Page 8

Rico

“Why don’t you take a shower and try on the clothes. Let us do a little work and see what we can arrange. We’ll catch you up when you’re done.”

She nods and heads to the bathroom.

Kade speaks first. “I can’t stand seeing her hurt like this. These fuckers have to pay.”

“Phil was a good guy. I liked him. Now some of what he said makes more sense. He was a man bent on a mission. We need to finish this for him and Fancy.”

Running a hand down my face, I look at Kade. “Can Diego help us out again?”

“I’ll check.” He picks up his phone and heads to the kitchen.

By the time Fancy rejoins us we have everything arranged.

“A friend can get us into the morgue at shift change in an hour. He’ll meet us and have a mask and wig to disguise you. It will have to be quick. We’ll only have a few minutes. Adorno may have eyes there, too.

“Another body was found in the same dump truck which makes us suspect the same dumpster. It’s a young woman. Would you be able to look at the picture? See if you recognize her?”

“Yes. Anything I can do to help.”

Kade has the photo showing on his laptop. Fancy looks at it. “That’s Susie. She’s new in housekeeping. She was having a hard time finding her way around the back halls. The bruising on her neck? She was strangled?”

“Yes,” Kade says.

“I wonder if she got lost and saw something she shouldn’t have.”

“Exactly what we suspect. Maybe the killer when he walked back in covered in blood,” I add. “Can you change into something dark, put your hair up in the skull cap, and wear the hoodie? We need to leave in five.”

Working our way through the back alleys we take one of the alternate vehicles we have hidden around the area. Following Diego’s instructions, we pull up behind the morgue where the trash cans are. Kade nods at me. “You go with her.”

In the morgue, I can’t hear the words she’s softly speaking.

Her expression shows her pain, the tears and her grief.

She smooths the hair from Phil’s forehead before kissing him goodbye.

Back outside, we drive a couple blocks to where we agreed to meet Diego.

“Watch your back. Adorno and some of the other low life recently lost their inside legal man, Belcher. It won’t take too long to replace him, but they’re more vulnerable right now so their fangs are showing. Watch your backs and stay frosty.”

“Roger that.”

Back at the hotel Fancy goes to the bedroom and shuts the door.

“She needs time,” Kade says. “We’ll let her be for a while.”

I stalk to the window. This is the part I don’t do well.

I hate stake outs. I hate waiting. I want to be in the middle of it, knocking heads.

Someone is going to pay for this. For hurting her.

Thirty minutes later I’m still prowling the room while Kade calmly sits at the computer working.

I can’t stand it any longer. I press my ear to the door.

“I think she’s crying. You have to go to her. Make sure she’s okay.”

“You’re right there. You go.”

“I’m not good at that and you know it. You’ll be nice and know what to say.”

“And you’ll make her forget. Go.”

“We both go. Now.”

I stare him down until he nods, shuts the computer and joins me at the door. I knock twice. “Fancy we’re coming in. We want to check on you.”

Without waiting I turn the knob and push the door open, reassuring myself that if she cared she would have locked the door. She’s curled into a ball in the middle of the bed, head buried in the pillow as her shoulders shake with the force of her tears.

Kade climbs on the bed in front of her and wraps her in his embrace. I crawl in behind, cloaking her with my body. “Ah babe, don’t cry.”

“He was a good man. He didn’t deserve that.”

“We know sweetheart,” Kade whispers.

“We’ll make them pay, babe. I promise they’ll pay.

“Let us hold you while you sleep,” Kade says. Right now, you need to rest. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

Rolling to my side, I reach behind me and grab the box of tissues, holding it out to her. After she wipes her eyes and blows her nose Kade cuddles her to his chest, her face secure in the hollow of his neck.

I snuggle to her back, one hand on her hip. As her breathing levels out and she drifts to sleep, I feel something settle in myself. She’s a fighter. She’ll get through this. We’re kindred spirits.

In some ways my background isn’t so different from hers. Left alone to my own devices as both parents struggled to make ends meet with six kids to feed. We lived in a small Portuguese neighborhood in Massachusetts. Everyone worked to benefit the family.

I was a surprise, shock really, the last of the litter. One of those rare freak occurrences since Mom was in menopause. By the time I came around the rest of the family was tired. Of course, me being stubborn as hell and a fighter by nature didn’t help.

When I was ten, I heard some asswipe trying to rape my sister.

She clearly said no. I picked the lock on her bedroom door and broke his nose with my fist. At twelve, when my oldest and only brother died of an overdose, I went after the guy who sold him the drugs.

I used my brother’s phone to record a dozen sales, then found a local narcotics officer who would hear my story.

I volunteered to make a buy so they could arrest him.

From then on, I was hooked. I knew exactly what I was going to do the rest of my life.

Four years in the army paid for my criminal justice degree.

Once I got out of the service, I went straight to the DEA.

Six months in I was assigned with Kade. We make a perfect team.

His finesse, my ‘in your face’. We’ve been looking for the right woman to complete us for a while. Fate may have finally stepped in.

Fancy’s breathing has evened out. I glance over to Kade. As if reading my mind he nods. This is personal now. We’ll protect her from the bastards who hurt her mother and Phil.

Then if she’s willing, we’re gonna keep her.