High heels clacking drew my attention from my computer to a tall, slender, nicely dressed woman. Kat greeted her with a smile, then she held up a finger and went through the door to the kitchen.
Since I’d been in the bakery for a week, I knew that Sadie normally handled custom orders. I waited to catch a glimpse of my woman, but Kat came back sans Sadie and looked around the bakery.
Kat’s gaze moved through the seating area and her perplexed eyes stopped on me.
That was when the first knot in my gut formed.
I grabbed my laptop and quickly went to the counter.
“Did I miss Sadie going down to the bookstore?” Kat asked.
“She went in the back to do inventory.”
“She’s not…”
I didn’t give Kat a chance to finish. I went around the counter, pushed open the swinging door, didn’t bother to look in the walk-in refrigerator or check the bathroom. I went straight to the back door and pushed it open.
Unlocked.
I glanced right and left down the alley.
No Sadie.
Fear ticked up my spine and the knot turned into a snake ready to slither up my throat and choke the life out of me.
I shifted my laptop and yanked my phone out of my back pocket and dialed Rhode.
“Hey, what’s—”
“Where are you?” I cut in.
“Office. What’s wrong?”
“Thank fuck,” I wheezed. “I need you to pull Sadie’s cameras. Back door.”
I heard his fingers clicking on keys and with each second that ticked by I knew Sadie was being taken farther away from me.
Because she wouldn’t leave.
“Fucking hell!” Rhode exploded.
I knew it.
Goddamn knew it.
“Is she…was she…?”
“Breathing?” Rhode supplied.
I couldn’t formulate the word, so I grunted.
“Hijacked her out the door. By the looks of it, chloroformed her, tossed her in a delivery van. By the time you get here, I’ll have more.”
Chloroform.
My woman was chloroformed and tossed into a van while I was in the bakery.
In the motherfucking bakery.
“Reese!” Rhode snapped.
Why didn’t I go back with her? Why in the hell did I stay out front?
“Goddammit, Reese. You need to pull it together and get to the office. I have calls to make. You do not call the guys. You concentrate on driving. I’ll call in the team.”
Fuck. He was right.
“I’ll be there in five.”
“You’ll be here in fifteen. Drive the speed limit and be—”
I pulled my phone away from my ear while Rhode was still speaking and disconnected. I let go of the door, let it slam behind me, retraced my steps through the kitchen, and pushed through the swinging door.
Kat immediately turned. She was no longer just scared—she looked freaked.
“You’ve got keys to lock up, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I need you to go back and lock the door and close up.”
“Sadie?”
I lifted my chin and clenched my jaw.
“Kat, need you to lock up, yeah?”
“Yeah, Reese,” she whispered.
It was a cruel thing to do, leaving Sadie’s friend standing there staring up at me with fear in her eyes, making no attempt to reassure her or explain. However, that was what I did. I went out to my Rover, got in, and drove to the office.
I didn’t drive the speed limit and I didn’t obey traffic laws.
It still took me ten minutes.
Ten more minutes wasted.
Ten minutes that meant Sadie was in a van passed out.
Vulnerable. Unconscious. Being taken God knows where.
Rhode met me at the door sporting a look of extreme anger.
Thankfully he didn’t delay.
“Delivery van belongs to Rich’s Foods. Sadie’s a long-standing customer. There was a delivery scheduled for her for later this afternoon. I emailed the owner a picture of the man who abducted Sadie. He’s not an employee but the owner confirmed that the van is his.”
The fucking man who abducted Sadie.
“I also sent the image to Brasco. He doesn’t recognize him. He’s sending it to the stations to be circulated. Got a full plate number, an APB has been put out on the van. CDA doesn’t have many traffic cams, but I was able to track him going north on Northwest Boulevard. He got on 95 South. The last camera I found was at the Blackwell Island Recreation Site.”
“I need to talk to Grinder,” I bit out.
