I had maybe fifty different reports, all filed with the Better Business Bureau, printed out in front of me.

Gabriel Marks wasn’t exactly an unknown name, and these fifty reports were just the tip of the iceberg, but I didn’t know if any of them would be enough to bring him down.

It would help if I could talk to some of the people who’d filed the reports, but going in and talking to the BBB without the backing of my department or my supervisor wasn’t going to happen.

The BBB wasn’t likely to turn over information without a warrant, and how was I going to get a warrant?

I had speculation, and I could tell them what happened to my friend’s family years ago, but that wouldn’t be enough to get a warrant. It would be enough to cost me my job when the DA called my lieutenant and told him I’d been pursuing some half-ass investigation.

And the DA would call. She was a hard-ass about that.

I had to have proof of some actual wrong-doing, and complaints with the BBB, most of which were several years old, just weren’t going to do it.

Rubbing my eyes, I leaned back from my desk and yawned. I was exhausted. I’d been up until nearly one the night before, and habit had me up at the crack of dawn even though it was my day off.

After hitting the gym, I’d come back home and showered, then turned to the internet to unearth what I could about Gabriel Marks. Since I had no other resources, I’d have to rely on what I could find on my own.

“A name,” I muttered. If I could just find a name, somebody who might be willing to talk to me, I’d have somewhere to start.

If you hadn’t been so gung-ho about this, you would have had Nicco to talk to. Maybe even one of his sisters…you could have tried to talk to Suria. She’s over the age of eighteen, and she’s probably not a fan of her father’s. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be living a couple hours away from him.

Grimacing, I rubbed my temple and wished I could silence that annoying voice, but there was no doing that. Hindsight was twenty-twenty and all that shit.

Besides, there had to be something. A man couldn’t go living the sort of life Marks had lived and not leave a trail behind him.

Gathering up the reports from the BBB, I started to study the names, wondering if there were enough clues that maybe I could track one of them down just by the info they’d left in the reports. It was possible.

I skimmed each of them, separating the pages into piles.

I was halfway done when a text came through from my father.

It was an invite to watch a ballgame on Saturday with him and a couple of my brothers at the 831. It was in the evening, but not too late that I’d be a zombie at work.

Assuming I didn’t end up costing myself my job over the next few days.

Abruptly, as if he were standing in the room with me, I heard my dad’s voice. You sure it’s worth losing your job over, baby? You can help a lot of people, but not if you end up losing your job right out of the gate.

Groaning, I covered my eyes with my hands.

My subconscious had now taken on the voice of my dad. And I had no doubt it was my subconscious speaking to me. It had been giving me subtle hints along the way for a while and had practically screamed at me the afternoon I’d reached out to talk to Joelle.

After the subtle warning from my boss, it was a wonder that quiet little voice wasn’t shouting in my ear around the clock.

I didn’t want to lose my job.

But I didn’t want to go back on a promise I’d made to my best friend either.

She doesn’t even know you made her that promise, the little devil inside me whispered. You made that promise to yourself.

“It doesn’t matter,” I mumbled. “It was still a promise.”

A promise was a promise, right?

And shouldn’t somebody like Gabriel Marks be stopped? He didn’t deserve to keep going out there and swindling people, hurting people. There was no telling how many lives he’d ruined.

But he’s not the only bad guy, my inner devil whispered. And you’re new. You’re just getting started. He’s not in your jurisdiction. You have next to no control right now. If you wait, you’ll be able to do more. You can watch him. You can wait. You can learn.

Swearing, I got up and started to pace. A few of the pages drifted to the floor, but I ignored them.

Was that what I was going to do? Wait? Wait even longer than I already had?

Bringing him down isn’t going to bring Mr. Mike back. This time, that little voice inside seemed softer, gentler. Does it matter if you bring him down now if it costs you your job? And how can you bring him down on your own?

On my own. It sounded lonely. And hard.

In a few years, I planned on testing for my detective’s shield, then moving into the fraud department. I’d know more then. Could I wait until that time? I found myself in the kitchen, and I moved to the fridge and opened it, grabbing a bottle of beer.

Twisting off the cap, I lifted it to my lips and drained half the bottle.

My face was overheated, my thoughts racing.

I had no idea what the right thing to do was.

I wanted to talk to somebody – ask somebody what I should do.

But I already knew what my father would say, even what most of my brothers would say. They would tell me I shouldn’t risk my badge. If waiting would prove more prudent, then I should wait.

I could help more people if I waited.

But what if Gabriel Marks hurt more people during that time?

What if there was another Mary Jo out there, another Mr. Mike? What if another family was destroyed because I waited?

Could I live with myself?

Could I look at myself in the mirror every morning for the rest of my life?

Of course, I was having a hard time doing it right now, because every time I did, I kept seeing the way Nicco had looked at me right before he stormed out of the police department the other day. A look of fury and disgust. It had left me feeling a little gutted.

I lifted the bottle to my lips again and drained it. Tossing it into the bin I used for recycling, I turned around and slumped against the counter.

There was no easy answer here.

A yearning need to talk to Nicco rose inside me. I didn’t know if he’d have the answers I needed, but I just wanted to talk to him. And I’d lost that right, ever since trying to talk to his kid sister. Idiot. Moron.

What had I expected a kid to be able to tell me anyway?

I shoved off the counter and started to pace once more.

Maybe Dad was right. Maybe I did need to back away from this. I was losing objectivity. Talking to a kid without the okay of a parent or guardian was a capital no. Every rookie learned that. I knew that. But even as young as Joelle looked, even though I knew she’d lied to me when I asked her how old she was, had I backed off?

Of course not.

I could try to excuse the whole ordeal by telling myself that I hadn’t been questioning her, exactly. I just wanted information about her father. I already knew he lived in LA. I could find the rest out on my own, but I needed more than that to bring him down.

But did I really think a sixteen-year-old kid would help bring down her own dad?

A new thought hit me in that moment.

Joelle wasn’t living with her father anymore. That much was apparent. I could always assume she was here visiting her brother, but I had a gut deep feeling that she had left her father.

Both her and Suria.

Why?

I mean, I wouldn’t live with a schmuck like that either. But if I’d been raised around him, would I even realize just what kind of schmuck he was?

Joelle had seemed like a sweet kid.

I had no idea what to think of Suria, other than the fact that she was blindly, passionately protective of her little sister. I couldn’t fault her for that.

I thought back to the conversation I’d had with Joelle, her responses when I’d asked those precious few questions about her father. I’d only be able to ask a few before Suria had shown up, and nothing specific.

But Joelle’s answers…

“She’s afraid of him,” I whispered to myself.

And now I didn’t even have any way of finding out why.