by Ali Vali
It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but at least Angelo believed her. He seemed to, anyway. “Thank you, sir, and thank you for taking time to see us. If you have a chance before you go home, we’d like for you and your family to come by the Gemini and have dinner on us.”
“We’d love to,” Nico said, laughing. “Papa loves to be treated to a good meal.”
“And, Remi,” Angelo said, standing when she did, “I know you’re resourceful, so if you find anything else I should hear about, you don’t have to go through Benito. Call me directly and we’ll discuss it. We’ve all lived through problems before, but Vegas is a place for fun as well as business. I don’t want anything getting in the way of that.”
“Thank you, and I’ll do that.”
She and Mano took the elevator down from Giordano’s suite at Bellagio and stayed quiet as they walked through the front of the casino to the car. “That was interesting,” Mano said, once Hugo pulled away.
“I think that last part was a clue that there’s more to all this and he wouldn’t mind if we found out what it is. Benito obviously works for him, as does Terzo, but what was Caterina up to when she tried to set Victor Madison up, other than just keeping him in line? And who the fuck was Paolo Moretti trying to kill? Where does that shitstorm fit in? We have speculation, but we need facts.”
“How in the hell are we supposed to get to the whole truth? Both the Terzo and Moretti families are going to shut down now that they’ve each lost a kid.” The Strip traffic was as terrible as ever, so Hugo turned off as soon as he could.
“We have to find that proverbial needle, Mano, and they’ll hand us the key.”
“Oh, that should be easy, since the cops have no clue.”
She laughed and slapped his shoulder. “Stop thinking like a cop, and start thinking like the hardened criminal you are.”
* * *
“That’s the only part I don’t understand,” Brinley said as she finished telling Reed and Oscar what she’d figured out.
Reed had slept pretty much for two days, but every time she woke up, Brinley was right next to her, and she’d taken Reed’s hand when they saw Brinley’s mother making another tearful plea on the news. Wilma had done a good job of keeping her family in the spotlight, and Reed had done a good job of providing silent comfort.
“That I’m not sure about either, but Victor Madison was one of those types who think the more ammunition you have, the better. What Lucan’s wife had to offer him to keep quiet about her affair, I can’t guess,” Reed said, flipping through the information again.
The file with the affair between Mandy Terzo and her attorney stumped her as well, but the books made sense. They were a total accounting of what Wallace had run through the Moroccan for Francesco Terzo and the cartel. If they came to light it would bring down not only Wallace, but a number of people who would become unrelenting enemies if they found out who fingered them. That had to be another factor in Wallace’s decision to kill Brinley and Naomi. If his actions to hide his deception brought Terzo down, jail wouldn’t have meant shit when it came to Francesco Terzo ordering Wallace killed.
“You think Lucan told his wife anything?” Oscar asked.
“Lucan barely knows anything, much less enough to tell his wife. He’s not the brightest bulb. Caterina’s the brains in that trust, but she was running a scam with a woman who had no business being in that situation. That makes me doubt the level of her intelligence too,” Reed said, handing Brinley the file back. “The one thing this guarantees is Mandy and the lover’s deaths if anyone decides to enlighten Lucan.”
“Let’s put that aside for now and get back to the Moroccan,” Oscar said softly, since Finn was napping close by. Their lives had been turned upside down by Brinley and Finn’s presence and none of them ever talked about that. This little cocoon where Brinley cooked, Finn played, and they pretended everything was normal was truly bizarre.
“Robert Wallace asked for that audit to put Francesco off while he negotiated with a few of the cartel middlemen,” she said, and Brinley nodded. “On the surface, that’s what it seemed like he was doing, but it was more than that.”
“More than what?” Brinley asked.
“Francesco Terzo runs product from the border to all points north, but it’s not his stuff. He works for Angelo Giordano. It’s taken Giordano time and plenty of muscle, but he has the contacts within the cartels to get it here and transport it north.” She moved a little to sit up more and grimaced from the stab of pain.
“Be careful,” Brinley said, kneeling on the bed and helping her until she was more comfortable. “Now finish what you were saying.”
“Terzo used his influence to get Robert Wallace hired at the Moroccan, and immediately set him up to clean the barrels of money they were making. It’s a nothing job since cleaning money through a casino is about as hard as drinking a glass of water, but to keep Wallace happy, they paid him a boatload of cash. Little Bobby—that’s the nickname Wallace hates—finally figured out the real money’s in the product.”
“I know as much about drugs as I do about gambling, which means not much,” Brinley said and Oscar laughed. “You’re going to have to explain that last bit.”
“I think what Reed’s saying is that Wallace was planning to replace his bosses and cash in on both sides of the business,” Oscar said.
“That’s exactly it. If Wallace becomes the supplier as well as the cleaner, he’ll own Vegas,” Reed said. Understanding more of the picture, though, didn’t change Brinley’s fate. “Would you mind if I talk to Oscar a minute? I need something done before we plan our next step.”
“Sure, you want anything?”
“About five minutes, and then we can keep going.” Brinley left and closed the door, even though she didn’t have to. Reed doubted she’d stand outside listening in. “We might have to scrub our existence from Vegas until things cool off, but the only way out of this is to blow it to hell before we go.”
