Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2)

by Morgan Kelley

  “Oh, yeah.”

  That seemed to fit the motive they were all beginning to construct in their heads—now if they could only make Tony Mays fit the equation.

  “I know he’s a tad bit bloated in the pictures, but do you think it’s Dalton Harding? I’d like to notify the widow.”

  “I checked out the scaring on his one wrist, and compared it with the missing person report.”

  “And?”

  “Along with the clothing, it’s a match. I think you have your missing man. I can also say that whoever did this torture was trying to tell us one thing.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “He spilled his guts.”

  “Well, that works into the whole mob related hit,” Emma stated. “It makes sense since he was digging around. Someone found something that got him killed.”

  “Do you think Tony Mays did it?”

  She shook her head. “No. Someone put the body in Tony’s warehouse. He was buried first.”

  “I agree. I can see dirt. So, if it was Mays, why dig up a body no one had found?”

  “Someone is screwing with us.”

  “You always were a good cop.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, now I’m a good…whatever I am.”

  “You’re like Batman.”

  She laughed. “Greyson would say I’m Cat Woman. Then he’d buy me the outfit.”

  “Probably. The Croft men are possessive and jerks at the same time,” he stated, knowing Emma was upset. “Want to talk about it?” she asked.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “If you change your mind…”

  She wouldn’t, but she appreciated it. It was good having family around them. At least she wasn’t alone.

  “Someone needs to tell the missus that her husband is found.”

  “Yeah, that’s going to suck.”

  “I’m going to go do it.”

  He stared at her. “Where are Greyson and Dimitri?” Steele asked. “You know he’s going to flip his shit if you go out without him.”

  “I’m not going out alone.”

  “Who are you taking?”

  “My bodyguard. Where’s Chris?”

  “He’s inside with Curtis keeping Sam contained, and you know damn well that’s not going to appease the caveman beast. It’s still going to piss him off.”

  She was aware.

  Still…

  Emma felt horrible. “I forgot about Sam. Shit! I’m going to be a horrible mother one day. I totally forgot about the kid.”

  “He’s playing video games. I think you’re good. He’s ten—not a baby. If you forget about them, then you have serious issues to contend with—mainly CPS.”

  She was grateful for that.

  Maybe being a parent wasn’t something she could pull off. That had always been a fear.

  “Keep up the beautiful work, Steele. It’s gorgeous out here. Kat is going to be a happy bride.”

  Hopefully, her caveman in training wouldn’t be a ginormous pain in the ass.

  The odds weren’t in the bride’s favor.

  * * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *

  Boots and Saddles

  Saturday Noon

  Yeah, it was a shithole.

  That’s all Greyson could think when they walked into the place. If he was going to frequent a strip club, this wouldn’t be it. The place smelled like sex, booze, and about fifty million colognes.

  It was putrid.

  “You have a scowl on your face,” Dimitri warned. “You might want to take that down a notch.”

  “It’s hard in here. Besides, it got you to talk to me,” he stated, as they headed for a booth.

  Well, he had a point.

  Since he was talking…

  “Just cut Emma a break. Ask her about him before you assume. That’s going to save you a world of heartbreak.”

  He was aware.

  “Let’s just get this done.”

  When the men sat, a horde of strippers headed their way. When one went to plop herself in Dimitri’s lap, he simply shook his head. “I’m with him.”

  Greyson stared at him in horror but continued, “We need to talk to someone,” Greyson said, pulling out his wallet.

  “Who?” the redhead asked, running her fingers up and down his arm.

  “His name is Ollie Ackerman.”

  The women played dumb.

  Each man held up a fifty.

  The redhead pointed. “He’s the guy in the corner.”

  Greyson pulled out another fifty. “If you get him to come over here, without a big scene, it’s yours.”

  “Can I give you a blow job to go with it?” she flirted, knowing exactly who he was. Hooking him would be a way out of that shitty life.

  “Not on my life or yours. I’m happily married.”

  Dimitri stared at him.

  “Oh well, I tried,” she stated, as she began sashaying away.

  They watched her reach the man, whisper in the bouncer’s ear, and then point.

  He nodded and followed her.

  The redhead grabbed the money and headed off.

  “What can I do for you two gentlemen?” he asked, taking a seat.

  “We need to ask you some questions about a certain patron. He may, or may not, have come in with Tony Mays.”

  The man laughed. “I’m not talking shit about any mob man—you included. I like my life.”

  Greyson couldn’t imagine why. This was one step up from torture for him. The loud music, the smoke, and the constant fear of having your junk groped by an STD laden stripper.

  Yeah, no thank you.

  “We don’t need to discuss Tony Mays. I want to discuss this man,” Greyson said, sliding the phone toward him.

  “Oh, you mean his buddy.”

  “Yeah, Ollie. What can you tell us about him? I think the last time he was in was about two weeks ago, right?”

  He thought about it.

  “Yeah, that’s about right. He came in with Mr. Mays, and they had a booth over here.”

