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“I said nothing. We barely got started before the fire broke out.”
“So you’ll have to meet again? I don’t like it. I don’t trust him.”
“Me either, but Silvio Manzani can be a reasonable man, sometimes. He’ll give us something if we give him something in return.”
“What does he want from us?”
“Assurance that you’ll print his truth.”
“What truth is that? The women weren’t really abducted and murdered? They were all meth-whores who got what they deserved? I can’t print lies.”
“He’ll give us the murderer.”
Her hand caught his, stalling it in her hair. “He’ll give us the… I don’t understand.”
“You want someone to go down for this. Justice. You need a man in prison for—”
“Is it the real murderer? This is linked to the Manzanis, the Carlyle is their hotel. Are you trying to tell me that someone, one man, is responsible for killing these women on Manzani property and it wasn’t sanctioned by Silvio? If that’s true, why doesn’t he kill the guy himself? Punish him for operating in his territory without permission? Punish him for drawing attention to a Manzani operation?”
“We didn’t get to all the details.”
“But that can’t be it. Can it? Is he saying someone brought each of the women there and, what? Reserved a room and went to town torturing and murdering them while Manzani women went about their jobs in other rooms? Is that even possible?” These women were held, kept alive for days or weeks, before being killed. Do the Carlyle rent rooms by the hour? By the week?”
“I told you some Manzani guys stay there. Or they did. Depends how sound the building is after the fire if they can go back.”
“If they can’t, the streets will be flooded.”
His fingers twined with hers to bring them down between their bodies. “Someone would be in prison for the crimes.”
“But is it the person responsible?”
His gaze searched hers. “I don’t know that there is justice here, baby. I could lie to you and say there is but, the Manzanis will keep operating no matter what. They’ll offer up as many sacrificial lambs as they need to, and those people will go along with the guilt.”
“Why? Why would someone risk spending their life in—”
“Because it’s the Manzanis,” he said and actually smiled, though it seemed more pitying than amused. “If they don’t have something on you, they find something, or they threaten whatever you love. I want to tell you there’s true justice and the good guys always win…”
She sighed. “But they don’t. Sersha said something similar tonight.”
“We’ll keep going after them, as long as you want to, but Silvio’s giving you a win.”
“And only we’ll know it’s a lie. How does that save women from going missing in the future? Will they keep taking them and murdering them?”
“Like I said, we didn’t get all the way into it before the fire.”
“If nothing changes, if women will still be killed, what does the win matter? I don’t want glory. I want justice.” An impossible goal if she listened to those around her. “Is this why?”
He frowned. “Why what?”
“The cops wouldn’t put them together, people at the paper, on the street. I thought I was the only one who noticed. Was I the only one stupid enough to speak up?”
“You weren’t stupid. You thought you were doing the right thing.”
“It is the right thing,” she said with almost petulant frustration. “The bad guys aren’t supposed to win.”
“It’s the way of the world. I’m sorry, Genny. Sometimes the good guys win, sometimes we have to back away slowly. You losing your life, or the lives of people you care about, won’t save those women.”
“I can’t tell Mila that we’re just giving up. That we’re letting the killing continue.”
