He nodded, his face flushed with color, making him look like a naughty boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. ‘I thought it would be for the best. I guess I thought wrong.’
‘You didn’t know,’ she murmured. ‘I thought Tala was the target too, so let’s get past that and figure out who shot your friend.’ She put the list on the table, then looked at each person for a few seconds, meeting their eyes before moving to the next. ‘What are you doing that makes people want to kill you?’
‘We want immunity,’ Stone said quietly. ‘Especially for Gayle.’
‘She only types memos,’ Scarlett said dryly. ‘And in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t Mirandized any of you. Should I be doing so?’
‘No.’ Marcus drew a breath. ‘We target abusers and get them out of their homes. However we have to.’
She blinked slowly, digesting this. She hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but hearing this was no shock. She’d told Marcus that he was built to protect, and she’d meant it. She’d figured it had something to do with helping people in distress because he’d reached out to Tala so readily and so naturally. Like it was something he did all the time. That they’d gone to such trouble to cover their tracks was a little more worrying. ‘Do you break the law?’
Diesel’s massive shoulders shrugged nonchalantly. ‘A little hacking. And sometimes we might . . . suggest they should leave town.’
Scarlett’s lips twitched. ‘If I opened my door and saw you standing there, Mr Kennedy, you wouldn’t have to suggest anything. I’d start running before you opened your mouth.’
Diesel grinned happily. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. How do you choose these abusers?’ More furtive glances around the table made her huff in annoyance. ‘For God’s sake, people, spit it out. I don’t have all night. And neither does your friend in there. I can’t justify a uniformed guard forever, you know.’
‘We get referrals, mostly,’ Marcus said. ‘Some come from people who aren’t authorized to share the information. To give their names could jeopardize their jobs, which would mean a lot of needy people wouldn’t be helped.’
‘So, Social Services,’ she said. ‘I can understand that. Must be frustrating to see bad people get away with hurting women and kids.’
‘You see that every day,’ Cal said softly. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d entered the room.
‘Yes,’ Scarlett said. ‘Every goddamn day. There have been many times I’ve been tempted to suggest someone leave town.’
‘Have you ever done it?’ Stone asked, a gleam in his eye.
Ever the reporter, she thought, raising her eyebrows at him. ‘Tempted, Stone. That’s all I said. For the record.’ She eyed the rest of the group. ‘So you get referrals. I assume these are referrals about abusers who are too slick to get caught by Children’s Services or who have frightened their victims into silence. What do you next? Dig until you find proof of their abuse?’
‘Something like that,’ Marcus said. ‘But sometimes there is no proof of abuse so we have to find something else.’
‘Find or fabricate?’ she asked him pointedly.
‘Mostly find. At times we get a little creative. But it’s never a total fabrication.’
Cal cleared his throat. ‘I’d call it more entrapment. With cameras set up in advance.’
‘Of course.’ Scarlett turned to Diesel. ‘You’re the hacker?’
Pride flickered in his eyes. ‘I am. I don’t steal. Just . . . rummage.’
Again her lips twitched. It was hard not to like this man. ‘Rummage for what?’
‘Wrongdoing in general. Sometimes it’s obvious.’ His lips thinned. ‘Like kiddie porn. Sometimes a little less so, like tax evasion or stock fraud.’
Scarlett blinked in surprise. ‘Tax evasion or stock fraud?’
‘It’s a crime,’ Lisette said. ‘Not as bad, but if it’s big enough, it’ll land them in federal prison. It gets them away from their families.’
‘And,’ Cal added, ‘even if it’s not big enough for the Feds, many times they don’t want anyone to know what they’ve done, so they’re more amenable to the suggestion to separate themselves from the household.’
‘Extortion,’ Scarlett murmured.
‘Gentle encouragement,’ Cal countered.
‘It gets them out of the house,’ Scarlett said, trying to keep the approval from her voice but knowing she was only moderately successful. ‘But they inevitably return. Then what?’
‘They come home to find their families have relocated,’ Marcus said. ‘We help them start over if that’s what they want. New IDs, new jobs. We’ve helped some of the women go back to school.’ He smiled fiercely, proudly. ‘One of our cases just graduated with a nursing degree. Another became a pharmacy tech. Another a paralegal. One finished the teaching degree she abandoned when she had too many bruises to show her face on campus. All of these mothers can now support their families on their own. They’re making lives for themselves and are no longer isolated and alone. And their kids are no longer afraid.’
