Sporting events.
Cigars at their house.
Parties.
They were becoming friends.
Really, really good friends.
The second Chris Ford smelled Marianna, he was going to clue in her husband, and that was the opposite of what she wanted. Chris would rat her out.
She didn't doubt it.
In order to keep this on the DL, she needed her partner to help keep the cover up.
“Emma, I’m serious. I’m going to leave.”
“I have a problem.”
Mace took off his glasses to stare directly into her eyes. “Are you in trouble?”
Yeah, yeah she was—with the man she’d married if this all came to light.
“In a way, yes.”
“Spill it.”
“I need to trust someone.”
Mace looked concerned. “Emma, I’m your partner. We go through doors together. If you can’t trust me, why are we working together?”
She got it.
It was all or none when you were a cop. She had to believe in him, or she was at risk.
“You’re right. That call was bogus.”
He was shocked that she’d lied. It had to be about something damn important. Emma was straight as an arrow. She didn't break the law—she enforced it.
“You better let me in on this one. I don’t mind walking into dangerous situations, but I don’t like doing it blind. If you don’t share, I can’t help you.”
“It’s about Dominic Marianna.”
Well, shit!
That was the last name he wanted to hear. No one in Las Vegas, law or citizen, wanted to tangle with that mess. It usually meant one thing.
Death.
“Oh boy, Emma.”
She had to have faith in Mace.
“What’s going on?”
“Once I let you in, you’re deep in the mess, Mace. Are you sure you don’t want to feign ignorance and stay ahead of this avalanche?”
“Is it illegal?”
She laughed. “No. You know me better than that. It’s just me doing something stupid.”
He was concerned. “As long as it’s legal, I’m in. I don’t want to spend my golden years wearing orange.”
She didn’t blame him.
“When Randall Mason died, he had a dossier on Marianna.”
“What kind?”
She scanned the area, keeping her voice down. “The kind that documented all of his kills.”
Mace’s mouth dropped open.
“Before you go there, it’s inadmissible in court. I already thought about that. It’s hearsay from a dead man. If I take that route, he’ll get wind, and our evidence might walk away. He’ll dig up the bodies and move them to cover his ass, and then I can’t stop him.”
“Uh, okay. What are you planning?”
“Well, I decided that in order to keep the man from poking at my husband, I’d do this the right way.”
“Which is?”
“I want to investigate the cases and rectify their deaths. If we find the bodies and work the murders, we might be able to find a link to Marianna. If we do, then the DA can put his ass in jail, and he’ll be far away from my husband.”
Mace laughed.
“What?”
“Croft is going to kill you.”
Yeah, that was a very likely scenario.
That’s why she needed all the help she could get, and she hoped Mace wouldn’t be the opposite of that. Emma was already fighting an uphill battle.
“That’s exactly why I didn't tell him. When I found that body in the desert with Brynn, the FBI took it. The government is looking for anything to put him away. They’ve been trying for years to lock Marianna in a cell, and they’re going nowhere.”
“What makes you think you can do it?”
“What makes you think I can’t?”
He laughed.
Emma always was an optimist.
“Good point. Half full or half empty, it’s a matter of how you look at it.”
She was aware.
When playing with homicidal mob bosses, you had to be positive with a side of cautious.
“Why, Emma? Why are you really doing this? I know you believe in our jobs, but no one wants to willingly tangle with the mob. It’s a death wish.”
“Over the last month, Dominic Marianna has been taking shots at my husband. He’s trying to get him stirred up and into a pissing match. While he’s focused on that, my husband isn’t going to be able to investigate.”
“What you’re saying is Greyson Croft wants blood, and you’re afraid he’s going to cross that line.”
There were times when she loved how astute he was, but this wasn’t one of them.
Not at all.
Shit!
He had nailed this one right on the head.
“Yeah, and I want to do this above the law. I want Marianna to fry in the chair, but I can’t compromise my badge.”
Well, that was a lie, and Emma knew it. For her husband, she’d do just that, but until that was the case, she was going to be a cop. It’s who she was meant to be.
“So this list…?”
“He killed them, and you and I are going to slowly find the bodies, investigate, and keep it quiet.”
He laughed. “You’re forgetting about three things.”
“What?”
“Ford.”
“Yeah, I thought about him. He doesn’t pry unless we look like we’re screwing around. We should be good as long as we spend very little time in the office.”
She hoped.
“The media,” he added, checking them off on his fingers.
“These are old cases. They might make the news once or twice. Not everything I touch turns up on the front page.”
He snorted. “Emma, they call you the queen and talk about your damn shoes. You might be right about Captain Ford, but you out in the city investigating is going to get attention. Then your husband will hear about it.”
She could say it was a case.
He might buy it.
“Mace.”
He stopped her. “Then there’s the big issue. Once the media reports this, if Marianna did kill these people, he’s going to know you’re digging around in it. What do you think is the first thing he’s going to do?”
