The Maxwell Series Boxed Set: Books 1-3

by Alexander, S. B.

  Dad studied it briefly. Rob hunched over the table, quickly checked the photo, then sat back in his chair. I picked up the picture. A mug shot of a Caucasian guy with red hair, gold- rimmed glasses, and a peace-sign earring in his left ear held up a numbered sign in front of him. He had pockmarks on his face, and if he hadn’t had red hair, he probably could have passed for Tommy Lee Jones’s brother. I’d remember a guy who looked like the actor.

  “Is he in jail?” I asked.

  “Weeks did some time, but no. He’s not behind bars anymore,” the detective said. “Does he look familiar to any of you?”

  I pushed the picture back to the detective. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  Dad and Rob said the same.

  “So is this Weeks guy your suspect?” Dad asked.

  “Not sure.” Detective Fisher unfolded his bulk to stand. “That’s all I have for now. If you can think of anything, please give me a call. We’ll be in touch.” He stretched to his full height. “Thank you for coming in.”

  A feeling of hopelessness clung to the pit of my stomach. I was beginning to think we would never find the person responsible, and we had to. I had to understand at least why someone would kill my family. More importantly, I wanted someone to pay for their sins.

  Rob jumped to his feet. Dad was quick to stand too. They made their way out as if they needed air. It still puzzled me why Rob was so nervous.

  “Should we be worried about these people coming back into our lives?” I knew Detective Fisher couldn’t say for sure, but I had to ask.

  “Like you said. They probably got what they wanted. Although if I knew what that was, it might blow this case wide open.” He pulled a business card from his shirt pocket. “If you need to talk or if you think of something, I want you to call me.”

  I slipped his card into the back pocket of my jeans. “I will.” I started for the hallway then turned. “Thank you.”

  He angled his bald head. “For what?”

  “For sticking with this case for so long. I know it’s your job, but you seem emotionally involved for some reason.” That softness returned to his eyes again, and it spoke volumes.

  He smiled, showing a crooked eyetooth. “Sooner or later we’ll get them.”

  I left the police station with my mind twisted in a heap of worry and a little bit of excitement. While Detective Fisher hadn’t given us great news, he did have a lead.

  Once Rob and I were in his car and on our way, I asked, “Why were you so nervous in there?” Rob had a way of closing down when something was bothering him. Sometimes getting him to talk was like pulling a chew toy from a dog.

  He sucked in his bottom lip as he braked for a red light. “I hate talking about this. I just want our lives to be normal. I just want to stop hurting. I just want the fucker who killed our family to rot in hell.” His voice shook.

  My mouth fell open. Rob had said more in a few seconds than he had since Mom and Julie’s funeral. Like Dad, he always avoided the touchy-feely topics.

  The light changed to green. As we inched our way through the LA traffic to the next stoplight, I asked, “What do you think the person was after?”

  He gave the car some gas. “Lacey, if we knew the answer, it still wouldn’t bring back Julie or Mom.” His voice was calmer. “Dad and I have been through all the valuables we own. Nothing was taken.”

  “I get that. But what were they looking for?” That was the million-dollar question.

  He shrugged. “I’m sorry. I wish I had the answers.”

  I wished he did too. I wished for a lot of things. Like time travel back to the past, which was impossible. I made a mental note to go through some of Mom’s things when I got back to Ashford.

  Chapter 5

  Kade

  As Hunt and I sat in the reception area of the Guardian office, I sifted through the events of Friday night. The cops had been right behind the ambulance. We had to hang around so we could give our statements. At first, I was a little apprehensive, given I had a record. But I quickly learned that Pitt had the Boston Police Department in the palm of his hand. I didn’t hear what he said to the cops. Whatever it was, they let Hunt, Kelton, and me go without so much as a question. I didn’t know whether to thank Pitt or punch him. I’d been leaning toward thanking him for scaring the piss out of Sullivan and Seever. I didn’t. Too many things were unresolved, and until I knew for sure that both dickheads would back off, I didn’t want to celebrate just yet.