Scarlett drew a breath, her chest suddenly tight with emotion that bubbled up, breaking free from where she’d contained it for so long. She’d known Marcus was different the first time she’d heard his voice. She’d known. No, I’d hoped. Hoped so damn hard.
‘Why do you hide this?’ she whispered, meeting his eyes, letting him see everything she felt deep inside. Wishing they were alone so she could show him.
‘Because we break the rules,’ he whispered back, his stare intensely intimate, despite the fact they were not alone. ‘We hack into people’s computers, we “gently coerce”, and we set people up. We produce fake IDs and print fake birth certificates and passports.’
‘The printing press,’ she murmured, and a glance at Cal told her she’d guessed right. He lifted his palms to show her fingertips stained black with ink, his narrowed eyes and tilted chin proclaiming unmistakable defiance. ‘You’re utilizing all of your resources.’
‘And skills,’ Cal said. ‘I learned the craft back before there were computers.’
Beside her, Diesel sighed. ‘And if you turn us in, we’ll have to stop.’
Scarlett shook her head. Their big concern was being forced to stop their work, more than being prosecuted. Or killed. ‘But this is dangerous. Phillip’s proof of that.’
‘Phillip knew the risks,’ Lisette said quietly. ‘He accepted them. I want the man who hurt him caught, but none of us want to stop. Phillip wouldn’t either, if he were sitting here.’
‘But why?’ Scarlett asked, looking around the table at each of them. She understood that Marcus and Stone had suffered a childhood trauma, but losing their baby brother to a murdering kidnapper didn’t automatically translate to helping abused women and their kids. The rest of them . . . She was perplexed. ‘Why do you care so much?’
‘We have our reasons,’ Diesel said stubbornly, and the rest of them nodded.
It was clear she’d get no further with them, at least not here and now. ‘All right. So you break some rules, put some abusers behind bars and “gently coerce” others to step away from the family.’ She tapped the paper on the table in front of her. ‘Are any of the names on this list viable suspects?’
‘No,’ Marcus said. ‘That’s why I chose them.’
Of course you did. Because he hadn’t trusted her – then. Of course, she hadn’t trusted him, either. In her mind he’d been a reporter, making his living digging up news. How much difference a few hours made. ‘Can I get a complete list?’
Marcus pulled a flash drive from the pocket of his pants. ‘Here it is.’ He put it in her palm and curled her fingers to hold it, covering her hand with his for a long moment before releasing her. ‘I’ll need to walk you through the names.’
Her skin tingled, missing his warmth as soon as he took his hand away. She had to fight the urge to lean into him. ‘We’ll figure it out. My next question, I need you to be honest with me, because I don
’t like surprises that bite me in the ass. How far did your “gentle coercion” go? How physical did you get? Specifically, did any of these names report you for assault?’
A long, long hesitation around the table had her heart sinking. What had they done?
‘Report?’ Diesel asked, drawing the word out. ‘As in, file a police report?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘What kind of report are you talking about?’
‘No, no,’ Diesel said, waving his hands. ‘Police report is what you wanted to know. The answer to your question is no. I don’t think so.’
‘No, or you don’t think so?’ Scarlett asked.
‘Well, any kook can file a police report,’ Diesel said with a shrug. ‘So anything’s possible.’
She sighed. ‘What exactly did you all do? I need to know.’
Stone folded his arms over his chest. ‘A few assholes might have fallen a few times.’
‘Into doors,’ Diesel added. ‘Or asphalt. Or knuckles.’
‘How hard might they have fallen?’ Scarlett asked.
‘The worst time was when the boys beat some asshole up,’ Lisette said.
‘Which boys?’ Scarlett demanded.
Stone shook his head. ‘Not me. I got an alibi. I was covering an election in Colombia.’
Scarlett looked at Marcus. ‘You?’
