AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I never would. Can I get a copy of the paperwork?”
“I’ll upload it to your private Dropbox account.”
“Thank you so much. This establishes Corey’s history of violence. I can do something with this.”
“I saw the interview he gave this morning. You hit him hard with the daddy question. He’s got more control now than he did when he was in uniform. But he wanted to punch you.”
“I know,” she said, satisfied. “I’ll keep poking and see what I can get him to give away.”
“Just be careful. I saw a photo of what he did to that Iraqi woman and it was not good.”
“I’ll be careful. Thanks!” She ended the call and, her mood improved, headed back to the station. She had to refresh her makeup before she went live at noon.
The Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 11:20 A.M.
Kaj stared at Val Sorensen. “Rico Nova killed your brother?”
She nodded grimly. “Sixth Day was a major player in the drug trade four years ago. They distributed all over the city, but the operation they ran out of a little twenty-four-hour café in Freret was the one that impacted my family. It was close enough to Tulane to attract college kids needing speed to study all night. That’s how my sister got addicted. My brother had followed my sister to the café the night he died, to try to keep her from buying. She’d been sober for almost a year by that point. He didn’t want to see her fail.”
“But?”
She sighed quietly. “He got into some kind of altercation with Rico Nova, who owned the café. Some accounts said that Talley was there, too. I don’t know if he was, but he seemed to know everything that went on in Sixth Day, so I figured he knew about this, too. My brother probably threatened to report Nova to the cops, but I don’t know that for sure. Nova stabbed him.” She met Kaj’s gaze, hers unfaltering. “Gutted him, Mr.Cardozo. Then tossed him out onto the sidewalk and left him there to die.”
Kaj swallowed hard. Gutted him. These were the people who’d tried to steal his son. His Elijah.
It had been terrifying when he’d thought the kidnapping was just Aaron Gates’s brother wanting him back, but when the NOPD had shown him the tattoo on the driver’s arm...
He now understood why Burke had been so adamant that Val Sorensen be his son’s bodyguard. She understood the danger better than anyone else.
On one hand, that did make her a good choice.
On the other, however... If she wanted vigilante justice? That could put Elijah in even more danger. That made her the worst possible choice.
He needed more information before he decided what to do.
He started to say as much, then stopped short. Wait. Wait just a minute.
“I read the file on that murder, but the victim wasn’t named Sorensen. It was...” He faltered, then snapped his fingers when the name came back. “Kristiansen. Ivan Kristiansen.”
Her expression softened. “I called him Van. He was my twin.”
“But Kristiansen isn’t your last name. Were you married? Are you married?”
The notion didn’t sit right with him, but he wasn’t going to dissect his reasons right now. He remained focused on Val Sorensen’s face. On her clear blue eyes. He made a living detecting lies. He needed to be sure she was telling him the truth.
She stiffened. “No, I’ve never been married. I changed my name. Legally.”
“Why? And when?”
For a moment he thought she wouldn’t answer, her full lips thinning into a mutinous line. But she finally spoke. “It was after I got back from my tour in Iraq. I had an issue with one of the Marines I’d known back there. I was home for almost a year before he was discharged, and he... sought me out. He wouldn’t leave me alone. So I took my grandmother’s maiden name and moved to New Mexico to make it harder for him to find me. Voilà, Val Sorensen was born.”
I had an issue. That could be code for so many things, none of them good.
He sought me out. Clearly code for stalking of some kind.
New rage filled him. Someone had scared her so badly that she, a Marine, had legally changed her name and uprooted her life. Who is he? Where is he? What did he do to you?
