If my extended work hours aren’t enough to tire me out, Dean’s intensified training is. Each day builds off the previous day. Monday he let me go easy with a simple three-mile run before work. Well, he called it simple. I called it hell. He claims I’m going to be able to run five miles by Christmas. Ha!
After work on Tuesday we did a two-mile run and almost an hour of weight training. Yesterday morning before work, the two-mile run and beginner’s boxing lessons nearly killed me. I went straight to bed after dinner last night. The meals Dean’s been preparing have been heartier. A lot more food than I’m used to eating, but with the training regimen Dean has us doing, I need it.
Dean woke me up early this morning for another run. In the rain. I had a few choice words for him as I got myself ready for our workout.
It’s been a few days since I met with Carlo Martelli, but my fears still plague me. The news yesterday morning proved that he follows through on his promises. Aiden Lipinski and George Kingston’s bodies were found at the rocky bottom of Emerson Bluffs, charred and dismembered. Their dental records were the only thing that identified them.
As relieved as I am that Emma’s abusers got what was coming to them, I’m terrified by the severity of the attack. Those men weren’t just murdered, they were mutilated. What does that mean if I piss off the wrong people, which could very well happen if I don’t accept Rizzoli’s offer?
I thought that with all the work I’m doing at the gym and at the office that I’d be sleeping well, but almost every night I wake up in a cold sweat after a recurring nightmare. Carlo Martelli executing each person I care about. Dean even made it into the dream last night, but that might’ve been because he woke up and asked if I was okay.
Surprisingly, though, my run each each energizes me. It’s amazing to discover how much you’re really out of shape until you start to push yourself out of your comfort zone. What’s even more amazing is when you notice your improvement. I finish our two miles tired, but with noticeably more energy.
“You feeling good?” Dean asks as we head into the gym. He planned our route to end up here. Granted, it’s only two blocks from my apartment, but I certainly wasn’t paying attention to where we were going.
I grumble in response. I should’ve known the run wasn’t the whole workout.
Inside, we head to the second floor to a large room they use for different classes. Zumba, pilates, yoga, the occasional pizza night. Dean pulls out several mats from the stack in the corner and lays them on the floor so there’s a large square in the center.
“Okay,” he says clapping his hands together. “Ready?”
He doesn’t have the punch pads like he did the other day for the boxing lesson. Instead, he’s crouching down just a little and inching closer to me, bouncing back and forth.
“What are you doing?”
“Come on.” He reaches for my arm, but I swat him away and take a step back.
“What’s going on?”
Standing up straighter, he says, “You wanna learn to fight, right?”
I shrug. “Well, yeah.”
He raises his hand and counts off on his fingers. “Running will help get you in shape faster. Weight lifting will build your strength. Boxing will teach you how to punch and defend at a close distance.” He drops his hand and points to the mat. “Wrestling will help increase your endurance.”
What was I saying about my comfort zone? Wrestling just seems . . . awkward. I haven’t wrestled since Cale and I were in high school. He was on the wrestling team and loved that he could easily overpower me.
Dean shows me how to start, making sure I keep my body loose and ready, but the first time around he still manages to pin me.
“These men you’re going after, they don’t play nice,” he says as I lay flat on the mat. “I’m talking nut shots, eye gouging, anything. If you’re down, they’ll keep kicking until you’re dead.” He offers his hand and helps me up. We go again.
Another lunge at me, and I’m back on the floor, half on top of him as he wraps his arm under one of mine and reaches across my body to pin my other one. He lets me go and pops to his feet, offering his hand again.
“You’re bigger than me. That’s not fair.” I know I’m whining and making excuses, but I don’t know how I’m going to take down someone his size. At least, not without zapping them.
“It’s not going to be fair. And size isn’t as big of an issue as you’d think. You can do it. Come on, let’s go again.”
We work at it for half an hour, making the most of the little time I have in the morning before work. I’m sweaty and tired and have successfully pinned him at least once this morning. Dean’s happy with my progress, but I still think everything’s going too slow. I’m not going to be ready in time.
With my workweek spent staying late at the office and training with Dean in my spare time, today’s the first day I can meet with Myra for lunch. I came in an hour early to work after Dean and I finished up at the gym, and since city hall is only two blocks from my office, meeting for lunch worked out perfect.
Now that I know that the Hopman capo is none other than Michael Bello, I need to dig around to see if there’s any dirt on him. More than what can be printed in the paper. I don’t have to follow the same procedures law enforcement does. If Myra heard a rumor, I can look into it.
Cale doesn’t know anything more than what’s on the news. I grilled him last night at dinner. I figured he’s been keeping up-to-date with the latest development sites in the city, but I guess I have the wrong developer. If I needed dirt on Leon Wallace, Cale would probably have a whole slew of new rumors on him.
