He did.
“Keep digging. If Croft and that killer are up to something, it likely has EVERYTHING to do with that body we found.”
“You think they killed that man?” he asked.
“Yes. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
Lester wasn’t so sure. “If he killed him, wouldn’t we have it on the security tapes?”
“You mean the ones where the cameras went down twice?”
He shrugged. “Glitches happen.”
Heath looked over. “Shit happens. In Vegas, when it goes down, you know who is ALWAYS behind it?” he asked.
“The Crofts?”
“Yes. They’re up to something. I’d bet my paycheck on it.”
Lester went back to his laptop. He knew one thing for sure. His partner was obsessed with finding anything on the Crofts. He wanted to take them down in the worst way.
He only hoped one thing.
That obsession wouldn’t get him killed.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Tiffany Harding’s
Home
No cop liked doing a notify, and this was no different even though she no longer had a badge.
They were going to tell a woman they found her husband, and even if she suspected it, that was going to be devastating. Emma knew if she had been the one to get that knock on the door, it would crush her.
Even when her husband was being as ass.
Then again, with Tiffany, she already suspected. This would give her closure.
At least she would have peace.
As much as the widow could have.
When Emma and Chris pulled up, there were kids playing in the front yard. Well, one was on her cell phone, and three were running in circles around her.
Emma was glad there was life at the house, and that Tiffany would have someone to lean on when she got the bad news.
Plus, it was good to know that someone was going to be home. Honestly, Emma didn’t want to come back to do this again. It was hard enough.
When they got out, the kids stopped running. One of the littlest ones ran at Emma, carrying a stuffed dog.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“Don’t talk to strangers,” the oldest said.
“My name is Emma. I’m here to talk to your mom. Is she around?” she asked.
The oldest girl took the smaller one’s hand in hers. “She’s inside. You can knock.”
Emma knew the oldest kid knew something was going on. She could see it in her eyes. There was that recognition there.
“Thank you. Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m Beth. Is this about my dad?” she asked.
“It’s nice to meet you, Beth, and I think your mom can answer that for you when we leave.”
The girl looked worried.
Yeah, she knew. If the kid was all over social media, there was no doubt that she was all over the news and saw the headlines.
Her father was dead.
At the door, they knocked.
Tiffany Harding came to the door, and she looked harried, exhausted, and emotionally worn down.
Emma reintroduced herself, in case there was any doubt who she was and why she was there.
“Remember me? I’m Emma Croft and this is my associate, Christopher Ford.”
“My husband?” she asked, glancing back and forth between the two people.
“Yes, it’s about that.”
“Come in.”
They followed her inside and took seats on the well-worn couch.
“It’s not going to be good news, is it? That’s why Dimitri sent you.”
Well, Dimitri or Greyson didn’t really know she was there, but that was on them. When you didn’t share with your team, you didn’t get all the information.
“Mrs. Harding…”
She burst into tears. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”
Emma took her hand in hers. “Yes, he is. The police will be notifying you soon. His body was found today.”
She sobbed.
Emma felt for her. As a married woman, whose husband was once a Fed, she’d worried about this exact conversation.
Now she worried about some two-bit mob wannabe trying to knock him off.
It sucked.
“I knew it,” she said, wiping furiously at her eyes. “I knew he wouldn’t just leave us. He loved his kids. He was a damn good father.”
Emma let her get it off her chest.
“This sucks.”
Yeah, it did.
At that moment, the front door opened and the oldest child came into the room and right to her mother’s side.
“Mom! Are you okay?” she asked.
“It’s about Daddy. Oh, Beth, he’s not coming home.”
The kid looked upset.
“Is he…?”
She didn’t say the word, and it was probably for the best. Emma didn’t want her to say it.
Hell!
Emma wished this wasn’t happening for the child’s sake. She’d been down this road with her parents’ deaths and her brother’s too.
Sucked wasn’t a strong enough word.
Immediately, Beth began crying too.
She sat beside her mother on the couch and held her in her arms.
Emma’s heart broke for them.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Harding.”
The woman grabbed some tissues and blotted her eyes and then her daughter’s. “Thank you for taking this on and finding him for me. We can start to heal. The unknown is far worse. At least he didn’t leave me for a new life. He didn’t leave me behind in that sense.”
“We knew,” Beth said. “My dad was a good man. He wouldn’t leave us.”
Emma patted her knee. “I bet he loved you girls so damn much.”
She nodded. “I know he did. There’s a hole in my heart,” she whispered. “Who killed my father?”
In that moment, Emma knew what she needed to do.
They weren’t finished.
She was going to find the person who did this, and they were going to make sure there was justice.
For Tiffany Harding.
And her kids.
“Mrs. Harding, we’ll keep working this.”