“Before you do that, think. If the Horsemen have something to do with this, talking to Grinder tips our hand. If they’re not involved, you’ll be involving them. Grinder might be a dick, but Sadie’s his sister; he might feel inclined to do something. Zeus will be involved and if he finds her, he’s gonna be looking for payback. You do not want him to get it in his head Sadie owes him something. She explicitly told you she didn’t want that.”
Rhode was right. Sadie didn’t want Zeus anywhere near her business, she didn’t want to owe him anything. But if it was a matter of Sadie’s life or me owing the motherfucker, I’d take the hit to get her home safely.
“Don’t do it,” Rhode warned. “We’ll find her.”
The door behind me slammed open. I was so lost in my head I didn’t even flinch. Not when it opened and not when it slammed shut.
“What do we got so far?” Jack barked.
Nothing.
A stolen van. An unknown male. A missing woman.
My woman.
“Running facial rec right now. I also called Shep. He’s better at finding cameras than I am. He’s searching now,” Rhode answered.
“Didn’t think about this until I was parking,” Jack started. “Been watching Brasco, River, and that Detective Winegarner work Bateman and Binder all morning. Both of them have their stories down, rehearsed like they practiced for the day they got picked up. Bateman is giving some bullshit about how he had a stalker back in Minnesota and that’s why he changed his identity and moved to Idaho. His story is, Sadie gave him that money when she found out he was in danger. He hasn’t deviated. Steve Binder’s playing it like he had no idea Nate Mallard was using a fake name, just thought he needed a reference.”
Rhode was following along. I was biting the inside of my cheek to prevent myself from asking if there was a point. I couldn’t give one fuck what those two morons were saying. They could lie all they wanted; they were going down and Sadie’s money would be returned.
“But Bateman slipped up. Brasco caught it and pushed. While he was working Sadie, he had a roommate. That was his excuse for never bringing her to his house. But he backtracked and said the buddy was only there for a weekend to visit and he didn’t take her to his pad because he was embarrassed he didn’t live in a nice apartment.
“Address he gave was for a building in Post Falls. Rent’s twelve hundred a month. I personally went there to talk to the apartment manager. The neighborhood’s nice and so are the apartments.”
“Yep,” Jack agreed. “But who’s the roommate?”
“You think there’s a third?” I rejoined.
“I think that Bateman’s good-looking, well-built, but not the brightest bulb. I think that Binder doesn’t have the looks to run a woman, and that voice would be a turn-off, but he’s smarter than Bateman. The guy who nabbed Sadie, is he good-looking?”
I hadn’t seen the video and I wasn’t sure I wanted to. But Rhode had. I looked from Jack to Rhode and the muscle in his cheek was jumping.
Shit.
“Brooklyn and Letty would say he’s hot. And from what I could see, he’s built. He had no issue subduing Sadie—even with her fighting like a motherfucker, he didn’t budge.”
That settled it. I never wanted to see the video of my woman fighting a man like a motherfucker.
“Then my guess, my gut, both say he’s the third. Two good-looking guys running women, a man behind a computer doing the banking, getting the identities, probably keeping records of the details of the mark,” Jack concluded.
I’m done dealing with this, Reese. I need you to take this.
Thank you for taking care of me.
I love you, Reese.
My chest burned so damn hot it was hard to breathe.
I fucked up.
I didn’t take care of her. I failed.
“Reese!” Rhode grunted. “You do her no favors letting your anger get the best of you. Clear your head of the garbage and do your damn job.”
My job.
One of those assholes was in Sadie’s house. They were looking for something.
Without a word, I bypassed Jack and went for the door.
“Where are you going?” Rhode called out.
“I need to talk to Bateman.”
I was back on the street in front of the office when I heard them.
“I’m driving,” Jack commanded. “And don’t argue. Just get in and I’ll take you there.”
I didn’t care who drove as long as I got to the station, and fast.
Jack beeped the alarm of one of the company SUVs and I slid in. Jack jogged around to the driver’s side as Rhode got into the back.
