Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (43 page)

Heath looked pissed.

“If you’re going to try entrapment, Heath,” Emma said, “you should try a little harder. We saw this one coming. Now, if you don’t get the hell away from me, I’m filing a stalking charge. I know it won’t stick for long, but it’s going to piss off the commissioner. I know he’s gunning for us.”

His face gave it away.

They knew who wanted her head on a platter.

“You too, Detective Lucas. Head on out. Do what’s good for you and your wife, Shirley,” Greyson stated.

The man looked scared. Clearly, he was the smarter of the two. He backed up.

“This isn’t over, Emma.”

Yeah, she was well aware.

“It never is, now is it, Heath. It looks like we’re on two different sides. When the race is over, we’ll see who’s still standing at the finish line—we criminals, fixing the mess the cops in this city made by turning a blind eye, or the cops who are crooked and wear the badges.”

She was searching for justice, and he was seeking blood.

“You’ve gone rogue and crooked. I have to stop you. There has to be law in Vegas.”

Emma found that amusing. If Heath only saw the big picture on this one, he might not be walking right into the commissioner’s mess. He was clueless. She and Greyson weren’t the rogue ones. The commissioner was. He’d started playing dirty like Thomas Booker had before him.

This city just brought it out in people.

It was a shit fest.

When they pulled away, Greyson walked around their vehicle, looking for the tracker. He found it in the wheel well. “I swear they don’t remember that I did this for a living,” he said laughing. “I’ve ordered more of these than I can count.”

Looking around, he opted to have some fun.

He put it onto another car nearby.

That would keep them busy for a whole day.

“Hey, babe? Did you forget about someone?” Sam asked.

Emma glanced down at the boy. “Yeah?”

“Do I get my money?” She could tell that he expected her to screw him over. It was all over his face. The system had let Sam down, and he waited for it to continue.

“Yeah, you get it, and a bonus, but only if you promise to squirrel it away for a rainy day.”

“I can do that.”

Greyson came over. In his hand he held three hundred dollars. He could tell there was more money there than he’d ever seen in his life.

“Promise you won’t do drugs?”

The kid laughed. “Hell no! I’m going to go eat a whole pizza and then chase it with three sodas. I want to eat. Drugs are not my game.”

He held out his hand.

Greyson handed him a card. “If you ever need me, or there’s trouble, you call this number, Sam.”

The kid looked at it. “You mean like I’m in jail?”

He meant a lot of things.

It broke his heart that Sam was hungry, lost, and unwanted. It killed him inside. This was why they did what they did. It was why he let people call him crooked.

It was so he could help them.

“Yeah, or anything. If you need a lift, or you get into trouble, call it. Ask for Greyson or Dimitri.”

He tucked it into his beat up shoe.

“Okay, thanks.”

He took the money and started walking away. When he reached the corner, he turned and winked at Emma.

It made her sigh.

“There’s one more kid we’ll never save,” she said, feeling the weight of it.

He was aware.

“We keep going, honey. We keep fighting. We may not save Sam, but we’ll save the next one, and the next.”

She took his hand in hers.

“Yeah, I know, Grey. I know.”

They got into their car and headed out. “Are you ready for the next interview or do you want to take a break?” He knew she was thinking.

He could hear the wheels spinning.

Emma knew it was best to wrap this up as soon as possible. She didn’t like being out in the open with cops playing sick games with their lives.

“Let’s get it done.”

They pulled away, Emma staring out the window at the town she’d grown to love.

She had to save it.

There had to be a way.

As soon as they were around the corner, Heath and his partner pulled out. They were going to tail the man. They could tell that the tracer wasn’t working, or it was defective. It wasn’t moving on the laptop.

“He found it,” Detective Lucas stated. “He knows we planted it.”

“Probably. We’ll tail him. He’s up to something. Greyson Croft, the kingpin, doesn’t come down here to talk to street kids for shits and giggles. He must be up to something.”

“What do you think it is?” Lester Lucas asked.

“This is a drug strip. I bet he’s branching out.”

“You think?”

Heath laughed. “He’s a dirty guy. I’d bet on it. I almost feel bad about Emma. I liked her—well, until she went bad too.”

“What if she’s right about someone else killing Mace?”

He shook his head. “There’s no way she’s right. He’s as dirty as they come, and we know it. Let’s follow him. That’ll get us details.”

“Okay.”

“The commissioner wants information. I say we do our jobs, clean up the streets, and get rid of the criminal element—like him. That’s what we’re paid to do.”

He was aware.

“Okay, Partner. You know best.”

Yeah, in this case, he really did.

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

Club Aquarius

Dimitri was having coffee as he sat and did some work in his club. Miranda Bell should be there at any minute, and he was looking forward to updating her.

True, they didn’t have much, and she likely wasn’t going to like it, but she had a right to know the truth. Time was running out, and with each day, it was getting less likely Seth was getting out. So far, they had leads, but nothing substantial. The last thing he wanted was the woman having any false hopes.

This would take a miracle, and he was long past expecting them.