She was well aware.
Emma was wearing a bull’s-eye.
There was no doubt that he’d try to stop her. Emma had to hope it wouldn’t cost anyone their lives.
Mace continued, “This has the potential to blow up around us. Literally, in this case, if Marianna is so inclined.”
“Mace, if Greyson goes after him, it’s going to be a bloody free-for-all. Your buddy Ethan Blackhawk isn’t going to like one of his directors gunning for a Mob boss, now is he?”
“Not likely, but mostly because he likes Greyson. Ethan is a good guy. If you contact him, Greyson will be safe.”
She wished it were that easy.
Emma really did.
“The second I call him, we both know who is going to be alerted. Word travels fast. I have to protect my husband, and the only way he’s going to let me try is if he has no clue. Marianna is after him, and I need this settled one way or another. We do it by the books, or it gets done illegally.”
“Emma,” he warned.
“See my point? This is a no win situation, Mace. My freaking back is against the wall on this. Someone has to do something, and I would like it to be the law.”
He sighed.
Mace knew Emma was right. A mad Greyson Croft was a dangerous one.
“You have a very valid point, and I see it. Let’s find this body. I don’t want to have to arrest you for breaking the law.”
She wanted to laugh.
Little did Mace know that it wouldn’t be Emma who got her hands dirty.
Hell!
It wouldn’t be Greyson either. Emma didn't doubt that Dimitri would handle everything whether they wanted him to or not.
“Thanks, Mace. I appreciate it.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Hopefully, we don’t get killed or your husband doesn’t have me scalped. I like my hair.”
She gave it a tug. “You’re the best.”
He snorted. “Find that body, Emma. Let’s get this crazy train underway. I want Kevlar undies for Christmas. Put it on your shopping list.”
She was more than happy to do just that. It looked like she had added another ally in this fight.
First, there was Dimitri and Katerina.
Now, she had her partner.
Emma, for the first time in a while, was feeling more at ease. They might just be able to pull this off after all. With a team protecting her husband, the odds were now in her favor.
As she led him through the trees, counting off the paces, she came to stop in front of a bunch of low-lying bushes.
“Here?” he asked, scanning the area.
She nodded. “This is where the intel said the body would be.”
“Do you trust it? I mean, it’s from Randall Mason, right?”
While she didn’t trust the dead man, she did trust Dimitri.
“It’s here.”
“Emma, these trees have grown here. How long has the body been buried?”
She didn't have a clue. “Randall didn't leave notes on it. There was a list. This was the second one on the list.”
“Who was the first?”
She glanced over. “That body Brynn and I found. You know…the one I can’t even get access to? Greyson is sitting on it at the FBI lab. While helpful, Max, the head tech, will rat me out if he sees a way to kiss Greyson’s ass.”
Mace laughed. “Yeah, well, that’s going to make investigating more difficult. We need all the pieces to the puzzle—not only some of them.”
“I have a plan.”
He lifted a brow as he began breaking branches to get to the ground. “What?”
“Soon, I’ll have a brother-in-law in the morgue. Once he’s related by marriage, I’ll get him to help. I can’t bring everyone in all at once. Greyson will find out. It has to be slow, steady, and methodical.”
She had to be kidding him.
“You’re going to get Doc Bentley to break the rules? He’ll never go for it. Never. The man is like a rock when it comes to procedure.”
She didn't agree.
Steele would help her if she asked. It was only a matter of time. Emma needed this body first, and she needed to get a case started. Steele would be swayed by cold, hard facts. That was the one tried and true way to get his assistance. Once she had a direction, then she’d worry about the other body.
Mace was down on his hands and knees, brushing dirt aside. When he started digging, Emma was over his shoulder watching.
“How deep?” he asked.
“I was told shallow grave.”
He started feeling around in the soft soil.
Then, he felt it.
“I hit a rock or something,” he said, pulling handfuls of dirt back.
Emma dropped and helped by holding the branches out of his way. That’s when she saw it.
He hadn’t hit rock.
He’d found a skeletonized foot.
Here was the proof that Randall Mason was two for two. First, he’d documented the body that she and Brynn came across, and now this one.
Yeah, Emma had hope. They were well on their way to bring Dominic down.
Greyson would be safe!
She was going to bury Marianna by the time she was done. He’d screwed with the wrong people. Emma was actually proud that they were going to do this the right way.
The legal way.
That hope that her husband would be okay gave her renewed vigor for this monstrous case.
“Well, Emma?” Mace said, gently brushing dirt off the foot. “It’s your call. What’s the plan?”
She pulled out her phone. “We call the ME, get a team in here, and we officially open this case.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, giving her one last shot to stop this before it started. There was no doubt that they were wading into a bloody war.
Someone was bound to get hurt.
Hell!
Someone was bound to get killed.
The odds weren’t in their favor.
