Dark Justice (Croft Family Mob Series Book 1) (50 page)

They got to work.

It was a long shot, but they’d won with less in the past.

They would find the truth.

They always did.

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

Emma was getting into her ride when her cell rang. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

“Is this Emma Croft?” he asked.

“Yeah, is this Adam Price?” She thought she recognized the voice.

“It is. You said to call if I thought of anything else. I think I have something. I was looking at some pictures, and it came to me. It’s about his partner. Can you come by?”

She glanced at her watch.

She had time.

“My husband is busy, but I can pop in.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Croft. I appreciate it.”

Emma was desperate for anything at this point. Maybe the man would break the case wide open for her. They had very little time, and it was coming down to solving it, or giving up on Seth Bell.

At the last minute, she sent her husband a text message. He’d be pissed if he didn’t know where the hell she was.

Because he was bossy as hell.

And she missed him.

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

Terrace Glen

They worked it hard.

They searched everything.

As the team went over everyone’s name, job, and likelihood of being near that clinic, Steele was studying the autopsy reports.

He’d been new, and he could see that over time, he’d done a far better job. He’d missed little things. From the pictures, he didn’t call quite a few tears in the women’s bodies.

He’d written it off as rape.

When he studied them, he saw it.

Jesus.

He wanted to be sick.

That overwhelming feeling of panic overtook him, and the bile churned in his gut. Standing up, he raced from the room, only to make it to the powder room just in time.

He began puked up his guts. Only he wasn’t alone. Dante was there, kneeling beside him as he got sick. As his body was wracked with the tremors of vomiting, his fiancé held his hand.

“It’s okay.”

No, it wouldn’t be.

He did screw up.

Back then, he was fresh out of medical school, and he’d made an assumption.

It was a horrible one.

“Dante,” he muttered, his eyes full of tears.

“What is it, babe? What is it?” he asked, handing him a wad of toilet paper.

“They weren’t raped.”

He stared at him. “Babe, it’s in the reports.”

Steele fought back the next wave of illness. “They have wounds consistent with a much larger object. A penis couldn’t do that damage. I was new, I never knew. Now I do.”

He didn’t understand. “Steele, spit it out, and we’ll deal with it. I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“I was wrong. They weren’t raped. They were sodomized, likely with a bat.”

Steele began throwing up all over again.

“Okay, babe. Let’s get you better, and we’ll tell the team. We can work with this. We have time. We can go back over the information.”

Between purging, he was able to speak. “The ME knew I wouldn’t catch that. He let it slip by along with burying the information. He had to be in on it. He had to have helped put Seth Bell in jail, and I never noticed.”

“You were new.”

“And now he may die because of it.”

They wouldn’t let that happen.

The truth was about to come out—one way or another.

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

Adam Price’s

Apartment

Emma preferred having someone with her. It would have been more fun working with Greyson, but he was off on his secret mission.

Hopefully, they didn’t get into trouble.

She’d kick both of their asses.

That was for damn sure.

As she approached his place, he was smiling and waiting for her in the doorway. “Hey! Thank you for rushing right over! I’m sure you’re busy and need to meet your husband, but it might be important.”

She followed him inside.

“He’s busy for now, so I have time.”

“I made tea, would you like some? It’s this herbal blend that I break out for special occasions. I think what I’m going to tell you will break your case open and set Seth free.”

Emma would make time for that. They were desperate for any leads to help Seth out.

“Sure.”

They both sipped the tea.

“Would you like a cookie?” he offered.

She took one. “Thank you.”

Emma was glad. Her stomach was grumbling. Maybe she shouldn’t have skipped breakfast that morning.

“It’s really good,” she said. “Did you make it yourself?” she asked.

“I did. I love mixing things up in the kitchen,” he offered, grinning at her.

“What did you find?” she asked, pointing at the books and papers on the table.

“I was here, looking at pictures, and I thought about his partner.”

Emma’s phone chimed. She didn’t pull it out of her pocket. It was likely an update from the team, or her husband. It would have to wait.

“After our tea, I’ll get them and show you what I saw.”

Emma really didn’t want to sit around and have tea with the man, but he was trying to help. It was the least she could do.

“That would be nice,” she stated.

“I really think you’ll be happy with what I’m going to tell you. It’ll solve it. I’m sure.”

