‘You okay?’ Marcus murmured.
Stone jerked a trembling nod and kept watching. When the video ended, he drew a deep breath, let it out in a shuddering exhale. ‘You gave her . . .’ he started, his voice rusty. And breaking. He cleared his throat hard. ‘You gave her this exact file?’
‘Yeah.’
Stone lifted his eyes, and for a moment Marcus could see the boy his brother had been. So young, so scared. So vulnerable. Looking for comfort.
‘Okay. I get it now. You had to do what you did,’ Stone said.
‘Which thing? Helping Tala, or giving Detective Bishop the file?’
Stone closed his eyes. ‘Either,’ he whispered. ‘Both.’ When his eyes opened, the vulnerability was gone, replaced by his usual confident facade. It was Stone’s armor, his last line of emotional defense. When that broke down, he lost control and . . . well, that was never good. But Marcus would never share that with anyone.
But you did. You told Scarlett. Yes, he had. Kind of. He’d been lying in a hospital bed with a punctured lung, and Scarlett had come to see him. She’d been so angry with Stone because his brother had withheld information that had been vital to saving the lives of a woman and a little girl. Scarlett hadn’t understood. Hadn’t had a clue about what made Stone tick.
Marcus had lashed out. Shouted at her. Until you’ve walked a mile in Stone’s shoes, don’t you dare criticize him. She still hadn’t understood what made Stone tick, because Marcus hadn’t given her any additional details. But she’d backed off, hadn’t pushed for more like a lot of people might have done. She’d accepted his word. Respected his privacy. And then she’d stood guard over him until another cop came to relieve her. She made sure I was safe.
Marcus had trusted her then. He trusted her now. ‘I don’t think the detective will share that video with anyone who doesn’t need to see it, but if she does, my conversation with Tala will be documented publicly. Make sure that anything you print can’t be disproven by the video. Do not disclose the location of the park or her last words.’
‘You want a photo of the girl?’
‘Yes. You’ll have to grab a frame from one of the videos I took in the park. I’ll send you the same link to the files that I sent to Bishop. Also add that I’ve helped victims in the past. Pick two that don’t show up on the threat list.’
Back in control of his emotions, Stone’s eyes narrowed again. ‘Why? What does it matter if they are or aren’t on that damn list? The girl – Tala – she was the target, not you.’
‘That’s where Jill comes in. She’s seen the list.’
Stone sat up straighter, fire in his eyes. ‘How? Gayle never would have shown it to her.’
Marcus studied his brother, hoping he was stable enough for the next part. ‘Did you know Gayle had a heart attack?’
Stone’s jaw dropped. ‘What the fuck?’
‘Yeah, that’s pretty much what I said.’ Marcus told his brother what Jill had told him.
‘So the kid’s been doing Gayle’s job all this time?’
‘A lot of it, yeah.’
Stone sat back in his chair, frowning. ‘I guess we can’t really blame her. If Gayle was my aunt, I’d have done the same.’ His frown grew troubled. ‘But I never knew Gayle felt that way about us.’
‘I don’t think Gayle does. I think Jill thinks Gayle should. Anyway, the kid’s seen the list and has catalogued every threat since. She noticed that many of the threats start out vicious and abruptly go away.’ Marcus rolled his eyes. ‘She thinks I’m bumping them off.’
Stone snorted. ‘Yeah, you’re a regular Don Corleone. Why didn’t you tell her the truth?’
‘Because I don’t trust her and I don’t fully understand why, so don’t ask. Maybe what I’ve sensed all this time is her resentment of us for the relationship we have with Gayle.’ Or maybe it’s more. Or maybe I’m just being paranoid.
‘Did she threaten to expose us?’
‘It wouldn’t have been us. It would have only been me, because she doesn’t know you know about it. But she never made a threat of her own. She only asked whether what we’d involved Gayle in could land her aunt in jail. I think she believed me when I told her no, but she’s going to dig just the same, especially now that I’ve been injured. She’s worried that whoever got to me will come after Gayle next.’
‘Again, we can’t really blame her for that, especially since she thinks we’re selfish bastards who don’t appreciate her aunt enough. But if she’s told that Tala was the target, she won’t worry about Gayle getting caught in the crossfire.’ He gave Marcus a single nod. ‘By coming forward, you kill two birds with one stone. You nip any speculation of your involvement in Tala’s murder in the bud, and Jill backs off. Not bad. Not bad at all.’
‘If she believed me. I’m still not sure she did.’
‘All right,’ Stone said slowly. ‘So . . . short of bumping her off, what are we going to do about her?’
‘I want the two of you to investigate each threat on that list together, and I want you to show her that they were all made by angry people just blowing off steam. That nothing’s ever come of any of them in the past and it’s highly likely that nothing ever will.’
Stone raised an eyebrow. ‘You mean you want me to lie.’
Marcus sighed. ‘No, I just want you to convince her that Gayle is safe.’
‘Then what about the threats we made go away? If I don’t tell her the truth on those, she’ll go on thinking you’re some kind of Mafia boss.’
‘I’d almost prefer that,’ Marcus muttered. ‘I could tell her to leave it alone or she’ll be taking a swim in the Ohio wearing concrete galoshes.’ Rubbing his temples, he tried to think, but his brain was starting to stumble around in his skull. It had been too many nights since he’d truly slept. ‘Find a way to explain why those people stopped sending threats. Hell, tell her we sent our lawyer after them and counter-threatened them with legal action.’
‘And if she cross-checks with Rex?’
The Ledger’s attorney was one of Marcus’s oldest friends, but he’d kept him out of the loop to protect him from any ethical dilemmas. ‘He’ll tell her he’s bound by client confidentiality. And then he’ll come over here and lecture me on all the reasons I shouldn’t be doing whatever it is that I’m doing. After which,’ Marcus continued lightly, ‘I’ll promise him I’ll stop all my shenanigans and walk the straight and narrow for the rest of my days.’
Stone snorted. ‘As if.’
‘And then Rex will roll his eyes and go away, muttering under his breath that I’m going to get myself in “Big Trouble” some day.’ Marcus shrugged. ‘Same old, same old.’
Stone shook his head. ‘All right, if that’s how you want to play this thing, I’ve got your back.’
‘You always have,’ Marcus murmured. In his own way, Stone was the most loyal man on the planet. ‘Thank you.’
Cheeks darkening, Stone dismissed the thanks with an embarrassed flip of his hand. ‘So what are you going to do now?’
‘Edit the list, then send it to Bishop.’
Stone’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. ‘Why in God’s green earth would you do that?’
‘Because I promised her I would.’
‘You told her? About the list? What the fuck, Marcus? You swore us all to secrecy and then you go handing it off to her without a blink?’
‘She and Novak asked if I’d been threatened. To categorically deny it seemed unwise, so I told them that my office manager kept a list. I never planned to send her the real list.’ Stone was still staring like Marcus had three heads. ‘They were suggesting that I might have been the target. It seemed like the right thing to do.’
Closing his eyes, Stone pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Shit, boy. You and your right thing are gonna get us a lot of unwanted attention from that detective. We need a plan to get her off your ass.’
Marcus thought of Scarlett Bishop looking up at him in that alley right before the medics arrived, her eyes filled with approval. Respect. Desire. He drew a deep breath, fighting to let it out on an even exhale rather than a shuddering one. Any attention she gave him was about as far from unwanted as anything could get. ‘Don’t worry about the detective.’ The words came out a husky rumble. ‘I’ll deal with her.’