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“Okay.” Townsend put his notebook away. “Then let’s talk about today.”
“Court did not go as I’d planned.” Normally, the fiasco at court would’ve been Hugh’s least favorite topic to discuss but anything was better than the idea of Conguise’s creatures roaming the city streets.
“Nope. Not at all.” Townsend frowned. “But I thought you were going to wait to see if you could get Wickerwood to talk before you released all Jethro’s friends.”
“I am. I want to give Wickerwood a few days to make sure he doesn’t change his mind about telling us the name of his partner.”
“You are? What do you mean? All the Guards who served with Jethro were released.”
“What are you talking about? I released four of them a few weeks ago to alleviate some of the complaints about only keeping them in prison because they once worked for the Protective Services. The others are still in jail.”
“Then someone goofed or...purposely misunderstood. My sources told me this morning that they released the last of Jethro’s friends yesterday.”
“You have sources that work at the prison?” If Townsend wasn’t a good friend, he’d consider looking into the reporter. The Almighty seemed to have connections everywhere.
“I got to know them when you were incarcerated.” Townsend smiled slightly.
“Really? You could’ve saved me from some beatings.” He’d been the Guards’ favorite punching bag for more years than he cared to remember.
“I wish I could’ve, but my sources give me info. They don’t take direction.” Townsend leaned forward. “And they say Jethro is all alone and that isn’t good.”
“No, it’s not and I didn’t order the release of his friends.” He stood and walked to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of whiskey and pouring him and Townsend a drink.
“Do you think it was an honest mistake or something else?”
He went back into the living room and sat, handing his friend a glass. “I don’t know, but I need to find out.”
“What are you going to do about Jethro? This changes everything.”
“No.” He took a sip of his drink. “It just expedites the situation.”
“Okay. Then what are you going to do if he refuses to work with us?”
“I’ll have to let him out or let him die.” Martha, Kim and Jackson would never forgive him if he did the latter and he wasn’t a hundred percent sure Trinity would either. “The question is when do I release him?”
“Jethro isn’t safe in there alone,” said Townsend.
“He can take a few beatings. I did.” Hugh sipped his drink. “It might make him more willing to work with us.”
“Or it might make him dead.”
“The kid is strong. He can withstand losing a fight or two.”
“Yeah, I know. He can handle it because you did, but you were beaten by the Guards not the prisoners.”
“They weren’t easy on me.”
“They also weren’t allowed to kill you.”
“Good point.” He stared at his drink. “I don’t want him dead, but I do want more samples of his blood.”
“You still think Conguise did more than fix his spine?” Townsend leaned back against the couch.
“I do.” That was another one of his nightmares.
“You could force him to give you a blood sample. He is in prison.”
“I don’t want to draw any attention. I have no idea what the professor will do if he thinks we suspect.”
“What can he do to Jethro if he’s in prison?”
“Many of the prison Guards have worked there a long time. I don’t know who are sympathetic to the old regime. I interviewed them all. They seem to be simple Guards who are happy to have a job, but appearances can be faked. Plus, many would probably be eager to make some extra money.” He swirled the liquor in his glass. “It isn’t worth the risk. As you said, Jethro is alone in there.”
“Another reason to set him free.”
“But we need him to get close to Wickerwood. We need names of those running the sex trafficking ring, and we need answers on why Wickerwood had been forcing the interclass breeding of all those he’d had locked in that nightmare of a building. We found no trace of their young and like it or not, Wickerwood is our only lead.”
“Not true. We know Vickers is involved somehow.”
“We think. We don’t know.”
“And Dresschew is also involved.”
“Dresschew?” What was his friend talking about? “Serbian Dresschew died years ago, and he had no children.”
“I know that.” Townsend rolled his eyes. “Who was going to inherit Serbian’s fortune was all anyone talked about for months.”
“Then...”
“The Dresschew company name comes up way too much on the paperwork for the garbage dumpsters and buildings where we know Servants were trafficked.”
“You think Francis Terbasse is behind this?” He stood and began to pace. This made no sense. “He’s nothing more than an aging playboy who spends Serbian’s fortune.”
