“Ben Donovan,” he answered, his normal greeting no matter who might be calling.
“Ben, it’s Noah. I’ve got some bad news.”
Ben stood immediately, walking off the terrace and over the grass toward the pool. Noah Hannity was a homicide detective. He was also Ben’s sparring partner at the gym and a friend from undergrad. The fact that they generally operated on the opposite sides of the law didn’t stop them from being close friends. Outside of his family, Noah was the only other person Ben trusted in this world. So if Noah said there was bad news, Ben took him seriously.
“What’s up?” he asked, dread forming a ball in the pit of his stomach.
“I’m sitting at my desk holding a piece of paper in my hand. The paper has your name and address on it,” Noah immediately responded.
Ben inhaled slowly, let the breath out quick and asked, “So what does that mean?”
“The piece of paper was found in a car that had been run off the road. Or driven down into a ditch is more like it. There was also a body.” Noah paused.
“Okay, there’s a car and a dead body. What else, Noah?” That dread he’d felt seconds ago now had his temples throbbing. Waiting for Noah to drop the rest of this news on him wasn’t going to go well. He needed him to spit it out right now.
“It’s Ebony, Ben. She’s dead,” Noah said.
Not in a million years would Ben have been ready to hear those words. He cursed and it must’ve been loud because behind him he heard a lull in the conversation with the rest of the family. He walked a little further down toward the pool.
“What the hell do you mean she’s dead? She was just in the office on Thursday. She was scheduled to be off on Friday, but I just figured she had a long weekend planned. Are you sure it’s her?” He lifted his free hand to massage his temple. This pain seemed like second nature now, at least it had for the last six months.
“Yeah. Family reported her missing Saturday morning and we put an APB out on her car this morning,” Noah sighed. “I’m sorry, man, but it looks like a hit. One shot above her left eye. Two behind the ear.”
“Fuck!” Ben cursed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I’m concerned about this note with your home address.”
Through clenched teeth Ben said, “I should’ve been more concerned about the note I received last night.”
“What? You got something to tell me?” Noah asked.
“Yeah. But I can’t talk here. I’ll come in.”
“Okay, bring your note with you. I’ll be in my office.”
“I’ll be there in about twenty minutes,” Ben said before disconnecting the call.
“What is it?” he heard before he could even turn around.
It was Max and Trent. They’d been the chosen ones to come and see what was going on. Luckily they were most likely the first two he would’ve gone to with this. Ben wasn’t stupid enough to try and keep secrets from his family, not the men in his familyanyway. The women, well, he dealt with them on a situational basis. And this situation, he definitely didn’t want them to know about.
“Ebony’s been killed,” he said, the words leaving a sour taste in his mouth.
“Ebony? Your assistant?” Max asked.
Ben nodded.
“How? When?” Trent questioned.
“I don’t know when. But she was shot.” Ben took a deep breath and kept his gaze focused on Trent’s. “It was a hit,” he said solemnly.
Trent stared at him steadily. “Were you threatened?”
Ben slipped his hands into his pockets, his lips drawn in a tight line. He would have never brought this up because he hadn’t taken it seriously himself. Foolish, he knew, considering who he was dealing with. But now since he’d made the first move, Ben would be damned if he sat back and waited for him to make another one.
“On Thursday, after I was served with the motions from the DA I decided not to represent Vega again. I drafted the papers to strike my appearance and was on my way to file them when Vega met me in the parking garage. I told him about the new trial and that I wouldn’t represent him. He wasn’t happy. I didn’t give a damn. So I left. I filed to strike my appearance a half an hour later. Another two hours of work then I let Ebony go home around three-thirty. I left the office at five, went straight home to change, then went to the gym.”
“Did he threaten you?” Trent asked again, his brown eyes already growing darker, broad shoulders squared like he was ready to fight.
