by Karen Rose
‘Hey,’ Scarlett called when he turned to walk away. ‘How will you know where to start looking? We don’t know which bench Marcus was sitting on, so we don’t know which direction Tala came from.’
Deacon looked over his shoulder. ‘Ask Marcus when you see him,’ he said, then disappeared into the CPD building.
‘Yeah,’ Scarlett muttered. ‘I’ll do that.’
Ten
Cincinnati, Ohio
Tuesday 4 August, 9.15 A.M.
Demetrius closed Ken’s office door behind them, having followed him back from the conference room. Ken sank into the chair behind his desk and waited as Demetrius settled into one of the wingback chairs, looking far more comfortable than Decker had a few hours before. Physically comfortable, anyway. There was tension in his friend’s face. Ken knew his own face reflected the same tension.
‘Did you know that Reuben’s wife left him?’ Demetrius asked without preamble.
Ken managed to control his blink of surprise, both at the news and that Demetrius would have known it before he did. ‘No. When? Why?’
‘Yesterday. He didn’t tell me, by the way.’
Ken’s mind was racing. An angry wife, a sudden trip coinciding with the disappearance of both Reuben and one of his trusted men . . . Ken didn’t know how or if it was connected, but none of this boded well. Especially if Reuben’s wife had found out what he really did for a living.
‘How did you know then?’
‘His wife showed up on my doorstep last night, crying. Demanded to know who else he’d been screwing.’
Ken rubbed his forehead. ‘Who else? What does that even mean?’
‘Remember I told you this morning about the wife of the Brazilian?’
‘The one with roving hands who Reuben was supposed to protect you from?’ Dread was a sudden vise squeezing his heart. ‘Because Reuben liked the attention? Did Miriam find out about the Brazilians?’
‘No, but she did find out about the Indians.’
Ken slumped back in his chair. ‘Reuben was screwing our Indian supplier too?’
‘Not the supplier,’ Demetrius hedged. ‘Just the guy’s daughter.’
‘Holy shit.’ Ken closed his eyes, wishing he had Reuben in front of him right now. He’d beat the hell out of him. Each one of the four founding members had their proclivities, but they’d all learned to control their baser instincts for the greater good of the business – or at least to not get caught if they indulged elsewhere. Reuben’s job was to identify security threats from within the company and without, but it was Demetrius and Ken who dealt with those threats.
If an example was required, Demetrius would beat the hell out of the person and leave his body to be found by others who dared challenge their territory. If information was needed, Ken would carve the person up like a Thanksgiving turkey until they spilled every secret they knew.
Unfortunately, Joel and Reuben’s special needs didn’t do anything to help the company. Joel had a taste for very young boys, but was smart enough to hunt far from his own backyard. Reuben liked young girls, but he wasn’t as discriminating – or as careful – as Joel. Ken thought they’d dealt with Reuben’s carelessness years ago, but apparently their intervention hadn’t taken.
‘At least tell me that the girl’s eighteen,’ Ken muttered.
‘Barely, but yeah, she is. The supplier brought his wife and daughter to New York City last year to visit colleges while he did business with us. We met with him in his hotel suite and the daughter came in at one point. She was in the suite with us for maybe three minutes, just long enough to say hello and get more cash from her father. I don’t know how Reuben managed it, but the daughter apparently had a fling with him later that night.’ Demetrius rolled his eyes as he shook his head. ‘Then believed herself to be “in love”.’
‘God save me,’ Ken muttered. ‘How did Miriam find out?’
‘She found a note in Reuben’s pocket from the girl – on hotel stationery. Miriam managed to persuade someone at the hotel to alert her when the girl checked in again, which happened last week. Then she hired a PI to get pictures of Reuben and the girl together at the hotel.’
Ken ground his teeth. Reuben, you fucking idiot. ‘Did the PI get pictures?’
‘Oh yeah.’ Demetrius winced. ‘Reuben has tattoos in places I never wanted to see. But that’s not the worst part. It was a hotel near the airport, the same one where Reuben’s car was found.’
Ken leveled him an annoyed look. ‘You knew Reuben went to that hotel this morning?’
