I was thinking about my sister. “Can I make a deal?”
“What kind of deal?”
“I can’t save my mother, but in hopes that my sister’s still alive, I want to make a plea in exchange for Tony. I’ll work with you to bring him down.”
If it were any other of the thousands of cops in Vegas, I’d be holed up in a six by eight cell for at least three years. But Joss wasn’t one of the many officers in Vegas. She was with the FBI, and the man who sold her virginity needed to be taken out.
But how do you take down a man that runs the city?
1
Seth
Ten Years Old
“I don’t wantto go to Grandma’s,” I whined.
“Seth, listen to me.” Mommy crouched down in front of me, staring into my green eyes. She’d been crying all night, I could tell. Her face was red and her eyes were puffy. Even though I was ten, I still noticed. It happened when Mommy and Daddy fought, or when she was worried because she was scared of Daddy’s job. He was a Police Officer, and one day, I would be too. I didn’t understand why she worried. Daddy was the best. He caught bad guys. I wanted to catch them too, so I practiced often, pretending to chase them and then put them in jail. Sometimes Daddy would let me use his handcuffs, and I’d pretend my stuffed animals were the bad guys.
“You need to go stay with Grandma because I need to do things here. It will just be for the summer.”
“What kind of things?”
“Daddy and I need to work some stuff out.”
I didn’t know what that meant. What I did know was that my mom wanted to send me down to Florida for the summer. Usually, Grandma would come to our house for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. I’d never been to her home, but I’d seen pictures. She lived in what Mommy called a trailer. To me, it looked like a long, skinny house.
“But why do I need to go?” I frowned.
She sighed. “Because this is adult stuff.”
“I’ll stay in my room,” I pleaded. “I promise. You won’t even know I’m here.”
“Seth, baby. I need you to go to Grandma’s, and it’s not because of anything you’ve done. Think of it like a vacation. I bet Grandma will even take you to Disney World. You can ride the rides and stuff. Eat all the cotton candy you want. Grandma will spoil you rotten.”
A small smiled spread across my face. “I’ve never been to Disney World.”
“I know. Grandma will take you. You’ll have fun, and before you know it, you’ll be back home and going to school.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t want to go to school either.”
Mommy chuckled. “School isn’t for another two months. You’ll be fine. Now pack everything you want to bring. We need to leave in an hour.”
We drove for a long time.So long that it was starting to turn dark when Mommy pulled into a parking lot.
“You know what’s fun about staying in a hotel?”
I looked over at her. “What?” I’d never stayed in a hotel before. My friends would tell me about the places they would go over the summer, but I never went anywhere because my dad was always on a case. But now, going to Grandma’s, I could tell my friends all about Florida and Disney World. That made me a little more excited.
“We can go swimming before bed.”
I smiled. “And play Marco Polo?” I played Marco Polo with my friends all the time during the summer. I was so good at catching people, especially when I would play cops and robbers. They didn’t know I got to practice with my dad’s handcuffs. When someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, a policeman was always the answer. My dad was one, and his dad was one too. I’d never met my grandpa, though. He died before I was born. Daddy said it was in the line of duty.
She smiled back. “Of course. That’s what you do in a pool, right?”
“Right,” I agreed.
The next morning,Mommy woke me up early and we ate pancakes at a restaurant next door to the hotel. I liked hotels. Not only did we play Marco Polo, but they had a hot tub. It was so much fun, and the best part was that Mommy didn’t cry once. We got to talk to my dad on the phone, and he said that he wasn’t able to tell me goodbye because he’d caught a murderer. I understood. Catching bad guys was the most important thing.
