Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (33 page)

Natasha turned her head to stare into the mirror as she pulled down his boxers. She couldn’t help herself. It wasn’t as if this was the first time she’d seen his body. When he was in the hospital bed, running a fever, she had cooled him down with a washcloth.

She’d missed touching him.

Nat missed caring for this man.

There was something about him.

It was hard to explain, but she felt like she needed to show him gentleness and love. His heart and body had been battered, and she knew about his past.

She’d heard him and Emma discussing it one night when he’d been drunk and stayed over. She’d heard all about the horrible woman who destroyed him. If she ever saw that Denise woman, she was in trouble.

Who could hurt a sweet man like Chris?

It broke her heart.

Some woman damaged him, and Natasha wanted to fix him in the worst way. She wanted to offer him happiness and love, since it was obviously void in his life.

Besides, his body was amazing.

He was big, strong, and virile. It made her want to do truly wild things.

He was someone she’d love to roll around with, but this wasn’t the time. Now it was about helping him.

Chris needed tenderness.

He headed for the bath, desperately needing to sink into the frothy salt water. He could feel the flush creep up his body as he reacted to being naked in the room with Natasha.

His brain was playing out all the sexy fantasies, as he tried to keep himself in check.

It wasn’t working.

At all.

So much for not being up to it.

Apparently, he’d have to be dead not to be turned on by her. He didn’t feel as old and feeble as he had a few minutes ago. His brain may have been scrambled, but his body was still working as it should be.

There was that to be proud of—in some sick way.

As he slid into the water, he felt her delicate hands on his shoulders, pulling him back to rest against the towel she’d placed there.

The second he was resting, she didn’t move away from him like he’d expected. Instead, she began rubbing and massaging them.

Chris wanted to close his eyes.

“Go ahead, Captain. I have you,” she whispered into his ear. “I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe with me.”

He actually believed it.

There was no way she’d do all this, and then let him drown. Chris could vividly recall the time he was in the hospital and she cooled his body and fed him pudding.

Natasha wasn’t like
HER
.

It was odd.

When this woman was around, he couldn’t remember his ex’s name or face.

That, in itself, was priceless.

She continued massaging his sore muscles—from his neck, to his shoulders, and even his chest.

It was heaven.

He couldn’t fight it.

His headache was dulling, and the pain meds were kicking in too. Add to it that he was being massaged, and he was screwed. He focused on her fingers as she moved them gently over his body. It was the most amazing thing he’d felt in…ever.

It was as if he’d died and gone to Heaven. She was his own personal angel. He could get accustomed to this.

“Natasha,” he moaned, as he drifted off to sleep.

“I’m here, Captain. I’ll be by your side. I promise.”

She lowered her face to his and left a gentle kiss on his lips.

She couldn’t help herself.

She was madly in love with him.

 
         
* * *
  G r e y s o n   C r o f t   * * *

LVPD

Commissioner’s Office

When he got the text, he wasn’t happy. It simply said:

‘We failed.’

That was the last thing he wanted to hear from them. Then again, he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t even bother texting them back. There had to be some cops in the city who could handle the situation.

When his great equalizer came, taking over the job as homicide captain, the fun and games would begin. Thomas Christ would show them how the game was played.

Until then, Commissioner Raye would lay low.

There was no point in stirring it up too much. By now, Greyson Croft knew he wasn’t playing games. The message had been sent. While they were safely behind the walls of his compound, in the streets, it was anyone’s game.

Ohhh, he would be worried.

There were over twenty six hundred cops in Las Vegas. They’d never know who, or when, someone was going to make a move.

He’d make sure they stayed locked behind their gate, where they belonged. It would become their cell.

Their prison.

Meanwhile, he’d handle the city. There was a new FBI director, and there was going to be a new homicide captain.

He had this locked down.

It was easy.

It was settled.

The Crofts were no longer king and queen.

Their reign was coming to an end.

And soon.

Chapter Eighteen

Sunday Afternoon

After everything had settled down, the family began going over everything they’d had found while working. Emma and Greyson were going to go first, but before they started, they both noticed someone was suspiciously missing.

“Where’s Dimitri?” Emma asked.

Kat was sitting beside Curtis on the couch, her body touching his. “He went to Doctor Bentley’s home to get the zip drives for you.”

Emma’s face said it all.

“What?” Greyson asked.

“I don’t like that he’s out there alone. He’s just as marked as we are,” she stated.

He was aware.

Heading to the security panel, he hit the button turning on the cameras. Dimitri was driving and talking on the phone to someone in Russian.

“Kat, what’s he saying?” Emma asked.

She didn’t leave Curtis’s side.

“He’s making plans for tonight.” She didn’t go into detail. Kat was stuck between two sides she cared about a great deal.

