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I found the number for his precinct, called, and asked to speak to him. I was transferred to his partner, Lindsay.
“He hasn’t come in today.”
I heard the concern in her voice.
“I have some information for him, and I haven’t been able to get in touch with him.”
“Neither have I.”
That wasn’t good.
“What did you need to tell him?”
“The message is only for him.”
She sighed. “Look, if you know what’s going on with him and you can help him—”
“I will. I swear.” Please don’t let me be too late.
I burst back into Lucien’s office. “I’ve got to go.”
“Are you all right?” Angelo asked. “You’re white as a ghost.”
Did I really look that bad? I gripped the back of the chair I’d been sitting in and tried to steady myself. “I’m fine. I just need to handle something right now.”
Lucien rose and buttoned his jacket like he intended to come with me. “You are not fine. You can tell us what’s up on the way.”
I held up my hand to stop him as he circled his desk. “You can’t come. One of my… informants is in trouble. He’s under my protection, and I need to take care of it myself.”
“And Marco told you this?”
Was he a fucking psychic now? “How did you know…” It hit me suddenly. “You saw his name on my fucking phone.”
“Of course I did. I have to look for clues where I can since you don’t tell me anything anymore.”
“We want to help you,” Angelo said. He looked hurt. How had things gotten so fucked up?
I needed to get to Joe. Even if I wanted to tell my cousins everything, there wasn’t time right now. “I know, but I don’t need help with this.” They knew I was lying. I did need them. I needed all the help I could get. I ran and prayed they wouldn’t follow me.
When I got to Joe’s, the front door was ajar, and lights were on all over the house. My heart pounded as I approached, hand on my gun, ready to confront anyone who might be inside.
I moved from room to room, looking for Joe and whoever had broken in, but the house was empty. There were signs of a struggle: an overturned chair, marks on the wall, a picture on the floor with the glass broken. I called for Joe, hoping somehow I’d missed a closet or he had a hiding spot I hadn’t checked, but there was no answer. I’d known there wouldn’t be. He wouldn’t have hidden. He would’ve come out ready to attack as soon as he heard someone open the door.
I called him again, even though I knew he wasn’t going to answer his phone.
When the call went through, I heard his phone buzzing. It was on the floor in the corner of the kitchen. It must have ended up there when he’d fought his attacker.
I had to figure out where he’d been taken, assuming they were holding him somewhere, and he wasn’t… No, I couldn’t think about that.
I ran to his office and started rifling through the stuff on his desk until I came to a folder containing all the information he’d gathered about Murphy and the men he’d been working for. When I got to his most recent findings, I saw where he’d connected Murphy to the trafficking ring Marco’s cousin had been part of. He’d written down an address for a warehouse he thought they might be operating out of. Would they take Joe there?
On instinct, I called Emilio.
“Hi, Devil. What’s up?”
I told him everything I knew about Joe’s investigation into Murphy. “I think Swain has taken… an informant of mine. I need to know if there’s a chance he’s holding someone at this address.” I read out the address Joe had written in his notes. “If they aren’t there, is there another location where they could have taken him? I also need any CCTV footage you can pull near my current location.” I was sure he already knew where I was, but I rattled off Joe’s address anyway. That was when I remembered I wasn’t supposed to use family contacts. Would Emilio mention all this to Lucien? It was too late to worry about it. I’d have to solve that problem later.
Emilio asked me a few more questions and I heard the rapid-fire click of keystrokes in the background. Before I hung up, I said, “Call me if you find anything. I’m taking point on this.”
“You mean you’re hiding it from Lucien?”
Why was he so fucking perceptive? “Just get me the info, okay?”
“I’m on it.”
I sank to the floor of Joe’s office and laid my head on my knees. I was shaking with fear, rage, and the need to act. I wanted to go to the warehouse right now and destroy everything in my path until I found Joe, but while that tactic had worked sometimes in the past, it wasn’t going to work now. If I wanted to save Joe, I couldn’t be reckless or impulsive. I needed a plan, and I needed my family behind me.
