QUESTIONING HIM FURTHER wasn’t an option when they pulled into the hospital parking lot and got upstairs to Mila’s floor. As soon as he saw them, Coakley came storming over, halting them halfway up the corridor.
“Now might not be a good time, man.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked, bobbing and weaving, trying to get a better look at Mila’s door. “What’s going on?”
“She’s… upset.”
“About what?”
“Fuck knows,” Coakley said. “A nurse went in there and—” Rounding Coakley, progress was essential. “I don’t know that she’s put together right!”
Ignoring Coakley’s call, she went straight into Mila’s room. Her friend was sitting on the bed, trying to get up, while a doctor and two nurses attempted to both stop her moving and lay her down.
“Imogen!” Mila called, reaching for her between people. “Help me!”
“What is going on?”
“She wants to leave,” one nurse said, struggling with their patient. “We can’t let her leave, she’s not stable enough—”
“Let me talk to her,” she said and smiled, stalling Mila’s struggle. “You’ll stay and talk to me, won’t you? We can decide what to do next together.”
After a quick glance at all the faces, Mila nodded, and the medical staff backed off. They went out and Jagg closed the door, staying in the room.
Resting a hand on Mila’s shoulder, she stayed loose. “What’s going on?” she asked, keeping her tone calm and, hopefully, soothing.
“I figured it out. It… it hit me and… It was him driving; he was the driver. Bryan hit me with the car.”
“Stephanie’s Bryan. Are you sure?”
“Yes! He killed her! And he tried to kill me!”
“Okay,” she said, rubbing Mila’s upper arm. “Don’t help him succeed. You need to rest. Recuperate.”
“Someone has to stop him or he’ll come back to finish the job.”
“You don’t have to worry about that. Jagg has his people guarding your room. I told you he wouldn’t let anything happen to us, didn’t I?”
“I have to do something.”
That sense of duty, the urgency to help, she understood the desperation. To a degree anyway. Having lost her best friend and been plowed down with a vehicle, the need had to be stronger in Mila. But she wasn’t at her peak. Letting her run around in the world wouldn’t have positive results.
“You are doing something, Mila. You are. You’re getting better. That shows Bryan he won’t win. Nothing is more important than your health. Stephanie would say the same thing if she was here.”
Mila deflated. That action needed no translator. Eager to fight for her friend, the woman wanted to bring the man who harmed her to justice. You’d think that meant being always aware of Stephanie’s death. It didn’t. Every time the truth thwacked Mila, another piece of her would fade.
The door opened, whirling her around, and there was Lachlan, peering at Jagg.
“What you doing here?” Lachlan asked them both. “Witness tampering?”
“If we were, my guy wouldn’t have let you in,” Jagg said. “This an official visit?”
“Yes, it is.” Lachlan held up a file and went around her to Mila. “Can you look at something for me?”
“At what?”
“A picture.” Mila’s trepidation was so potent that even she gulped in anticipation of what Lachlan drew from inside the file. “Do you know who that is?”
Mila took the sheet, but the answer was already clear. After a quick blink, the picture was in her hands.
“Yes. Yes!” Mila’s agitation grew again, flooding her voice with anxiety. “Stephanie’s boyfriend. He hit me with the car. This is him, it’s all him.”
“How did you get this?” she asked her ex.
“It’s a screen grab from a movie,” Lachlan said, grave in the way he met each of their eyes. “And not a nice one.”
“A movie?” Maybe like the ones Strat mentioned Ludlow produced? “Where did you get it?”
Lachlan hesitated, which wasn’t like him. Though, in the past, when they had insider conversations, they were usually alone. This time, they had an audience, one Lachlan may not trust.
“Fire kept the Carlyle off-limits,” Jagg said, scrutinizing Lach’s profile. “To the public and the owners anyway. Did the cops—”
“One of the fire guys saw something sketchy and we got a warrant.”
“See something, say something, right?”
Oh, wrong road.
Lachlan didn’t appreciate his integrity being questioned. “It’s above board.”
Jagg’s sarcasm continued. “Yeah, you couldn’t let this chance pass you by.”
Was Jagg being an asshole? Why should he care if the Manzanis were in the firing line?
“Tell us about the movie,” she said. “Was it porn?”
“Why would you assume that?”
Once a cop, always a cop.
“Was it?”
“A…” Lachlan dragged it out, “specific variety of porn.”
She didn’t like him being cagey. “And now you’re looking for Bryan. Was there a woman in this movie?”
“All I need is a positive ID.” Which wasn’t an answer to her question. “Mila, are you sure this is the same guy you saw with Stephanie? Stephanie’s boyfriend?”
“Yes. Bryan. His name is Bryan.”
Lachlan would know that the cops would have Mila’s original statement. They’d also talked to him, if Mila was right. Lachlan being so thorough suggested they’d caught Bryan doing more than just being an incidental boyfriend unrelated to any crime.
“Yvonne Ingham was seeing a Bryan too,” she said. “It was on her social media. No picture though.”
Lachlan got closer to the bed. “Where did Stephanie meet him?”
