ONE

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The headline should have been written in blood. Denver Shea saw the newspaper on a co-worker's desk and froze mid-step. Without question she suspected the truth. A guilty man had just waltzed out of lockup. And someone, somewhere would pay the price with their life.

Hitman Logan Walks on Technicality

“Bob, I'm borrowing this. I'll bring it back.”  Denver snagged the paper in a one-hand grab as she hustled by.

Denver hunkered down in her cubicle in the District Attorney's office. As one of the office's investigators, she had leeway with her hours. Which was good. Aaron Maddox—the wealthy, arrogant middle son of a suspected crime family, and also her current tormentor, had kept her up until four in the morning. It was only a few minutes past ten now, she should have a few moments of peace until someone pulled her away to do something.

Deep down, a part of her whispered to shut the thing and toss it back onto Bob's desk. But no, maybe she was just being paranoid. Her suspicion could be off base. The pages felt brittle and dirty beneath her fingertips. Despite that, she flipped to the article.

A quick scan didn't confirm her suspicions. But there were enough pieces to the puzzle to make her rear teeth ache.

Hitman Logan wasn't technically a hitman. He was a thug richer thugs called to do messy work like breaking jaws, or sending people for a long stay at a hospital. But this time, he'd gotten sloppy and left behind evidence that connected him to an assault turned-to-murder case. However, that same evidence had gone missing. Without it, the judge had no choice but to let him walk.

Though the man had been arrested in Blue River, the case was being tried in a neighboring jurisdiction by another District Attorney. 

She scanned the last half of the article and found nothing to subdue her fear or anything to confirm it.

Then as if a genie had conjured a vision, she saw them in her mind. The numbers. Several lines of eight digits.

Just over a week ago. At the oddest of times, Aaron Maddox had called in one of his favors. Denver found herself in the ladies room in the police department's Internal Affairs building. Someone passed info to her from underneath a stall’s wall. She then reported the numbers to Maddox. At the time, he’d assured her the stolen information wouldn’t be used to hurt anyone.

The eight digit numbers had seemed familiar but she couldn't place them at the time.

But now...

Denver spun and rifled through every file drawer in her small space. Disgusted, she went back to her co-worker's cube.

“Hey Bob, what was the name of that case the DA across the river wanted help on last year? Pancetti or something?”

Bob, hunched over a morning hoagie sandwich, didn't bother to turn around. “Brunetti. Got five years upstate.” 

Denver gave her thanks and went back to her computer. After pulling up the case, it didn't take long to scan for what she needed.

There. With documents sent over from the other DA's office. They used a different system to categorize evidence. Denver looked at the range of numbers and snugly put the last piece of the truth in place.

The digits she'd given Maddox were evidence lockup locator numbers. True, they could've been for any case. But her instincts confirmed that they were for only one. The Hitman Logan trial.

“Denver?”

She came close to jumping out of her skin. “Jeez Jonathan, sneak around much?” With one hand, she clicked back to her home screen.

The Assistant D.A. held his hands up in surrender. “Sorry. Jumpy much?”

“Didn't get a lot of sleep last night. My bad, Jonathan. What's up?”

“I wanted to know if you've heard from your informant.” The space between his eyebrows wrinkled with concern.

She didn't need to ask which informant. “No. Nothing. It's like Tai has disappeared.”

Jonathan's mouth dipped in a slight frown. He didn't have to say it aloud, this wasn't the first time a snitch on the Maddox family had vanished. “Have you filed a missing persons report?”

“No. Tai just may have taken off. He's done it in the past. If he's just blowing off steam somewhere, he'll be pissed I sic-ed the cops on him.”

Her boss nodded absently. “Listen, I know you've been looking for him but if he doesn't show up in another twenty-four, file a missing persons. It may not lead to much but I'd feel better.”

And filing a report would be a good paper trail to flaunt as evidence against the D.A.'s white whale—the Maddox family. But Denver let that part go unsaid.

“Will do,” Denver confirmed.

Jonathan turned away but paused. “Oh, almost forgot. There's something for you at the front desk. It's very nice. Dating someone new?”

“Don't be ridiculous. This job keeps me too busy.” She attempted to sound casual and willed herself not to blush. The relationship with Maddox was anything but dating. It wasn't even normal. He wouldn't send something to her office, or would he?

Denver saw them long before she reached the receptionist's desk. Bright yellow blooms peaked above the maze of cubicles. The man at reception was busy on a call but he nodded as Denver approached and pushed the bouquet in her direction.

Yellow flowers and decorative green leaves created an eye-popping arrangement. There had to be about half a dozen—no she counted again, seven of them in a long vase. She plucked the ivory card out from the flora.

The signature within would've been puzzling to anyone else but her.

7

Seven.

The total amount of favors she owed Aaron Maddox until she could be free of him. The amount of times she had to dirty her hands to keep her own secrets hidden. They both knew he had the control so why the reminder?  A taunt? Or just Aaron playing games to display his dominance. Last night he had called her to ask for one of those favors. But instead of telling her what the hell he wanted, Aaron insisted that she'd be on standby today.

Standby. As if it was the norm for anyone he wanted to be at his beck and call.

The bastard. Denver scowled and crushed the card in her fist.

“Golden orchids.”

The voice snapped Denver out of her reverie. She pivoted.

A woman stood just behind her, not smiling but looking wistful. “My last fella sent me those once. If there was a little black gift bag waiting beside those flowers, I'd think those were from the same man.” 

