door.
The view of his office wasn’t awesome, because the camera was in a high corner, showing most of the room, but not the whole thing, and there was a few seconds of transmission delay, so movement didn’t necessarily match what they could hear through the wire.
However, seeing something was better than going in blind. They weren’t always lucky to have visuals on a sting.
Falcone greeted Elise with a smile, from what Maddie could make out.
“What a skeeze,” she whispered, and Garcia nodded his agreement.
“Good morning, Marco,” Elise said, with a slight emphasis on Falcone’s alias.
“Relax, sis, don’t blow it,” Gio said, but he didn’t transmit.
“Is something wrong?” Falcone leaned back in his chair, as if genuinely concerned and completely innocent.
Maddie rolled her eyes.
“We need to talk about something I found.”
Maddie admired that Elise made no move to sit. She was lording over the asshole and it was awesome.
“What’s that, tesoro?”
“Oh, you can cut the ‘tesoro’ crap.”
“Good girl,” Maddie said.
“Tone it down,” Gio said into the microphone.
Falcone made no moves to stand, but his posture stiffened; it was visible even at their angle.
Alarm bells sounded in her head, and Maddie stood, shifting closer to Gio and Garcia in front of the monitors.
Elise was as hotheaded as her brother, so maybe the caution wasn’t misplaced.
“What’s wrong?” Falcone asked.
Elise slapped the manifest for the two hidden hard drives in front of him on the desk, then stepped back and perched her hands on her hips. “Can you explain this?”
Maddie wished she would’ve moved back one more step, so she could turn and flee the office with ease. She’d left the door open when she’d come in, so that was a good thing. Hopefully Elise was thinking of her escape route, if necessary.
“These are my private records.”
Maddie had to give it to him; Falcone had delivered the statement without a flinch or delay.
“Private records?”
“Yes, some documents I needed to keep safe, but they have nothing to do with casino. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I shouldn’t have used Giovanni servers without permission. I should’ve let you know.”
“Damn, the fucker even sounds sincere,” Garcia muttered.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Elise spat.
Falcone froze. He still didn’t stand, but his shoulders were tense and he didn’t speak, either. As if he was waiting for the other shoe to drop, just like the watching taskforce.
“I cannot believe I fell for this shit for nine months. You’re one smooth son of a bitch, you know that?” she demanded.
“Shit, this is going south,” Garcia said. “We should get ready to go in.”
“Not yet,” Griggs ordered.
“Let’s see what he says,” Bailey agreed.
Gio was on edge.
He’d backed away from the microphone, and moved toward the closed double doors. He was going to storm the castle in a few seconds.
He wasn’t even official law enforcement, so he couldn’t go in alone.
Maddie moved behind him, grabbing his arm. “Wait, Gio.”
“That fucking temper of hers is going to get her killed. I knew this was a horrible idea. I’m going in.” He paused.
More talking came from the speaker.
It was louder, so someone must’ve turned the volume up.
“Tesoro, calm down. What’re you talking about?” For the first time, Falcone’s voice had gone up an octave, revealing his alarm.
“They have nothing to do with the casino all right, because they’re records of all the money you laundered, Gian Falcone.”
Maddie opened her mouth to retort, but when Gio was right, he was right.
“Son of a bitch!” he hollered.
Gio was already running toward the back door, when Griggs yelled, “Go, go, go!”
****
Gio had his gun drawn and was through the door before he even heard footfalls behind him.
His sister had better hope the cockstain didn’t kill her, because he wanted to do it himself.
People screeched and scattered when they made entry, and rushed down the hallway to the executive suites. All the walls and doors were glass, so they had an audience regardless.
He didn’t know who was with him, save Maddie, but he didn’t care, either. He needed to get to his sister before she got hurt—or worse.
Just one more corner to round, and they were there.
Alarm rolled over Gio before he skidded to a halt; the glass walls allowed him a view, too.
Maddie was at his side, and they stopped in tandem on either side of the office doorway, both their weapons up at-the-ready.
His sister, dressed in one of her typical rides-the-line of businesses-appropriate attire was plastered to Falcone’s torso behind the desk, and the bastard had a knife to her throat.
What the hell had happened to make him go from passive arguer to this?
When had he grabbed his sister up?
Fuck.
“Let me go, you asshole!” Elise struggled. She continued raising her voice, cursing him to hell and back.
“Be still, tesoro,” Falcone taunted. “Or I’ll cut that delectate throat of yours.” He proved he meant business, and nicked the tender flesh under her chin with the tip of the blade.
Blood dripped down her pale skin.
His sister gasped, and went stalk-still in his grip.
“Give me another excuse to put a bullet in your brainless skull,” Gio growled.