She doubted that, but the man was lonely.

“I’m ready any time you are.”

“I’ll go get the book.”

Emma kept drinking. As she looked around the room, she took it all in.

The pictures were different. There was Seth and Adam, in some hospital of sort, holding a dog.

There was Adam taking care of a kitten.

Her gut began screaming.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

As she went to get up, he came back.

Emma could barely stand.

She felt…drugged.

“Ahhhh, the ketamine has kicked in. It took long enough. I thought I was going to have to knock you out.”

Emma tried to focus.

Shit!

“We need to talk. I’m going to tell you a story,” he said, pushing her backward and onto the couch. “It began when I was ten. My mother, she was a whore.”

She didn’t need to hear this story.

Emma knew she was screwed.

This was very bad.

Greyson was going to lose his damn mind. They’d missed this one altogether.

The reason it looked like Seth Bell had been set up was that he had been.

By his lover.

Aww, hell!

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

Chris was the one who found it.

Out of a hunch, they ran everyone who was interviewed. The team had originally stuck to the suspect list, but he wanted to cover all his bases.

There was only one person they hadn’t done a search on the entire time. Adam Price had slipped under the radar for two reasons.

He was gay.

He was the doting boyfriend who lied to cover for his partner. He wasn’t protecting Seth Bell. He was setting up his own cover. Who would suspect him after he tried to be his boyfriend’s alibi?

Meanwhile, he was still killing, and likely still doing it too.

After Dante came out of the bathroom, explaining what had Steele so upset, they stopped looking at this as a crime of control.

If it wasn’t about sex, what was it about?

Hurting women.

Paris had them restructure their search, and they found what they needed. Seth Bell’s boyfriend had an ugly past. Not only did he volunteer at a vet hospital, with access to Ketamine, he also had a stint in foster care.

His mother was dead.

His father was nonexistent.

He’d been shuffled around, trying to find his place in the world.

Only, on his eighteenth birthday, when he was free of the foster system, his last
‘mother’
had been assaulted, sodomized, and murdered.

No one looked at the grieving kid who played good for the two years with her. In fact, no one questioned him. The CPS workers handed over all the reports, and the mother, prior to her death, said he was an angel.

He was so good.

Perfect.

A blessing.

Only that apple had been spoiled a long time ago.

Now they knew the truth.

He wasn’t framing his boyfriend. He was trying to hide in plain sight. Adam Price didn’t give a shit about Seth Bell. He was using him to keep his sickness fed.

It was horrifying.

Seth didn’t know that the man he was in love with was actually planting bodies around him, just in case the cops figured it out.

He wouldn’t be a suspect. After all, he was a building inspector. Seth had the contact with the hookers.

“We have to tell Emma.”

“Text her,” stated Chris. “I’ll keep digging. Tell her about the Ketamine, the vet connection between Adam and Seth, and then tell her about the dead mother, and murdered foster mother. She’ll get it.”

“I’ll call Dimitri,” Kat offered, pulling out her phone. “He’s going to want to hear this.”

“It looks like we found our missing thread,” Chris said, proud of them.

They’d saved a man’s life.

They were on the right path. Now they just had to get the information together and hand it over to a judge.

Seth Bell had his second chance.

He was going to live.

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

Courthouse

Commons Area

Everything was set up the way he requested.

Greyson, from where he stationed himself, could see him getting coffee in the square outside the office. He’d meet Chris and Emma there all the time when they’d have a coffee break or a meeting. That’s why he made this place his setup area. He’d seen the commissioner a few times, and the man was a creature of habit. Why not use that to his advantage?

It made this so damn easy.

Glancing across the quad area, he saw the nod. It was time to have some fun.

Crossing toward Jeffrey Raye, he knew there were eyes on him. He could feel it, and this time, it was a damn good thing. The man approaching him was carrying two coffees. Just like he always did.

He was going to regret that.

“Commissioner?”

As soon as the man looked up, his face said it all. He looked scared shitless. That proved he was guilty as sin. Greyson didn’t feel bad at all.

In fact, he felt vindicated.

“We need to talk.”

The man looked around as if he was trying to find help or an escape route.

“About?”

“Life here in Vegas,” Croft offered, taking the spare coffee from him. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I missed my coffee this morning. I’m busy cleaning up a shit mess you made.”