Dangerous Victor: (Soldiering On #3)

by Aislinn Kearns

  Brett shrugged. “Nope.”

  “Well, then I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to send you home without pay, would it?”

  Brett sat up straighter, and his feet fell to the floor with a thump. “I suppose I could walk the building,” he mumbled.

  Brett opened the door, stopped, and then slipped around Zack’s solid form and into the corridor beyond.

  Zack blinked when he saw her, his shoulders tensing. Radha had another surge of regret about last night. It had been necessary—she didn’t want to contradict Jeri and raise her suspicions about Zack.

  Besides, Radha had never been good at contradicting authority. After a dramatic incident in her youth, she carefully toed the line when it came to people in positions of power over her. She didn’t want to rock the boat and draw attention to herself. And she definitely didn’t want to upset people that held her future in their hands.

  But now Radha was afraid she’d really hurt Zack.

  “Hello,” he said. He didn’t move further into the room, just hovered near the door as if he didn’t want to get closer to her.

  “Hi,” she replied. “I saw you let the boys go.” She gave him a soft smile, trying to tell him she was sorry.

  “It seems like they’re in a bad situation,” Zack told her. “I’d rather help get them out of it than get them arrested and make everything worse.”

  “You’re a good man.”

  He shrugged. “It’s my job to help people,” he told her.

  “But it’s more than that.”

  “Okay,” he said, a final word on the subject. Radha found his discomfort with praise fascinating. “Is there anything I can help you with? I thought we were meant to keep our distance from each other.”

  “I just came by to say sorry.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  “But—”

  “I’m serious. You didn’t do anything wrong.” He seemed to believe his own words, and Radha struggled to match his sincerity with the hurt she knew he’d felt.

  “Still, I’d like to—”

  She broke off as Zack pulled his vibrating phone from his pocket. “Destiny,” he told her, once he glanced at the screen.

  He came further into the office, shutting the door behind him, then answered his phone. “Destiny, you’re on speaker with Radha.”

  He pulled Brett’s chair over next to Radha and sat, hovering at the edge of her personal space. Their shoulders brushed as he brought the phone up between them. Radha didn’t pull away.

  “Hi guys,” Destiny said.

  “I hope you’re calling us with news?” Zack asked.

  “Yeah, but not good news,” Destiny sighed. “I’m sorry to say, but it’s been confirmed Louis’s death was a murder.”

  Radha’s breath burst from her lungs with a whoosh. She’d known it—Zack had said it himself—but until now she hadn’t really believed it. Hadn’t wanted to believe it.

  Zack wrapped a hand around hers, comforting and warm.

  “Do you want to hear the rest?” Zack whispered to her.

  Radha took a deep, steadying breath, then nodded. Louis was her friend. She needed to be involved and help solve his death—murder—even if it meant hearing difficult things.

  “Okay,” Zack said. Radha was grateful he’d believed her the first time, as she wasn’t entirely sure she could convince him if he pressed.

  “It was a gunshot, as you suspected,” Destiny said.

  “Any ballistics on the weapon?”

  “Yeah.” She hesitated. “The striations on the bullet match those on five other unsolved homicides in Portsboro.”

  Zack froze for a second beside her. “Seriously?” he asked.

  Radha leaned forward. “What does that mean? A serial killer?”

  “No,” Zack replied. “Gangs. Is that what you’re thinking?” he asked Destiny.

  “Yes, that’s what we think.”

  “Any idea which gang?”

  Destiny made a sound of annoyance. “No. None of the victims had any known ties to any gangs.”

  Radha sat back. “Just like Louis.”

  “It doesn’t mean he wasn’t involved, though. Just that it was secret,” Zack reminded her. She frowned, but he ignored her, focusing back on the phone. “Any motive so far?”

  Destiny blew out a breath. “So far, they’re investigating his past. They think maybe he wasn’t as sober as he claimed, got himself into a bit of trouble.”

  “That’s not true,” Radha insisted.

  “You might be right, but it’s the only lead they’ve got right now. Unless you want to tell me what your angle is?”

  Zack glanced over at Radha. She pleaded with her eyes. He couldn’t tell her—couldn’t risk it getting back to Jeri.

  “I’m afraid not,” Zack said.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Destiny said. Then, the two said their goodbyes and hung up.

  “What does she mean by that?” Radha asked.

  Zack raised an incredulous brow. “We’re obstructing a murder investigation right now. We could go to prison if we aren’t careful.”

  Radha gasped. She hadn’t even thought of that—of the consequences of keeping these finances to herself.

  “If they don’t find anything in Louis’s past that helps them with this investigation, we should consider telling them before it’s too late. Don’t you want them to solve this?”

  Radha swallowed past a lump in her throat. “Yes, but…” She trailed off, thinking of Jeri’s disappointed face.

  “Can you at least tell me why I’m committing a felony for you? Why is it so important Jeri not know about this?”

  “Jeri…she did me a massive favour once—placed a lot of trust in me when she had every reason to think the worst of me. When I bought up this issue of the finances, she was adamant I stay away, in case I messed with her good luck vibes. I can’t disappoint her now. I’d probably lose my job, but worse, I’d lose her respect.”