“What do you want?”
“I need you to run an errand, but you need to do it without being seen. Think you can come out of the back room for once?” He nodded and listened to what she wanted and left without complaint. She heard the door close.
Brinley came back up half an hour later with a sandwich for her. “Is Oscar okay? He looked a little nervous.”
She laughed and liked that Brinley came and sat next to her. “You have to realize that Oscar is nervous all the time. It’s his state of being, and it changes your perspective of all things Oscar if you understand that.”
“Do you have someone special in your life?” Brinley suddenly clamped her lips together and wouldn’t make eye contact after the non sequitur.
“No, I don’t. My life has been a repetitive kind of thing where I try to make it from one day to the next without going completely insane.” She accepted half the sandwich, took a bite, and offered the other half to Brinley. The fresh white T-shirt meant Brinley had found her stash, but eventually they’d have to find her something to wear that actually fit. “Do you? Have I taken you away from some guy?”
“You don’t do personal talks much, do you?” Brinley asked, and she laughed at this unexpected almost-friendship.
“In my defense, there isn’t much watercooler talk in the contract killing and thievery business, so my social skills are pretty rusty, if not nonexistent.”
Brinley finally glanced her way and laughed as well. “Was that a joke? I’m doing a victory dance if that was a joke.”
“You’re trying to change the subject and not answer my question. Don’t make me get up and get my gun.” She made a pistol with her fingers, and Brinley reached over and grabbed it.
“Another joke, and there’s no special guy who’s crying over my demise. I have Finn and he doesn’t leave a lot of time for stuff like that, but…”
The way Brinley blushed made Reed want to sit up and touch her face, but moving still caused pain. “But what?”
“But nothing.
” Brinley’s blush deepened. “I shouldn’t have asked you about your personal life, so let’s drop it.”
“Aside from Oscar, and now you and Finn, I don’t have a personal life.” She took another bite and chewed slowly. “You know, before you, I never really talked about myself at all. Maybe you missed your calling by going into accounting. You should’ve considered law enforcement.”
“My job doesn’t give me much time to talk to people about anything other than their financials, usually, but I want to know you.” Brinley moved closer and placed her hand on her arm.
“Why? Really, Brinley, I was serious when I said you should run away from me the first chance you get. My mother’s dead, but she left some damaged goods behind, and you don’t need that.” She tried to move but Brinley wasn’t letting go.
“The flaw in your argument is that I don’t see you that way. All I see is the woman who pointed a gun at me but didn’t pull the trigger even though her life probably would’ve been much easier if she had.” Brinley moved closer and seemed to have gotten a burst of courage. “I’ll never do anything to hurt you, and I don’t want you to disappear even if I get out of all this.”
“Even if my vanishing is what will guarantee your safety?” That she and Oscar had to go wasn’t a discussion, it was a fact.
“All you have to do is take a chance.”
“Maybe a long time ago, I would’ve had a shot at a life that maybe wasn’t normal, but close to it, but I screwed that up royally.” For the first time in her life, she wanted to let someone in. It was terrifying, and she couldn’t stop.
“Tell me, it’s okay.”
Would it be? There was only one way to know. “I could’ve had that chance, but then I accepted my first contract and I didn’t give it a second thought. I should have had some hesitation, some guilt, but I killed the bastard and met Oscar for pancakes the next morning like it was nothing. There was never one bit of remorse.”
“Who was it?” Brinley’s grip intensified some.
“He was a pimp whose specialty was young girls and boys. One of the guys at the house Oscar and I lived at worked for him, and they didn’t see a problem using the place as a recruitment spot.” The fat asshole was with a young boy when she’d put a bullet in his head. She often wondered if the kid ever got over the shock of the bastard dying on top of him. Had the kid been looking over his shoulder ever since, waiting for the bullet that never came?
“If you’re asking me to judge you, I’m not going to do it. Maybe the law should’ve dealt with someone like that, but you can’t tell me the world’s not better off without him.”
She nodded, not about to disagree with that. “You’re right, and I did the guy who was working for him at the house for free. That was an act of mercy for all the kids he would’ve ruined, but that was my start. The proof I needed that I could not only pull the trigger, but live with what I did.”
“Reed, I’m not going to hate you, no matter how hard you try.”
“That’s where I started, Brinley, but you’re where I ended. That should tell you something. I accepted a contract to kill you, and I don’t have an excuse for why, except that I’m no better than the people who hired me.” It was the first time she’d said those words out loud, though she’d often thought them. It hurt, and she waited for Brinley to agree.
“What’s that?” Brinley turned toward the window when there was a clear sound of someone running into the house.
“Brinley,” she heard someone yell. “Brinley, answer me, please.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Can you tell me when Ms. Terzo started an intimate relationship with London Emerson? And do you have any idea when she let Victor Madison borrow her, as it were?” Corey Grant asked Francesco, and Lucan slammed his hands on the table, making Francesco’s coffee cup almost spill.
“Have some fucking respect,” Lucan yelled, and Francesco glared at him.
