As the reports came in from his men, Grady grew more and more perplexed. No sign of Prudence Knight at her home or at the office, which Luke Kirby and his partner had just left. No sign of her at his brothers' or his mother’s place. She hadn’t left the bus station with Kirby, but none of his men had noticed who she had left with because they weren’t looking for her. They were looking for Kirby. She hadn’t left by cab, like Kirby. His men had checked.

Kirby had called someone. That had to be it. But who? Not one of his brothers or his mother. He’d gone straight from the bus station to the police station where he met his partner. Maybe another cop? Details on the contact were sketchy and would take days to pull together. What he really needed was access to Kirby’s cell phone records. He needed to know who he’d called. Those files were tough to get into, but an obstacle was just something to go around. And he knew just the man to do it. He reached for the phone, but it rang under his hand.

“Yo.”

“Hey, man.” It was Leslie. “Why are your guys watching my dad’s company? I don’t remember that being part of the plan.”

Grady hesitated, then trotted out, “They’re watching Kincaid. Don’t want him going to ground now, do we?”

“Really.” He was quiet for a short beat. “Odd that they didn’t follow him when he left. And the two Feds did. Did you forget to tell them who they were after?”

“You know how hard it is to get good help, Les,” Grady said soothingly, as his mind raced. Feds? Following Kincaid?

“We should bring him in. We don’t want the Feds jumping on him. We need him,” Leslie said, an edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before.

That was the basic problem with Les. He looked at the surface of people and thought that’s all there was.

“We don’t need to bring him in. He’ll come to me,” Grady said.

“How will he know?”

“He’ll know, once he starts thinking,” Grady said. Something you should try, Les. “So, you’ve been with your father?”

“Yeah.” Grady could hear him struggle with wanting—and not wanting—the change of subject. Les was easily distracted. “My old man is starting to spin. He knows Shield is gone. Though Knight’s doc was smarter than we gave him credit for.”

“What do you mean?”

“A couple of homicide cops paid him a visit. I was brilliant when they asked who might want him dead. Mentioned prim Prudence.”

“Clever of you. Muddies the water nicely.” Grady smiled, even as his thoughts spun too fast to collect. Homicide detectives. It couldn’t be, could it? “You catch the names of the homicide dicks?”

“Oh, um, one was named Corby or—”

“Kirby? Luke Kirby?”

Leslie’s voice sharpened again. “You know him?”

“Heard of him. You sure you covered your tracks? He’s got a rep for getting his perp.” It felt good to twist Leslie’s nerves a bit. Grady didn’t like feeling out of control.

“I’m sure that all roads lead directly to my old man. Or prim Prudence, who isn’t exactly around to defend herself, now is she?”

Grady flicked an amused look at the pic he had of homely little Prudence. “No, she’s not.” Though he didn’t know why not, if Kirby had her, why hadn’t he produced her? Unless he also suspected someone inside Merryweather? Wouldn’t that be an unexpected hoot. And absolutely true.

“I can’t wait to meet her.” Leslie’s voice turned dreamy, with an unbalanced edge to it as he added, “I did it, Grady. With my own hands.”

“Who?” he asked. Trust the idiot to risk releasing his serial killer instinct now.

“No worries. Just some hooker.”

“Where is she?”

He chuckled, like a small, bad boy. “Sent her out with the laundry.”

“Can they—”

But Leslie cut him off. “I did my homework, Grady. I know what to do. It’s taken care of. No worries. None.”

Grady released a silent, frustrated sigh. “Just don’t do it again—wait until the op is finished, okay?”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Leslie sounded dreamy again. “I finish the op with it. I want to do her myself, Grady. Me. Alone with prim Prudence.”

“No problem, Les.” Grady didn’t worry about that promise. He didn’t expect Les to be around to keep his date with Prudence Knight. Funny how getting what he wanted was unraveling Les.

He hung up the phone. It was useful to have him on the inside, tracking the players, but it was obvious he didn’t plan to wait long before trying out his killing skills again. If he found out that Grady didn’t have her, he wasn’t sure what Leslie would do.

It wasn’t a feeling he liked.