“Perhaps this was all in place before Dresschew died and Terbasse is letting it chug along. Serbian wouldn’t have done the work himself. He would’ve hired a business manager.”
“I don’t know. My mother spoke highly of Serbian Dresschew. He was often at her fundraising parties to help the lower classes. I’d find it hard to believe he was involved in something like sex trafficking.”
“People can be quite deceiving and donating to charitable causes is the perfect disguise.”
“Even if his estate is involved, we can’t go after Terbasse. He’s too connected. He may be a good-for-nothing playboy, but he’s well liked. I need his support.”
“Even if he’s behind the sex trafficking?”
“Of course not.” He shot his friend a disgusted look. “But we don’t know that. All we know is that a few of his many, many businesses were listed as owners of buildings—mostly abandoned buildings that anyone could access—where young female Servants were found.”
“Found? Imprisoned is the correct term.”
“Imprisoned just like those on the estate which leads us back to Wickerwood. We have no proof that Dresschew and now, Terbasse had anything to do with it. That’s why Wickerwood is our only real lead. We know he’s involved. We just need him to talk and that means we need someone for him to talk to.”
“You really think keeping Jethro in prison, if he’ll even agree to work with us, will make Wickerwood talk?”
“I do.” Or he hoped.
“I don’t know. Wickerwood looked terrified in court today.” Townsend shook his head. “Only someone very powerful would scare Wickerwood like that.”
“Powerful or ruthless.”
“That usually equals money. Terbasse has money. Lots of it,” said Townsend.
“I don’t know that he actually does. Not that kind of money.”
“I agree that Terbasse throws money around like his fingers print it but there’s no way he could’ve gone through Dresschew’s fortune.”
“I don’t think Dresschew was as rich when he died as many thought.” He sat back down. “I remember coming home from school one day and my mom complaining to some friends that their recent fundraisers hadn’t been as successful as they’d hoped. Apparently, Dresschew wasn’t donating as much as in the past.” He held up his hand to stop Townsend from replying. “One of the women started gossiping that Dresschew had made some bad investments, quite a few and that money was...tight.”
“Tight? For Dresschew?” Townsend laughed. “I wish money was that tight for me.”
“Maybe you should follow the paper trail. Perhaps Dresschew sold some of those businesses. That’d make more sense to me than he or Francis Terbasse running the sex trafficking ring.”
“I’ll look into it, but I think it’s a huge waste of time.” Townsend frowned, shaking his head. “You wouldn’t believe the number of shell corporations I’ll have to dig through to find the actual sale of any of Dresschew’s businesses.”
“And while you’re doing that, our best bet is to convince Jethro to work with us.”
“I’m not sure there’s even a point in that anymore,” said Townsend.
“What do you mean?”
“Why would Wickerwood befriend him now. Jethro has no one. Before the other Guards were released, he had friends and power. Now, he’s on the bottom. Wickerwood is going to understand that.”
“Jethro is young and strong. He’ll be an asset to an old Almighty like Wickerwood.”
“I don’t know. I think it’s too dangerous now that Jethro’s friends have been released.” Townsend’s eyes met his. “It could be a paperwork mistake, but if someone purposely released them to leave Jethro vulnerable then you have to get him out of there.”
“If I do that then we have no chance on finding those involved with sex trafficking, and if they started breeding young to traffic”—he ran his hand through his hair—“we have to stop it now before those kids are hurt.”
“I understand that, but you can’t leave him in prison to die.”
He could, but he wouldn’t. “Let’s hold off for a few days. I’ll see if I can find out how the Guards were released and then...”
“Hugh!” Rex pounded on the door.
He hurried across the room, sending Townsend a concerned look. Rex wasn’t one to interrupt or to overreact. He opened the door. “What’s the matter? Is it Trinity?” He tried not to let panic take over. She should’ve been back by now.
“No. Jethro. There was a fight. He’s in the hospital.”
“How bad?” The relief that washed through him that nothing had happened to Trinity, quickly twisted into guilt. It was his fault Jethro was still in prison.
“Bad enough to put him in the hospital,” said Rex.
He bit back his reply. He had no idea why he surrounded himself with wise-mouthed Guards. He turned to Townsend. “I guess my decision has been made for me.” It was time to talk to Jethro.