‘Hell, no.’ Demetrius looked offended. ‘I would have told you when you called. I didn’t put it together until Burton told us where Reuben’s car showed up in his tracking program. I didn’t want to tell everyone else about the girl, or that Miriam knew about her. We might have to deal with Miriam, and that’s not going to be an easy thing for any of us.’
‘Shit. I want to kill that sonofabitch Reuben.’
‘Stand in line behind Miriam. I’d say you’d be wise not to get in her way right now.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me last night?’
‘I should have. I wanted to talk to Reuben first. Get his side of things. I was worried when you said he’d gone missing, but I didn’t want to raise the alarm until I had all the information. Before I got you all riled up, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t puking his guts up like Jackson. I didn’t put it together until Burton told us that he’d tracked Reuben’s car.’
Ken’s frown deepened. ‘What is Jackson’s connection to all this?’
Demetrius sighed. ‘Miriam’s PI told her that Jackson was the lookout while Reuben was fucking all comers. Miriam may have gotten to both of them.’
‘Oh for God’s sake.’ Ken rubbed his eyes. ‘You mean the fact that Jackson passed out on the floor of his office was Miriam’s doing?’
‘Given that Decker found Jackson passed out in the middle of his shift makes me think that he consumed something just before he left home or when he first got here. It’s possible that Miriam drugged them both, especially since she was always sending in cookies and snacks for the guys in Reuben’s group. I’ll check the security video, see if it shows him eating or drinking.’
‘I already checked,’ Ken said. ‘I wanted to verify what Decker told me. Jackson drank nothing but coffee, but he mixed in his own creamer. He had it in a little silver bottle that he kept in the break-room fridge. Looked like a hip flask, so I can see why Decker thought he might be under the influence.’
‘I’ll have it analyzed.’
‘So where is Jackson? If he’s not home, then where is he?’
Demetrius shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Miriam might have poisoned him, but she isn’t strong enough to physically remove him from his home.’
‘She could have had a gun. If Jackson was as sick as Decker said, then he wouldn’t have been able to fight back.’
‘Maybe,’ Demetrius said. ‘Or Reuben might have stopped by Jackson’s house on his way to the airport to pick him up, just to make sure his wife didn’t get her hands on him. Miriam was really pissed off. I think she actually would kill them both if she caught them, especially if Jackson was too weak to fight back. I can check with the neighbors again, see if anyone saw either Reuben’s or Miriam’s car in Jackson’s driveway this morning after the cab dropped him off.’
‘Hopefully she hasn’t killed either of them. Or both,’ Ken said grimly. ‘But if she hasn’t, and if Reuben’s got Jackson because he knows his wife is on to him, he might run.’
‘They might have already left the country,’ Demetrius said with a scowl.
Ken sighed. ‘Sean and Burton are looking for him. If anyone can find Reuben, it’s Sean. Okay, damage control time. What was in the photos that Miriam got from her PI?’
‘Just fucking. But very creative fucking. Reuben is far more limber than I would have expected.’
Ken grimaced. ‘Not a picture I want in my head. What else could the PI have?’
‘Nothing,�
�� Demetrius said decisively.
Ken sat up straighter. ‘You paid him a visit?’
‘I sure as hell did. Right after Miriam left my house last night.’
‘Is he dead?’
A single nod. ‘And disposed of. I have his camera, all of his photo files and his backups. I’ve got his laptop so that Sean can see if he uploaded the photos anywhere.’
‘Smart.’
‘I thought so,’ Demetrius said mildly.
‘What about Miriam?’
Demetrius hesitated. ‘I don’t think she knows anything else. We’ll keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t have any meetings of her own. If we need to take her out, we will, but we should wait if we can. It would be too suspicious if she disappeared too close to the PI.’
‘This is why I wanted all of us to be single,’ Ken growled. ‘Damn wives fuck it all up.’
‘I know, I know.’
Both Demetrius and Joel were long divorced, and Ken had been dumb enough to marry – twice. He’d had to deal with his own mess when Sean’s mother got too curious. Since then he’d played it smart. He liked a woman warming his bed from time to time, but had never let anyone else too close. But Reuben had been married before he’d joined them, and he’d always insisted Miriam had no clue what they really sold. Reuben had been a cop, after all. For him to join forces with drug and sex kingpins was not an option she’d ever even entertained.
