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“Beat him to death with his bare hands,” Elijah said grimly.
Val shot Elijah a surprised look, then shot Kaj one of censure that he probably deserved. His son was too young to know the details of violent crimes, but Elijah found ways to enrich his knowledge despite Kaj’s best efforts to limit his online exposure.
“You’re a kid,” she said. “You shouldn’t know about stuff like this.”
Elijah shrugged. “I read the newspaper online. Every day. Knowledge is power.”
Another one of Heather’s favorite isms. She’d be so delighted with how their son was turning out. Of course, she’d also be kicking Kaj’s ass for putting their boy in danger in the first place. I’m sorry, Heather.
Burke cleared his throat, bringing them back on topic. “It was Aaron’s younger brother Rick who tried to grab Elijah last night.”
Val sucked in a breath, realization stark in her blue eyes. “He... Holy sh—crap.” She stumbled over the barely missed swear word as she stared at Kaj. “They thought that kidnapping your son would get you to release Aaron Gates?”
“That’s the theory.” And Kaj liked to believe that he wouldn’t have even considered bowing to the kidnappers’ demands but knew that he would have. His son was everything.
“How was Rick identified?” she asked, running a comforting hand over Elijah’s back.
“Rick’s sixteen,” Burke said, “so he has a driver’s license. Elijah ID’d his DMV photo.”
“Sixteen,” she murmured then turned to Elijah with a frown. “Wait. You saw his face?”
“I did.” Elijah preened. “I ripped his mask off right before I got away.”
“Whoa,” Val said, clearly impressed. “On purpose?”
“Yep. All the people recording on their phones got his face, too.”
“Way to go, Elijah.” She held out her fist for him to bump, giving him a wink when he did so. “What about the other guy, the one driving the van? The one who told you to run?”
Elijah’s face fell. “I didn’t see his face. I should have ripped off his mask, but... I ran.”
“Hey.” She tipped Elijah’s face up with a finger under his chin. “You did good. You gave the cops a place to start their investigation. Otherwise, they’d be spinnin’ their wheels, because I’m betting the van had stolen plates.”
“True enough,” Burke confirmed in a lazy drawl.
Val was still holding Elijah’s gaze. “And running away was the very smartest thing to do. If you have the choice, always run. There is nothing shameful in getting away from danger. Got it?” There was a ferocity in her words that suggested personal experience. Kaj would come back to that later, as well.
Elijah nodded, and Kaj felt a burst of gratitude for Val. Elijah had been obsessing that he hadn’t done enough. “Got it.”
“We don’t know who was driving the van—yet,” Kaj said, giving his son a proud nod. “There are four Gates brothers. Aaron’s the oldest, and in jail. Corey’s thirty-one, two years younger than Aaron. He runs a construction business here in town. He was very cooperative with the NOPD when they wanted to search Aaron’s home and office after the murder. Seemed shocked that Aaron would melt down like he did. Corey probably wasn’t the driver because he’s a few inches too tall. Rick is sixteen, and Jace is just fifteen. We don’t know much about Jace, but he was too young to be driving the van.”
“Legally, anyway,” Burke said quietly.
“True,” Kaj conceded. “But there is another possibility.”
Burke stiffened and, seeing him, Val did the same. “Which is?” she asked warily.
Kaj wanted to know what the hell the two of them knew, but he’d confront them in private. He wasn’t sure he wanted Elijah to know any more than he already did—which was way too much. “Have you heard of Sixth Day?”
If he hadn’t been watching Val’s face so closely, he’d have missed the infinitesimal flinch. That flinch might be bad or good, depending on why the name of the gang had affected her. This was what Burke had been warning her about. And I’ll definitely be following up.
“Yes,” she said evenly. “I have. They sold a lot of drugs, but they’re now defunct. Been so for about four years. Rico Nova, the old leader, was jailed for murder, and then the gang disintegrated. How is Aaron Gates connected to Sixth Day? I thought he was some kind of financial advisor.”
“He was,” Kaj said. “We found the connection when we were searching the home of the woman arrested with him.”
“Sandra Springfield,” Elijah broke in helpfully. “She was his personal assistant. She held Aaron’s coat while he killed the doctor. People watching said she was cheering him on.”
“So she’s a nice person,” Val said sarcastically.