I spent the time on the road thinking about Sadie’s break-in. What the hell did they want? Bateman left something there. No, he didn’t leave it, he hid it. Blackmail? Insurance the other two didn’t turn on him? Bateman was the weak link. He stashed something at her house for a reason. One or both of the other two found out, went to her place, didn’t find it, and snatched Sadie.
Why would they turn on each other now?
“Have you found the accounts?” I asked Rhode.
“I was working on that when you called. Davis got three laptops from Binder’s place. Shep got me into one. For a guy who says he works at an advertising firm, his machines sure do have a fuckton of security.”
“Advertising firm?”
“Yep. What I’ve found is Binder and Bateman have a ton of LLCs. None of them are worth anything but all of them have websites. Likely setting up fronts or leftovers from old scams.”
“Any banking information?”
“I found a document that looks like account numbers, but I haven’t connected anything yet.”
Think. Do your job.
“They’ve been at this a while. Played it smart, didn’t get caught. So why the hell did they stay in the area after they got the money from Sadie?”
“Unknown third’s not done with his mark,” Jack interjected. “Bateman was able to close on Sadie faster than the other guy. They’re waiting it out until they get the money from the other woman.”
Yeah, that made sense. It took months to work a mark, get a woman to trust you enough to give you access to her money or her home or her business.
“It took Bateman about eight, nine months. Three months more, keeping it legit. Then he stopped paying bills, Sadie did catch on, so he took everything and bolted. Either this other guy started after Bateman or he’s not as good at working his mark. It’s been six months. They need to move on. Bateman or Binder is getting impatient, putting the pressure on, maybe talking about cutting him loose.”
I was throwing out whatever popped into my head. It was the only way to keep the crushing fear from taking me under. I had to keep talking.
“Or maybe Binder and the unknown were talking about cutting Bateman out, he went back to Sadie’s to get what he stashed there, something that would ensure his place in the trio. Or fuck, maybe Bateman wants out and they won’t let him, so again he goes to Sadie’s to get whatever he hid to blackmail his way out. Sees she’s sold her stuff and he tears the house apart.”
“But Bateman’s in an interrogation room. Would make sense if he was the one who took Sadie to find out what happened to what he hid. But the unknown took her. He has to know Bateman left something behind,” Jack pointed out.
Fuck. He was right.
Jack was pulling into the station when Rhode’s phone rang.
I heard him murmuring in the back seat, the muffled words not registering as I played out more scenarios in my head. We were banking on Sadie’s kidnapping being connected to Bateman, but Grinder couldn’t be ruled out. He was pissed at Sadie, he could’ve hired someone to snatch her. Or Zeus could be fucking with me, unhappy I threatened him and made it known Sadie was off-limits. He had a deputy in his back pocket. He was feeling all sorts of untouchable and his arrogance would only lead to him pushing the limits.
But was Sadie’s brother so far gone, he would let Zeus hurt his sister?
Hell, yeah, he was. Josh was no longer Josh; even as troublesome as he’d been for the Pierces, he was worse now. The information Butch had relayed about Grinder spoke of a morally bankrupt man. The guy was soulless; he’d throw his sister under the bus to earn his place in the Horsemen.
“Does Zeus make his recruits prove their loyalty before they’re voted in, like a gang does? Jump, kill…” I swallowed the bile. “Violate.”
“Haven’t heard that,” Jack answered. “Don’t let your mind take you there. You’ve been working the Horsemen as long as I have and you know damn well Zeus makes his people prove loyalty, but he keeps it in-house. He doesn’t send them out on the streets to commit murder; that will only draw more attention to the Horsemen.”
Right.
Jack was right.
But Zeus still could’ve hired someone to take her.
Jack said his gut was Bateman’s crew. Mine did, too. But experience has taught me to keep an open mind and not cross a suspect off the list until their innocence was proven. The Horsemen were far from innocent.
As soon as Jack found a parking spot I was out of the SUV and jogging to the front door.
Davis was standing there, arms crossed, deep glower.
He was also barring the door.
“This a good idea?” he asked.
“Is what a good idea?”