Marcus nodded, unrepentant. ‘He was stupid enough to throw the first punch. Look, the SOB had tricked his daughter’s best friend into telling him where his wife and kids were hiding, and had gone to their house to drag them back once he got out of jail for molesting his own kids and a few of the neighbors’. The daughter’s friend warned them he was coming when she realized she’d been tricked. The man’s soon-to-be ex-wife called us.’
‘Why didn’t she call the cops?’ Scarlett asked, and another hush fell over the table.
‘He was a cop,’ Marcus said quietly.
Scarlett exhaled. ‘Shit. You beat up a cop?’
‘A little,’ Diesel said.
‘A lot,’ Marcus corrected. ‘And I’m not sorry. He was not going to be satisfied until they were dead. We threatened to call the cops on him, and he attacked us. So we convinced him to leave and not come back. He did leave – for that day. I worried he’d come back, so we installed a high-tech alarm system in the woman’s house and got her a very large dog. He never came back. A few weeks later he died, but not because of anything we did to him.’
Scarlett rubbed her temples, trying to recall the case. Cops going to jail for molesting children didn’t happen every day. In a rush, the man’s name and face came back to her and she blew out a breath. ‘You’re right. I knew him. He was a prick who liked to bully anyone weaker than he was. He moved to California and died there. A bar fight or road rage, wasn’t it? He was beaten up pretty severely, but I can’t remember all the details.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Were you responsible for that?’
‘No,’ Marcus said. ‘We had our run-in with him before that. But none of us cried for him. It happened when I was in the hospital. Stone was recuperating at home. Diesel was with Cal and Lisette, keeping the paper running.’
Scarlett turned to look at Diesel and he met her gaze without flinching. ‘I didn’t do it,’ he said. ‘The asshole got drunk and got grabby with a waitress in a bar, which made her steroid-juiced bodybuilder boyfriend very unhappy. Boyfriend is sitting in jail, waiting for his trial.’ He smiled nastily. ‘I wrote the article about it, though.’
‘O-kay,’ she murmured, hoping that she never saw Diesel truly angry. That evil smile of his was enough to raise the hairs on the back of her neck. She looked at Marcus. ‘Were there any other incidents?’
‘A few. Mostly we just had Diesel pay them a visit. He rarely had to do more than raise a finger to convince them to walk away.’ He pointed to the flash drive. ‘I’ll tell you all the details when we go over the list.’
‘What about names that aren’t on this list?’ she asked. ‘People you’ve investigated that haven’t made threats? Or the targets of ongoing investigations that haven’t been closed, or who you haven’t exposed or “gently coerced” yet?’
Lisette drew a sharp breath. ‘Mr Arrogant. Phillip was asking questions in his office today.’
‘But that doesn’t explain the alley or the sniper,’ Marcus said.
Lisette’s shoulders slumped. ‘You’re right.’
‘Who is Mr Arrogant?’ Scarlett asked.
‘His real name is Rich McKay,’ Lisette said. ‘He’s a corporate attorney. Works for Wesman Peal, the department store chain. He’s a vice-president there.’
‘And attorneys know just how to slither around the law,’ Scarlett said coldly. ‘What was Phillip doing in his office?’
‘Trying to find an employee list,’ Marcus said. ‘We figured if he’s beating his wife and kid, he may have been aggressive with his office staff too. Phillip posed as a courier.’
‘Then we can use that,’ Scarlett said, thinking. ‘We can say we’re checking out all the places that Phillip’s been today as part of our investigation into his attack. Anything else? Any other ongoing cases we need to consider?’
‘No,’ Stone said. ‘Things have been very quiet since the fall.’
Since Mikhail’s murder.
‘We were just starting to gear back up,’ Marcus added.
Scarlett nodded. ‘I understand. But you’re right,’ she said to Marcus. ‘I don’t think Mr Arrogant is involved in Phillip’s attack, because of the shooting this afternoon. If we assume you were the target, the sniper had to either have been waiting at the Anders house or he followed us there.’
Marcus’s face suddenly paled. ‘Oh shit. Delores.’
Stone stiffened. ‘What about Delores?’
The brothers’ gazes locked. ‘We’d just come from her house,’ Marcus said. ‘She identified the dog that Tala had been walking in the park. That’s how we got the Anderses’ address. We drove straight from Delores’s shelter to Hyde Park.’