“Gosh, I’ve been so busy this past week that I’ve barely had time to myself,” she says as she takes a seat across from me at the Buzzing Bar on the first floor of my building.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed Cale’s been staying at your place more this week.” Which usually means nighttime is the only time they can see each other.
She unwraps her sandwich. “He’s busy with his research and I’ve . . . ” She takes a bite into her sandwich, apparently not willing to divulge in what she’s been working on.
“Oh, I get it. They’ve replaced Emma already at work—”
“What!”
“Temporarily, but still. Anyway, this new guy is kind of an ass. Says I need to make up for the time I took off.”
She rocks her head a bit as she chews. “Well, your brother and I both told you—”
“It was bereavement. It doesn’t matter anyway. I should be able to catch up on everything so I can go back to my regular schedule.”
“That’s good. You look exhausted.”
I roll my eyes. “Thanks.”
“You know what I mean. I’m sure I’ve looked better too.”
I swallow the bite I took and continue, “You look great. But yeah, I’ve been going to the gym a lot too.”
Despite feeling like my muscles are turning to soup and the routine ass-kicking from Dean killing my ego, I’m happy with the changes I’ve already started to see in my body. My face looks slimmer, and Dean says the strength of my heart is probably back up to where it was before the strike.
“Yeah, Cale told me about that.” She takes a sip of her bottled water. “I think it’s great. Everyone needs to take care of themselves. I haven’t been able to get to the gym this week as often as I usually do, but I definitely want to get back to it. Where do you go?”
“Oh, just some place near my apartment. It’s kind of small compared to the big gyms.”
“I come over here.” She points behind her and across the street. The Grid Mall has two of the chain gyms.
“So what have you been so busy with at work?” I take a bite of the second half of my sandwich, hoping my silence will force her to continue talking.
“Just legal stuff, mostly.”
“Legal stuff?” I mumble around my food.
“Yeah. I’m not a lawyer, so reading through some of these official documents is confusing. I have to keep looking stuff up, and it’s taking me awhile.”
“Anything interesting?”
She smiles over her water bottle. “You know I can’t tell you that.”
Just as I thought. She’s tight-lipped. Still, I wonder if I can tap into her empathy for me.
“Does it have anything to with the Martellis?”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’ve been doing some research myself.”
She rolls her head back and groans. “Ethan, please be careful with that. You don’t know who’s involved. Word can spread quickly that someone is poking their nose into things they shouldn’t be.”
If only she knew that I met the crime boss himself. I haven’t even told Dean the whole story. He’s going to freak out, and I want an action plan in mind before he does.
I don’t say anything to her comment. With another precious minute passing, I change tactics.
“I had dinner with the president of Tranidek last weekend.”
“Oh yeah! How was that?”
“Um . . . fancy.”
She laughs because she knows me. “Not a fan of rubbing elbows with the rich and famous?”
“Uh, no.” I smile. “Not all of us can work for a city councilman.”
She doesn’t say anything, but I notice her mouth tighten a bit.
“What?”
“Nothing.” The paper her sub was wrapped in now sits in a ball in front of her. “It’s a great job, just not all that glamorous.”
“True, but you get all the inside info on everything happening in the city.”
“Never meet your idols, though.”
I narrow my eyes, forgetting about fishing for information on Bello. “Are you okay? I thought you loved working for Mr. Lloyd.”
She sighs. “I wanted this job so I could help the city. I wanted to make big changes, like fixing up blighted neighborhoods, removing the Manhattan Expressway, creating opportunities for small businesses to start and thrive. But . . . ”
“But the job’s not all you thought it’d be?”
She shakes her head. “It’s not that. Not really. I knew there’d be a lot of paperwork and political stuff, but I didn’t realize there was this much corruption.”
My ears perk up, and I’m sure she notices the change in my demeanor. “Corruption? Like who?”
“Nothing.” Yup, she definitely noticed. “I’ve said too much.” She squeezes her trash in her fist and makes to get up, but I stop her.
“Myra, you just told me that I need to be careful with what I’m looking into. I’m just a witness to a crime. You’re a city councilman’s assistant. You know some of these people, don’t you?”
Sucking in her bottom lip, she nods.
“Who is it? Is it Mr. Lloyd?”
“Promise you won’t say anything,” she says as an admission. “I can’t prove it yet, but I have strong suspicions that he’s the one blocking improvement projects in Hopman.”
So Frank Lloyd has his own agenda. A big city councilman with some hidden motives? Oh, how surprising.
“Is he the only one?”
