Page 65 of Knife in the Back (New Orleans #4)

“I know the place. It’s Burke’s favorite. I’ll check it out. Thank you, Kaleb.”

“You’re welcome. Keep me up to speed. It’s not like Burke to just…disappear. He knows his people will worry.”

“And they are worried. Be careful. Whoever has been after him—whoever tried to grab your sons—is still out there and has tried to kill Burke twice now.”

And been unsuccessful, dammit.

“I’ll be careful. Let me know when you’ve found him.”

“Will do.”

Kaleb ended the call and smiled. Things were going according to plan.

—

The Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana

Thursday, February 27, 9:40 a.m.

They’d all gathered in the living room, waiting for Molly’s call. Antoine had called his brother, who’d sent officers to assist Molly.

Jace sat with Elijah, the older boy’s face sheet-white. Val was still not answering her phone.

Naomi sat on the settee where she and Burke had sat just the evening before. Where they’d said they wanted to see where the thing between them would go.

Stay alive, Burke. I’m not done with you yet.

But the words fell flat. She was frozen with fear. She’d felt like this before, as she’d sat in the NOPD holding cell awaiting booking. As she’d entered prison, terrified of what the next thirty years might bring.

As she’d contemplated the Glock after Gaffney’s visit last week. Six days. It had only been six days since she’d sat frozen, thinking she had no one. Wondering if anyone but her mother and Sylvi would miss her if she were gone.

James and Ruthanne sat on the love seat across from her, grim and silent. Eleanor sat in Burke’s duct-taped BarcaLounger, clutching her rosary beads.

Chelsea sat on the floor with Harper on her lap, the child’s eyes having gone distant again.

Naomi wanted to give comfort but she couldn’t. She had no comfort to give herself, much less anyone else. Only panic.

Antoine sat beside Naomi, his hands clenching and relaxing, over and over, before he offered her his hand, palm up. She took it and held on.

She had no words and it didn’t seem like anyone else did, either. They simply sat, tensed and waiting.

It had been nearly an hour with no call from Molly. Antoine could see her phone and was tracking it with one of his laptops. She was near Burke’s phone, but they hadn’t heard anything. Not yet.

Footsteps on the stairs had Naomi turning to see a frowning Everett descending.

“What’s going on?” he demanded, his voice loud and strident.

“Burke’s gone,” Harrison said, following him down.

Everett turned to glare at him. “What do you mean, he’s gone? Like he left?”

“Like he disappeared,” Antoine snapped. “The ringleader of this shit show has him. And maybe Val, too.”

Jace whimpered, a devastating sound.

Naomi wanted to go to Jace. To put her arms around him.

But she couldn’t move. She was frozen.

Elijah put his arms around his friend. “I got you,” he said when the older boy began to cry. “I got you.”

Naomi’s throat closed and she struggled to breathe. “He didn’t know,” she said to Everett when her son came to stand before her, his expression bewildered and sad. “He didn’t know it was his best friend.”

“Oh man,” Everett muttered, then glared at Harrison again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t know you were invested,” Harrison said calmly.

Everett flinched. “I’m not a monster. Of course I’m invested. Of course I care.” He looked around the room, searching faces. “What can we do?”

“Molly’s gone to see if she can find them,” James said heavily. He hadn’t been the same since he’d learned that Jimmy had taken money to help frame Naomi.

Naomi wanted to comfort him, too.

She closed her eyes, fear and grief overwhelming her.

Don’t grieve. You don’t know anything yet.

But part of her did know. Something terrible was happening to Burke right now. Kaleb had him. Kaleb, who’d hurt so many people.

She thought of the bullet hole in Winnifred’s forehead. Of the dead Delgado brothers and their mother and grandmother. Of the two innocent girls who had died in that fire.

Burke could be dead, too.

Her free hand was enclosed in a pair of warm ones, and she opened her eyes to see Everett kneeling in front of her, his eyes filled with misery.

She tried to smile at him, but a sob burst out instead. She clamped her lips shut. She would not break down. Not with Jace already crying.

“What can I do?” Everett whispered.

“Nothing,” Naomi whispered back. “Just…wait with us. Please.”

“Okay.” Everett hesitated, then rose to sit on the arm of the settee. Tentatively, he put his arm over her shoulders, as if unsure of his welcome.

Oh , she thought, unable to hold back the tears. My son.

She leaned into him, taking the comfort he offered. His arm tightened. “He’s smart, Mom,” Everett said softly. “He’s strong and he’s smart.”

“Thank you,” Naomi murmured.

And they waited some more.

Until Antoine’s phone buzzed. Startled, he fumbled it before grabbing onto it. He hit accept and put the phone on speaker. “Molly?”

“I’ve got Val,” Molly said.

Jace lifted his head, his face tear-streaked. “Alive?”

“Yes, Jace,” Molly said. “She’s alive. On her way to the hospital.

She was being held in the shop next to where Burke met Kaleb.

She was dosed with some kind of opioid. Which I only know because the officer André sent to help me had Narcan.

We found Val and the shop owner unresponsive.

We tried the Narcan because it wouldn’t hurt them, even if it didn’t help.

But it helped. Both of them were conscious when they were loaded into the ambulance.

Kaj is on his way to the hospital. He’ll come back and get Jace and Elijah when it’s safe to do so. ”

“Thank you.” Jace’s voice croaked. “Thank you for saving her.”

“You’re very welcome, Jace,” Molly said. “Burke’s nowhere to be found. The people in the coffee shop said he sat down with a man but he and another man had to practically drag him out. They thought he was falling-down drunk.”

“They drugged him,” Naomi said.

“Yeah,” Molly said shortly. “And there’s no security footage. It’s all scrubbed. Nobody saw the guy’s face. Just that he wore a nice suit and a fedora.”

“Like the two men going into the Delgados’ house,” Antoine said, his jaw tight. “We’re going to find him.”

“I found his phone,” Molly said. “It was in the street, in front of the coffee shop. The officer André sent is taking me to the hospital. I’ll stay there until Kaj arrives, then I’ll come back. We’ll figure out where they took him. It’s what we do.”

“All we know is that it’s a house on one of the parade routes,” Antoine said. “Goddamn needle in a haystack.”

“We will find him,” Molly said firmly, then sighed. “André called Kaleb.”

“And?” Antoine asked sharply.

“He said that Kaleb claimed to have been waiting for Burke at the coffee shop on Conti, but that Burke never showed.”

“He’s a liar,” Antoine spat.

“I know,” Molly said, “and so does André, but Kaleb’s story checked out.

André went there himself. Kaleb waited for over an hour and that shop had security footage.

He’d changed his clothes. No suit or fedora.

He wore a polo shirt and a baseball cap.

The manager said that Kaleb even asked that they tell Burke that he’d been waiting when Burke showed up.

Burke’s phone shows a number of texts from Kaleb that seem to back his story as well. ”

“He’s lying,” Antoine insisted.

Rage made it hard for Naomi to breathe. “Kaleb planned this.”

“I know,” Molly said again. “He’s clever, but so are we. And he doesn’t know we suspect him. We will find Burke.”

“Yes,” Naomi agreed, proud that her voice no longer trembled. “We will.”

How, she didn’t know.