She didn’t care about the money.
She just wanted to be a detective again. As she stared at Riley’s badge and gun, her heart ached.
“I hope you’re right. It’s all I have in life.”
“You have us,” Delilah offered.
Riley agreed.
She smiled.
“I see that now. Thank you. It’s just I’ve only ever been a cop. It’s what I am.”
They got it.
“A lot of bad cops are gone. Markum and Lewis cleaned house. You’ll be asked back,” Riley offered. “I have faith in the Crofts and my wife. She’s vicious.”
Delilah laughed.
“You sweet talker, you.”
She hoped he was right.
The more Poppy thought about it, the more she wanted to go back to work.
She needed to.
For now, she’d hide and try to fix her mess with Dimitri. That was her priority.
As Delilah flipped through the files, she whistled.
“Holy fucked up. Who cuts up a body and shoves it in a bag like it’s nothing? This city is jacked.”
Yeah, it really was.
Riley didn’t often share his job with his wife. No one wanted a person to see that nastiness. Now she saw it.
“These crimes are bad,” she offered.
He and Poppy were aware.
She recalled the cases. They’d been given to her right before she’d had the whole issue with Brent Hendrick stalking and raping her.
They’d been her cases to solve to get the women justice. As she focused on that, her issues fell away.
“The killer stripped away all of their identities.”
Riley agreed.
“He cut off their fingers and didn’t include them with the remains. Any tattoos were removed, and all of their teeth were shattered out of their mouths. We have literally NOTHING to go on,” Riley stated.
“It’s one of the hardest ones I’ve worked on,” Poppy admitted.
Emma pulled out her phone.
“Who are you calling?”
“Chris,” she stated. “He and Dimitri should be done roughing up a madam.”
She dialed.
When he answered, he was concerned.
“Are you okay?” he asked before anything else could be said.
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“What are you eating? You’re chewing.”
“Celery.”
“That doesn’t sound like celery. Did Delilah bring you cupcakes?” he asked.
Well, shit.
The jig was up. If Chris knew, it wouldn't be long before the big man knew too.
Great.
Still, she didn’t lie.
“Maybe.”
“Well, if one doesn’t get put in my room for later, I’m going to tell your husband about the boxes I’ve seen in the trash. I know they aren’t from me, Greyson, or Heath. That leaves one suspect in our home.”
“You’d do me like that, Captain?” she asked.
He laughed.
“Yes.”
Emma found that amusing.
“You used to be my buddy and now it’s blackmail. This is why I’m keeping Heath! He’s loyal!”
He shouted, “Fuckin’ A!” or something that sounded like that. It was hard to tell. His mouth was full at the time.
Chris was suspicious.
“Is he eating my cupcake?” he asked in horror.
“Uh, no.”
She lied her ass off.
He was eating the cupcake she would have used as bribery. Well, so much for that.
“Emma.”
She knew they needed to change the topic.
“Chris, I need information not a conversation on baked goods.”
“Uh huh.”
“What did you find out?”
Since she was checking in, it likely had everything to do with her working for leads.
“We shook down the madam and made her life hell. You would have been proud,” he admitted.
“What happened?”
He told her the whole thing.
All of the while, Emma was looking at the crime scene photos as he talked about the victims.
“The one girl went off the radar a few months ago,” Chris offered.
Well, that would fit. Summer was almost over, and Poppy had said that the files had been on her desk.
“Did she give you anyone by name?”
“Yeah, Misty went out with a man named Harold. The other girl too. Misty hasn’t been gone long enough to be one of those women in the bags, but the other one could be.”
“Do we have more than Harold?” she asked.
He wished.
“No, Margot said that’s the name the John used when he hired the girl. He sent them to a hotel. We have the name, but right now, we’re at Alex and Misty’s place. We need to look around.”
She got it.
They were still in the beginning stages of finding things to tie to the case. All they knew was Claude Black was notorious for bagging his victims, but he wasn’t likely hiring call girls. Who was picking them up at the hotel?
That was where she needed to start.
“What are you thinking, Emma?” Chris asked, knowing how she worked. Emma had been a damn good detective on the force.
“Pull up Zachary Lipton,” Emma said, directing that at Poppy while keeping Chris on the phone.
“Does Greyson do his own dirty work?” she asked.
Chris laughed.
“Uh, mostly.”
“Let me rephrase. If he was going to hire a hooker, would he call one up? His voice is distinct. He’s ‘famous’.”
“Probably not. He’d have Dimitri or…”
Then he got it.
“You’re going to search all of the people who are around Zachary Lipton. That’s genius!”
Riley agreed. This might be the break he needed to find the identities of those women.
“Well, I have my moments,” Emma admitted. “I’m not just the bearer of Croft life,” she stated, pointing at her belly.
Sometimes, they forgot that Emma had been a detective, too, at one time.
