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“Before that, it was forty,” Brownlee admitted.
“Don’t you find that a little strange how you lost that much money over a weekend?”
“Hey, I ran into a man with a royal flush. It happens. It’s called poker.”
“You lost to a man named Brock Zimmer, who happens to be the muscle for Ivan Kuznetsov from New Jersey. Kuznetsov is Casino Renata’s silent partner.”
“Since when?”
“Since a ruthless hostile takeover took place in January. And Dennis Marshall played a part in it. His wife Melissa’s maiden name is Kuznetsov. Ivan is her brother.”
“You’re saying Dennis set me up, so I’d lose to this Zimmer guy?”
“I’m saying you work for a sleazebag with ties to a Russian cartel out of New Jersey. Dennis will do anything for a buck. And now, for some reason, he’s sticking his nose into a murder investigation.Myinvestigation. A teenage girl died. I need to know if Marshall is hiding his involvement in her death and to what extent. Ask yourself this. Have you ever lost forty grand in one weekend before?”
“No,” Brownlee muttered. “And if my wife finds out, she’s going to kill me before Devlin does.”
“Ah. Newly married for six months now. Right?”
Brownlee nodded. “She’s six months pregnant, too, expecting our first child, a boy. And now his old man is locked up in here because I made this idiotic decision to help out my employer, a man I trusted.”
“How soon after your trip to Las Vegas did Dennis approach you and offer to wipe out your debt to the casino if you threatened us off the case?”
“Are you kidding? I lost that chunk on Saturday night around ten-thirty. By Sunday morning, we were headed home on the plane. That’s when he told me what he wanted me to do. Immediately.”
“Would you have carried a knife to my house to attack us otherwise?”
“Of course not. I don’t even know you people.”
“But you planned to return and do it again, attacking our friend in the process?”
“Well, Dennis wasn’t happy after I took off that first time without a result. Look, I’m not a thug or an enforcer. I’m a finance guy caught gambling away more money than I had on hand. So much for getting a free weekend in Las Vegas.”
“That’s what Dennis dangled?”
“Yeah. Free room, meals, and all I could drink at the Casino Renata beginning on Friday afternoon. Dennis chartered a private jet to fly us there and called it my last opportunity to have fun before the baby came. Now that I think about it, the entire thing seemed too coordinated.”
“I’ll pay your debt off at the casino and get Devlin off your back. But in return, I want you to help us bait Marshall into a trap.”
“You have that kind of money?”
Until then, Colt had remained silent with his arms folded across his chest. But at the question, he stared at Brownlee and deadpanned, “Trust me, Marshall is chump change compared to this guy.”
Brownlee cocked a brow and looked with renewed interest at Lucien. “Seriously? You can do that?”
“I can.”
“Okay. What do I have to do?”
At midday, withBrent’s blessing, Sam Brownlee walked out of jail to a waiting Lyft ride provided by Lucien and Brogan.
“I hope this works,” Brogan said, watching the man climb into the backseat of a Chevrolet Tahoe that would take him back to Santa Cruz and his employer.
“The plan’s not difficult,” Lucien reminded her, trailing after the SUV. “Thanks to Birk and Jade, we already have eyes on Marshall. And after Birk gets Sam wired up, Sam will confront Marshall about cutting him loose.”
Unconvinced, Brogan made a face. “And that’s worth twenty thousand dollars?”
“Hey, Sam agreed to pay it back when he could. But even without that, how else would we get the goods on Marshall? Tell me that. If Sam does a half-decent job rattling the guy, we should be able to track Marshall’s next move.”