She gives in and says, “He’s the highest up that I know of, yes, but there are others, I’m sure. All throughout city government.”
Still not surprised.
“Please be careful.”
She shoots me a look. “You do the same.”
“Deal.”
“So that was a bust?” Dean asks after work.
I’m sitting at the counter, watching him make dinner. He doesn’t make it every day, but he does it often enough that he knows where everything is now without asking. Cale texted me to say he’s staying at Myra’s again tonight, so I would’ve been on my own for dinner anyway.
“I mean, not a total bust,” I respond. “It was a nice lunch, and I got some gossip about our city leaders.”
Dean eyes me from the stove. “Yeah, well, a nice lunch and some gossip is not going to bring down Bello.”
The steak sizzles on the pan. Since I’m the one who usually does the grocery shopping, I know for a fact that we didn’t have any in the house. He must’ve picked some up while I was at work.
“Well, that’s not entirely true. Having lunch with Myra not only was seeing my brother’s girlfriend for a midday meal, but it also continued my relationship with a city councilman’s assistant. Someone with inside knowledge.”
He pulls a pan out of the oven and the scent of garlic fills the room. He grabs something from the fridge and sprinkles it over the pan.
“Anyway,” I continue, “she also told me that there are plenty of people in the city government who are corrupt.”
He pulls two plates out of the cupboard. “I know.”
His certainty startles me. “You know?”
“Back in my day I saw some of Olympia’s finest acting pretty chummy with some of Olympia’s most untouchable men. I can’t imagine that’s changed much. Especially now that some money is coming back into Olympia.”
“True.”
He sets a plate in front of me and walks around to take the seat to my right. I look down. A small piece of meat is sitting in the corner of the plate, and the rest is filled with oven-roasted broccoli. My stomach grumbles in response. I just ate a couple hours ago, but I’m hungry again.
“So how is the corruption going to help us?” he asks. “We’re going after a man who we know is dangerous but nobody else does.”
I cut into my steak and take a bite. I’m not a huge fan of red meat, but I was raised never to complain about a free meal. Besides, my first bite leaves me wanting more.
“This is all speculation, so bear with me.”
He seems to roll his eyes, but I ignore him.
“Myra kept saying that she’s been doing her own research. From what I guess, it’s on the corruption of the city leaders.”
“Why would she do that? That would piss off the rest of the people on the council and would get her fired.” He points to my plate. “Eat it before it gets cold.”
I reluctantly try the broccoli. Childhood flashbacks of sitting at the dinner table alone with a plate full of broccoli flashes in my mind. Surprisingly, this doesn’t taste half bad. With each bite I take, I actually start to like it.
“Maybe,” I say, “but Myra doesn’t necessarily care about that. She wanted to work for the city to change things and help people. Doing the right thing is her first priority.”
“So she’s going to get herself fired to help people?”
I let out a deep breath. Frustration builds with each new interruption. “I don’t know. What I’m saying is, she’s looking into the city’s corruption. Sooner or later, she’s going to expose them for what they are. We just need to link Bello to that.”
Dean shakes his head. “I don’t think it’s going to work.” He shovels the last of his food into his mouth.
“Why not?”
“If the police and the media and everyone are focused on the rogue councilman, nobody’s going to care about a property developer’s scandal.”
He’s right. Bello’s involvement with the Martellis wouldn’t be front page news if the story of the councilman’s corruption breaks at the same time. But we still need to frame him somehow.
“So what do you suggest we do?” I ask.
I watch as he rinses his plate in the sink. The muscles in his arms shift with each movement. Finally, he leans against the counter as he dries his hands with a dish towel.
“I may have an idea, but it’s risky.”
I narrow my eyes. “What is it?”
“One of the biggest rules in organized crime is not to write anything down, so there are no records to find anywhere of anyone’s involvement. But the family is involved in a lot of businesses involving a lot of people. We’ll just need to find a witness who’s willing to point to Bello doing something wrong. Actually, we’ll need several witnesses.”
“And I take it you can help find some of these people?”
He nods. “Yeah, but you’re going to need to wear the suit to talk to them. If they’re fessing up, they’re going to take down everyone they can. Including me.”
I try not to look so worried. “You think they’d be able to put you away if you were named?”
“Probably. The major players in the family have avoided arrest for so long, they’ll take anyone they can get.”
I nod and scoop up the last bit of my food.
“So we’re looking for the people involved in his human trafficking?”
“Well, the people who are still involved will be loyal to him. We’ll have to go back further. There are a couple people I’m thinking of who may even be able to help your brother’s girlfriend expose Frank Lloyd, too.”
“How so?”
He flashes a smile. “That’s what Olympia’s vigilante will have to find out.”