The picture was just the opening shot. In all the times she’d asked Lachlan to take the case, he’d reminded her he wasn’t homicide. Porn though, women being trafficked, forced into prostitution, that was her ex’s deal. Unfortunately, in this case, one segued into the other.
“I don’t know,” Mila said with a head shake that prompted her hand to her crown. “Maybe I should know that. Do I know that?”
“You are still recovering.” Adjusting the pillows, she eased Mila back down. “You get some rest and we’ll come back later.”
Opening her arms wide to the guys, she herded them into the hallway.
“You’re hindering my investigation.”
“That woman has been through enough,” she whispered to Lachlan. “She lost her friend, her apartment, and almost her life. She doesn’t know anything about Bryan, I asked her before. She said the cops talked to him. How did you find him the first time?”
“We didn’t. He caught our guys outside. They talked for a minute, turned around and the guy was gone.”
Great. Dead end. “Tell us about the movie. What was it?”
“That’s not how this works. I don’t give you information. I get information… or I should.”
Not so long ago, he’d give her details. Something was different.
“Please, just help us—”
“Torture porn,” Jagg said. “That’s what the movies are, right? The women being tortured for the client’s pleasure.”
“More than that,” Lachlan said, apparently giving in… a little.
“More? What’s—”
“They’re snuff movies.”
“Snuff?” she asked. “Why do I feel like I should know what that is?”
“Murder,” Jagg said, squeezing her shoulder. “They’re being killed on film…”
“For the client’s pleasure,” she whispered, stalled on that for a second before being infused with complete outrage. “That’s what this is about? Fucking movies?”
“Keep your voice down,” Lachlan said, getting closer. “Whatever was going on in the Carlyle, we need witnesses to testify.”
Who would do that? Mila? Marseille?
“Sersha says if they testify, they’re dead.”
“She threatened them?” Jagg asked.
“No, she knows how the Manzanis work.”
“I’ll deal with my sister. Right now, we need to track down the guy on this drive.”
“How many were there?” she asked. “Movies?”
“So far just one.”
She looked up at Jagg over her head. “That’s bullshit,” he muttered.
“Yeah, we figure that too. A lot of hard drives missing. A lot of empty shelves.”
Amazing how even in the clutches of potential death, men stayed behind to clear the archives. But if others were in these movies, they’d want the evidence gone as much as the Manzanis would.
“Talk to Swerve?”
“Tracking him down,” Lachlan said to Jagg. “But you know how much help he’ll be.”
“You think Bryan’s the key to this?”
“I think he’s potentially the weakest link. They left this behind, dropping him into the cops’ lap. If he knows what’s going on, testifying may be the only way to save his own ass.”
“You can’t let him get away with it. Don’t accept his testimony and let him off the hook.”
“Would you rather everyone was off the hook? Going after the Manzanis—”
“You can’t take down the Manzanis with this. You can’t take down the Manzanis.”
Lachlan frowned. “You’ve been spending too much time with my sister. You think because it’s difficult, we shouldn’t try?”
“I think this is related to Silvio Manzani,” she said, leaning in as she lowered her volume. “And I think he’s stronger than his son.”
“Vex? How’s he connected?” This time it was Jagg under Lachlan’s scrutiny. “Been in touch with your old pal?”
“Vex wasn’t at the Carlyle when it went up.”
“No, Im’s right, it’s Silvio’s operation.”
“And here I thought families worked together.”
“You know better than that, Immie.”
“Wading into this…” she said, drawing in a breath. “It’s all so much more complicated than I thought it would be.”
“What did you think tracking the Manzanis would be?”
“I didn’t know I was chasing the Manzanis when I started this.”
“What took you to them?” Lachlan asked. She hesitated. “You want me to solve this and bring people to justice, you have to tell me what you know.”
“You knew I was mixed up with the Manzanis before I did. Jagg told me about the tattoo.”
“That’s it? That what put you on this path?”
No. Lying wouldn’t get any of them anywhere. “Mila,” she said. “I was over there, at their apartment. Bryan told Stephanie that he could get into a club, a specific club that… I don’t know that they ever went, I didn’t know it was relevant… not exactly. I was investigating. Asking questions, going places… following leads.”
“What club?” he asked. “I want you to say Stag, but you’re not going to… are you?”
“Hustle.” Might as well get it out there. “Bryan could get them into Hustle.”
“Which belongs to Vex Manzani. What the hell were you doing going in somewhere like that alone? You’re lucky you got out alive. Why did they let you in?”
“I wasn’t alone,” she said, her hand swinging back to twine her fingers with Jagg’s. “I was safe.”
As Lachlan’s focus fell to their joined hands, understanding came in a slow breath. “Right.” A beat. “Got it.”
And with that, he turned to walk off.
“Lach—”
“Let him be,” Jagg said, strengthening his hold on her hand.
Separating her fingers, she landed the hand on Mila’s door. “I’m going to check on my friend.”
Damnit. She hadn’t wanted Lachlan to find out that way. Had she wanted him to find out in any way? Yes, they were over, but she didn’t want to hurt him.
With one perfect shot, pins were flying every which way.