All Mace could hope for was that they would all survive what was coming. No one tangled with Dominic Marianna for a reason.
These remains were the prime example.
In Vegas, you only ended up like this if you crossed the wrong person.
“This person had a family, Mace. Someone is missing them. My husband and Marianna aside, they deserve vindication. This is Vegas, but that doesn’t mean that justice is dead, Mace. It matters. The day it doesn’t, we have to call it quits.”
He happened to agree.
“I have your back, partner. Make the call.”
With that, she did.
So it began.
* * * Croft & Croft * * *
Across Town
FBI Las Vegas
Maxwell Pauley was good at his job. When you were head tech for the FBI, you had to be. You couldn’t slack, forget to do work, or give up. No matter how hard the case, you had to stick with it for the long haul.
That last characteristic was about to make him one hell of a hero in his boss’s eyes. He’d persevered and was about to come out the other side.
A winner.
Then again, it was also going to cause someone pain, and for that, he was sorry.
One man’s fortune was another’s misfortune.
While he’d been working on some other non-related reports, his machine began beeping. For the last few months, he’d been running a skull against facial recognition software that the FBI had just begun using.
It was a long tedious method, but it had finally paid off. It cross-compared faces from a few other databases, and now they had their answer.
The skeleton that Greyson Croft wanted identified was finally done.
He was so damn happy—until he had read the name. Once he did, Max knew there was going to be some blowback with this one. That’s why he opted to keep the report isolated to his computer until the big man saw it.
So, he called him down.
When Greyson Croft strolled in, checking the time on his pricy watch, he looked every inch a boss. He had the well-tailored suit, a blood red tie, the shiny shoes, and the manicured nails.
You could tell he had money.
Even before the boss man’s wife hit the greenbacks jackpot, the boss still looked professional and cool as a cucumber, but now he had an air about him.
Rich.
Powerful.
Dangerous.
No one wanted to mess with Greyson Croft on a good day, but when you had just let him down?
Yeah, it was your career suicide.
“You needed me, Max? I need to make it quick. I have a meeting in a few minutes with the police commissioner.”
“Are we helping them with a case?”
Greyson only wished.
He longed to work with his wife again. At this point, any case would do. He couldn’t help himself. There was something so seductive about watching her work. When he could simply observe her in action, it turned him on, giving him the biggest thrill.
Hell!
Who was he kidding?
Watching her sleep, eat, and brush her teeth did the same thing.
“No, I wish. This time it’s about the Commissioner’s Spring Fling. I’ve agreed to host it at the hotel and casino.”
“For free?” he asked, laughing.
“Yeah, you know me. I love me some cops. Who tries to rob your casino when it’s lousy with cops and FBI? You’d have to be a freaking moron to do that.”
Max grinned.
His boss was probably right.
“It won’t take long, but I did need to see you about something important.”
“Shoot. The clock is ticking.”
“Do you recall that body your wife dug
up in the desert?”
Did he ever? The damn file was sitting on his desk.
“Yes, I do. Why?”
“I have an ID.”
That was the best news he’d ever heard.
Greyson rubbed his hands together and smiled. There was a dimple in his one cheek, right below the scar. “Thank you, technology!”
Max turned the computer monitor around. “Yeah, about that…we have an issue.”
Greyson saw the man’s reconstructed face for the first time in weeks, and it looked familiar.
Eerily.
Then he saw the name.
“Oh, shit! Please tell me that’s wrong, and you’ve called me down here to tell me our pricy equipment is nothing more than a piece of shit!”
He’d rather tell his bosses that than face the facts.
That said a lot.
“Yeah, that’s why I wanted to see you down here. I didn't think sending this out in email was a good idea.”
“It isn’t. I want one copy sent to me, and the rest password protected and sealed on a need to know basis.”
Max knew what that meant.
No one needed to know…
“Is this Dominic Marianna’s doing like you thought?” he asked.
Yeah, it was.
There was no doubt in his mind that the man had his hands all over this murder. He was going to nail his ass to the wall with it too.
This was one more nail in Marianna’s coffin.
“I’m going to find out. First, I need to do the notify on this one and break the news.”
“Yes, sir. Tell him that I’m sorry for his loss.”
Croft appreciated that. “Thank you, Max, for your hard work.” With that, he headed out of the lab and straight to the morgue. He hated doing notifies, and this one, while decades in the making, was still going to sting.
How could it not?
As he pushed open the morgue door, he could see the hustle and bustle going on around the cool room. In the center of it sat his ME. He’d stolen him right out from under the local police, and Steele Bentley had become an asset to his team.
And his family.
Since the man had agreed to marry Dante, they’d become close. Every day, he came down to have coffee with him. When Dante had proposed, on that day, Steele became his brother. There was no need to wait until the wedding to make it official in his mind. The paperwork was simply a formality for the rest of the family.
Justice is Dead (Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 7) Page 3