  Zack let out a frustrated breath. He stood abruptly, pacing the room for a moment as he rubbed the back of his neck in a thoughtful gesture.

  “Okay,” he said eventually. “For now, we leave it. But there might come a time when I think we really need to call the police in on this, and you need to trust me, and prepare yourself for the consequences, okay?”

  She nodded reluctantly.

  “Besides,” he continued. “It might lead to nothing. Maybe the money doesn’t have anything to do with it, and it really is something in Louis’s past that got him killed.” He leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest.

  Radha shook her head. “He wasn’t involved with gangs. No way.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I know what it took for him to get sober and get his life back on track. He wouldn’t risk all that to run with gangs. He’d have no reason to.”

  A muscle ticked in Zack’s jaw. “Okay,” he said eventually. “I’ll keep investigating.”

  Radha breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What’s your next step?” she asked.

  Zack shrugged and lowered himself into Brett’s chair again. “Well, I can’t go over the financials until after hours. While I’m here, it would help if I get to know all the staff that work in the casino. There’s a possibility they might be involved.”

  “How so?”

  “I’m working off the assumption that if Louis wasn’t involved in gang activity like you claim, then the next best bet is he saw something he shouldn’t have. The most likely place for that to happen is here at the casino. So, I have to find out who is doing something bad that Louis might have stumbled across and got himself killed.”

  Radha swallowed. “Poor Louis,” she murmured, glancing down and blinking away her sudden tears.

  Zack’s hand engulfed hers, a gesture of comfort. She raised her gaze, locking on to his. A sizzle of heat leapt through her veins as she realised their proximity. Zack’s eyes darkened.

  He swayed toward
s her, and the connection between them tightened acutely.

  The door swung open, and they both leapt apart in perfect sync. Brett stood in the doorway, peering at them suspiciously.

  “You guys want me to leave?” he asked.

  “No,” said Zack, with studied casualness. “I was just heading to the breakroom. Want me to bring you anything back?”

  “Nah,” said Brett, grinning. He held up a packet of chips Radha recognised from the vending machine in the breakroom. “I came from there. Thanks, though.”

  Zack nodded and left. Radha gave Brett an awkward smile and sidled out after him.

  It seemed she was getting underfoot when it came to Zack, and she’d serve the investigation better if she stayed out of his way.

  If she could manage it.

  Chapter 7

  Zack strode toward the breakroom with a sigh of relief. He needed to stay away from Radha, needed to keep himself under control. There’d been a moment there when he’d thought—just for a second—she’d wanted him to lean into her. That she’d wanted him to kiss her.

  He couldn’t allow himself dangerous thoughts like that. It could only end in heartbreak. He knew who he was and what he looked like now. Everyone else could see it, too, and he couldn’t pretend that had suddenly changed. It was better to put the thought out of his head now, before it was too late.

  Zack slipped into the breakroom. Two of the other employees—Sandy and Anton—were already there, chatting at one of the three tables. Only one other person was in the room, Ellie, one of the cashiers. She was dunking a teabag into her mug with a faraway expression on her face.

  Zack decided it was the perfect time to do some investigating. He just had to be subtle about it.

  He reached for the coffee pot and Ellie flinched, spilling tea across the bench. “You scared me!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide.

  Zack grit his teeth. “Sorry,” he muttered. He tried to shrink in on himself, make himself smaller.

  She ducked her head and with one last glance at him, fled the room.

  Zack nearly left then, to retreat to his cave-like office and the concealing darkness. But he was here now, and the only way to get away from Radha and the temptation she presented, and back to the safety of Soldiering On was to get the investigation completed as soon as possible. He took a deep breath, steeling himself. He had a job to do.

  He poured himself a coffee and settled on the table closest to Sandy and Anton. They eyed him curiously, but didn’t say anything for a long moment. Zack waited for them to make the first move.

  “We haven’t seen much of you since you started,” Anton commented to the spot over Zack’s shoulder, not quite able to give him eye contact.

  Zack shrugged. “Brett was eating again. I couldn’t stand the smell.”

  They both laughed, and Zack breathed a sigh of relief. Some of the tension in his shoulders dissipated. He could do this.

  “I don’t know how he stomachs that stuff,” Sandy mused.

  Zack noted the new watch on Anton’s wrist as the young man bought his coffee cup to his lips. It flashed a slight blue tinge as it caught the fluorescent light. It could have been a fake.

  But maybe not.

  “So, I hear you had some excitement this morning,” Anton said before Zack could think of a clever way to ask him about the watch.

  He shrugged. “Something to break up the day,” he murmured.

  “How did you know the kids were counting cards? I didn’t pick it,” Sandy asked him.

  “I was counting them, too,” Zack said softly.

  Her eyebrows shot up. “You can count cards?”

  “If I want to. I don’t, for obvious reasons.”

  The two of them were silent for a moment.

  “That’d be a good skill to have,” Anton muttered. “Shame you aren’t on our team.”

  “Team?” Zack asked, perking up.