The woman looked surprised.
Chris even looked surprised.
“Really? Even though you’re not a cop anymore? Won’t that get you into trouble?” she asked. “That’s the last thing I want,” she offered. “You all have been so helpful. When the cops wouldn’t take this on, Dimitri did, and he even gave me a job. If you can’t do it, I understand.”
Oh, it probably would get her into a shitload of trouble, but then again, what was new?
Emma thought about Thomas Christ, and the shit storm on the horizon.
Yeah, this family deserved justice.
“We’re going to find the person who killed your husband and get justice for your family.”
The rest of the kids came in, and Emma and Chris made their escape out the front door. She couldn’t bear to see more sadness from those poor kids.
Their lives had changed.
Outside, Chris was scanning the area to make sure they were safe.
“We have to find his killer.”
“It’s not going to be easy, Emma. We don’t have the access…”
She cut him off. “We’ve worked with less, and you know it.”
She had a point.
“Head’s up. Here comes your husband.”
They both watched as the sleek ride pulled up. When Greyson got out, he was staring right at her.
“What are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay at Terrace Glen. I think I was pretty clear on that.”
She didn’t like his tone.
Oh, it pissed her right off.
“I came to tell Mrs. Harding her husband was found. I figured someone who wasn’t being an asshole should do it.”
He thought about what Dimitri had said.
Croft took it down a notch and let the name calling go. H
e’d probably deserved it.
Greyson sighed. “How did she take it?” he asked.
“About as well as a wife would. She’s inside with her kids and they’re mourning Dalton’s death.”
Well, at least it was done.
Now Greyson didn’t have to deal with it.
“Let’s head home. This case is wrapped,” he stated. “We did what we were hired to do, and it’s time to lay low for a while. Vegas is getting stirred up.”
Emma stared at him like he was speaking in some foreign language.
“What?”
“We did our job. We found her husband, and we’re bailing. There’s a war coming, Emma. The commissioner is up to something, and the less time we spend out in the open, the better. We’re done.”
“So you made your mind up before talking to me, your partner? That’s it?”
Both Dimitri and Chris Ford looked uncomfortable.
Someone was about to get their ass handed to them. Only, neither was sure who.
By the looks on their face, this was a toss-up.
Emma was bright red.
Greyson was a stubborn mule.
Oh, yeah.
This was going to get ugly.
“I’m doing what’s best to keep my wife, and my family, safe, Emma. Now isn’t the time. We just lost a tail, and there’s no doubt in my mind who it belonged to.”
She didn’t care.
She was angry.
“You’re not the boss, Greyson. We’re married. We’re equals.”
The smug look on his face said otherwise.
“Well, I see you don’t believe that. Well, you can head home. You’re done with the case. I have bad news for you.”
“What?”
“I told Tiffany I was going to find the person who killed her husband.”
“EMMA!”
“So, Greyson Croft, it looks like I have work to do. One of us is off duty, and it’s not going to be me. In case your ego is in the way, let me tell you that I am not giving up until I find the person who killed Dalton. I hope that’s clear enough for you.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it.
In silence, she headed toward her ride.
Greyson stood there and stared after her like she had two heads and seven eyes.
He didn’t know what to think.
“Did she basically just tell me to fuck off?” he asked.
Dimitri wanted to laugh, but he knew that was the worst thing to do at that moment.
Greyson was a man on the edge.
Plus, he had an even bigger problem. His wife was going rogue.
Finally, when he managed to regain his composure, Dimitri spoke, “Yeah, she verbally flipped you off,” he stated. “I guess she didn’t really like your earlier behavior. Who would have seen that coming?”
Yeah, he did. A pissed off woman was a wild card, and Croft had forgotten that.
Greyson wasn’t amused.
“This isn’t over.”
Dimitri wouldn’t bet on that.
Chapter Fifteen
Terrace Glen
W hen they arrived home, Emma had already made it there and had barricaded herself in her office. Greyson wasn’t happy about that at all. He didn’t like locked doors between him and his wife.
In fact, if she wanted to push him over the edge, this was EXACTLY the way to do it.
He was a man on the edge.
This was escalating out of control, and someone had to stop it from becoming a disaster.
He knocked.
She refused to let him in.
“Go away, Greyson. I have a case to work on. I’m busy doing anything but being your wife.”
It pissed him off. His wife, the woman he loved more than his own life, was baiting a dangerous tiger. Her attitude was making his go south.
And fast.
“In case you need a definition—wife does not mean property. It means other half—as in a partner with whom you make decisions. Oh, I guess Dimitri is your wife or are you his?”
Okay.
He was done.
This was pissing him off.
“You’re not finding this killer!” he replied.
Well, so much for halting the escalation. His temper was now in control, and from the looks of it, so was hers.
