Page 19 of The Italian Reckoning (A New York Criminal Empire #3)

ROCKY

“ S hould I be concerned?” Cormac flips his phone around and shows the table a text from one of his men stating that Matteo Barati is on the war path for his two dead guards as I place several drinks down on the table.

“Don’t worry about it,” I assure him, sliding a Scotch toward him and his wife. “It won’t take him long to work out that I was the one who killed them, and then…” Clicking my tongue, I slide a Vodka toward Sarah and then sit beside her. “Well, remember me fondly.”

“Should we be worried?” Evelyn’s brows pinch together while she picks up her glass. “We’re not looking for trouble, but Rocky, if you need help?”

“I can handle my father.” Despite the confidence in my words, there’s a reason we all retreated to The Black Ox.

No matter how pissed my father is, he won’t break the peace that exists in this bar and if I have to spend a decent amount of time here until he cools down, then so be it.

But I stand by what I did. Sarah doesn’t deserve to die.

She’s just trying to do the right thing.

“Alright.” Evelyn doesn’t look like she believes me, but her attention quickly drifts to Sarah who drains her glass within seconds, then slams it down on the table with a smack of her lips.

“Wow,” she whispers hoarsely. “Strong.”

“You look like you needed it,” I say, catching Hazel’s eye at the bar with a wave of my hand. “Need another?”

“Forget the drinks,” Cormac cuts in, his dark gaze on Sarah. “You have some explaining to do.”

She meets his gaze steadily and nods while pressing her lips together. “I know.”

“So explain.”

She glances at me, and I offer her a faint smile in support. The killer left a direct message to Sarah at the crime scene and she didn’t seem all that surprised to see it. So what’s really going on here?

“When I worked in Montana, there was a serial killer who targeted young women. He would kidnap them, usually when they were engaged in an activity where they wouldn’t be missed.

He’d hold them for days, torture them until he grew bored, and then he would sedate them, paint them up in thick makeup, and slowly suffocate them with plastic wrap, specifically Saran Wrap, until there was a perfect imprint of their death on the plastic.

Then he’d leave the plastic on display somewhere for us to find. ”

Her voice quavers slightly and her eyes dart to her glass as if wishing there were more Vodka available. I slide my own glass toward her and she accepts it gratefully.

“He killed more people than we were ever able to find because he’d been doing it for a few years before we caught wind of him.

He grew bold and a little pissed off because he wanted to perform but he’d been slipping under the radar for so long that no one was there to witness his show.

” She shakes her head and briefly closes her eyes.

“His last victim was one of the worst. He kidnapped her from a club when she was celebrating a colleague’s birthday and he held her for six days.

He tortured her non-stop and kept her awake the entire time until she was starting to see things.

And then…” Sarah lifts my glass and drains it in one large gulp, wincing sharply as she swallows.

“Then I made a mistake, and he got away. He escaped and his last victim was denied justice because I couldn’t… ”

Something stops her. The weight of guilt silences whatever else she wants to say and she places the glass back down onto the table with a trembling hand.

“Anyway, the night he escaped, he was shot. And then he vanished. A lot of cops hoped he crawled into a hole somewhere and died, but no one knew for sure. I worked my ass off for that case but my failure was… well, it was spectacular, to say the least. He never killed again and I was transferred to New York because my old boss didn’t want me to waste my potential as a good cop.

Fat lot of good that did, really.” She stares hard at her glass, repeatedly licking her lower lip and breathing quickly.

“Anyway, I failed. And I was transferred here, and I thought that was the end of it because he never killed again. And now he’s here, and I think he’s here because of me. ”

Sarah lifts her gaze and quickly glances at each of us in turn.

“I’ve been getting makeup in the mail, but the parcels have been untraceable.

The killings are exactly the same as they were in Montana.

This is the second one. I think Belle was the first because I dug back six months and couldn’t find any other similar cases.

I think he’s taunting me because he knows I’m the reason he got away.

