Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(81)

“Hello, hot stuff,” she replied, her voice low. “Heard from Big Tag you’re back in the bayou.”

“I am back home. Did you find anything out for me?”

He could practically hear her pouting over the line. “What, no flirting? You know you should buy me a drink before we get down and dirty, Guidry.”

“I have a whole bar waiting for you if you ever decide to come down this way, but if this is good enough, you could be drinking at Sanctum tonight and making Big Tag crazy. So why don’t you spill?”

“Fine,” she said, satisfaction clear in her voice. “I’m sending you a couple of files that I’ll forward to McKay-Taggart, too. I have some contacts on DPD who did some digging. Did you know the officer wasn’t reprimanded for breaking the chain of custody?”

That was surprising. He knew it wasn’t exactly her fault, but there should still be some kind of remark on her record. “She wasn’t punished at all?”

“The incident wasn’t even noted on her file. More, no one can now find record of the breakin. They’re calling it a computer glitch. I’m calling bullshit,” Maia said. “This is starting to feel like a setup to me, and I’m turning it over to Ian. I think you should hide your girl while he sorts this out, but I don’t think it’s going to take too long. If she’s there with you, I think you’re well set.”

“What kind of setup are you thinking?” He was willing to listen to her.

“Did you know a young woman was shot outside Vallon’s office building the day Lisa Daley called in her tip to the police?”

“No. I did not know that.” A chill crept across his skin. “Was she a brunette?”

“She was, and roughly the same age and general description as Lisa,” Maia replied. “I had one of our more intelligent investigators look into it. He said it was raining that day. The young woman actually worked two floors above Lisa, but she left that day at roughly the same time Lisa usually left. She was shot in the parking lot behind the building. She lived but it was a close thing. The police theory was a mugging gone wrong, but I have another one.”

“They thought they were shutting Lisa up.”

“I believe so. I think someone realized what she’d done. The feds arrested Vallon the next day, but obviously that was botched, and I’m not entirely sure that was an honest mistake. Someone is trying to tank this case.”

“Why haven’t they come after her again?”

“I don’t know. I do know that the next day she was brought into the prosecutor’s office, and she didn’t go alone. She went with a little entourage, as it was described to me.”

He could imagine who she took with her. “Her brother-in-law is a lawyer.”

“Her brother-in-law is Mitch Bradford. He’s not merely a lawyer. He’s a pit bull. Her brother was with her, and Ian Taggart was, too. I think Mitch requested his presence, or likely someone from McKay-Taggart, to go in with them as background muscle. It’s a smart play. It lets the feds know you’ve got money and power to protect the witness. Likely they’d already talked about protection for her. Taggart would have been there to assure them he could handle it.”

“And them, if someone came after her.” What a lucky play Mitch had made. The rumors would have gotten back to Vallon that she was protected by Taggart. “If Vallon has half a brain, he knows who Taggart is connected to.”

“Yes, I suspect someone in his organization does, and they do not want to cross the Denisovitch Syndicate,” Maia practically purred. “I think that’s why they chose to go after the evidence and not your girl.”

“Until the Italian showed up.” But Lisa swore that Biondo had said he wasn’t going to kill her. Wouldn’t it have been easier to kill her there at the restaurant? Why take her somewhere else? He’d certainly been close enough. Why had he told her he wanted to talk? What did they have to talk about?

“Big Tag has way better contacts in that world than I do,” she admitted. “I’m better with the crooks in suits who pretend they’re not criminals. Anyway, I actually think you find yourself in a standoff. It’s obvious they don’t want to rock the boat with Taggart. They’ve managed to get the case shut down for now. I would let Taggart figure out what’s happening with Biondo, but I think once they figure him out, your girl is probably okay to come home. She’s in a cushy place because no one on Vallon’s side wants to piss off Taggart’s Russian in-laws.”

She could go home soon? Would she rush off the first moment she could? Would she hop on a plane and never look back?

He felt his hand tighten around the phone as though he could crush the fucker and not have to listen to another moment. “Yes, we’ll reevaluate after Taggart finds Biondo. Thanks, Maia. I’ll let Big Tag know he owes you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “And I’ll be better behaved this time. Remy, if you want that girl, tie her up and don’t let her go. She’ll get used to it. If you let her come back, she’ll get used to that, too, and you’ll lose her. Sometimes you have to take the bold path to get what you want. That’s my two cents. And I’ll keep my eyes open here. If I can prove someone’s messing with cases at the feds, I’m a shoo-in for a federal judgeship. Once I get there, I’ll start using all those secrets I have because I’m going to be the hottest Supreme Court justice in history. I will rock that robe. They think RBG was notorious. Wait until they meet me.”