  The second thing I learned was that Pitt hadn’t been at the amateur fight to watch anyone. He was there to talk to me. He wanted to make me a proposition. After the cops left, he told me—didn’t ask—that Hunt and I would meet him at the Guardian office today. I knew why he wanted to talk to Hunt. He’d offered him a job and was still waiting on Hunt’s answer. What the fuck did he want with me? I hoped he didn’t think I was indebted to him now for shooting Sullivan. I’d contemplated not showing, but between my curiosity and knowing Hunt was requested to be here as well, I had to come.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose. The headache I’d had yesterday had never left me. I woke up with my head pounding harder than ever before as if someone were wielding a hammer against my skull over and over. The bright lights above only served to increase the pain. I’d popped two aspirin prior to leaving the house, except they weren’t working. Stretching out my legs, I settled into the soft leather couch of the waiting room. I might as well try and relax before we met with Pitt.

  “So, how come you never told me about the job offer?” I asked, eyeing the pretty receptionist, who appeared bored as she flipped through a magazine at her desk.

  “I’m not taking the job,” Hunt snapped. “What does it matter?”

  “Fuck, man. We’re tight. Aren’t we?” We told each other everything. I knew his secrets like he knew mine.

  He rolled his shoulders. Clearly, he didn’t want to be here, and neither did I.

  “Why did you elbow me last night when I was mouthing off to Pitt?”

  “I was trying to get you to can it. Let Pitt put the fear of God in Sullivan and Seever. Maybe they’ll back off. Otherwise the battle will never end.”

  “I don’t want Pitt to think I owe him now.”

  He let out a grizzly laugh. “A little late for that, dude. We’re here, aren’t we? Besides, he probably wants to offer you a job. You’re getting ready to graduate. So, maybe he wants both of us.”

  Hunt had graduated last year, and his dad had given him a year to figure out what he wanted to do with his life. All Hunt really knew was football. He’d played linebacker for Kensington High and was damn good at it. He’d been instrumental in a lot of key plays, which led Kensington to the playoffs his senior year. Kensington could’ve used his skills last fall.

  “Bodyguard and bouncer didn’t make my career list.” Hell if I was going to work for someone who could be tied to the mafia.

  “Did you talk with Lacey?”

  “Yep.” I’d talked to her twice after the incident in the garage. “I didn’t tell her anything about last night, though.” I didn’t want to stress her out over the phone.

  He chuckled as he sat back down. “She’s going to know it when she sees you.”

  “I’ll deal with it then.” She wouldn’t be able to miss my split lip or bruised jaw. She was due home tomorrow night, and they wouldn’t heal that quickly. “She did tell me the cops might have a lead in the murder case.”

  “And is it a hot lead?” Hunt asked, sitting up straighter.

  “Not sure. I’ll find out more when she gets home.” She didn’t want to get into too much detail, and she gave me the impression the cops didn’t elaborate, which didn’t surprise me. Even so, I was just as anxious as she was to find out who the guilty party was. Maybe then it would bring her closure.

  A phone ra
ng, and the receptionist answered. “Yes, Mr. Pitt. Sure will.” She hung up and said, “You boys can go in now. Last door on your right.” She pointed with a red-painted nail down a hallway to her right.

  Hunt and I snickered. She called us boys. Hunt hated to be called a boy.

  As we headed to Pitt’s office, Hunt stopped at her desk. “Honey, I may be young enough to be a boy, but I promise you I’m all man.”

  The brunette, who had her hair twisted up on her head, blushed a hundred shades of red.

  I chuckled as we both swaggered down to Pitt’s office as if our shit didn’t stink. We crossed the threshold into a massive corner office of mahogany wood and chrome furniture. A bar banked the left wall, and a plush seating area sat to the right. Adjacent to a low-back couch was a door carved into the wall, probably leading to a bathroom, and the oblong solid chrome desk was positioned in front of a window overlooking the Boston skyline.

  “Come, fellas. Sit.” Pitt waved at two wingback chairs in front of his desk.