Poppy began doing the search. The FBI had files upon files on Lipton. When the name Harold popped out in one of them, they all read it.
‘Harold Cline has been implicated with helping arrange many questionable business deals. The man acts as Zachary Lipton’s security, but we are beginning to believe that there is more to his role in Lipton’s life.’
And that said it all.
That one note in the file gave them the biggest lead in finding where Misty was, and who the two dead women in the bags were.
They were on the trail, and it led to Lipton. Harold was the pickup man for his boss, Lipton was the pervert who needed the flesh, and Claude was his cleanup guy.
It was coming together.
They just needed to find proof that Jeffrey Raye had sicced Claude on Poppy, and then they could take him down—Lipton too. They both needed to be taken off the streets.
“Poppy keep digging.”
She did.
As she ran him by his full identity, Harold Cline’s name pulled up more information.
“He’s definitely the muscle posing as security. He’s been arrested a few times for breaking bones. It looks like he’s got some issues,” Emma said, telling Chris what they’d learned.
“Okay, well, that’s great. Thank you for one more lead. We have the motel, we have the guy who picked up the women, and we have some good ties to Lipton.”
She was proud of herself.
Emma still had it.
“Keep digging, cupcake,” he teased, giving her that nickname so she’d remember he had dirt on her.
“Oh, I will, and you’re not funny.”
He laughed.
“Are you going to interview him?” Emma asked.
Chris hesitated.
Again, Greyson might want to make that decision. For now, he’d stick with the plan.
>
“Let us see what else we can dig up before we go at him. We need to be ready, and Greyson has a unique way of handling things.”
She was aware.
A shakedown was coming.
“Can you run someone else for me?” he asked, holding the card he’d swiped from the Rolodex on the madam’s desk.
“Sure. Who?”
“Candice French,” he offered, knowing that she was likely dead and in one of those bags.
As the system scrolled, Emma scanned it.
Since she was young and didn’t have much, Emma was going to take a guess.
“She was escorting, wasn’t she?” Emma asked. “That’s the girl who Harold picked up?”
Yeah, Emma was good at being a detective.
“Yes,” he said, telling her about how she’d hook when she needed money for school.
Emma sighed.
The city was full of girls like that. She’d helped Alexsandra, and she only wished she could have saved Candice.
Riley stopped them.
As the information scrolled, he saw something.
HER.
“Wait,” Riley stated. “She looks familiar.” He reached over and picked up the one file. Flipping through the pages, he found what he was looking for.
Riley turned the file around.
Yeah, it was the second victim.
Her face was battered, damaged, but he saw it. When you looked at the dead long enough, you could see past the brutality.
“I think that’s her. I think we might have the ID of one of the victims,” he offered.
Well, the timeline fit.
They passed it around.
Poppy agreed.
“The height in the ME report matches. The weight on her driver’s license is close too.”
They didn’t miss that this was likely Candice French. Well, at least she’d be able to be ID’d and given a burial.
There was still the first body that had to be given a name, and that was going to be harder.
They didn’t doubt it.
“Okay, so we know that the muscle for Zachary Lipton has been connected to these two girls. They have to be connected,” Chris stated. “That’s too much of a coincidence. Claude liked to bag the bodies, and he works for Lipton. We have a Harold Cline working for him, too, and that’s the name the madam gave. My gut says it’s connected.”
Hers too.
Riley agreed.
“Thank you for working this. I’m overwhelmed, and this is a huge help.”
Well, it helped them too.
It gave them something to help find Misty for Alexsandra.
Riley glanced down at his watch.
“I have to get back to work. Ladies, stay out of trouble,” he stated, kissing his wife on the lips. “Mmmm, sweet.”
She winked at him.
When he was gone, Emma focused on the man she’d called. They weren’t done.
“We’re going to keep digging,” Emma stated. “You get that done. I’ll have something for you.”
“Okay, oh, and Dimitri wants to talk to you.”
Before she could take it off speaker, his husky voice was there, no accent.
“Is Poppy okay?” he asked.
Normally, she wouldn’t do this, but for Poppy, she needed to help.
“Yeah, she’s good. We’re trying to convince her to go back to her job. Are you okay with that?”
He must have assumed she wasn’t right there.
“I want what’s best for her,” he admitted. “When you love someone, you do the right thing.”
“Then forgive her so you can both be happy.”
He hesitated.
“I’m trying, Emma, I’m trying.”
She knew he was.
“I have faith in you.”
“Thank you, Emma. Stay in where you’ll be safe, or your husband will have a stroke.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You’re bossy and while sexy on the cave-Croft, it’s irritating on you and Chris.”
He found that outrageously funny.
She was out of luck because neither man was going to change his ways.
Not while there was a chance that the snake, Jeffrey Raye, was slithering around Vegas.
Not.
Going.
To happen.