And I can’t—” Her words cut off briefly and she swallows audibly.

“I can’t let him get away again. Every death after I…

It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. So you see.

” Her grey eyes snap to me. “I have to do this properly.”

It makes sense.

In this moment, everything about Sarah makes sense.

The guilt she must carry for failing his last victim and for whatever mistake she made that allowed such a horrific killer to escape must be eating her alive.

No wonder she’s so determined to do everything by the book.

She must be desperate to prevent herself from making the same mistake she did in the past. With the bodies piling up around her, it must feel like the killer is taunting her.

“My God.” Evelyn lets out a long, slow breath. “A serial killer?”

“Not only that,” Cormac murmurs. “One with a grudge. The two victims, you didn’t recognize them, did you? They weren’t people who were in your life?”

“No.” Sarah shakes her head. “They are strangers to me. Although I don’t exactly have a large social circle here.”

“How long ago?” Cormac asks.

“Before Belle, his last victim was five years ago, almost six. And I’ve been in New York for nearly two years now.”

Silence falls around the table as everyone settles into their own thoughts about everything Sarah’s divulged so far. Glasses rattle and clink as Hazel busies herself cleaning, and soon, the table rocks gently as my bouncing leg grows increasingly restless.

A serial killer.

Here.

“This is insane,” I say eventually. “I don’t know about you lot, but I'm used to gang killings and jealousy and war because of ego. Real shit, y’know? But a serial killer is a whole other ball game. The way that kind of mind works?”

“It’s twisted,” Cormac agrees. “Do you think they know who they’re messing with?”

Sarah shrugs. “I doubt it. He wants to taunt me and spent years taunting the police force. I’m not sure he’s intent on taunting the Mafia. Although…” She clicks her tongue. “He’s cocky. And he got away with it once when I had him dead to rights. If I’d just… Maybe he is that cocky.”

“Cocky, maybe,” Evelyn agrees, “but not smart. For one, it’s not like he could know someone like Belle was Mafia. And even if he did, surely, he would know that we wouldn’t be bound by the law when it came to tracking him down.”

“He must be new to the city.” Cormac leans forward, toying gently with his glass. “Unfamiliar with how things really work around here. If he’s got his sights set on taunting you, Sarah, then everything else is surely just noise to him.”

“That could be anyone.” Literally. People filter in and out of New York like water. Tracking a new arrival like that will be next to impossible.

“Sure,” Evelyn replies. “But think about what we know. He’s here for Sarah so he has to be familiar with her and her work, and her department.

He’s only started killing recently, which means he’s comfortable and feels secure enough to do so.

If he’s blind to who is in charge in this city, then that means he won’t see us coming because his games are built for cops, not for criminals. ”

Evelyn and Cormac are building a plan, and it’s a good one, but there’s something about the strange look in Sarah’s eyes that keeps my attention on her. She looks haunted, but beyond that, she looks defeated.

“Your captain,” I ask. “Is he looking into this?”

“No,” she replies shortly. “With only Belle, he thinks I’m jumping at ghosts and I have no idea what I’m talking about. He thinks I’m seeing things that aren’t there, but with this second body, he will have to listen.”

“What do you need?” Cormac asks. “How can we help?”

“You want to help?” Sarah’s brows lift slightly in surprise.

“Some fucker is targeting people in our families. That shit doesn’t go unanswered.”

“Sweet in theory, but I’m sorry.” Sarah pushes her glass away and stands.

“There’s nothing you can do. Nothing either of you can do.

This case is bigger than all of us because it’s not just here in New York.

All that old shit in Montana is connected too.

I have to do this properly because as soon as the killer sees that the police haven’t found the second body, he’ll kill again.

And it will be bigger. I have to call it in. ”

“Sarah.” I try to catch her hand, but she abruptly pulls away from me. “Sarah, we have an agreement.”

Her eyes lock with mine. “You have forty-eight hours. After that, I’m calling my boss.”