  As my feet dug into the thick carpeting, I caught a whiff of cigar smoke. When we reached the chairs, I sat. Hunt didn’t. He used his chair as a shield.

  Pitt scrutinized him. “You don’t like me, Hunt, do you?” He reclined back in his leather chair. Any farther, and he just might fall into the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

  “No, I don’t. And if I’m here because you want to convince me to work for you, then you’re wasting your time.” Hunt gripped the back of the chair so tightly that his knuckles turned pale.

  Pitt popped forward and clasped his hands together as though in prayer, almost knocking over the ashtray with a cigar in it. “I’m doing a favor for your brother.”

  Hunt sneered. “Don’t.”

  “Your brother wants you to get a job. And I’m willing to hire you. Your size fits the mold. You’d make a good bouncer at one of the under-twenty-one clubs here in Boston.”

  Hunt’s nostrils were flaring, hard and fast. “So you think because I’m six foot four and could lift your scrawny ass over my head and throw you through those windows that my future is to be a bouncer? I don’t need a job.”

  Ballsy. Pitt was far from scrawny, and I’d agree that Hunt could crush Pitt in fight. But still, ballsy.

  Hunt looked at me. “Man, I’ll wait for you in the lobby.” He pivoted on his heel and got halfway to the door before Pitt spoke.

  “Not even if I pay you a hundred dollars an hour and offer Kade here a job alongside you? You two are joined at the hip, right?”

  Oh, fuck no. I jumped to my feet. I wasn’t working for Pitt to keep rowdy teenagers under control. I’d seen what my old man’s friend, Buster, had to go through at the teenybopper club, the Cave, back in Ashford.

  “Is that why I’m here? So you can bribe my friend with me?” I curled my fingers into a fist.

  Pitt casually stretched to his full height and circled his desk to the liquor-laden bar. He plucked ice cubes from a container and plopped them into a glass before pouring amber liquid into it. “How’s your mom, Kade?” Pitt asked as though he were an old family friend.

  Hunt went ramrod straight, and I lost my breath.

  Fuck me. The last person to bring up my mom ended up in the hospital with a broken arm.

  Pitt brought the glass to his mouth, eyeing me with those empty black eyes.

  “What’s your game?” I asked. “Are we here for you to shove personal shit in our faces? Mention my mother again, and I won’t hesitate to break every bone in your body.”

  His eyes went wide. “I like you, Kade,” he said with that gritty voice I hated. “At first I didn’t think you would be up for the job, but after last night and now with you making idle threats, I know you would.” He sipped his whiskey.

  “I told you I’m not working for you.” I felt around in my pocket for my pocketknife.

  He smirked as though he knew I had a knife and he was daring me to pull it out. The idea did sound enticing, especially since his idiot guards weren’t around. Still, Pitt seemed like a guy who could handle himself, considering his bulked-up arms. Or more than likely he would have the steroid twins or the police here before I could act.

  “Let’s go,” Hunt said to me. “We’re done here.”

  I stalked closer to the door when every ounce of energy in me wanted to follow through on Hunt’s threat to throw Pitt through the wall of windows.

  “Not even if it has to do with your girlfriend’s life?”

  The blood rushed out of me, freezing me in place. I swallowed, and it felt like razor-sharp tacks were piercing my throat. Hunt had a look of horror on his face. I probably did too. What the fuck was Pitt talking about?

  Ice cubes clinked in the glass. I spun on my heel and practically dove for Pitt with my fists up, ready to beat his head in.

  With lightning speed, Hunt caught my arm. “Not worth it, man.”

  “Listen to your friend.” Pitt set his glass down. “Now, do I have your attention?” His smug grin morphed into an intense glare.

  Dick.

  Hunt let go of me as Pitt sauntered over to the windows. “My daughter needs a tutor.” The Rolex on his right wrist shimmered as the light caught it.

  A disrespectful laugh fell from my mouth. “Are you fucking with me?” My nails dug into my palms. He was threatening Lacey’s life so I would tutor his daughter? This guy couldn’t be serious.

