“Okay, show me.”
“How about him?” she asked, showing her Milo Clements.
“I know him from when we would see Tony. He was one of the men driving him. I think he’s a bodyguard, but I’m not sure,” she admitted.
“Have you seen him around your home?”
She shook her head.
“No, why?”
“We are looking for a suspect in Dalton’s death and we think the person is somehow tied into Tony Mays’s mess.”
She sobbed. “I really wish you’d stop,” she stated. “I know the killer deserves to be brought to justice, but Dalton is gone. I don’t know what he was involved in, but my kids need peace.”
Emma got it.
But…
“He was tortured, Tiffany. We need to find the person to get him justice. No one deserves to be killed like that.”
She wiped furiously at her eyes. “I hate this.”
They all did.
When someone was killed, it offended anyone who fought for justice.
“How about his woman?” she asked. “Her name is Gina. She was Tony’s babe, of sorts, I guess.”
“Is that someone he was sleeping with too?”
Emma wasn’t sure why all of a sudden Tiffany was so sure that her husband had cheated on her.
She was about to ask, but then stopped.
Something didn’t feel right.
Was she evading?
“Do you recognize her?” she asked, again, showing her Gina Sorenson’s photo.
“No.”
Emma caught it.
She’d just lied.
Tiffany knew this woman. Why was she trying so hard to pretend otherwise? If she knew her, she knew her.
After all, she admitted to seeing the bodyguard with Tony. Why wouldn’t she have seen his side piece?
That was interesting.
“Okay,” Emma said, putting the phone away. “I’m sorry I’ve upset you. It wasn’t my intention.”
“I just wish this would all go away. Once I get my husband’s life insurance money, I’m quitting this job. I need to forget about all of this. I’m leaving Vegas with my girls and going home.”
Emma didn’t stop her when she got up to leave.
All the while, Chris silently watched from the doorway.
“She lied.”
“Yeah, I know. Want to find out why?” she asked.
Chris grinned. “If you order me some coffee, I’ll get out my tablet, and we can do it.”
She could do that.
Something was fishy.
And they were going to get to the bottom of it.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Dimitri’s phone began ringing.
Not his normal phone, but a small flip phone he kept in his pocket. When he pulled it out, he saw the number.
“It’s your detective friend,” he offered, handing it to Croft to answer.
Greyson flipped it open and hit speaker. “Yeah, what’s up?” he asked.
“Can you talk?”
“About?” Greyson asked.
“The shit hitting the fan.”
Greyson looked at the clock. He was supposed to be meeting Emma at ‘Aquarius’, but that wasn’t going to happen. “Can you head to my place? Take the back gate inside?”
“Have it open for me.”
He hung up.
Greyson hit the button on the dash. It immediately dialed Emma’s cell.
“Hey, handsome.”
“Can we skip ‘Aquarius’, and head to the house? We have a meeting with a cop.”
She already knew who.
“We can. We talked to the widow.”
“And?”
She laughed. “Something is up.”
Yeah, he got that.
“Talk to you there. Be safe, kitten. Did you take your test?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I’ll tell you later.”
He was dying to know.
Was he going to be a father or not? As soon as he knew, he could make a decision about donating sperm to his friend so Paris and Tessa could then have a family.
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Grey.”
He hung up.
“What’s going on?”
“If someone wanted to borrow your swimmers, would you let them?”
“Borrow them? As in take them to the movies and leave them behind in a date to impregnate a woman with them?”
He stared at him.
“You’re not right in the head. A simple yes or no would have sufficed.”
Dimitri laughed. “Are we talking about what I said?”
“Yes, of course.”
He told him about Paris.
Dimitri whistled. “I’m more concerned with the don’t tell his wife part. That’s a divorce in the making. I’m single, and even I see that coming.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“This is a tough one.”
Greyson was aware.
“Just get us home. I have a lot to think about.”
Yeah, he really did.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Terrace Glen
When he got there, Emma was pulling in behind him. As they exited their vehicles, he couldn't read her face. If his wife was having a child, he couldn’t tell.
She was keeping it close to her vest.
That worried him. Maybe she wasn’t pregnant.
Shit!
“Is he here?” Greyson asked, as Natasha exited the house and headed straight for Chris to go into his arms.
“Yeah, he’s in the living room. He looks frazzled. Tessa is keeping an eye on him.”
Chris gave her a kiss on the lips. “I missed you, baby.”
She rubbed against him wantonly. “Oh, I missed you more.”
Dimitri sighed. “Let’s just get this done so I don’t have to watch them,” he practically begged.
They headed in.
“What’s going on?” Greyson asked.