‘We should have forced Reuben to divorce her before we let him in.’ Ken glared at Demetrius. ‘Like I told you we should.’
Demetrius’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you really going to play “I told you so”?’
Ken considered it, but knew it wouldn’t help the current situation. ‘What do you know about Burton?’
‘Not much more than you do. He was trained by Reuben back in Tennessee. Was his partner for a year when they were Vice. He testified at Reuben’s hearing, said he had not taken bribes or stolen coke from the stashes they seized. Then got axed about six months after Reuben did. He’s extremely loyal to Reuben, but I think he was a little worried too. Otherwise he would have come and told you that he’d tracked Reuben’s car as soon as he found out, instead of trying to find his boss first.’
‘I can’t believe Reuben’s been tracking our cars,’ Ken muttered.
‘If it was the way Burton said it was, with all the password protection and layers of security, then I guess I can’t be too mad about it. You did hire him to keep us safe, after all.’
‘I should have hired someone to make sure he kept his pants zipped.’
‘True that. Have you heard from Alice?’
Ken’s brows shot up. ‘About what?’
‘About whether Reuben’s car is parked where Burton said it was.’ He rolled his eyes. ‘Come on, Kenny. I’ve known you how long? You were texting in a meeting. You never do that. And when we left the conference room, Alice was gone. She hasn’t taken her lunch hour in the four years since she finished law school and came on full time.’
‘You know a lot about my secretary,’ Ken said coldly.
Demetrius narrowed his eyes again. ‘Don’t even suggest it, Kenny. She’s my goddaughter, for Christsake. And even if she weren’t, I don’t go for skinny white girls.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ken said quietly. And he was, because he knew Demetrius loved Alice like she was his own daughter. ‘I’m stressed out about Reuben and took it out on you.’
‘It’s okay. Just never say it again. What about Decker?’ Demetrius asked, and Ken knew that the subject was closed. ‘What do you know?’
‘Only that he saved my life, risking his own.’ Ken’s lips curved wryly. ‘I can’t argue with his priorities.’
‘Joel doesn’t like him.’
Ken shrugged. ‘Joel sees him as a threat. Kid’s got wizard accounting skills.’
‘Well I don’t trust him,’ Demetrius said flatly. ‘That kid doesn’t want Joel’s job. He wants yours. Or Reuben’s.’
‘That might not be such a bad thing. I don’t want to do this for the rest of my life. Alice will take over for me, but we’re gonna need to hire a replacement for Reuben, ASAP. Even if we do find him, I don’t want him here. He’s become a liability.’ Ken went quiet for a moment, thinking about the ramifications of that statement. They couldn’t let Reuben simply walk away, regardless of how this turned out. He knew too much. They’d have to kill him.
Ken pushed that thought away with a shrug. He’d cross that bridge when he got there. ‘Regardless of Reuben, we’re pushin’ fifty, brother. We need to start thinking about retirement.’
Demetrius grimaced. ‘You’ve been listening to Joel again. Are you gonna start talking about 401ks now?’
‘Nah. But I don’t want to be working my ass off and dodging bullets when I’m sixty.’
Demetrius frowned. ‘Then what do you want?’
‘My own island, with naked women bringing me drinks in coconuts.’
Demetrius snorted. ‘Coconuts? Shit, man. You had me going there for a moment.’ He pushed himself out of his chair. ‘I gotta requisition a wire transfer from Joel. We’re getting a new shipment in from the Brazilians.’ He waggled his brows. ‘Pretty girls. Very pretty.’
‘How old?’
‘Oh, they’re all eighteen,’ Demetrius said with mock seriousness, which told Ken that most of them were far younger.
‘You got a buyer?’ Ken asked, because Demetrius wasn’t into young girls like Reuben. Demetrius looked at their younger acquisitions and saw dollar signs, not sex.
‘Better than a buyer. I got bidders, buddy. Plural. We’re having an online auction. I’m tellin’ you, these girls are pretty. We are going to be raking it in, hand over fist.’
