“Doesn’t look like anyone’s here,” Hugo said over the system.
I rose to my full height. “Let’s move in.”
We all converged on the house. Some shot out windows to get inside. I didn’t have to break down the door because it had been left unlocked. I entered and took a quick sweep with my gaze, not stepping any farther in case it was wired.
One of the guys scanned the house with his system. “The place is cold.”
Once it was cleared for entry, I moved through the house, finding his bedroom on the second story. The drawers were empty, the closet had barely anything in it, and it looked completely cleaned out…like he’d already left.
I stepped outside and called one of my informants. “You said Warren would be here.”
Charlie was in one of the smaller gangs in Palermo. I let him off the hook for stuff in exchange for information, but he seemedto have given me shit intel this time. “You asked where he lived, and I gave you the address.”
“Well, it looks like he moved out. Give me another residence.”
“He just has the one.”
“Well, he went somewhere, didn’t he? And his ma ain’t here either.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Wolfe. I asked around, and everyone said that’s where he lived. Maybe he knew you were coming, so he booked it.”
“And how could he have known that?”
“I don’t know,” he said with a sigh. “But I didn’t say anything. You know I don’t want to be on your bad side, Wolfe.” I hung up on him, stepped farther away, and entered his gardens. It was a nice property, lots of land and landscaped gardens with a big house and a beautiful pool.
I called Don Mancini next.
“Is it done?”
“He’s not here.”
“He’s not?” he asked in surprise.
“He knew we were coming.”
The don was quiet.
“It’s possible Warren left because he assumed I would track him down. It’s not an unreasonable assumption. But it doesn’t make sense for him to run instead of hit us first. It makes me think someone tipped him off—and it has to be someone in our camp.”
He remained quiet.
“I know it’s not you or me or Leo. The rest of the crew seems trustworthy, but it has to be one of us.”
“That’s not a scenario I’d like to think about.”
“But it has to be the case. We need to figure out who it is, Don. Who has the most to gain from a betrayal like this?”
He didn’t answer right away. “The reason could be based on a number of things. They might be paid a fortune to snitch. Or maybe they’re a planted mole. The last new addition we had before we suspected a snitch is you.”
“Well, it’s not me.”
“I know,” he said without a doubt.
That lack of hesitation meant a lot to me.
“Head back, and we’ll figure it out.”
“We need to be prepared for a hit that could happen anywhere at any time until I track him down.”