Denver's internal alarms screamed. Be cool. She forced her face to go expressionless. The hair was different today, and the blue business suit cried professionalism but there was no doubt. This was the woman Aaron had finger-fucked in the street.

Despite her will, a wave of heat rushed up Denver's neck. As part of her job, she'd performed surveillance duty on Aaron Maddox. And while watching him, Denver had recorded him and this woman in a very intimate public act.

Denver couldn't count how many times she'd gotten off on that video. She could hear the woman moans even now. 

She swallowed and pushed away the image of Aaron pulling the woman's boob out of her bra. “I don't have a fella. I think someone just made a mistake.”

The woman admired the orchids again before giving Denver a full once-over. “You're pretty.”

It was an odd remark. Denver glanced longingly at the receptionist still on the phone. “Um, thanks. May I help you?”

The blonde offered a business card. “Laura Penscatovi. CPA. I have an appointment to see—”

“—Laura, over here.” 

They both looked around to see another of Denver's bosses, Ethan, wave from the door of his office.

”Look likes you're squared away then.” Denver took the card.

“Looks like I am,” the other woman nodded at the vase. “Enjoy those flowers. Good times don't last forever.”

Denver noticed something in the other woman's eyes. Sadness? Remorse? “Who said I was having a good time?”

“Oh sweetie,” Laura glanced at Denver's fist with the balled-up card. “I know the signs.”  She swung her briefcase and sashayed past, the same way she'd walked on the video with Aaron.

Denver's eyes pierced Laura's back until Ethan shut his door.

Was it just a coincidence that woman, out of all the possible people in the world, would walk into Denver's office? 

Did she know for a fact that those flowers had come from Aaron?

Logically, no. She couldn't have known. But what if someone had told her? Aaron himself busted Denver watching that stupid sex video. What if Aaron had sent Laura to Denver's office as a taunt? What if he had other people in the D.A.'s office on a leash similar to Denver's?  That meant she didn't know who she could trust.

Dammit, Aaron Maddox had driven her firmly into the realm of paranoia. Ever since the first phone call at Internal Affairs, Denver couldn't shake the feeling Aaron had eyes on her at all times.

Denver started back for her desk, but looked up to see the exact person she had in mind. 

“Jonathan,” she said pulling him to one side and showed him Laura's card. “Why is Ethan taking this meeting?”

He squinted at the card frowning. “Oh, she's a CPA. We're looking for a new accounting firm as a third-party reviewer on certain cases. Ethan's doing interviews.”

Denver stepped closer. “Listen, that woman in there now. I saw her on a date with Aaron Maddox when I was tailing him a while back.”

Jonathan jerked. He whispered glancing at the card again. “She's a known associate?  I don't recognize her name from your reports.”

”No, I never found out her name. I only saw her out with him once. He dates lots of women. I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone through half of the vaginas in the city. So this may not mean anything but—”

“But it's better to be safe.” Jonathan nodded. “Ok, thanks Denver. I'll...I'll figure out what to do with this.”

“Don't figure out anything, Jonathan. Go put this on the D.A.'s lap.”

“And when he finds out we invited in a Maddox associate?”

Doubt wormed its way around in the back of Denver's head. She'd thought coming clean, for once, would be good despite the consequences. There could be a reason the cases brought against the Maddox's failed. Maybe they had people spying in this office.

“Perhaps this is an opportunity if Maddox isn't already working an angle. Do you want me to go to the big guy's office with you?”

Jonathan straightened, adjusted his tie. “No. I got this. Ethan will think I'm cock-blocking but I'll go sit in on the meeting. Then we'll talk to Brigs. I'll fill you in later.” He strode to Ethan's office knocked and entered.

The second he left, Denver felt as if a rock churned in her belly. Aaron Maddox had a keen sense for what she craved and he dangled them like carrots. The things he did to her body, how he made her feel when she was with him. And the biggest temptation, the lure of having a family like she had when she was on the police force. He offered that too.

Deep down, she wanted everything Maddox offered. No, not wanted, craved. Part of her disliked being the good girl who followed the fucking rules.

What if Laura showing up had been a test, and she failed?

She went to her desk and collapsed into the chair. This had to stop. Her head felt as if would explode.

There had to be a way out of this. But that meant getting her hands on the video he was using to blackmail her. It also required finding out what the hell had happened to Tai, her informant and friend.

If Aaron wasn't around, she'd be free. But the DA had been trying to bring his family to justice for years. Even she hadn't been able to confirm the suspicions on the family's criminal activity. All the leads died out before any could firmly connect to the family.

And what did gone mean?  If Aaron went to jail?  Or if he turned up dead somewhere?  She toyed with the idea, then set it aside. If the video of her accepting a payoff was still floating around, Aaron dying wouldn't accomplish much.

It was a tangled mess. She needed a plan but what?

The best way to sort things out was to start at the beginning.

She grabbed her jacket and headed for the main exit of the D.A. offices.

“Hey Denver, you taking these flowers or what?”  The receptionist hollered as she strode past.

“No. Leave them there or give them away, I don't care.” Denver called over her shoulder but then doubled back. “Hey, did anything else come with those?  Like a gift bag?”

The receptionist was new and Denver kept forgetting his name. He scanned his area and said, “No that was it.”

Relieved, Denver turned. “Ok, thanks. I'll be in the field.”  She hustled off for the gun lockers. It had been a while since she carried her Glock, but she felt the urge to feel its weight in her hand.