Stark
In a perfect world, which this was not, I would have been able to get all my ducks in a row and have everything moving forward as soon as I got my wayward body under control and tamped down the overwhelming need to possess, to own . . . to conquer what Noe Lee sent spiraling through me. As it was, it took longer to get my head back in the game than I thought, and Nassir called wanting an update on the situation with his girl.
Since I owed him more than I would ever be able to repay, I spent the rest of the afternoon tracking down the information he wanted instead of destroying the Mayor. The hooker was clean. She didn’t show any influx of sudden income in her accounts and the messages to his wife hadn’t come from her but rather a burner phone that was untraceable. Upon further examination, I was slightly surprised to find that the man’s wife was hemorrhaging money. She had an unhealthy addiction to online gambling and was a lot smarter than her husband gave her credit for. She was well aware of his standing date with Nassir’s girl, and instead of being pissed about it, she was the one blackmailing him for the twenty grand. It looked like she had drained their kid’s college fund and was desperate to replace the money before graduation. She wasn’t very sneaky, leaving proof of her addiction all over the family’s home computer. I wasn’t surprised the site she used to waste her money was one that Race ran. The man was crafty when it came to robbing people blind, and he made sure the house always won. The poor woman didn’t stand a chance, so it was no wonder she resorted to both revenge and blackmail. I was just glad Nassir’s girl was in the clear because it made me uncomfortable to think about how things would have worked out for her if she had violated the Devil’s standing orders. Nassir didn’t tolerate insubordination. He didn’t tolerate much of anything.
The second hurdle was Titus being a stubborn asshole. I’d called him three times and each and every time, he’d hung up on me before I could explain exactly why I needed him to march into Goddard’s office and plug a loaded USB into the man’s computer. I also wanted him to sync my phone to the Mayor’s, but that might be a reach since Titus was flat-out refusing to help. He was the only person who could walk into City Hall without drawing suspicion. No one would question why a decorated detective, who was as tough on crime as the Mayor claimed to be, wanted to meet with the corrupt bastard. Plus, there was the dead, dirty cop in the water off the docks. It wouldn’t seem suspicious if Titus wanted to talk to the Mayor about that. Titus wasn’t budging.
He told me he refused to get caught up in any of Nassir’s games, and that even though his girl worked for the man, he did his best to keep clear of anything the Devil deemed worth his time. He repeated over and over again there was no report of sexual abuse from the stepdaughter, no proof Noe had been kidnapped, because the tapes only showed the dirty cop hauling her to that shipping container and in this town, that could mean anything. He needed something solid if he was going knocking on the Mayor’s door. That’s the way things worked. I tried to explain that I needed his help for me and not for anything to do with Nassir, that he didn’t have the entire story, but Titus shut me down by telling me, “You can judge a man by the company he keeps.”
I refrained from pointing out that his baby-mama had a hand in getting his brother’s girlfriend kidnapped, and that said brother was an ex-con and unrepentant car thief. I was trying to get the guy to hear me out, not piss him off even further.
It was actually Noe who came to the rescue. Tired of waiting around for justice to go unanswered, she was the one who suggested we offer the cop something in the deal he wouldn’t be able to refuse. We needed to appeal to his ingrained sense of right and wrong and his zealous need to keep his streets and department clean. She was the one who mentioned that Booker said Titus went off the deep end when he told him about the dirty cop. It was no secret the Point had their fair share of corruption in the police department, but Titus had been working closely with Internal Affairs to shut down as much of it as he could. You couldn’t keep the streets safe if you knew the good guys working them broke the rules as often as the bad guys. She cleverly pointed out that if we were going after Goddard’s money, we were more than likely going to find the names of the people on his payroll, including the cops. Titus King could do a lot of damage with such a list. He could get his department back and get the wolves wearing sheep’s clothing away from the flock he was so desperate to protect.
It was the obvious answer. One that shouldn’t have taken me so long to see. She was messing with more than my dick, and I didn’t like it. I’d been pretending to be an idiot for a long time; actually being one was far less fun and it made my skin feel too tight. I lost everything that mattered to me. The only thing I had left was my ability to outthink everyone around me, everyone except for Noe Lee, apparently.
Reluctantly, Titus agreed to get me into Goddard’s computer. He couldn’t resist the lure of returning hard won dignity to the badge, and begrudgingly, he admitted that it really bothered him he couldn’t do anything for Noe or Julia Grace. Sometimes being law abiding sucked, especially in a place that ate rules and regulations for breakfast. He did warn that if Goddard caught on to what was going down, he was going to disavow knowing anything about it. There was only one criminal he was willing to put his ass on the line for, and she was getting ready to have his baby.
