Authors: Karen Rose
Scarlett stood back as Marcus’s troop found places around the table in the small doctor–patient consulting room. Marcus looked positively grim – and angry with his employees. He’d wanted to take all the blame on his shoulders, which hadn’t surprised Scarlett in the least.
That his people had stood with him said more about their loyalty to Marcus than their desire to tell the truth, but it didn’t really matter as long as the truth was what she got. She was giving Phillip’s attacker more time to escape or plan another attack with every second that ticked away. Part of her wished Deacon were here to help with this, but another part was glad he’d stayed at the crime scene with Agent Coppola. Scarlett wasn’t sure if she could stomach any more testosterone. The room was practically reeking with it.
‘Are we comfortable?’ she asked, and watched Stone O’Bannion roll his eyes.
‘No
we
are not,’ he muttered. ‘But
we
are here, so let’s get on with it.’
‘Thank you,’ Lisette said to her. ‘For stationing the policeman outside of the operating room. I feel like Phillip’s a little safer, anyway.’
Scarlett’s smile was sympathetic. ‘It was no trouble.’ She’d had to ask for someone to watch Jill and Gayle, anyway. She didn’t want them speaking to each other or anyone else without a police witness. She’d positioned it as having a guard keeping an eye on Gayle for her own protection. ‘I have brothers,’ she added. ‘And I do know what you’re going through. One of my brothers was shot a few years ago. They operated on him in this hospital, in fact. We all took turns standing guard outside his room until we could bring him home.’
‘Is he all right?’ Lisette asked, then winced when Scarlett hesitated to answer. ‘Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss, Detective. I didn’t know.’
‘No,’ Scarlett said quickly, understanding the woman’s confusion. ‘He lived. The surgeons here are very good. He just . . . Phin’s a vet, and it happened after he came home. We were relieved that he was finally safe, and then he got shot in a bar fight.’ She shrugged a shoulder. ‘We haven’t seen him for a long time, so I’m not sure how to answer your question. I hope he’s okay. But we’ve drifted off topic.’
It had not been unintentional. Nothing she’d shared was a secret. Hell, the
Ledger
had probably carried the story of Phin’s debacle, which had started with an argument over a woman. Naturally. Phin had always had a temper, even before the war. The
Ledger
probably had several articles on him. She’d shared Phin’s past with Lisette in hopes of creating a bond with the woman who had the most to lose – her brother was not safe until his attacker was behind bars.
Neither was Marcus.
So Lisette Cauldwell isn’t the only one with a lot to lose
. Scarlett couldn’t let herself think about what might have happened had Marcus arrived at his apartment first. He’d be the one in surgery right now.
She took the empty seat between Marcus and Diesel, the giant who’d been first to share the blame. The man’s shoulders took up his space and half of hers, but she didn’t budge, forcing him to scoot his chair over a few inches. This caused a ripple effect as everyone moved their chairs, because Stone was on Diesel’s right and his shoulders were nearly as wide. She waited until all the chairs had stopped moving and everyone settled.
‘I assume this involves the
Ledger
in some way,’ she began. From her jacket pocket she pulled the list Marcus had printed up earlier that day. It seemed like a year ago. ‘These are the threats I know about.’ She looked up at Marcus. ‘I also assume this is a . . . truncated list. If you’d sent me the real one, I would have had it minutes after you sent the video files. Yes?’
He nodded, his face flushed with color, making him look like a naughty boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. ‘I thought it would be for the best. I guess I thought wrong.’
‘You didn’t know,’ she murmured. ‘I thought Tala was the target too, so let’s get past that and figure out who shot your friend.’ She put the list on the table, then looked at each person for a few seconds, meeting their eyes before moving to the next. ‘What are you doing that makes people want to kill you?’
‘We want immunity,’ Stone said quietly. ‘Especially for Gayle.’
‘She only types memos,’ Scarlett said dryly. ‘And in case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t Mirandized any of you. Should I be doing so?’
‘No.’ Marcus drew a breath. ‘We target abusers and get them out of their homes. However we have to.’