  Anton’s eyes darted quickly to the left. Just one brief instant, but Zack caught it.

  “We do poker nights sometimes. And sometimes we play in teams. Whichever team wins the most by the end of the night gets a prize of some kind. You should come along.”

  They both knew he never would, even if the poker night did exist.

  “That’s a nice watch,” Zack told him. “You win that at poker?”

  Anton flashed him a grin and met his gaze. “Thanks. I actually bought it.” He paused for a second. “With my winnings from poker.”

  Zack gave a single nod.

  Well, Anton just moved to the top of his suspect list.

  Zack took a breath, intending to pry for more information, but his phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked the display to see it was Duncan. He swiped to answer and stood, moving into the corridor.

  “Hey,” he said as he slipped into the tiny copy room across from the breakroom and shut the door behind him. He leaned against it, using his bodyweight to keep it shut in case anyone tried to come in.

  “So, I just got an odd call from two kids. Know anything about that?” Duncan’s voice was gruff and deep. Zack pictured him in his stark, masculine office, running his hands over his close-cropped hair.

  Zack found himself feeling a kind of kinship with Duncan, as he knew the guy sometimes intimidated people with his size and standoffish personality.

  The only difference was Duncan mostly intimidated people on purpose.

  “Yeah,” Zack replied. “I caught them this morning counting cards at the blackjack table.”

  “And you decided I should help petty criminals now?”

  Zack rolled his eyes. “They need help, and I can’t do it. Helping people in need is right up your alley. All you’d probably need to do is go see this Victor guy and scare some sense into him. Or you could investigate him, see if he’s got any weaknesses.”

  “He does sound like a bit of an asshole from what these kids say,” Duncan muttered.

  “I thought so.”

  “Mandy would hate it, though.” Duncan’s scowl was almost audible. “Since the kids can’t pay.”

  “I’m sure she’d understand. She’s not as hard-hearted as you say.” He picked up a scrap piece of paper someone had left in the copier and ran his eyes over it, in case Duncan intended to go on another anti-Mandy rant. It was a new roster for the kitchen chores. Zack slipped it into the box of recycling.

  Duncan snorted disbelievingly. “Maybe I won’t tell her.”

  “Either way.” Zack mentally shrugged. Not his fight.

  There was a slight pause between them.

  “How’s Blake?” Zack asked. “Any word?” Blake was a fellow operative at Soldiering On, and had been shot helping Paul—another of his colleagues—and his now-girlfriend Christine during their recent case.

  “He’s okay. Got out of the hospital today.”

  That got Zack’s attention. “That was quick.”

  “He claims he’s well enough to look after himself. I think it’s more likely he was bored, and the nurses got so annoyed by him that they wanted him out of their hair.”

  Zack snorted. “That sounds like him.”

  “How long do you think it’ll be before he comes in begging for a job?”

  Zack laughed. “Five minutes?”

  Duncan chuckled in reply. “I’m going to give him the day.”

  They fell silent.

  “How’s it going over there?” Duncan asked. “Any progress?”

  “Some. I still haven’t had time to do more than glance at the financial records.”

  “Destiny called. Said you were stonewalling the murder investigation.”

  Zack growled in annoyance. “It’s not like that. I just have one piece of information I haven’t given to the cops. It might not even be related to the murder.”

  Duncan scoffed, sounding unconvinced. Zack didn’t blame him.

  “And why are you withholding evidence?” Duncan asked pointedly.

  “Radha asked me not to.”

  Duncan hesitated. “I appreciate yo
ur loyalty to our client, but I think in this circumstance—”

  “I will tell them,” Zack interrupted. “Eventually. I just don’t want to disappoint Radha.”

  Zack winced as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

  “Is that so?” Duncan asked, sounding amused but wary.

  “Look, I can handle it. Worse comes to worst I’ll put in an anonymous tip.”

  “Okay. Just don’t get yourself into any trouble over this. With Blake out of commission, we can’t lose you.”

  “Okay,” Zack agreed. “Keep me updated on Blake and everything, yeah?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” A rattle sounded through the phone, followed by some voices. “I gotta go,” said Duncan, then the line went dead.

  Zack took a moment to gather himself, putting himself back in the mindset of Head of Security. Then, he prepared himself to see Radha, both anticipating and dreading seeing her again.

  The answer to his crush was obvious—he had to avoid seeing her as much as possible until he completed this job and moved on. In more ways than one.

  All he needed was the willpower to resist her. Easier said than done.

  Chapter 8

  Radha was tending her potted plants in the dark when her phone buzzed on the table. She glanced over and frowned when she saw Zack’s name on the screen. He’d barely talked to her since he started the job, and she couldn’t figure out what she’d done wrong.

  She answered the call, hesitant. “Hello?”

  “Sorry to call so late,” came his gruff voice. A shiver went through her at the sound.

  “It’s okay,” she replied, a little breathless.

  “Destiny just called me. They’ve arrested someone for Louis’s murder.”

  Radha sat heavily on the couch, wrapping her robe closer around her. Moonlight slanted through the blinds, her open plan kitchen and lounge awash with a pale glow.

  “What?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.