“Ah, life is not always what we want, Emma, you know that, and while Chris is going to be bribed with a cupcake, I will not be taken down with sugar.”
“Bastard. Whose side are you on?”
He laughed.
He wasn’t choosing sides in this sugar war.
“Ya lyublyu tebya.”
“I love you too. Now be safe.”
Then, Dimitri was gone. As she hung up the phone, she focused on Poppy.
“For the record, I won’t be betraying him like that again. I did it because the two of you have jacked this up. Someone has to fix this.”
She was aware.
“He’s trying, Poppy. You need to do the right thing too. Fix this.”
Oh, she only wished she could.
“I don’t know how.”
Emma did.
“I can help you.”
That gave Poppy hope.
Family would stick, and it would help when you needed it. This was teaching her how to depend on someone other than just herself.
“Show me how.”
Oh, she would.
For both of them.
And for the family.
Chapter Eight
W hen Greyson was done with his meeting, he didn’t want to just go back to the penthouse. Don’t get him wrong, he missed hovering over his wife, but he wanted to be out where the world could see him.
Who in particular?
Jeffrey Raye.
Meaning, he wanted Jeffrey Raye to know he was gunning for him.
That defiance.
That anger.
He wanted him to see it on his face and he wanted the man to feel it in his soul. This was just another part of the war. While he may have won a battle or two, Greyson wasn’t done.
Not in the least.
It was on.
So, sending his wife a text, he hoped she was good and didn’t need him. Then again, she was with Heath in a locked down building, so she was likely safe and at peace.
Sky Villa was a fortress.
What could possibly go on?
As he typed the message, Nikita sat there trying to read over his shoulder like a bratty sister might do.
He was appalled, and curious at the same time. She was a mystery to him.
“Uh, do you mind?”
“I can’t help it. I’m inquisitive.”
“About me?” he asked, hoping that wasn’t the case. He was a one-woman kind of man, and his woman was pregnant and likely more lethal.
She laughed.
“No, men in general. I get men, then I kill them when I have no other use for them. What’s the deal with the big guy?”
It took him a second to get past how ambivalent she said it. It was like she was talking about the weather. Killing wasn’t so mundane—or it shouldn’t be.
“Are we talking about Heath or Chris? Both are ‘big’.”
“Heath, of course.”
That almost amused him. Heath was rough, tumble, and a teddy bear unless you pissed him off. Once that happened, he was a killing machine.
Literally.
He had no filter.
No limits.
And he didn’t flinch at ending a life.
Then again, come to think if it, neither did Nikita, so they had that in common.
“Uh, he’s nice.”
She smiled.
“I know that. I can read people. What’s his deal? He’s not from around here. Is he married? Divorced, single, and ready to mingle?”
He stared at her.
“I think you took a few hits to the head at some point. I’m not a matchmaker.”
She clarified.
“It wasn’t conc
ussions. It was chemical warfare.”
He opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Greyson wasn’t sure if he should even go there. With Nikita, she tended to just say what she was thinking. Maybe it was best he didn’t know.
Greyson liked sleeping at night.
“Never mind. Anyway, about Heath, he’s not married, never has been, to my knowledge, and likes the ladies. As for single, yes, and I’m not sure about the mingling part of your question. If you’re talking dating, who knows?”
She smiled.
She knew he’d be fun. Nikita could tell by how he was silly and always checking her out.
Greyson wasn’t done.
“Now I have a question.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
He probably shouldn’t ask, but he was curious as hell, and he had been a cop. That never died.
“When he went back for that lap dance at the club, what happened?”
She didn’t bat an eyelash and also didn’t hesitate to tell him.
“It was a lap dance. That’s all.”
Then it was one hell of one at that. The man had come out pretty disheveled. It looked like a war had gone on, and his shirt had lost.
“I’m totally not buying what you’re selling, Nikita.”
She laughed.
“Okay, maybe that’s not all. I placed a tracker on him, and I followed him home.”
Now Greyson was alarmed.
A tracker?
One that they never detected?
Oh, Dimitri would shit a ton of bricks if he’d heard that. He’d take it as an insult to his skills and equipment.
Greyson needed to know.
“Uh, why?”
She said one word.
“Blackhawk.”
He figured as much.
“So, you’ve been on us a while, huh?” he asked, not really shocked.
“Yes. Blackhawk wanted us to make sure no one came for you. You were off limits.”
Greyson got it.
Ethan was covering for him. He knew that Vegas was a dangerous place—especially the last few months.
That was fine with him.
Dimitri would have to suck it up and not get bitchy.
“Sir, we’re here,” the man behind the wheel said, lowering the window between them to tell them of their arrival.
“Larry, you can head back. I’ll ride with Chris and Dimitri,” he stated.
“And me?” she asked.
No Justice_A Croft Mob Family Book Page 29