‘What about Gupta?’ The Indian was a major supplier of their labor market. He recruited quality stock. Strong backs and quick minds. ‘Is he going to cut us off if he finds out about Reuben and his daughter?’
‘I hope not.’ Demetrius hesitated. ‘But Miriam knew the girl’s identity. The girl used her credit card to check into the hotel.’
Ken frowned. ‘You didn’t tell me that. That makes Miriam a huge risk. If she goes directly to Gupta about it, he’ll wonder what else she knows. He’ll cut us off for sure then, and we won’t be able to fulfill our labor customers’ orders while we’re qualifying someone new.’ He paused then. ‘You’re making a face. Why?’
‘Because you’re suggesting killing Miriam, but like I said, doing her now will raise suspicions. The PI had a number of clients, mostly jealous wives. That leaves any number of guilty husbands who can be investigated if someone reports the PI missing. But if Miriam goes next, it’ll narrow down the possibilities to Reuben, and that leads to us.’
‘Not if she commits suicide. It’s worked for us in the past.’
Demetrius relaxed. ‘Oh. I should have thought of that myself. Reuben’s got me rattled, boy. Off my game.’
‘Get back on your game then and take care of Miriam before she can tell Gupta that our head of security was banging his daughter.’ Ken made a face of his own. ‘Oh hell. What if Reuben isn’t running from Miriam? What if he’s on his way to New York? To be with the girl?’
Demetrius rolled his eyes. ‘Fuck. Too bad I took care of the PI,’ he muttered. ‘I could have hired him to keep tailing Reuben. I’ll check with Burton and see who we can send to watch the girl. Maybe one of those new guys he was talking about. We just want to know if Reuben shows up. If he does, I’ll zip up to New York and take care of him myself. He can’t be allowed to continue down this road. Like you said, he’s become a liability.’
Ken sighed. ‘I know. Do what you need to—’ He was cut off by the sudden ringing of the phone on his desk with Sean’s caller ID. ‘What do you have?’ he answered brusquely and put his son on speaker phone.
‘The information you requested.’
Ken realized he was holding his breath. ‘You found Reuben.’
‘No, sir,’ Sean said. ‘But I did find the identity of the man w
ho was with the tracker wearer when she was murdered this morning. One of the local papers carried the story online. I—’ He was interrupted by a loud squealing klaxon on his end.
‘What the hell?’ Demetrius barked. ‘What is that?’
‘Another tampered tracker alert,’ Sean said. The klaxon was abruptly silenced, the only sound the clacking of Sean’s keyboard. ‘After this morning, I had the alerts transferred to my computer. I’ve got the tracker ID numbers here, and I’m searching for their current location.’ A short pause. ‘Both are at Chip Anders’s house.’
‘The other two women Anders purchased,’ Ken said grimly.
‘Fuck, Sean,’ Demetrius hissed. ‘Don’t tell us about the tracker alarm. Tell Burton – he’s acting security manager, at least for now. He’s got men watching Anders’s house, and Burton is on his way there with Decker now to bring in Anders and his family. Burton and Decker can actually do something about the alarm.’
‘On it,’ Sean said. ‘I’ll call you back when I know something. Oh, and I just sent you a link to the online article about the man who was with the girl in the alley this morning.’
Ken disconnected the speaker phone, brought up the email Sean had sent, clicked on the link . . . then stared at the screen. ‘No,’ he whispered, all the raging anger he’d felt toward Reuben coalescing into a hard, icy ball, deep in his chest. ‘No fucking way.’
‘What?’ Demetrius demanded.
Ken lifted his eyes. ‘Marcus O’Bannion.’
Demetrius’s face went flat with shock. ‘You are shitting me.’
Ken turned the screen around so that Demetrius could see for himself.
Demetrius’s fists clenched on the arms of the wingback chair. ‘Fucking hell. O’Bannion was the guy with Anders’s bitch when she was killed? Motherfucking hell.’
Ken wanted to clench his own fists but maintained his calm, turning his laptop back to face him. ‘This time, he dies. I do not want a repeat of nine months ago. This is not a democracy. No arguments. If he’d been dealt with properly then, we wouldn’t be in this shithole of a mess right now. Are we clear?’