Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“What leaked?”
“Dead body at the governor’s mansion. Nothing else, but if the press wasn’t there, it will be soon. Was the governor there? Is he involved?”
“I’m too busy looking for chopped off hands to get into details. We need to discuss this later.”
“Fuck. Fuck. I repeat, I need to be involved in this.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get it. You will. Right now, I’m dealing with the governor and the governor-elect under one roof. I’ll call you when this is done.” I disconnect.
I was right. The killer is seeking distraction and confusion and wasn’t about to allow us to control the narrative. In fact, it’s beginning to look desperate. The question is why? What is right in front of our faces that he doesn’t want us to see?
I text Tic Tac: The hunt for connected cases is a priority and stretch beyond state lines
He answers almost instantly: Nothing yet
I think for a moment: We need any murder that somehow connected to a political figure. It doesn’t need to match the details of this crime which could be flash and distraction
I dial Adams who picks up on the first ring. “Agent, if the problem over there is solved, I might call you a magician not a bitch. Or both.”
“Just a bitch and proud of it. Anonymous tip to the press about the murder. The press is headed your way.”
He curses. “That didn’t last long. What do they know?”
“Dead body found at the governor’s mansion. That’s all. My gut says the killer is trying to keep us busy and distracted. And I don’t have time to get into this, but everything about the crime scene says he’s looking for a distraction to me. And in my humble opinion, this move reeks of desperation.”
“Nothing about you is humble, Agent.”
“No need to get honest with me, Director, when you never have before.”
“We’ll talk about that at a later date. What do you want to do with the witnesses in light of the development? I know what I want to do, but I want to know what you want to do.”
“Chief Houston’s losing his shit because the mayor is losing his shit. I want to interview them tomorrow at the NYPD. Houston can observe. And make sure they all know they are not at liberty to leave the city. One of them could be our guy.”
“If the killer is in the witness room, I’d think he’d have told the press your father was here.”
“I don’t. Not with Pocher breathing down his throat. And if he told that kind of detail, we’d know he’s there. Or we’d know he’s watching and close. I judge him smart enough to know better than to give up too much information. In my book, the only thing that matters to me right now, the why of the tip he handed out. Is it because he’s under our noses, even in that witness room, and is afraid of being caught? Or is he creating the distraction he needs to kill again?
Chapter Thirty-Three
After Adams vows to handle the mayor and Houston, and expedite the dental records, I’m onward to the two demon minion governors. God, I hate politicians, especially when one is my father. I’ve just reached the door when it hits me, I’ve forgotten a problem and I turn to Enrique. “Where is Andrew?”
“Babysitting your father, and I’m fairly certain, ready for a rubber room.”
“He was born ready for a rubber room so don’t let that be your gauge for anything.” Enrique opens the door and Kane appears, his expression that’s normally as solid as rock, slides slightly east, and when I look into his deep brown eyes, I find not one ounce of patience left.
Kane joins me in the hallway and motions Enrique inside. “There’s a floor under construction. Let’s go there because I don’t trust there aren’t bugs everywhere.”
He’s not wrong and I wonder if my father even knows about most of them. We walk to the elevator and he punches the call button. The doors open almost instantly and a few steps later we’re sealed inside. He faces me and his hands settle on my shoulders, both of us untrusting of elevator cameras and listening devices, but it doesn’t stop him from saying, “Your brother.” That’s all. Just “your brother” and I don’t need more. Andrew is a good person, too good for this family, and the corruption is destroying him. He needs to leave the city, go someplace and start a life of his own, one that isn’t ruled by our father, one that isn’t haunted by the death of our mother, even if he’s haunted by her loss.
“He needs out of here,” I whisper. “Sometimes I think we do, too but it’s not that simple for us. It still is for him.”
“Until it’s not.”
His words punch me in the gut. Andrew is in dangerous territory. He can get out, but not much longer. Soon he’ll know too much, be involved too deeply and the only exit will be by way of someone dying, probably him. “I’ll get him out,” I vow and the elevator dings and opens. Kane captures my hand and leads me onto the concrete floor, wind punching at the plastic on a gaping wall, and we walk the other direction, in a corner, out of the line of sight of anyone who might have followed us.