“You being here, brother. Seeing him. Hearing the bullshit he’s spewing.”
No, it probably wasn’t a good idea, but it was happening.
“I’m fine.”
“Reese, you’re two seconds from blowing up. You know we got this.”
“It doesn’t matter what I’m two seconds away from doing. I’m going in there.”
Davis looked to my right then my left. I didn’t bother. I knew Rhode and Jack were crowding me. If the three of them thought they were going to lock me down, they were mistaken.
“Mine,” I growled. “When it’s your woman missing, then you get a say. But right now, it’s mine. My Sadie. I get what you’re trying to do. And maybe later when I got Sadie in my arms, I’ll regret this. Maybe not. Got love for you, Davis, but either you get the fuck outta my way or you and me, we got fucking problems. And they’re gonna start with you having a black eye and me not forgiving you for standing in the way of me finding my woman. Now, this pointless fucking standoff has wasted time Sadie doesn’t have. So right now, I need you to think about how much you claim to care about her and fucking move.”
Davis stepped to the side. I went for the door but Rhode got there first and grabbed the handle.
I growled.
He leaned closer and said, “Keep your shit. Do not go in there and get crazy. You’ll find yourself in a cell and Sadie needs you out looking. Lock it down and don’t fuck her by fucking up the case Winegarner’s building. They’re on your side.”
I goddamn hated when Rhode was the voice of reason.
I nodded and Rhode opened the door.
Wilson and Brasco were standing just beyond the security door. Brasco swiped his card and the door clicked unlocked.
Brasco jerked his head to an open door to the right and we all shuffled in.
Wilson didn’t delay.
“Filled Brasco in about what I knew about the deputy. I want every angle covered, including the Horsemen and the deputy.” Wilson cut his eyes at Brasco. Any other time I would’ve tried to decipher the detective’s frown but right then I couldn’t care less if he was pissed. “The rumors weren’t only about the deputy. Zeus has already instigated his play. It worked with the deputy so just as we thought, he’s moved on to trapping other cops. Four of them. All five of Zeus’s play toys are accounted for and on the job. None of them had made any moves today that could be considered out of the norm. And since the three that Brasco and Kent knew about have been under surveillance, none of them have done anything to violate police procedure.”
“So you don’t think it’s Zeus or Grinder?” I inquired.
“Nothing points to them,” Brasco confirmed.
“We’re back to Bateman and his crew. The third member of that crew being the man who snatched Sadie.”
“Frederick Bateman had a lease on a house in Athol,” Brasco continued. “We pulled it; no other occupants listed. Steve Binder was renting, again in his name, in CDA. No other occupants were listed. Five minutes ago, Davis produced phone records and credit card statements. I cannot look at them. I can’t even know where he found them. I’m going to go back to the interrogation room and watch. You four go over those records and find me a name to throw at Bateman. I think he’s the weak link here. Binder’s cold, calculating. Besides his looks, it’s probably why he’s not out working marks. He doesn’t have the charisma. He’s so cold, I doubt he can make any emotional connections, even with his partners. He’ll let them go down and he’ll roll out without blinking.”
“I wanna see Bateman.”
“Not a good idea, Reese,” Wilson refused.
“I want Brasco to show Bateman the video and I wanna watch his reaction. I’m good at reading people; I’m the best in interrogation and you know it. I won’t go in. I won’t fuck the case. But I need to see his reaction.”
“Fuck,” Davis muttered.
“Reese’s right,” Jack agreed. “He’s the best in interrogation. Davis, Rhode, and I will go over the intel. But Reese needs to watch.”
Brasco caved. “Send me the footage. You two, follow me.”
Wilson gave me a hard look before we took our leave and followed Brasco through the bullpen. The interrogation rooms were tucked into the back right corner of the station. Officers looked up from their desks as we passed but no one said a word. I vaguely wondered if one of the men Zeus was blackmailing was one of the officers watching. He wouldn’t hit the brass, not at first. He’d start with patrolmen, maybe try a detective, but he’d save the big dogs for later.