“I just overheard the commissioner, Heath, and Captain Christ talking. They were in their office.”
Chris laughed. “I see the walls are still as thin as paper. You’d think they would have fixed that when they were riddled full of bullets and I nearly died on the floor.”
Apparently not.
“What were they saying?” Greyson asked. He was curious about this man, but he was always curious about getting one over on the commissioner and Thomas Christ.
He told him.
“So, they are going to go after my warehouse to make me look like a drug dealer?” he asked.
That pissed him off.
If he was going to start that war, Greyson would pull all the stops out, until he took them all down, starting with the man willing to plant the drugs.
Heath Spencer was a dead man.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“What are you going to do?” Riley asked. “I don’t know when they’ll move on it, but I do know we just had a drug bust and there was a shitload of crack in holding.”
“It gets transferred on Mondays,” Emma stated. “He’ll likely take it when it’s being checked out. That’s the easiest way to make some disappear as it’s being loaded on the truck to be destroyed.”
He agreed.
“So, I have a week.” Greyson pulled out his phone and called his brother. Dante answered on the second ring.
“Yo!”
“We have an issue.”
He told him.
“Well, that sucks. I just bought that warehouse. It was in the perfect location for our deliveries.”
Croft didn’t care.
“Unload it. I also want it cleared out tonight. If they’re going to make a move on it, they’ll use surveillance first. They’ll take their time, since they don’t realize I know what’s going on.”
Dante agreed.
“I can have it empty in the next few hours.”
“I also want all the other assets we have buried under shell company names. I want them to have to work for it to find them.”
“I can do that.”
“We’re going to take Detective Spencer down.”
Who could blame him?
“I’ll have it all taken care of before I head home for the night. We’ve got some muscle lying around. They’ll be happy for the extra work.”
“Pay them well. I want this to be a silent operation.”
“Got it.”
Dante hung up.
“You move fast,” Riley stated.
“I do. I appreciate it. We’re going to work on the case. Can you stay?”
He shook his head. “I’m on my lunch break. If I don’t get back…”
They got it.
He was the mole.
They’d come for him.
“I’ll keep my ears open. Heath has become unhinged. He’s working on trying to take you down, and he’s running his mouth. Everyone in the squad hears about it. I might actually get more intel for you.”
“Thank you,” Greyson said, shaking his hand.
He headed out.
“Lock up,” Dimitri told his sister.
Natasha followed the man to secure the back gate.
“Well?” Dimitri stated. “Do you trust him?”
“This will be our test. If they try and bury my business, we know he’s on our side.”
They agreed.
“I can make Heath disappear.”
Emma stared at her husband.
Greyson could feel her eyes on him. This was the tricky part of it all. His wife wasn’t as willing to cross into the dark side. He personally was.
To protect his family, he’d do anything.
“If the time comes.”
It was the best he could offer his wife.
Emma knew her husband was throwing her a bone. So, she let it go.
Instead, she was ready to work.
“What did you find out at the dead mob man’s house?” she asked.
“That she thinks common law marriage is legal in Vegas and she’s going to inherit it all after a year. If she’s not in the will, she’s screwed.”
Then he told her the rest.
Emma listened.
“And she wasn’t even upset?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s almost as suspicious as when Tiffany Harding lied to me and said she didn’t know Gina Sorenson. She had to have seen her. Tony took the redhead everywhere. If you look up arm candy, you’ll find her picture.”
“Or yours,” Greyson teased. “It must be a redhead thing.”
She pointed at him.
“Or so I’m told.”
That made her laugh. “You are in a dangerous area, caveman.”
Yeah, he was aware.
“Something has to be going on,” Tessa offered. “If you smell smoke, there’s usually a fire not far behind.”
She had a point.
“How did you do?” Greyson asked her.
Tessa sent the images to the screen.
“I found the address you wanted, Greyson, and also can confirm that Adrian Tracey works for the big wigs in Vegas. He’s the accountant that can help you hide shit.”
That explained why no electronic trail.
“His office is in one of the most secure buildings in Vegas, and I’m betting there’s a reason.”
“Yeah, and why he wanted a warrant for his partner’s files,” stated Dimitri.
“We need to see what he has.”
“If he’s not letting the police peek, I don’t think he’s going to let a mob boss do it either—especially a mob boss he doesn’t work for.”
Yeah, she was probably right.
“I can get in,” Natasha said from the doorway. “It won’t take long to break his security.”
“NO,” Chris immediately stated. “We did this once, and look what happened.”
He was still squeamish over the man he had to kill.
Dimitri didn’t say anything.
The two of them were having sex. Apparently, there was something more there. If they were going to fight, he’d let them work it out.
Like he’d told Chris, his job there was done.