I told him the only way he was going to get caught was if Goddard noticed him putting the flash drive into the computer or noticed him setting my phone down next to his. In order to make sure neither of those things happened, Noe was going to make sure Goddard had to step out of the office while Titus was there for their meeting. She was going to call in and use the recording software she had used to fool him before, make him think his stepdaughter was reaching out. We were all hoping the man had enough sense of self-preservation to excuse himself and take the call away from the prying eyes of the police. If he didn’t, I was going old school: running into the fucking building and pulling the damn fire alarm. It was far less technical but it would get the job done in a pinch.
I was twitchy and anxious leaning against the side of the cop’s cherry GTO. It was one of the few things he had in common with his felonious younger brother. They were both big, badass dudes who liked old muscle cars that were loud and looked mean. He’d parked it a few blocks away from City Hall and told me not to move a muscle. I had my laptop open on the roof of the car, waiting to see if Titus came through and made the connection. While I paced aimlessly on the sidewalk, Noe was busy making me an ID that declared I was none other than Jonathan Goddard. Once I had all his personal information, I was headed to the closest, no questions asked insurance office to take out a policy that would freeze every account he had when that death certificate was handed over. That was one good thing about the Point. There were plenty of places willing to turn a blind eye to obviously shady dealings for the right price.
My computer binged with an alert and my head whipped around as the screen lit up with green code. The first thing I did, as I started frantically typing on the keyboard, was to turn on the microphone so that anything and everything Goddard said while he was near the computer was recorded and transmitted back to mine. I turned on the webcam for the same reason and set up the shadow software so that every website he visited, every word he typed, was tracked and relayed to me. I didn’t want to move too fast, or make him suspicious right off the bat, so I started small by rooting out all his vital information: birth date, social security number, and mother’s maiden name from his personnel file. I snorted at how easy it all was and sent the info in an email to Noe so she could have the ID ready for me when I got back to the house.
Since she didn’t know where Julia was and didn’t want the teenager involved in any of this, Goddard’s money was going into a trust fund for the girl so that she could access it whenever she was ready. I told Noe that Nassir had a PI on his payroll who could track the girl down at a later date. Chances were, she was still using the identity Noe created for her, and that was as good enough place as any to start.
She replied with an email that stated no one in their right mind was ever going to believe I was in my mid-fifties. I told her all that mattered was that our information matched, not our faces. The place I was going for the forged documents wasn’t going to look too closely at either after I slid them a fistful of cash to look the other way. But before I did any of that, I was going to have to find where the man hid his dirty money, because I knew for a fact it wasn’t sitting in an account at any bank on the Hill. Guys like Goddard could teach guys like Race and Nassir a trick or two about hiding ill-gotten gains. Legislators were the best at keeping the bad things they did on the downlow.
I was poking at the keys on the keyboard and frowning at some of the extra security measures Goddard had installed when a heavy hand landed on my shoulder and my phone was shoved back into my hand. The screen was glowing green and the cloning app I’d asked Titus to sync to the Mayor’s phone was already working. He was texting someone about Titus and his unexpected visit. The words were harsh and demanded that whomever he was texting get the decorated detective on a leash. I sucked in a breath when Goddard typed that an accident might be required if Titus didn’t back off.
I held the phone out to the dark-haired man who stood eye to eye with me. Titus King was an intimidating man. His eyes were too sharp and he carried himself like the immovable monolith he was. The white streak in his hair made him look distinguished and slightly older than he actually was. Trying to protect this city and the people who called it home had taken its toll on the man, making him one of the few people I’d run across since the government set me loose who I wouldn’t want to throw-down with. I was bigger, but he had more to lose and that always made a man dangerous.
“Can you tell me who he’s sending that text to?” He sounded pissed, and I couldn’t blame him.
I rubbed my thumb against the corner of my mouth and nodded. “Give me a sec. I told you we were dealing with a bad dude.”
The big man sighed and ran a hand over his hair. “He didn’t even blink when I asked about the dead cop or the torched motel. He gave me some song and dance about the crime rates in the Point being on the rise and needing a firm hand to deal with the offenders.” He snorted and shifted so he was resting his hands on his hips as he watched me through narrowed eyes. “He turned white as a ghost when his receptionist came in and told him he had a call from Julia. How has no one in that house reported the fact she’s missing? If they reported her as a runaway, law enforcement would be obligated to bring her back if they ran across her. Not to mention the kind of media coverage they would get.”
