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The Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 10:00 A.M.
THROAT TIGHT, VAL pressed the single-side earbud harder into her ear—as if the action could keep Elijah from hearing what he’d probably already seen online. He was sitting at the small table in the far corner of her office, wearing headphones over his ears, so there was no way he could hear or see what she was watching.
She and Elijah were waiting on Burke and Mr.Cardozo to deal with the contracts. Val was using the time to review the two viral videos—the doctor’s murder last week and last night’s abduction attempt.
Dr.Singh had been a slightly built man. Certainly no match for Aaron Gates’s bowling-ball-sized fists. Aaron was big and muscular and... strong. There was a look in his eyes that she’d seen before—cruel and sadistic. And triumphant as he’d been pulled away from the doctor’s lifeless body after he’d gotten what he’d wanted. The man was dead.
Aaron hadn’t disclosed why he’d beaten the doctor, but Val could make a guess. Aaron’s son Liam had recently died of leukemia and Dr.Singh was a pediatric oncologist. She’d have to find out if Singh had been one of Liam Gates’s doctors.
The audio was dominated by observers’ screams for Aaron to stop, but a woman could be heard chanting, “For Liam! For Liam!”
Aaron’s punches had fallen into a rhythm, a macabre accompaniment to the woman’s chanting. The woman had been identified as Sandra Springfield, who’d been Aaron’s personal assistant in his financial consulting business.
She’d also hidden the photos of Aaron with Dewey Talley. Val already knew how bad Dewey was. His Sixth Day gang had owned the drug trade in several parishes four years ago, selling their poison to anyone with the money to pay. Rich people, poor people. Even children Elijah’s age.
Val’s throat tightened. And they’d gotten rid of anyone who tried to stop them. Permanently.
That Aaron Gates had welcomed Dewey Talley into his home was telling. Even if they were only friends, Dewey was vile and anything he touched was tainted. So was Aaron Gates, based on the video she’d just forced herself to watch. Vile, tainted, and brutal.
That Aaron was a drug user was fairly certain. He’d been high on meth when he killed the doctor. That he was getting his meth from Dewey Talley—a known drug dealer—wasn’t a huge leap.
Which meant that Sixth Day—and Dewey Talley—were not truly gone. Not as she’d spent the last four years hoping. If Dewey Talley had been with Rick last night and they’d tried to abduct Elijah? That was significant. Dewey wouldn’t go to the trouble for a simple client. Probably not even for a friend. There had to be more to the relationship that they had to figure out.
But he’d told Elijah to run. That did not sound like the Dewey Talley she’d studied so obsessively. Again, more to figure out.
Val wanted to bring Dewey and Sixth Day down more than she wanted to breathe. But, at this moment, her duty was to Elijah, to keeping him safe. Which was why she was subjecting herself to the violence of this video. She knew a lot about Dewey Talley. Now she needed to understand everything about both Aaron Gates and his brother Rick. She needed to know who else might come for Elijah.
The press was speculating that the meth in Aaron’s system at the time of his arrest was the cause of his breakdown. But Aaron appeared somewhat coherent in the video, like he’d known what he was doing in that moment.
She knew that look, too.
That final look of triumph in the bastard’s eyes was nearly identical to the one that haunted her worst nightmares, the one that too often had her waking up shaking and clammy with sweat. With her dog at her side. Czar was a protection dog, but he always responded when she had the dream, climbing up into her bed and lying by her side until she stopped shaking.
She tabbed from the YouTube page to her desktop. Her wallpaper was a photo of Czar wearing a Santa Claus hat. She wished her dog were at her side right now, but he was at home. Probably barking at the neighbor’s cat, Mr.Boots.
Double-checking, she clicked on the link to the security cameras that had already been installed when she inherited her house. Sure enough, Czar was barking at the cat. Again. Mr.Boots made a game of taunting Czar, pawing at Val’s patio door when the dog was inside the house and prancing along the top of the eight-foot security fence when he was out back.
That cat had no idea how lucky it was that Czar was so well trained. He could crash through the glass and eat Mr.Boots in one bite but chose not to. Didn’t stop Czar from pretending, though.
The sight of Czar was the mental palate cleanser she’d needed. Drawing a breath, she returned to YouTube and clicked play on one of the many videos of Elijah’s attempted abduction taken by onlookers. The most complete version began a split second after Aunt Genie had tased Rick Gates.
Even though Val knew that Elijah had escaped, her pulse still raced as she watched the attempted abduction play out. Her lips curved when the boy pulled Rick’s ski mask off his face. Go, Elijah. You rock.
And then the driver ran around the van and paused in a moment of indecision, which must have been when he told Elijah to run. He then scooped Rick up in a fireman’s carry and his shirtsleeve rode up, exposing his dragon tattoo.
The same tattoo that marked Dewey Talley. The tattoo was no secret. Several of the photos she’d obtained of Dewey showed the tattoo. He’d never tried to hide it.
Except he should have tried last night, shouldn’t he? He’d worn a ski mask to hide his face. So why not wear a long-sleeved shirt to hide the tattoo that could so easily identify him?
More questions that needed answers.
She paused the video, staring at the masked driver, whose biceps strained against his short-sleeved T-shirt as he lifted the man who’d tried to take Elijah Cardozo. Hatred pulsed in her mind and, for a moment, she left it alone to throb. To consume.
Dewey Talley, second-in-command of Sixth Day. Now likely first-in-command because the old leader was gone. Not dead. Just gone. For life. Without parole.
She needed to remember their brutality.
