The teen sat on the table itself, head down, tapping away on his phone. When John reached him, he noticed the kid was swiping pages in a book.
“Thanks for meeting me,” John said.
“Thanks for meeting me here.”
John took a seat next to him on top of the green slatted wood of the table.
“So you arrested Lee Stefano yesterday?”
John nodded. “My guys found him Saturday morning at his place. Same place that was tagged in the photos,” he said. It was almost as if the thief wanted to be taken in. Or more likely, that he wanted his “Sinner Stripes,” as they were called. Stefano’s son wanted to be able to say he served time, like his dad. Now that John had him in custody, he was hoping Lee would talk. Would tell him more about T.J. and Kenny. Tell him where to find them. John Winston wanted nothing more than to see those two men behind bars for the rest of their lives, and Stefano’s son might very well be the linchpin to making that happen. Lee’s mother was the one who’d tipped off the cops in the first place about the role T.J. and Kenny had played in the murder of Thomas Paige two decades ago.
That was their first accessory to murder.
Didn’t seem to have been their last.
John’s blood boiled over the evidence he’d amassed linking those two men to other crimes, and more unsolved murders. By all accounts, T.J. Nelson had embraced his job as the broker of Stefano’s hits, working with other gunmen over the years that followed, taking his role as the planner and plotter to a new level. He was the man pulling the strings on hits for the Sinners, and Kenny was his right-hand guy. John was determined to find them, especially since he’d learned that T.J. had had words with Thomas Paige several weeks before the man was killed. John was talking to other witnesses later today who knew more about that encounter, and he fiercely hoped he’d be able to link all the details together and track down the Nelson cousins.
They were tough to nab. Harder to find. They’d earned some kind of protection from their brothers in the gang. Some of that protection had come in the form of Lee Stefano trying to keep Marcus quiet by intimidating the social worker he’d been confiding in. John wasn’t one hundred percent sure why those men wanted Marcus’s mouth zipped, but he had a few good leads. Marcus was untouchable; they’d never hurt him. But they needed him to keep their secrets quiet, so they’d tried to shut him down.
John, however, needed Marcus to talk. He believed that Marcus knew more than he’d told him when they met a week ago.
“Is Lee going to leave Elle alone now?” Marcus asked.
Maybe the threat to someone he cared about would push him into talking finally. “Yes, we’ve got him. And I think we can get him to give up some info on Kenny and T.J.”
“What about my stepmom, though? Will they leave her alone?”
John arched an eyebrow. This was news to him. “Someone sending her harassing messages, too?”
Marcus nodded, his young eyes etched with worry. “I saw her a few days ago, at Baskin Robbins with my little sisters. I overheard her talking on the phone. I think she’s worried that those guys are going after her.”
“To make sure your dad stays quiet about all that he knows about the murder of Thomas Paige?” John asked, hoping Marcus would finally give him an answer.
Ever since John had uncovered the details of Dora Prince’s drug trade—that the woman was a dealer, Stefano was her supplier, and she sold to the Nelson cousins and many, many others—he was sure that her ex-lover had intel about the business she’d been in. Luke claimed he met Dora at Narcotics Anonymous, but John wasn’t convinced that’s how the affair began. Nor did he buy that Luke’s hands were clean. Because as John saw it, Dora Prince planned the murder of her husband to get his life insurance money so she could run away with her kids and her lover.
Luke had to know something about the murder. Especially given the leads John was chasing down about him.
And if someone was trying to shake down Marcus’s stepmom now, well, that only bolstered John’s belief that Luke was keeping quiet.
Just like his son was.
But the son was here. Marcus was trying. He just needed to feel safe.
“I can protect you,” John said calmly. “I can protect her. That’s what I do.”
Marcus hung his head, exhaled, then lifted his face and met John’s eyes. He started talking, and holy hell-of-a-secret, this was the mother lode. This was the golden goose of information.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“Are you sure? Absolutely sure?” Colin asked as he loaded his climbing gear into the trunk of his car, his phone pressed to his ear.
“One hundred percent.”
“You know for certain this is what she wants now? That she’s ready?” he asked, as Rex tossed his carabiners and ropes in next. He’d joined Colin today, to make his first climb.
“Yes. Trust me.”
“I do. But this is a big deal. I want to know this is definitely what she wants.”
“Aren’t you the guy who takes risks all the time?”
“At work, yes. At play, yes. Right now, though? I want to know this is a sure thing if you’re asking me to show up for her,” he said as he locked the trunk.
“You make her happy. I want her to be happy. It’s that simple.”
“See you later then,” he said, then ended the call.
Rex shoved his shoulder. “Hello? You said yes, didn’t you? You better have.”
Colin narrowed his eyes. “Did you know he was calling me?”
“No, but I heard your end of the conversation. It didn’t take any of my new math skills to figure it out.” Rex walked around to the passenger side, grabbed the door handle, and yanked it open.
Colin got into the driver’s side and turned on the engine. He was quiet, contemplating the phone call that had come out of the blue.
“You gonna go see her now?” Rex asked, picking up the thread.
Colin glanced at the time on the dashboard. “She’ll only be there for a little longer.”
Rex held his arms out grandly. “Then you better step on it, man. Because you need to make a big-ass entrance.”
Colin scoffed. “I don’t think so.”
Rex nodded. “Oh, trust me on this. You might know math and outdoor shit, but I know women. They love all that grandiose stuff.”
“Do they now?” Colin asked with a wry smile as they headed back to town.
“Absolutely. What does she like? What are her favorite things?”
Things he couldn’t give her right now.
Tattoos. Neck kisses. Multiple orgasms.
Wait. He could definitely give her those. Hell, he could give her enough of those to keep her toes curled all night long.
“Mob movies. Roller-skating. Laughing. Time with her family. Giving back,” he said, detailing what he knew of the woman he loved.
Rex counted off on his fingers. “Take her to a Hollywood movie set. Buy her a roller rink. Tell her a dirty joke,” he began, and Colin cracked up as Rex continued working through his list.
But then, he had an idea.
* * *
She longed to be the one sending Janine racing around the curve. She craved the rush of the wheels, the speed of the chase, the vibrations of the music in her bones. Instead, she cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted her encouragement from the half-wall at the edge of the rink.
“C’mon!”
“Block her!”
“Go, Cool Hand Bette!”
She screamed and cheered the loudest from the sidelines, rooting on the Fishnet Brigade. The league championship was in their grasp. Just a few more points. Just a few more minutes.