She shouted back through the door. “I am! You’re simply my husband, not my boss. Me and my team are going to do this! You and Dimitri can watch.”
This was childish, and he knew it.
They had to start getting ready for the evening. There was a function to go to, and they couldn’t be arguing.
“Emma, can we talk about this?”
She opened her office door and stared at him. “I’m not your property, Greyson. I have the ability to make my own decisions and keep myself safe. I have security out the wazoo, and I have a brain. I’m going to find who killed Dalton Harding because it’s the right thing to do.”
He was bubbling with anger inside.
Greyson wanted to protect his wife. He wanted to make sure she was safe. Why was this even an issue?
Why couldn’t she see it?
There were days that having a strong-willed woman at your side was a pain in the ass.
Today was that day.
“Emma, I don’t want to fight. I’m simply stating that the commissioner didn’t bring that man here as a coincidence. He’s from your past. Bad things are coming. We’re being baited on a whole new level.”
She was pissed.
Did he think she wasn’t aware of that?
This was a shitty hand, but she wasn’t going to run and hide. Emma was going all in, and she was going to win this game.
Period.
“Bad things are always coming, Greyson. We live in ‘Sin City’. We can’t hide because something scares us.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” he stated. “I have a man from my wife’s past staring me in the face, Emma.”
“And?” she asked. “You’ve been with people, haven’t you?” she asked. “You weren’t a virgin the first time we made love.”
He hated this conversation.
“This is different.”
“How?”
“You’re my woman.”
There.
He said it.
It wasn’t his fault that the rules were different for him because he was a man. This was just how life was.
He didn’t make the rules.
He simply lived by them.
She stared at him in horror. “You did not just say that out loud.”
“I did.”
“I’ll see you in the car for the ride to the gallery.”
“I have something for you before…”
She cut him off. “Personally, I don’t want you to dangle baubles all over me if you only do it to show the world you own me. You can take your diamond and shove it up your…!”
“Emma. Tread lightly.”
She reined it in a bit.
“You know where!”
Greyson sputtered like a teakettle. “Emma Croft, you get your ass back here!”
She ignored him.
In fact, Emma didn’t look back as she walked down the hall, past him, and into their room. There was a slam of the door.
He cringed.
Yeah, Dimitri had been right.
This was bad.
When Greyson headed after her, planning to kick in the door if he had to, he was stopped by Chris Ford outside his door.
“Uh, can I talk to you?” he asked.
“No. I have a wife to talk some sense into right before I have a major stroke.”
“Yeah, it’s not going well, so here’s a thought…take a break and let me talk to you.”
He stared back and forth from Chris to his closed door. What he wanted was to grab his wife, put her over his knee, and then teach her she was his.
And she’d always be his too.
Only, he knew that wouldn’t end well.
Option B, it was.<
br />
Greyson headed into the man’s room. On his bed was a really nice tuxedo.
“You’ll impress her tonight.”
Chris hoped so. This was totally not his thing. Chris Ford was a simple man, and he liked it that way. All of this pomp and circumstance felt…fake. When it came to Natasha, he wanted her to see the real him.
This was like lying.
It was like when you picked up a woman, and when you woke up the following morning to find out her hair was fake, her boobs had been padded, and she was actually ten years older without makeup.
Yeah, he’d made that mistake before.
“What do you want to talk to me about?” Greyson asked, trying to speed this along.
“Know what will impress Emma? Try trusting her. If she feels like she needs to do this, then you need to let her.”
“But that asshole…”
He held up his hand and pointed to the laptop on the dresser. “While you were getting your feathers all ruffled, Dimitri and I took the time to run a search on Thomas Christ. You need to read it.”
“Why?”
“It’s part of Emma’s past. Aren’t you the least bit curious about that time in her life?” he asked, knowing damn well the man was.
What husband wouldn’t be?
He headed toward the laptop.
On it, there was a shitload of bad news. It was worse than Greyson had expected.
They had trouble.
Thomas Christ had been demoted, he’d been accused of police brutality, and taking bribes—and that was the better of his infractions.
Shit!
“This is exactly why I don’t want my wife anywhere near him,” Greyson offered. “He’s insane and dangerous. The only way this man was able to get your old job was because he is being paid off by the commissioner.”
He understood.
And that was kind of his point.
“So instead of using that to fight with your wife, why don’t you use that to your advantage? Commissioner Raye thinks he buried this, but clearly, he did not. We have it. Let’s hold it until we need to dump it all over the man.”
He thought about it.
“They knew this would rattle you. They threw it at you to force your hand. That’s not the Greyson I know. He’s calm, collected, and rational. They wanted to rattle yours and Emma’s cage, and they have. Don’t let them win.”
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 27
