AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Without me on top of him, Leander rolled onto his side and curled into himself, despite the fact he was in a puddle of blood and bourbon and broken glass.
“I’m going to find them,” I said, touching the tip of my tongue to my split lip, licking away the blood. “And I’m going to kill them.”
“You don’t know who they are,” Leander said, his voice hitching. “Idon’t know who they are. No one does.”
“Doesn’t matter. If I have to kill every fucking Italian between here and Chicago, I will. ”
He pushed himself into a sitting position, wiping his face with the back of his hand, his jaw tightening. “Not if I get to them first.”
33
Bennett
“As I live and breathe,” I said, halting dead in my tracks. Agent Craig Diefendorf, of all people, stood right in front of me on the sidewalk. If we were in Chicago, I wouldn’t have been so shocked. But smack dab in the middle of Easton’s charming little downtown? Fucking floored. “I never thought I’d see you in Easton ever again.”
Craig grimaced, adjusting his grip on his briefcase. “Trust me, I’d rather be anywhere else.”
“Then what are you doing here?”
He tossed a wary glance over his shoulder. “Is there someplace we can talk?”
I made a face at him but nodded mutely. His arrival, combined with his cautious concern, made me forget all about being a smart ass. This wasn’t good. I thought he came down here to razz me about the Calaveras again, or some other criminal enterprise. By the look on his face, I knew it wasn’t anything as simple as that.
“This way,” I said, tossing my head down the street. We set off for the office together, not even bothering with the typical chit-chat.
For the first time since Olivia’s murder, Elijah managed to drag Leander into the office. The two of them were in the conference room going over who knew what when Craig and I walked in.
Leander looked up sharply from a pile of papers, drawing himself up to his full height, eyes narrowed.
“You might want to bring your boss too,” Diefendorf said, gesturing to Leander.
I cocked my head at the suggestion. Turning toward Leander, I met his furious gaze through the glass and nodded toward the stairs.
He said something to Elijah and slipped away, his eyes trained on us the entire time.
“Agent Diefendorf has something he’d like to talk about,” I said when Leander approached, his fingers brushing my palm.
“We can use my office,” Leander replied in a clipped tone, making his way up the stairs.
I gestured for our guest to go first. Glancing at Elijah, I gave him the OK signal with a furrowed brow. His dark gaze darted to the second floor briefly before he shook his head. Great. So a return to work wasn’t soothing the beast the way we’d hoped. And I’m sure whatever Diefendorf was going to drop on us wasn’t going to help matters either.
Closing the door behind me, I assessed the two of them as I cut across the room to Leander’s side.
Leander leaned against his desk, arms crossed and head canted, watching Diefendorf like a hawk. Diefendorf, on the other hand, set his briefcase down on the table by the window and faced us with a grim expression.
“I’ll cut to the chase,” Craig said, popping open the briefcase and pulling out a handful of photographs. He handed them over and I flipped through them quickly. They featured a dark-haired young woman, mostly. Sometimes she was alone, other times she was flanked by group of men I’d peg as Italian mafia from a mile away. “Do you know Gianna Scardato?”
Leander and I exchanged a glance. We both shook our heads as I returned the photographs to him.
“You never heard Giovanni mention her?”
“No. Why?” I asked.
“She’s his daughter. Illegitimate, but still. She grew up with her mother and Giovanni’s cousin, Marco, in New York. Sounds like he left them behind when he relocated here.”
“Ok...?”
“She’s in Chicago,” Craig said simply.