Stone also paled. ‘They could have hurt her. Goddammit to hell.’ His hands visibly shaking, he pulled out his cell phone and hit a number from his speed dial while the rest of them looked on in stunned surprise. After a moment, he relaxed. ‘I was just wondering about your hours,’ he said into the phone. ‘Thank you.’
Scarlett looked at Marcus, but he appeared equally confused.
‘Um . . .’ Marcus hesitated. ‘Did you have her on speed dial?’
Stone had gone from pale to bright red in a heartbeat. ‘Yes.’
‘You just asked for her hours,’ Diesel said, brows lifted.
Stone’s frown was formidable. ‘Drop it. I’m serious.’ He stared at each person around the table harshly. ‘I worry about her being all the way out in Bumfuck. I keep track of her, okay? I just wanted to be sure she was okay.’
‘Loveland isn’t Bumfuck,’ Scarlett said mildly.
He turned his fury on her. ‘She lives in the middle of nowhere all alone. Anyone could break in and she couldn’t defend herself.’
Scarlett suspected that more was going on, but knew not to push. Stone’s feelings were his own. But she could soothe his fears. ‘She has a great big dog and I’ve given her lessons on operating a firearm myself. She’s a pretty good shot. You don’t need to worry so much.’
The big man drew a deep breath. ‘Thank you,’ he muttered. ‘That’s helpful.’
‘I’ll send an officer out to her place to check on her, and I’ll recommend she find somewhere to stay for a few days,’ she said, and the glance Stone flashed her was grateful even though he made no further reply.
The brother sitting beside her squeezed her knee. ‘Thank you,’ Marcus murmured.
She covered his hand with hers. ‘It’s nothing. She’s a good person. And my friend. You should also consider adding security at the Ledger building. Maybe even at all of your personal residences. Especially your mother’s house, Marcus. Gayle’s house too. If they failed luring you with Phillip, they may try aga
in, and your mom and Audrey are alone right now. Gayle’s safe here, but she has to go home to sleep at some point.’
Both Marcus and Stone paled. ‘We should have thought about that already, dammit,’ Stone said, then sent a quick text, talking as he typed. ‘I’m contacting the company that does security for Audrey’s fund-raisers. I’ll post guards at both houses and at the Ledger.’
Marcus drew an unsteady breath. ‘Mom’s driver is retired army and her personal maid is also trained in defense, so she’s always covered in the house. They can handle security until the guards get there.’
‘I’m texting them too,’ Stone said grimly as his fingers continued to fly over his phone’s keyboard. ‘I don’t want them taken by surprise.’
‘I already asked for drive-bys on her street when I requested the guard for Phillip,’ Scarlett said. ‘The department couldn’t justify full-time protection, though. You should tell your internal security and the guards you’ve hired to coordinate with CPD.’
Stone looked stunned. ‘Thank you, Detective. That was kind of you.’
‘It was a phone call,’ Scarlett said simply. ‘Your mom’s been through a lot. I’d like her to feel safe. To be safe.’
Marcus’s lips curved ever so slightly at Stone’s expression, then he turned his hand palm up to lace his fingers through Scarlett’s. ‘So what now, Detective?’ he asked, his businesslike tone in contrast with the warmth of his hand in hers.
‘We start on the list.’ She bit her lip. ‘But something still doesn’t fit. Tala knew her attacker this morning. I’m sure of it.’
Marcus leaned his head back, staring up at the ceiling with a weary sigh. ‘You’re right. That doesn’t f—’
He was cut off by the door opening, revealing a tired surgeon. ‘Miss Cauldwell? The duty nurse said I could find you here.’
Everyone at the table came to their feet, including Scarlett. She kept her hold on Marcus’s hand, squeezing hard as they waited.
‘I’m Lisette Cauldwell,’ Lisette said, a quaver in her voice.
Cal slid his arm over Lisette’s shoulders, holding her close. ‘Is he all right?’ he asked.
‘He came through the surgery,’ the doctor said. ‘It was a very serious wound, but he’s got a fighting chance. Whoever did first aid did a good job. He might have died had he lost any more blood. We had to give him three pints as it was. He’s in recovery and will be moved to ICU. The next twenty-four hours are critical. We’ll know something by then, one way or the other.’ With a nod, the doctor backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.