Emma heard the worry.

“I know what he has planned, Kat. It’s okay.”

The woman visibly relaxed.

Curtis took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. He hated that her finger was ring-less. He wanted to see her wearing the present he planned for her tonight.

He was so excited he could barely contain himself. Staying calm was damn hard to do.

“Okay, well, we know where he is, so let’s move on,” Greyson stated. He would leave the planning to Dimitri. That was definitely his thing.

He never thought he’d say this, but he trusted him with his life. The Russian was his family and that mattered.

Emma offered the floor up to her husband. “You can go first, Grey. We all know what kind of day I had.”

Yeah, that he didn’t really want to relive. It was already stuff his nightmares were made of.

“When Dimitri and I got to the strip club,” he said, smiling at his wife. “I love you.”

She snorted.

Greyson continued, “We found Gerald Darden. He was definitely turning out his tricks from the club.”

He told them about Julie.

Emma’s face said it all.

“I did all I could for her, but she’s already sinking fast. The poor thing is a child.”

That made all of them sick.

They all knew the statistics. Julie would be used up, abused, and possibly dead before she hit the ripe old age of thirty. If she didn’t end up with a botched abortion, an STD, or addiction, she’d likely be murdered by a John or her pimp.

It was a dead end.

“He gave me a location where she’d go to meet a trick. Apparently, this regular had it bad for Glenda, and he was a little off. She didn’t like him, and when she went missing, he stopped calling.”

That threw up flags.

Almost as if he knew she was dead.

“What do you have?” Curtis asked, grabbing his laptop. He loved working from the comfort of home. It made it so much easier.

Plus, he got to be with Kat.

That was one hell of a perk in his book.

Greyson rattled off the address.

“If it’s still active, I’ll be able to trace it back to the man, giving you a location.”

Everyone waited as Curtis did his thing. When Steele walked into the room, Tessa made room for him on the couch.

Greyson looked around the circle of family, and it felt right. It was like a meeting at work, only they could do their thing—unencumbered by the system.

“What did I miss?” Steele asked. “Where’s Dante and Dimitri?”

Greyson caught him up to speed. “Dimitri is picking up your zip drive. So if you can go over it, that’ll help.”

“I can.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, Steele?” asked Emma. “You don’t have to do it.”

“I need to be part of something, Emma. This helps. If I can’t handle it, I’ll let you know. So far, I’m good. I feel productive again. Let’s face it. I’m not going back. I can’t. I need to use my mind somehow.”

They all understood.

Steele had a long road ahead of him.

“And Dante?” he asked.

“He had some last minute things that had to be handled at the hotel. He’s making sure that lighting is done for tonight’s party. He likes it perfect.”

Yeah, that sounded like Dante.

He was detail orientated when it came to pulling off one of their functions.

“Got it,” Curtis blurted. “Here comes your information, Grey,” he offered.

“Put it up on the screen.”

Curtis did just that.

“We used the cell number you got from the pimp, and we tied it to an address belonging to a Todd Robins. He’s your mystery John. He’s not a renter. The only reason I could pull this is that he owns the place.”

They were glad.

“What do we know about him?” Emma asked.

Curtis started hacking, making sure he was backtracking the same way he went in, hidden in code and viruses.

“There’s minimal out there on him, but you’re going to find this interesting,” he offered.

“What?” Greyson asked.

“Really look at his address and think about it. If you weren’t stressed out because of the Emma incident, you would have picked it up right away.”

He put it up on the screen.

Tessa got it first.

“That’s right across from Norma Hatch’s apartment building, and not far from Jesse Post’s.”

Emma found that interesting.

“So, we can tie this guy to Glenda Mateo, put him with in visual distance of Norma Hatch, and another one of our other suspects?”

“Yes, and if he was that close to Jesse Post, I’m sure he saw Seth Bell. Partners tend to pick each other up for work, carpool in, and get beers after a long day.”

Tessa was right.

They were starting to get a defined list of potential suspects, and that was going to be what helped them save Seth Bell.

They were getting closer.

“I can dig deeper, but that’s going to take a little finessing, and some blocked equipment.”

“Why don’t you have Dimitri bring you some here?” Kat asked. “He has a laptop that has the same blocking software as his desktop unit.”

That was a good idea.

Greyson pulled out his phone and dialed the man.

Luckily, Dimitri wasn’t far from Sky Villa.

“Hey! Are you busy?”

“No. Is everyone okay?” Dimitri asked.

“Yeah. We need a laptop.”

“A special one?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“On it. If this is for the man-child, tell him to treat it like he treats my sister. See you in ten.”

When he hung up, he pointed at Curtis. “You’ll have your equipment, but he said if you break it, you’re dead.”

He laughed.

Then stopped.

“He was kidding, right?”