I tapped the screen of the phone and scrolled through the replicated contact list until I found the name the threatening text had been sent to. “I told you the girl is pregnant. He knocked her up and by now she’s more than likely showing. That’s hard to cover up if she doesn’t play along.” I turned the phone to face Titus. “You know someone named Bullock? That’s who he’s texting.”
“Motherfucker!” The cop reached up and pulled off his tie, tossing it furiously into the open window of the GTO. His face flushed with angry heat and he started to pace in front of me with short, quick steps. “Garett Bullock is the Assistant Commissioner. He’s the one who’s the go between us and City Hall. He’s on Goddard’s payroll?”
I shrugged. “It looks like. I’ll know more once I find the money and see where it’s going, but I would watch my back if I were you.”
He swore again and looked up at the gray sky. “I give my girl shit about working for a criminal on a daily basis. How am I supposed to tell her I’m not any better? That the guys I work for are actually worse because they hide what they are? At least with Nassir, you know exactly what you’re getting. All I ever wanted was to do right by the people who deserve it.”
I dipped my chin in silent agreement. I knew all about wanting to help but feeling like your hands were tied. “You don’t work for the guys who were elected, King. You work for the people who need you to protect and serve. You make a difference; anyone above you is only making money.”
He grunted and lowered his eyes to the cement between his feet. “It never feels like enough.”
I also knew that feeling well. I gave everything I had and it still wasn’t enough to keep my sister alive. It wasn’t enough to change lives and make the world a better place. I wasn’t enough, but I couldn’t let that happen again. I had to come through for Noe. No one else had showed up for her, and I refused to be another name on that list.
“Maybe it’s not about what we can’t do. Maybe it’s about the fact you tried to do something in the first place. What you do might not be enough, but who you are sure as hell is enough, Detective. There are a lot of people willing to look the other way when something isn’t right. They sweep things they know aren’t right under the rug. We need men like you to face the wrong and to shake the rug out. Everything in life needs a series of checks and balances. Without you, everything is uneven.” I’d tried to be one of the guys who evened things out, but the scales had tipped so drastically in the negative that the entire thing fell over. I didn’t care about right and wrong anymore. I didn’t care about anything . . . until Noe Lee. I cared a whole fuck of a lot about her.
The minute I realized I regretted sending her away and that I wanted—no, needed—her back, it was like someone had turned on a faucet inside of me. All the sentiment that I’d shut off when my sister died rushed through my arid veins. I couldn’t stop caring now, even if it would be better for both of us. I didn’t have anything to offer her, not that she was the type of woman who collected hearts and feelings. She liked to keep her hands free so that she could make a quick getaway, and I was well aware of the fact that once she was free, once she didn’t have to look over her shoulder anymore, she was going to ghost me. She was going to take what she needed and hit the road and I was going back to my cold, predictable life. Well, as predictable as working for a guy like Nassir could be.
Titus grumbled something under his breath and met my gaze with a pointed one of his own. “I could use some weight on my side of the scale, Stark.” I knew he wasn’t talking about my size, but about what I could do to help the people of the Point if I made the effort.
I shut down my laptop and sent Noe a text to tell her we were up and running on all fronts. “Never been the kind of guy who likes to throw my weight around, Detective.”
He lifted a black eyebrow at me and the hard line of his mouth lifted into a smirk that almost made him look friendly. “No, but you aren’t shy about shaking the rug when you think no one is looking.”
I did my best not to flinch. I knew people talked about the hack into the sex offender registry and the sex trafficking cyber market I shut down. I had no idea anyone on the right side of the law was applauding my late-night missions to right the kind of wrongs I couldn’t stomach. I hated when victims were voiceless and I hated it even more when no one listened when they did speak. Basically, everything that Noe had been battling before she showed up on my doorstep.
Wordlessly, I slid back into the GTO and wondered if I would be unable to help myself from righting any wrong I stumbled across now that Noe had turned my soul molten and rattled all the impenetrable things I kept locked around my insides. I’d always been more of a thinker than a doer, but something about her made me want to be both.
Maybe it was about time I put everything I learned from everyone—my altruistic mother, my overzealous father, my sweet sister, the manipulative, unscrupulous men who made me, the ruthless men who trusted me, the independent woman who needed me, and this good man who believed in me—to good use. Maybe it was time to be the man they thought I was and not the one who was so sure he had nothing and no one to live for.