“Christopher, I can do it,” Natasha offered. “I’ll be in and out before the motor even gets cold.”
She headed his way.
“Do I need to redraw the picture at that warehouse, Natasha?” he asked. “That was a clusterfuck. This smells like one, and that worries me.”
She got that.
“Trust me,” she said, sitting in his lap. “This is who I am. This is the job I’ve done for a long time. If you want to be with me, you have to accept I can’t change. I’m too far gone.”
He got it.
If he was going to love this woman, he couldn’t be hesitant when she was called upon to do dangerous things. That was the nature of the beast in Vegas.
“Please.”
Dimitri said nothing.
Oh, and it wasn’t easy.
Finally, Chris relented.
He gave up. “I guess we’ll be getting those files,” he stated, as she nuzzled his throat.
“Good,” Greyson replied.
“When are you going to do it?” Emma asked, glancing down at her watch.
“Tonight. I need to go by and do some recognizance. Do you want to come, Chris?”
Like he was going to let her out of his sight.
“Yeah, let me go get changed.”
Chris walked out, and he didn’t look happy. Natasha stared after him.
Dimitri took one for the team.
“You should go after him,” he stated.
“Really?”
Emma agreed.
“We’ll work on this. You go make this better,” she said. “He needs you.”
Natasha trusted them, and she followed.
Surely, Chris wouldn’t be upset with her.
This was her job.
Her duty.
Again, she was taking a risk.
And on a man.
* * * G r e y s o n C r o f t * * *
Pool House
When he got to the room, he was worried. All he could think of was Natasha getting hurt. It bothered him on some deep level.
Yes, she was good at her job.
Yes, she was a cat burglar.
Still…
She was his woman.
Jesus!
Emma had been right. He’d already claimed her as his. His heart knew, and now it was taking over his life. He thought about the case, and if she got hurt, she’d never know.
That didn’t seem right.
Didn’t Natasha deserve to know the truth? After all, she told him all the time how she felt about him.
Her words were always soothing.
Loving.
Peaceful.
Here, she was about to go into a building and do a job, and she deserved to know.
Chris was going to be honest.
When he turned, she was standing there. His heart skipped in his chest.
He loved her.
God!
He loved her like he’d never loved anyone else in his life. When she was near, his past fell away, and all he wanted was a present and future.
With her.
Chris knew the truth. There wouldn’t be a day that went by that he didn’t feel that way.
“You left and looked pissed,” Natasha stated. “Are you mad at me?”
“I was thinking.”
“About?”
He wanted to say it.
“You.”
“What about me?” she asked. “Is it good? Is it bad? Are you going to tell me?” she asked.
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“That’s how you learn.”
“It’s about us.”
“Oh.”
“Natasha.”
“What is it, Christopher? Please don’t tell me you’ve made a mistake. I don’t think m
y heart could handle any more pain. I don’t want to be hurt.”
He understood that.
He didn’t either.
“It’s good and bad.”
“Can you explain? I think I may throw up.”
“I don’t want to love anyone.”
Her face said it all.
She looked like she was about to cry.
Chris needed to do something, and fast. Natasha was about to run. He could see it.
“But I’ve fallen in love with you.”
She blinked.
“Pardon?”
“You heard me, Natasha. I’m in love with you. I know I wanted to wait longer until I was sure, but I’m pretty damn sure. I don’t want you to sleep anywhere but near me, and when you’re beside me, I have the first peace of my life.”
“Captain.”
He moved toward her. “I love you, Natasha, and I’m afraid I’m going to screw this up. Promise if I do, you won’t hate me. I’m trying. I’ll probably make you cry, or just frustrate the hell out of you, but I don’t want to. Just promise you’ll forgive me and trust that I do love you.”
She touched his face with her palm.
“I could never hate you. I love you, Captain.”
His heart skipped.
“Promise you’ll be safe tonight when you break into that office.”
She kissed him. “I promise.”
“Let me show you what’s inside of me,” he said, his voice filled with love and emotion. “Before we go out tonight, let me show you.”
She stared up at her handsome captain. “Yes, Christopher. Show me, and then I’ll show you too.”
Chris could live with that.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
T he family was off doing their thing, preparing for the night mission, but someone couldn’t focus. Greyson, on the other hand, was thinking of nothing but his wife and what the pregnancy test had said.
He was scared.
He didn’t want to hear it was false, but that was what he was expecting. After all, it had only been a few weeks. Granted, he’d jumped his wife so much they should both be too sore to copulate any more, but there was always that fear that maybe he was getting old.
What if his sperm count was too low, and he and Paris were in the same infertile boat?
Lost Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 2) Page 43