She blinked slowly, digesting this. She hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but hearing this was no shock. She’d told Marcus that he was built to protect, and she’d meant it. She’d figured it had something to do with helping people in distress because he’d reached out to Tala so readily and so naturally. Like it was something he did all the time. That they’d gone to such trouble to cover their tracks was a little more worrying. ‘Do you break the law?’
Diesel’s massive shoulders shrugged nonchalantly. ‘A little hacking. And sometimes we might . . . suggest they should leave town.’
Scarlett’s lips twitched. ‘If I opened my door and saw you standing there, Mr Kennedy, you wouldn’t have to suggest anything. I’d start running before you opened your mouth.’
Diesel grinned happily. ‘Thank you.’
‘You’re welcome. How do you choose these abusers?’ More furtive glances around the table made her huff in annoyance. ‘For God’s sake, people, spit it out. I don’t have all night. And neither does your friend in there. I can’t justify a uniformed guard forever, you know.’
‘We get referrals, mostly,’ Marcus said. ‘Some come from people who aren’t authorized to share the information. To give their names could jeopardize their jobs, which would mean a lot of needy people wouldn’t be helped.’
‘So, Social Services,’ she said. ‘I can understand that. Must be frustrating to see bad people get away with hurting women and kids.’
‘You see that every day,’ Cal said softly. It was the first time he’d spoken since they’d entered the room.
‘Yes,’ Scarlett said. ‘Every goddamn day. There have been many times I’ve been tempted to suggest someone leave town.’
‘Have you ever done it?’ Stone asked, a gleam in his eye.
Ever the reporter
, she thought, raising her eyebrows at him. ‘Tempted, Stone. That’s all I said. For the record.’ She eyed the rest of the group. ‘So you get referrals. I assume these are referrals about abusers who are too slick to get caught by Children’s Services or who have frightened their victims into silence. What do you next? Dig until you find proof of their abuse?’
‘Something like that,’ Marcus said. ‘But sometimes there is no proof of abuse so we have to find something else.’
‘Find or fabricate?’ she asked him pointedly.
‘Mostly find. At times we get a little creative. But it’s never a total fabrication.’
Cal cleared his throat. ‘I’d call it more entrapment. With cameras set up in advance.’
‘Of course.’ Scarlett turned to Diesel. ‘You’re the hacker?’
Pride flickered in his eyes. ‘I am. I don’t steal. Just . . . rummage.’
Again her lips twitched. It was hard not to like this man. ‘Rummage for what?’
‘Wrongdoing in general. Sometimes it’s obvious.’ His lips thinned. ‘Like kiddie porn. Sometimes a little less so, like tax evasion or stock fraud.’
Scarlett blinked in surprise. ‘Tax evasion or stock fraud?’
‘It’s a crime,’ Lisette said. ‘Not as bad, but if it’s big enough, it’ll land them in federal prison. It gets them away from their families.’
‘And,’ Cal added, ‘even if it’s not big enough for the Feds, many times they don’t want anyone to know what they’ve done, so they’re more amenable to the suggestion to separate themselves from the household.’
‘Extortion,’ Scarlett murmured.
‘Gentle encouragement,’ Cal countered.
‘It gets them out of the house,’ Scarlett said, trying to keep the approval from her voice but knowing she was only moderately successful. ‘But they inevitably return. Then what?’
‘They come home to find their families have relocated,’ Marcus said. ‘We help them start over if that’s what they want. New IDs, new jobs. We’ve helped some of the women go back to school.’ He smiled fiercely, proudly. ‘One of our cases just graduated with a nursing degree. Another became a pharmacy tech. Another a paralegal. One finished the teaching degree she abandoned when she had too many bruises to show her face on campus. All of these mothers can now support their families on their own. They’re making lives for themselves and are no longer isolated and alone. And their kids are no longer afraid.’
Scarlett drew a breath, her chest suddenly tight with emotion that bubbled up, breaking free from where she’d contained it for so long. She’d known Marcus was different the first time she’d heard his voice. She’d known.