Kat kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, he was kidding. He wouldn’t kill you. Hurt you, maybe. Kill no.”

“Kat, that’s not helpful.”

She winked at him.

“We’ll swing by Todd Robins’s place tomorrow,” Greyson stated. “What did you and Chris get, Emma?”

She stared at him. “Like you don’t know.”

“Yes, I was eavesdropping. I admit it. I like to know where my woman is at all times. It’s just who I am.”

She was aware.

“Besides, you deserved it. You took back my muffin. That broke my heart.”

She laughed.

“Anyway, team, Adam Price gave us a suspect. His name is Corey Powell. Curtis, what can you tell me about him?”

Curtis began typing.

His fingers flew over the keys.

Greyson noticed Paris making notes. “Are you getting more of a profile ready?”

“Yes, I’m building it now. After all your interviews, I should have enough to give you a better direction.”

He was glad.

They were going to need it. This was a tough one.

“He’s an employee of the city,” Curtis said. When he looked up, he could already tell she was aware of that.

“And?”

He kept hacking until he got into the man’s personnel records. “He’s been a dispatcher for eight years. Apparently, he tried to be a cop, but he couldn’t pass the testing.”

“What did his psych evaluations say?” Paris asked.

To him, that was the most important part. That was where the truth came out. You couldn’t fake your way through the evaluations.

“He has anger issues,” Curtis said, putting it up on the screen.

Paris rolled closer, reading the details scribbled in the margins. It was clear what the problem was.

“He’s going to have a superiority complex, like he’s better than everyone else. He’s going to have an inflated ego.”

“Could he be the killer?” Emma asked. “From what you see there, could he have killed these women, just to frame a cop he hated?”

Paris read on.

“Yeah, he could. It wouldn’t be beyond him to do the deed, set him up, and then never kill again.”

“I’d like to ask if we’ve had any more killings in Vegas like the way the five women died, but I’m sure it’s a long list,” Emma said.

Curtis began typing. As he did, Kat rested her head on his shoulder. It gave him such peace. It helped him focus more. His girl was by his side, and she loved him. He’d worked with Brynn, but it had never been like this.

He was complete.

This was right.

The laptop hummed, his fingers tapped, and finally a list popped up on the screen.

“Holy shit,” muttered Emma.

There, on the screen, was a list of one hundred and twenty seven prostitutes who had died since Seth Bell went into prison.

“I really hope that’s not this person, and he’s still going,” stated Emma.

Steele spoke up. “I likely have some of them on my zip drive. I can go through and compare the autopsy results to those of the confirmed five women.”

She appreciated that. “If he’s still killing…?”

“Yeah, that might be the way to get Seth Bell’s execution stayed, and give his lawyers enough time to get him out of jail.”

IF THEY WERE CONNECTED.

They all knew how big of an
‘if’
that was going to be. This was going to come down to the information the team could pull together.

Emma had faith.

They were the best she’d ever worked with in her career, and she’d put money on them any day of the week.

Greyson was proud of his team. “Steele will work the files, and he’ll need some help.”

Tessa immediately offered, followed by Paris.

“I can work on my profile as he’s working the autopsy reports. It’ll make it easier for me to get my work done.”

Speaking of work…

“Paris, you’re going to have an escort tomorrow for work. I’m assuming you have patients?”

He did. “Yes.”

Kat raised her hand. “I’m up. Natasha is busy with Chris.”

Emma grinned at that.

She was well aware, and she was more than happy to have the woman keeping Chris occupied. She needed to talk to Dimitri about something, and she hoped she could talk him into it.

“You’ll be safe, right?” Curtis asked Kat. “You’ll make sure you don’t get hurt?”

She touched his cheek. “I’ll be good. I swear.”

He had to relax. He knew Kat could handle herself.

Hell!

She could probably kick his ass, even pregnant.

“Okay, sweetheart.”

She nuzzled his cheek.

Emma knew that there was no way in hell that her husband was letting her out of the house without a bodyguard—mainly him.

“I guess you and I are doing two interviews tomorrow?” she asked.

He started laughing. “You know me so well, kitten. You didn’t even try to insinuate that you were going out without me.”

“My partner got the shit kicked out of him. I need to upgrade to a meaner one.”

He mock growled.

“Before you start molesting her, meaner model, I have a third interview for you,” Curtis stated.

He sent the details over to the screen.

“What I do have in the autopsies is a common thread. I almost didn’t catch it, but Tessa saw it.”

He fist bumped his partner.

Steele saw it. “Methadone. I remember it now. They were all drug addicts. I’d like to say that they overcame it, but we all know how they ended up.”

Greyson recalled a case with a methadone clinic. “Can you tie them all to the same place?” he asked.

“I can and have.”

He sent it to the screen.