“You’re spitting on my daughter’s grave by accusing her of things she can’t defend herself against.” Francesco could barely contain his rage. “My daughter was no pimp, and it insults her memory that you’re suggesting it.”
“Mr. Terzo,” Wamsley said, holding his hands out. “The text messages to London Emerson can be traced to Ms. Terzo’s phone. And before you ask, we had a warrant for that, so these messages are hard to explain unless they were in an intimate relationship. That’s not at all in question. All we need to know is when it started.” Wamsley placed the proof on the table and slid it over to him.
“I can’t answer that since I didn’t have a fucking clue about it, no matter how many times you ask me.” He wanted this meeting to be over so he could drive to Benito Lucassi’s house and remove his intestines slowly and with plenty of pain. That had to be who was responsible for Caterina.
“Then you also don’t have any information about a plot to have Sofia Moretti killed?” Grant asked.
Francesco sucked in a breath and Lucan must’ve noticed his shock. “Are you slow?” Lucan asked. “If we didn’t know about this girl, then how are we supposed to know about anything having to do with her?”
“Do you think either Benito Lucassi or Diego Moretti had anything to do with Caterina’s death? Is that why Paolo Moretti is dead too?”
“It wasn’t a death, Detective, it was murder. Someone killed my child and I want them to pay. I don’t know anything about Moretti’s death, but if he had anything to do with Caterina’s murder, then I’m sorry I didn’t shoot the fucker myself.”
The younger cop sat up at that and Francesco laughed.
“I’m not suggesting a hit as retaliation, so don’t look so happy. No matter what my daughter did or didn’t do, she deserved a trial, not to be killed in the most humiliating way possible.”
“I agree with you, Mr. Terzo, but the only way to get justice is to help us out and start answering questions,” Grant said.
“This is the information about Sofia Madison I was referring to,” Wamsley said, giving him some more paper he wasn’t going to look at.
“Is there anything else? Any information that’ll bring us closer to catching whoever did this?” Francesco said.
“That’s why we’re here,” Grant said in a tone that held no respect.
“Then we have nothing else to discuss,” Francesco said, standing up. “I have a funeral to plan, and I’m not leaving it to my wife. This has devastated my family, so I’d appreciate discretion. I doubt you’ll give me that, but be careful what you share with the media. If my wife reads about any of this in the papers or sees it on the news, there will be a stiff penalty.”
“Is that a threat?” Grant asked.
“A threat is me saying I’ll rip your balls off and shove them in your head when I remove your eyes, but I didn’t say that. I want updates on your investigation, and for you to do your job without sensationalizing it. Right now, though, this interview is over.”
He left the room but wasn’t worried since two of his men would escort the idiots out. His family had been his pride, but Caterina had fucked up royally with the use of such an inexperienced young woman, when any hooker would’ve sufficed. Victor Madison wasn’t a picky man when it came to women, but putting a girl in the position to do a job she couldn’t handle had given Lucassi the green light he needed to kill Caterina and get away with it.
“What do you want to do, Papa?” Lucan followed him to the other side of the house and took a deep breath when they reached Caterina’s room.
“I want to know exactly what Caterina was up to, and what the hell she was thinking. If you had any part of this, tell me now. Your mother won’t survive burying two of you.”
“I doubt either Lucassi or Moretti would come after me.”
He laughed as he grabbed Lucan by the chin. “Who said anything about either of those clowns? You and your sister think you had free rein to do whatever you wanted, but I’m telling you otherwise.”
“I asked her if the girl was one of hers,” Lucan said, pulling
away and sitting on the bed. “Caterina never answered me, but she did say it would never come back on us.”
“The lesson you should take away, then, is it did come back on her, since she’s fucking dead. I should let it go since everyone will think she deserved it, but Caterina was my child—my family. No one takes what’s mine and doesn’t pay for it in blood.”
“What are you looking for?”
“I need something that will keep Angelo off our asses when the time comes, so start looking for answers. I want to know what the hell your sister was doing.”
* * *
“You think he knew?” Corey asked as they walked to the car.
Andrew shrugged. Their multiple investigations now had a task force since everyone from the mayor to the governor’s office was involved. This many murders in a place where people came to party and go wild had made the national news and that was unacceptable, as they’d been told with an impressive amount of angry volume. No one working the case had a fucking clue as to what was going on.
“There’s one thing I do believe, and that’s I’ll never get the last thirty minutes back. It’s only a theory, but I think Caterina had something going on that she didn’t tell anyone about, and Victor’s dying screwed it up.” He sat in the driver’s seat and glanced around at the men walking around with guns. It was like advertising a bad man lived there, but the house was so far off the road no one ever saw the small army.
“You make it sound like Victor’s death was the true accident in all this, but it snowballed.”
“We float that, and we’d better be able to prove it. But my gut tells me that it’s possible.” His cell phone rang as he started the car, and when he saw the captain’s number, it couldn’t be good news. “What now?”
“Where are you?”
“We just finished with Francesco Terzo, and we’re headed to see Mike. His team should have some answers for us by now, hopefully.”
