“And they turned it over to us because…?”Pearson asked.“I mean, who has jurisdiction with this sort of thing?”
“These days?Who knows,” Harding grunted.“Which is why the ASAC kicked it over to us.”He let out a long breath.“Seemed to think it was amusing.Deavers, the ASAC, called the gambling commission, and Jay Arnold apparently brought her attention to the whole thing, so he was willing to send us backup, which is both human of him but also a copout.It’s like he doesn’t want to be seen handling this mess.But these guys are dangerous.Anybody who will torture a dog to make him vicious will have no problem assaulting a human being.Spencer and Carl disappeared yesterday, and the fights start in a few hours.We have a limited amount of time here to save the dog, and nobody laugh but—”
“I mean, poor little guy,” Crosby said, sounding distressed.
Fuck.Joey wasreallygoing to have to let go of his grudge, wasn’t he?
“Yeah,” Harding said with a sigh.“I don’t know the odds of him being alive, but, you know, it would be nice.”
“Well, if he’s being used as a star attraction for the preliminary rounds,” Chadwick said, the only one in the room not losing their minds over the tiny dog, “we should be able to get to him.And I would imagine Tad Spencer is simply going to be held until the fight is over and then released after his dog is dead.”
“Released?Not killed?”Harding asked.
“Possible,” Chadwick admitted, nodding.“Because dog fightingisbig business.If they attract a big enough crowd with a celebrity hound, and the owner gets disappeared, we could have a real problem.”
“These men are frequently spotted carrying weapons,” Harding said, flashing more pictures of the two men going about their day with the butts of large pistols showing in the backs of their jeans.“The weapons are registered, but they’re obviously used for intimidation.”
“I take it we don’t have enough for a warrant,” Natalia said thoughtfully.“Otherwise the gambling commissionwouldtake this over.”
“Pure speculation,” Clint confirmed.“Obviously the brothers are under surveillance, but nobody has spotted Spencer or his dog.”
“Do we have a list of their properties?”Kylie asked, her own laptop in front of her.
Harding paused to forward those to her and then straightened.“And while she’s doing that, we should take a look at their, uhm, employees.”
“Henchmen?”Chadwick supplied coyly.
“Flunkies,” Pearson suggested.
“Minions?”Crosby asked, and Joey rubbed the back of his neck.
Goddammit.He was funny too.
“Known associates,” Harding told them, trying to be stern.“And here we go.It’s a rogue’s gallery, as you have all guessed.”
Harding gave them the run-through of who might be expected to pop up with a gun, and about the time he wrapped up, Kylie chimed brightly, “And here we go!Here’s the winner of the ‘Where’s the dog fight going to be tonight?’contest!”
“The Gleesons own—or squat in—a couple of properties out in the warehouse district of Red Hook,” Kylie continued.“But this is their biggest.”She put up an overview of a property lot, one with a big building that, if hollowed out and filled with bleachers, would be a good stage for a fight.And three outbuildings that would begreatplaces to house animals starved and beaten to the point of madness.
“Why’s this the winner?”Crosby asked.
“There’s two others,” Kylie said.“One of them just had all its buildings knocked down—” She flashed a slide of a bunch of demolished construction materials.“—and the other was the site of a bust three months ago.”And there was a nice press shot of the two brothers being led away in handcuffs.
“Wait,” Joey said.“What are they doing out if they just got busted?”
“Bail,” Harding said grimly.“Dogfighting isn’t legal, but it’s not necessarily a high arrest priority either.”
“But if they kidnapped a guy…,” Chadwick murmured, and he and Harding locked gazes and nodded.
“What?”Joey demanded.“What?What are you thinking about that we don’t know?”
“Why we got the case,” Natalia said with disgust.“Politics.”
“I don’t understand.”Oh hell.Even Crosby looked likehegot it, and now Joey hated him all over again.
“It’s not a high-profile crime,” Gail explained patiently.“But Harding’s superiors hate it as much as we do.So they gave it to us whenthey’dbeen told to sweep it under the table.So if shit goes bad, we get the blame, but if we make a positive bust and save the poor dumb dog owner and maybe even the poor dumb dog….”
“The FBI and the gambling commission get the credit,” Joey said slowly.“Oh.Oh hell.Jesus, this is stupid.Can’t we just shoot those assholes?”