Before we entered the observation room, I tapped Wilson on the arm and jerked my head back toward the bullpen. He gave me a sharp nod.
Jesus. No wonder River had looked like he was holding on by a thread when Brasco had told us about the rumors. River moved jurisdictions from Georgia to Idaho and the first precinct he gets a job in has a dirty cop—or a potentially dirty cop, when Zeus starts laying on the heavy.
Fucking hell.
My attention was pulled from dirty cops, River, and Zeus when Bateman came into view. His mouth was moving, but the sound was turned off. I reached toward the wall and hit the one-way intercom.
“I already told you,” Bateman whined.
Short sandy-brown hair that looked like he’d been running his hands through it. Either that or one of the guys had grabbed a handful of hair and held it to keep his head steady while they used his face as a punching bag. Two deeply colored black eyes were forming. His lip was cut, his t-shirt had blood on it. With his face fucked up, I couldn’t say if the man was good-looking or not, but what I could say was he sounded like a sniveling bitch.
Which might work in our favor.
Also, Bateman wasn’t meeting Winegarner’s eyes. His head was tipped down and he was looking at something on the table. A sign of guilt, something else that was good.
I took in River, leaning against the wall to Bateman’s left. One knee was cocked, the sole of his boot was on the drywall, arms crossed over his chest. River Kent was a big motherfucker, standing at six-foot-three. He wasn’t the tallest of the Kent Brothers. His older brother had an inch and fifty pounds on River. Echo Kent was a beast, a wall of muscle, whereas River was less bulk, but still huge.
“I bet he shit his pants when he caught sight of River,” I muttered.
“His drawers were already dirty by the time your brothers brought him in,” Brasco contradicted.
Good.
“Got the video. Be back.”
As soon as the door closed behind Brasco, Wilson turned to me.
“You gonna be able to handle this?”
“No. But I got no choice.”
“This isn’t—”
“Not a good time to tell me what is or isn’t my fault. And you of all people should understand that.”
It was a cockheaded thing to say to my friend, but damn if I wanted to hear about how Sadie’s abduction wasn’t my fault. I wasn’t after absolution. I was after securing Sadie’s safety.
“I hear that,” Wilson returned. “But to throw it back on you, I’ll give you the here and now, but don’t think we’re not talking about this shit when you crawl up my ass to cure me of my guilt.”
Confirmation that Wilson needed to unburden his soul, and more confirmation he was going to take me up on my offer.
Brasco walked into the interrogation room and all eyes went to him. Bateman was the first to look away and go back to staring at the table.
“Want you to watch something,” Brasco started.
The two other detectives in the room went on alert.
Brasco didn’t wait for Bateman to respond before he stepped next to him, leaned down, and held his cellphone in front of Bateman.
I saw the moment Brasco hit play. Bateman’s eyes were riveted on the screen. His demeanor went from whiny bitch to man. His brows pulled tight. His shoulders went stiff and suddenly he wasn’t hunched over, playing the scared rabbit.
Frederick Bateman had shown up.
“What the fuck?” Bateman roared.
Brasco didn’t move. As pissed as Bateman had become, his hands were cuffed to the table and there wasn’t much he could do.
“Why don’t we watch it again?” Brasco suggested. “Make sure you get a good look at what your partner did to Sadie Pierce. But this time, pay special attention to Sadie’s eyes. Watch how scared she is.”
“Don’t show me that shit again.”
Oh, yeah, the whine was gone. He sounded more like the man I’d heard on the recording Wilson had played. Voice deeper and cocksure.
“I figured you’d appreciate verification your colleague was taking out the trash for you. With Sadie out of the way, we don’t have a witness.”
Brasco was pushing the right buttons. But he needed to push harder.
Bateman’s jaw clenched. I knew that shit had to hurt with the cut lip and the bruising, but he didn’t flinch.
Brasco straightened, handed his phone off to Winegarner. And I knew that video was worse than I thought when the detective shot out of his chair and slammed a fist on the table.