No, I’d hoped. Hoped so damn hard
.
‘Why do you hide this?’ she whispered, meeting his eyes, letting him see everything she felt deep inside. Wishing they were alone so she could show him.
‘Because we break the rules,’ he whispered back, his stare intensely intimate, despite the fact they were not alone. ‘We hack into people’s computers, we “gently coerce”, and we set people up. We produce fake IDs and print fake birth certificates and passports.’
‘The printing press,’ she murmured, and a glance at Cal told her she’d guessed right. He lifted his palms to show her fingertips stained black with ink, his narrowed eyes and tilted chin proclaiming unmistakable defiance. ‘You’re utilizing all of your resources.’
‘And skills,’ Cal said. ‘I learned the craft back before there were computers.’
Beside her, Diesel sighed. ‘And if you turn us in, we’ll have to stop.’
Scarlett shook her head. Their big concern was being forced to stop their work, more than being prosecuted. Or killed. ‘But this is dangerous. Phillip’s proof of that.’
‘Phillip knew the risks,’ Lisette said quietly. ‘He accepted them. I want the man who hurt him caught, but none of us want to stop. Phillip wouldn’t either, if he were sitting here.’
‘But why?’ Scarlett asked, looking around the table at each of them. She understood that Marcus and Stone had suffered a childhood trauma, but losing their baby brother to a murdering kidnapper didn’t automatically translate to helping abused women and their kids. The rest of them . . . She was perplexed. ‘Why do you care so much?’
‘We have our reasons,’ Diesel said stubbornly, and the rest of them nodded.
It was clear she’d get no further with them, at least not here and now. ‘All right. So you break some rules, put some abusers behind bars and “gently coerce” others to step away from the family.’ She tapped the paper on the table in front of her. ‘Are any of the names on this list viable suspects?’
‘No,’ Marcus said. ‘That’s why I chose them.’
Of course you did
. Because he hadn’t trusted her – then. Of course, she hadn’t trusted him, either. In her mind he’d been a reporter, making his living digging up news. How much difference a few hours made. ‘Can I get a complete list?’
Marcus pulled a flash drive from the pocket of his pants. ‘Here it is.’ He put it in her palm and curled her fingers to hold it, covering her hand with his for a long moment before releasing her. ‘I’ll need to walk you through the names.’
Her skin tingled, missing his warmth as soon as he took his hand away. She had to fight the urge to lean into him. ‘We’ll figure it out. My next question, I need you to be honest with me, because I don’t like surprises that bite me in the ass. How far did your “gentle coercion” go? How physical did you get? Specifically, did any of these names report you for assault?’
A long, long hesitation around the table had her heart sinking. What had they done?
‘Report?’ Diesel asked, drawing the word out. ‘As in, file a police report?’
‘Yes.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘What kind of report are
you
talking about?’
‘No, no,’ Diesel said, waving his hands. ‘Police report is what you wanted to know. The answer to your question is no. I don’t think so.’
‘No, or you don’t think so?’ Scarlett asked.
‘Well, any kook can file a police report,’ Diesel said with a shrug. ‘So anything’s possible.’
She sighed. ‘What exactly did you all do? I need to know.’
Stone folded his arms over his chest. ‘A few assholes might have fallen a few times.’
‘Into doors,’ Diesel added. ‘Or asphalt. Or knuckles.’
‘How hard might they have fallen?’ Scarlett asked.
‘The worst time was when the boys beat some asshole up,’ Lisette said.
‘Which boys?’ Scarlett demanded.
Stone shook his head. ‘Not me. I got an alibi. I was covering an election in Colombia.’
Scarlett looked at Marcus. ‘You?’
Marcus nodded, unrepentant. ‘He was stupid enough to throw the first punch. Look, the SOB had tricked his daughter’s best friend into telling him where his wife and kids were hiding, and had gone to their house to drag them back once he got out of jail for molesting his own kids and a few of the neighbors’. The daughter’s friend warned them he was coming when she realized she’d been tricked. The man’s soon-to-be ex-wife called us.’