If he knows I’m with Charlie, maybe I can convince him to see the advantage in pulling the truck over and leaving me on the side of the road. “Do you know Charlie?”
“I’ve heard of him. So what?”
“If you’ve heard of him, then I presume you understand if you kill me, there’s only one way this ends for you. If I die, nothing will stop Charlie from taking you out. You’ll be dead by morning. If you accept that truth, you’ll see it makes sense for the two of us to talk through our options and help each other. I don’t want to die. Do you want to die, Russ?”
“Shut up, bitch. You talk too much.” His voice is threaded with menace.
A chilling dread sends fear shuddering through me, turning my skin cold. Okay, that didn’t work.
I shut up.
And wait for my next move.
Chapter 27
Charlie
All I can think about is Jessica and my desperation to find her. I’m trying to remain calm, but it is an effort not to lose it as I listen to Shane explain what he knows about Russ Decker.
Huddled in Sam’s office, Ryder, Sadie, and I are asking him questions about what he knows, while panic at just sitting here eats at me. This isn’t a waste of time. I’m gathering intel to find her in the safest way possible, but the primitive part of my brain doesn’t give a fuck about that.
That part of me wants to wage a war and tear this town apart to find her.
Mitch is sitting in the corner, listening. He already knows she’s missing, and as a state attorney, I figure it doesn’t hurt to have him paying attention.
I also have Sam in the room, hoping his powers will glean something I can use. And crazy as it might be, in the background, he’s helping to keep me calm and focused. I can feel the waves of his energy acting as a buffer, softening the rage eating away inside me so I can think.
Shane’s sitting in one of the chairs, his jaw set in a hard line. “Crenshaw called me and said he wanted Decker in on the project. As I was looking into Decker, all the scandals broke. Even without that, I didn’t like what I saw. I told Griffin I was out if the congressman was anywhere near the project. Evan agreed. Two days later, Crenshaw and Decker were gone.”
Both Shane and Evan are power players in Chicago with deep pockets and the type of business-savvy Crenshaw and Decker could only dream of. The choice between the Donovan brothers and a scandal-ridden politician and a shoddy construction company would have been a no-brainer.
Ryder’s brows furrow. “I thought Crenshaw was acting as a political sponsor, not involved.”
Shane shrugs one broad shoulder. “Yeah, he was, but he was hinting at some shady shit, like offering to grease the wheels in a way that didn’t sit well with me. As you know, I don’t play that game.”
Finally, we have it. The first connection between the accident and the river project, sitting in Shane’s head, where none of us thought to look.
It doesn’t surprise me. Shane kicked them out before the paperwork and contracts even had their names penciled on them. The guy has a head for business, is well-known for being ruthless, and his reputation is impeccable. He doesn’t take chances.
“Why was Crenshaw pushing Decker?” I can hear the tight, officialness of my tone.
Shane’s brows crease. “He said the guy was a distant relation, and he wanted to throw him some business.”
I look at Sadie. “Did we run a background check on him?”
She shakes her head. “He’s never been interviewed.”
I return my attention to Shane. “How did Jessica and you start talking about him? How did she make the connection?”
Shane rubs the back of his neck and clears his throat. “She went to get a drink, and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. When she came back to the table, I teased her and said if she was in the market for a new boyfriend, she could do better than a construction guy with a shady reputation. Her ears perked up. She asked me a bunch of questions about how I knew him and what I’d heard. Then she said Interesting and wandered off.”
Connecting the dots from there is easy.
She determined there might be a connection and figured she could use the guy’s interest against him. So, instead of talking to anyone, she went after him, assuming her charm might reveal information we could use in our investigation.
Now she’s in danger.
“That woman is going to be the death of me,” I grind out through clenched teeth.