  “And?” Dimitri asked.

  “The guy with Mr. Mays was big time drunk. He was all over the one stripper to the point I thought I was going to have to step in and kick him out.”

  That was interesting.

  “Which one?” Greyson asked.

  The man pointed toward a woman who was shaking her ass in some drunk’s face.

  Yeah, he’d rather die than have this life.

  “Does the lady have a name?” he asked, pulling out a fifty for his help.

  “Christy Kinney. She’s legal and she’s worked here for a while.”

  Dimitri nodded his head toward the woman. “Get her.”

  Ollie didn’t hesitate to take the money and head out of there. It wasn’t like they could blame him. They didn’t want to be hanging out there either. The other patrons were beginning to talk.

  When the woman headed their way, he held up cash. Croft had learned that in Vegas, money spoke the same language and it was easier to negotiate right off the bat.

  “Hey, sugar. What can I get you?”

  He slid his phone to her. “He was in two weeks ago. Do you remember him?” he asked.

  “Yeah, I do. He was unforgettable.”

  “What did he order off the stripper menu?”

  “He asked questions.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, about Tony Mays.”

  This was getting weird.

  “So, you took him in the back, drunk as a skunk, and he didn’t try to get into your glittery panties?” Greyson asked.

  “No, but you can if you want, sexy.”

  “Yeah, no, thank you.”

  “Can’t hate a girl for trying.”

  Well, his wife could.

  Already, he was starting to feel bad about giving her the cold shoulder. He’d have to apologize when he got home.

  “What else did you tell him?”

  She looked around.

  “We won’t mention ever being here.”
<
br />   That helped her relax and loosen up her tongue.

  “I told him what I knew. He asked about all kinds of businesses, and such. Tony is a good client. You won’t tell him, right?”

  “No.”

  “The geek mostly wanted to know what kind of business deals Tony was working and if he ever said anything to me.”

  “And did he?” Dimitri asked, sliding her some cash.

  “No. In here, Tony is all about the pussy. You don’t bring up business when he’s trying to get his rocks off.”

  He thought about it.

  None of this was adding up.

  “What else?”

  She looked guilty.

  “What?” Dimitri stated.

  “Are you sure you won’t rat me out?” she asked, lowering her voice.

  “Yeah, we won’t. The geek, as you called him, turned up dead. We’re trying to figure this out.”

  Were they?

  Dimitri gave him a look.

  Officially, the case was closed. They found the man, the widow could get her money, and they could walk.

  Right?

  “He gave me one hundred bucks to swipe a key card from Tony’s pants when I was blowing him.”

  Well, that answered that question of where he got the card from.

  “I’m sorry I helped. Please don’t tell Tony.” She began crying.

  Dimitri handed her his pocket square.

  “We won’t, Chrissy. Thank you for your help,” he said, as they both slid out of the booth. Both men headed outside.

  “What are you thinking?” Dimitri asked as they hopped into his ride.

  “Who killed Dalton?”

  “You realize that we don’t have to work this case. His wife wanted our help finding him, and we did.”

  Greyson stared at him.

  There was no way in hell he could walk away now.

  “He had blueprints to our warehouse, and if he was going to frame me, that’s war.”

  “But the dead man…”

  Greyson knew he had to do the right thing.

  He knew he couldn’t walk away from this and pretend that they’d done the job.

  It was against his nature.

  “We have to see this to the end.”

  Dimitri figured as much.

  “Where to, boss man?” Dimitri asked, as he pulled out of his parking spot.

  “We have one more stripper to talk to, and then we’ll head home.”

  “To apologize to Emma?” he asked.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  Only, Greyson wasn’t paying attention. He was thinking about something completely different.

  This case stunk to high heaven.

  * * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *

  New York

  City

  When his wife rolled out in a wheelchair, the nurse pushing behind her, she looked groggy.

  “Mr. Archer?” she called.

  Paris rolled toward her.

  “That’s me.”

  “She needs to rest, and we’ll send an email to remind her when to take the pregnancy test,” the woman offered.

  Paris could hear it in her voice.

  Even she didn’t think it was going to happen.

  His heart skipped.

  “Thank you so much for everything,” he stated, holding out his hand for his wife.

  “Come on, baby, I’ll wheel you out of here,” he said, as Tessa climbed into his lap. Immediately, she rested her head on his shoulder.

  Paris headed for the door.

  When they got outside, she burst into tears.

  “Tessie, my sweet, what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  He didn’t buy it.

  His wife wasn’t one to cry, but as of late, this whole pregnancy thing, trying to have a baby, and their failure was weighing heavily on her shoulders.

  Tessa was suffering.

  “You can tell me, Tessa. We’re a couple, and we face everything head on as a team.”

  He lifted her chin.

  “Sweetheart.”

  She stared into his baby blue eyes. “When they did the implantation…”

  He waited for it.

  “I wasn’t under twilight yet.”