“Fucked-up end for a woman you claimed to love. Said she was the best thing that happened to you. Said you cared about her and cried when your stalker found you and you had to leave Sadie to keep her safe. When we find her body, I’ll be sure to tell her parents how much you love her.”
I choked on the bile crawling up my throat. Wilson waited for my coughing to subside before he wrapped his fingers over my shoulder.
“You know what he’s doing; it’s nothing you haven’t done before. Sadie was not injured in that video.”
Right. She’d just fought like a motherfucker.
“She was the best thing that ever happened to me!” Bateman shouted. “Fucking goddamn. Fuck!”
I yanked my phone out of my pocket, not caring that Brasco wouldn’t appreciate me interrupting his interrogation.
I watched Brasco pull his phone out of his pocket. His eyes narrowed, but he still answered.
“Detective Brasco,” he feigned professionalism.
“Push him. Tell him that the delivery guy was found dead. Make him believe that his partner is unhinged, violent, and ask him if he found what he was looking for at Sadie’s place.”
“Right. Thanks for the update.”
Brasco disconnected and looked at Winegarner. When the two detectives unlocked gazes, Winegarner took his seat and Brasco started in.
“Fucked-up way to show her how much you love her by sending a killer after her.”
Bateman’s gaze sliced to Brasco’s and he shook his head. Bateman opened his mouth, but shut it, then started again, “A killer?”
“Listen, don’t bullshit me. The van your friend stole was on route. He killed the driver, took his clothes and his van, then paid Sadie a visit. And you see the care he showed the woman you love. He practically strangled her right there in the alley.”
A growl slipped out and Wilson squeezed my shoulder, “He’s exaggerating.”
Logically, I knew Brasco was lying, but I still couldn’t stomach hearing that shit.
“Hell, Freddy, you know him. How long does he like to play with his women before he gets rid of them? How much time does the woman you love have left breathing?”
Goddamn, if I hear one more fucking person talk about Bateman loving Sadie I’m going to lose my fucking mind.
“Sam would never fucking kill someone. And he wouldn’t kill Sadie. He knows I’d gut him if he touched her.”
Sam.
We had a name.
Thank fuck.
River pushed off the wall and spoke for the first time.
“Seems you’re wrong about that, friend. Seeing as you’re locked up, Sam’s decided he’s not all that afraid of you. Are you sure he wouldn’t touch her? Really sure? Seems to me like your buddy was just pretending to be scared of you. Do you think your pal Steve’s afraid of you, too?”
“Fuck you,” Bateman spat.
“Fuck me?” River laughed. “Don’t get pissed at me because your buddy’s got the love of your life. The best thing that ever happened to you. But, come on, we know that shit’s a lie. You don’t care you fucked her over, you don’t care she had to sell her shit so she could eat, you don’t care that right now your buddy’s probably trying to get—”
“What’d you say?” Bateman interjected.
And not a moment too soon.
If River had continued with his line of questioning, I’m man enough to admit I might’ve puked.
“I said a lot, gotta be more specific.”
“Sadie sold her shit? What does that mean?”
Honest surprise.
He had no idea she’d sold her furniture.
“He didn’t break in.”
“So it was Binder or Sam.”
The door opened and Davis walked in.
“Rhode and Jack are still cross-referencing but we found a name Bateman and Binder both call daily.”
“Sam?” I asked.
“Yeah, Samuel Barker. Rhode remembered seeing something on Binder’s computer, a folder named B Cubed. There were LLC papers and an Excel spreadsheet with what Rhode thinks are bank accounts.”
“Are you telling me these fuckers are paying taxes on the money they steal?”
“No idea, but B Cubed is a legit business.”
“You got an address for Sam?”
“We got several.”
A growl slipped out. “You could’ve started with that.”
“And you could stand here and bitch,” Davis told me. “Or we can roll out and find your woman.”
“I’m staying here to watch,” Wilson told us. “I’ll keep you in the loop and be out as soon as I know more.”
I wordlessly followed Davis and checked my watch.
Almost two hours.
Fuck.