When his hostess peeked her head into his private room to alert him of her presence, he glanced up. “Yes, Marissa?”

“Your meeting has arrived, sir. Do you want me to bring them back or would you like to greet them out here?”

“I’m done with my other work. Will you escort them back and can you also get more coffee for myself and my guests?” he asked. There was no point in being a bad host.

He had manners.

They were clients.

Well, of a sort.

“Yes, sir. I’ll handle it.”

He would be lost without Marissa. She played a vital role at
‘Aquarius’
. She was a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, and he was very lucky to have her on his staff.

Plus, she was beautiful, and Dimitri liked surrounding himself with gorgeous things. It helped him forget the ugliness of his past.

When Miranda Bell came in, there was a man right behind her. He didn’t look happy, and Dimitri could guess who he was from the shape of his facial features.

“Miranda and Tucker, welcome to
‘Aquarius’
and have a seat. We have coffee coming. Please make yourself comfortable in my establishment.”

She sat, nervously wringing her hands and worrying her ring. The stress of everything was clearly on her face. It looked like she wanted to cry.

He got that.

What Dimitri also noticed was that it was clear that she expected horrible news.

“What did you find?”

“We have some leads, and we’re working them. There are quite a few things that the cops missed,” he stated, cautiously watching not Miranda, but the man beside her. He looked edgy, out of place, and damn nervous.

He’d seen that twitch before.

Curtis’s searches had been right. This kid, barely a man, was accustomed to trouble. Considering the situation they were in, that put him on Dimitri’s suspect list.

“It figures,” Tucker said. “Cops are assholes.”

“Your brother was a cop,” Dimitri stated. “That has to mean something to you.”

He laughed.

Apparently, it didn’t.

“And he was the biggest asshole I know. As a matter of fact, he still is one.”

“Tucker, stop!” Miranda ordered. “I’m sorry, Mr. Gideon. He didn’t mean it like that. The whole situation has been hard on all of us.”

Dimitri didn’t buy that at all.

Tucker Bell meant it.

His eyes were filled with rage. The man was overflowing with hate, and Dimitri got that. He’d been down that road. Tucker was a product of his society, his upbringing, and that bitch—Fate. He’d been that young man many years ago. Dimitri knew the road he was on, and it wasn’t going to end well.

His sisters had saved him. Had he not had to be responsible for someone else, he would have pissed his life away. After all, he wasn’t worth much alive, being dead wouldn’t have mattered.

Tucker had that same cancer, eating away at him.

“We’ll start after the coffee is poured,” he stated, as Marissa hustled around, taking care of his guests.

He needed a minute.

The Crofts still weren’t there, and Dimitri had to see if they were on their way, or being detained.

Immediately, he sent Emma a text, explaining that Tucker had shown, and to get there.

He was answered within seconds.

There was no way they could do it. He was going to have to dig for dirt without him.

He didn’t know how to be a cop, but he knew how to interrogate. He’d done it a few times in his life, and always with excellent results.

He loved that part of the job.

After the coffee was placed before them, and they each had time to take a sip, Dimitri let her regain her composure. He didn’t doubt in the least that Miranda Bell was a decent person. She was trying to save her family.

He could relate.

It was admirable and a lot of work.

“Are you going to be able to help him?” Miranda finally asked.

It hung there for a few second.

“I can’t let him die,” she whispered.

“We’re trying, Ms. Bell. We’re giving it everything we have, chasing down all the leads, and backtracking the police detectives’ work. It’s taking time.”

“We don’t have much more.”

“I know, and that’s why I asked you here. There are things that aren’t adding up. We need to know a few more things,” he stated. “Like where were you, Tucker, when your brother was supposedly killing people?”

He stared at him. “Why do you need to know that?”

“We know what your sister was doing, we know what he was doing, and now we need to clear you.”

Miranda gasped. “You can’t think that Tucker would do this to Seth.”

Oh, he could.

With his police record, the disdain he felt for his brother and that murderous look in his eyes…

Yeah, he should be on the suspect list.

If Dimitri were running this investigation, Tucker would be at the top. This killer knew a lot about Seth Bell. It was like he was setting him up. Now, was it his brother, a man who was supposed to love him? A man who helped take care of him after his mother’s death?

That was what he needed to find out.

And fast.

Then again, the second he did, Miranda was right back in the same positon—one brother’s life for the other.

It was shitty position to be in either way.

“By his own admission,” Dimitri began, “he hates cops.”

“I do. They’re crooked and corrupt in Vegas.”

Dimitri knew what the man would be saying next about his arrests. He couldn’t have possibly have been guilty. Tucker had the classic
‘blame everyone else’
syndrome.

It would never be his fault.

So, he dug deeper.

“How do you feel about your brother’s sexuality, and his choices in life?”

“I hated it. I think he was a pansy fag, and I’m glad our mother isn’t alive to see it. She’d be devastated that her precious, perfect son was shacked up with Adam Price.”

Miranda stared at him. “Tucker! She would not! She’d love Seth no matter what, like we do!”

The man said nothing.

Instead he rolled his eyes.