  He let his wife continue as they headed toward the elevator. “Okay, baby. What?”

  “The doctor told the nurse there was like a zero percent chance this was going to work, and to not book a follow up treatment.”

  His heart sank.

  He figured that was going to happen.

  His sperm count was so damn low…this was all his fault. They’d waited so long to get the IVF and now their one opportunity had gone out the window.

  Along with the chances of starting a family.

  His heart broke.

  “So, we won’t be coming back,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, Paris. We won’t be parents.”

  He heard the pain in her voice. Tessa wanted to carry a baby for him, she wanted to be a mother.

  “I’ll figure it out, honey. You just put your faith in me. Where there’s a will, there will be a way.”

  As the elevator doors closed, he closed his eyes.

  And began to pray.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Saturday Afternoon

  G reyson Croft was still cranky. He was sitting in the passenger seat and staring out the window as the Vegas scenery went past him. The entire trip to the next strip club was done in silence.

  Dimitri knew this wasn’t the norm. Croft, while irritated, was still one to banter openly about pretty much anything.

  This time, nothing.

  “Want to talk about it?” he asked.

  “This case is bugging the hell out of me and I don’t know why.”

  “Can you narrow that down?” he asked. Dimitri wasn’t an investigator, but he knew the people he called family were damn good at it.

  “Something is off.”

  “Like?”

  “I can’t put my finger on it.”

  Dimitri was going to say something the man wasn’t going to like. All he could hope was it wouldn’t explode into an argument.

  “Can I give you a suggestion?” he asked.

  “Sure.”

  “Bag the case. We did what the client wanted, and this is a win for us. Maybe we need to walk away.”

  He glanced over.

  “Tiffany Harding will be able to get her husband’s life insurance, and move on with her kids. You and Emma are fighting, you’re cranky, and honestly, this one is out of our realm. We have a two-week-old dead body. We can’t solve them all.”

  He didn’t like that, but maybe the man was right. Now that Thomas Christ was in town, he didn’t like that the man would be focused on his wife. The commissioner had taken another strike at the family because there was no way this was a coincidence.

  This was bad news, and he could see it coming.

  “Maybe you’re right.”

  Dimitri stared at him. “Pardon?”

  He started laughing. “I get it. You didn’t think I’d take that well because I’m cranky. Well, I don’t want my wife out in the open right now.”

  Dimitri still couldn’t believe it.

  “The new homicide captain didn’t just pop up for shits and giggles. This is Jeffery Raye’s doing. It smells like a rat. If we dig into this case, we’ll be tangling with that viper.”

  “So, you’re over what he said to you?”

  “Hell no! I’ll never be over that, so all I can do is backpedal, get our ducks in a row, and brace for the next strike. It’ll be coming from them.”

  Dimitri happened to agree.

  He and Greyson thought alike on most things. Honestly, if they walked away from this, he could regroup and focus on what the hell was coming next.

  “Plus, there’s a body in Mays’s warehouse. So, they already think we had something to do with it.”

  Exactly.

  They were telling the widow what was going on, and they were done. She woul
d be okay. As far as they were concerned, this was a completed case.

  “It’s settled. We’re off the case after this interview. We’ll give Tiffany Harding everything we have, and she can take it to the police.”

  The crooked police.

  Yeah, it bothered him, but at some point, Greyson had to cut his losses. This was all about his wife’s life, and his sanity. A smart man knew when to fold them.

  He was out of the game.

  “We’re here.”

  Greyson looked at the building. It was totally a Dimitri place. It was classy on the outside, so ‘Black Spade’ was going to be nice on the inside too.

  “It looks like you,” Greyson stated.

  “What?”

  “Aquarius is your personality. It’s laid back, it’s slick, and it’s warm.”

  “I am not warm.”

  He snorted. “Yeah, okay. Anyway, this place is clean cut, even though it’s peddling lap dances.”

  “Well, like I said, I’ve likely slept with the women inside. I would hire them from the madam, and then save them.”

  “You’re a perverted gentleman.”

  Dimitri stared at him. “Just because you’re cranky, doesn’t mean you have to make me go there too.”

  Greyson patted him on the back. They all knew Dimitri hated when they said nice things about him. It drove him insane.

  That’s probably why they did it.

  “Let’s get this done. I want to head over to Tiffany’s home and tell her she’s got her closure.”

  “Yeah, she’s not working. I gave her today off. Saturdays are chaos at ‘Aquarius’. I don’t think she’s ready for that kind of insanity.”

  They both got out of the ride. Greyson noticed Dimitri was tense.

  “What?” he asked.

  Then he felt it.

  “We have eyes on us,” he stated, scanning the street around them.

  “Yeah, we had a tail on the ride over here, but now we really have someone.”

  He motioned to a car that was parking a few rows away. Greyson stared at it.

  “Cops.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. The tags are going to be registered as city vehicles.”

  “Let’s go in. It’s probably those two dick detectives trying to find something to tie us to that body.”