Page 53 of Armed ’N’ Ready

“I couldn’t care less.” He paused, allowing the ramifications of all those charges to sink in. “This isn’t your first arrest, which means you’ll do hard time.”

More sweat broke out on the kid’s brow and neck. Damp patches darkened his armpits and the front of his shirt. Nick had already run Matteo’s criminal history. For a gang member, it actually hadn’t been that bad. Petty crimes mostly. These new charges would send him away for a long time.

He guessed the kidnapping was an initiation meant to launch Matteo and Sonny directly to full status, and he was betting this was a directive handed down from someone else.

“You’re not a real gang member. You’re a sad little wannabee who screwed up,” Nick pressed. “Now you’re going to prison for something someone else ordered you to do.”

“I am, too, a gang member,” Matteo shouted.

“Bullshit.” He smacked his hand on the table, making the kid jerk back against the chair. “You’re a sorry-ass nobody who’s going to spend the next decade in prison.”

“You motherfucker,” Matteo hissed.

“That’s Sgt. Motherfucker to you.” He leaned in closer, waiting.

Less than a minute later, tears welled in Matteo’s eyes, followed by sobs. Looked like this would be even easier than he’d anticipated. Probably meant there was still hope for the kid. After he did his time.

Now to nail him down with information he’d learned from a street informant during the drive from the DPC to the barracks.

Nick remained where he was, softening his voice. “You’ve got a girlfriend and a two-year-old son. I know you’d like to be out before your boy turns ten. You could do that. With good behavior and cooperation. The cooperation part starts now.”

He straightened to give Matteo time to absorb and process the potential deal on the table. Not too much time.

Still defiant, Matteo stared at the ceiling.

Nick’s patience was running thin. “Your buddy is in another room down the hall. Whoever talks first gets the golden prize.”

“Yeah?” The kid sneered. “What’s that?”

“Reduced charges and a reduced sentence.” It would take a prosecutor to make the specific offer, but in general that was the way the system worked.

Matteo continued to sneer, doing his best to intimidate Nick.

“If you don’t start talking, you’re looking at a full sentence with no chance at reduction. If that happens your kid won’t remember you by the time you get out of prison. Chances are your girlfriend will have moved on by then and shacked up with someone else.” He stood. “You’ve got exactly three seconds to start talking, or I walk out that door and the deal walks with me.”

Another few seconds went by before Matteo sniffled and choked back a muffled sob. “What do you want to know?”

Nick whipped out a waiver of rights form from his back pocket, then grabbed another trooper from the hallway to sign as a witness and remain in the room during the interview.

“Who told you to kidnap the woman?”

“I don’t know.”

“How did you get the order?”

“By text. I got a photo and an address.”

Photo? The one stolen from Myer’s house, he assumed.

He tugged the evidence bag containing Matteo’s phone from his back pocket and pulled out the phone. He pushed the home button, and the screen lit up. “What’s your passcode?”

Matteo pressed his lips together, then squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Now the kid was trying his patience. “Cooperation,” he reminded him. “Today.”

The kid gave up his code, and Nick punched in the numbers. Figuring the order was recent, he tapped on the first text message. There was no sender name, only a phone number. A burner phone, most likely.

The first part of the text was Andi’s home address. The second was another address in Holyoke, an area Nick knew had several abandoned buildings.

Before he tapped on the photo, he could already tell it was the same one that had been stolen from Myer’s bedroom—the one with Andi in it.