  “Kade, how much do you know about the death of Lacey’s family?” Pitt’s cockiness vanished, and his voice took on an all-business tone.

  For the moment, his question masked the hatred I had for him. Maybe it was the seriousness on his face. “Nothing.” I knew as much as Lacey did. Something told me Pitt knew more than the cops. A light bulb went off. He could use his relationship with the BPD to help find out more about that LAPD lead.

  “Mm,” he muttered, rubbing his sharp jaw. “Word on the street is her father is in bed with the Lorenzino family out of LA.”

  Who the fuck was he talking about? Hunt and I returned to the wingback chairs. I could tell Pitt’s mind was working from the way his eyes shifted every second, and my mind was going a mile a minute, too, trying to connect Mr. Robinson to the mob.

  “How well do you know the Robinson family?” Pitt didn’t take his eyes off me.

  I’d met her brother briefly at Christmas. I hardly knew her father. He was always working at his club, Rumors, in Cambridge. So, not at all really, except that I knew Lacey inside and out, and she never mentioned any family by that name.

  “Just spit out what you’re trying to say.”

  “The Lorenzino family is associated with the mob in LA. If my sources are correct, James Robinson has something they want. Do you know what that is?” His dark eyes drilled a hole right through me.

  A growl erupted from my chest. “How the fuck would I know? Aren’t you tied to the mob? Don’t mob bosses all know each other?”

  He let out a sinister laugh. “Oh, yes. The more I get to know you, the more I like you, Kade. Regardless, I own businesses and support charities. If you call that the mob, then I suggest you check the definition. Better yet, why don’t you ask James Robinson about it?”

  I just may. Suddenly, another realization dawned. When Lacey was in the hospital after she blacked out during baseball tryouts in September, her father showed up with cuts and bruises all over his face, cuts that needed stitches. He’d said he had to break up a fight at his club. Was that true? Or had he pissed off the mob?

  “You look like you know something.” Pitt’s voice cut through my trip down memory lane.

  “How is Lacey in danger?” I locked my jaw as my brain knocked against my skull. That bad feeling I’d had yesterday came back like a tornado.

  “The Lorenzino family will go to great lengths to get what they want when the time i
s right. Which means your girl could be used as a pawn or worse, if you get my drift.” He lifted a thick eyebrow. “Anyway, I’ve invited you here to offer my protective services in exchange for you tutoring my daughter.”

  No way in hell was I tutoring his daughter. Not that I couldn’t. Hell, I had a high IQ. I could’ve tested out of my senior year. But my old man wanted to see me graduate, and my brothers and I always talked about graduating together. Besides, Hunt and my brothers could help protect Lacey.

  “A few minutes ago you were offering me a job as a babysitter at some club. Now you want me to babysit your daughter?” No damn way was I getting near that chick. If I tutored her, then Kelton would be sniffing around, and I didn’t want her near Kelton. “It doesn’t matter, I can protect my girl. I don’t need your muscle. I saw how careless they were last night.”

  Hunt swore. “We protect our own.”

  I let out a quiet breath. I was confident Hunt would have my back, but hearing him say it out loud to Pitt made me stand up a little taller.

  “It was an accident caused by your brother,” Pitt said. “If he hadn’t fallen into my guy, then the gun wouldn’t have gone off. What are you complaining about? Didn’t we do you a favor shooting your enemy? I’d say you should thank me. After all, I literally scared the living piss out of them. Or at least that Seever boy.” He harrumphed.

  Hunt laughed. “Seever did piss his pants.”

  I didn’t give a shit about Sullivan or Seever, and I despised the fact that Pitt knew more about me and Lacey than I cared to imagine. I wasn’t sure why I was surprised. If he was connected to the Russian mob, he probably knew how to get information on anyone. “Do you know who killed the Robinsons?” Something wasn’t adding up. Why not just pay me to tutor his daughter?

  He studied me for the longest time. I stared right back.

  “He’s not going to tell you,” Hunt said. “If he did, that would make him guilty or some shit like that for not going to the cops. Nah, the mob takes care of their own problems.”