The Cunning Thief (Stolen Hearts #6)(21)

“What’s the name of the detective?”

“Perlman. But you can’t tell him I talked to you. He knows where I live. He knows where we all live. He said after us, he’d come for our mother. The guy doesn’t care, man. I’m telling you, I don’t hurt people. I steal cars. Nice cars rich people have that are fucking insured. I don’t do this stuff. I just want my brother to go to school to have a better life than me.”

Tristan glanced around them. “You can see how none of this is really helping your situation, right?”

“Hey man, I didn’t want this. And I’m being a hundred percent honest with you. I’m sorry. I really am sorry.”

“You’re sorry, but you’d do it again, right?”

“It’s family. Don’t you have a family?” Anthony asked.

Well, that was the wrong fucking question. “No. I don’t have a family. People who do well in this business that you’re so obviously failing at usually don’t have families. We have nothing to lose, and we don’t care about putting a bullet between the eyes of some little petty thief who claims to be innocent.”

Tristan pulled the door open and walked out of the room, not even bothering to threaten the kid any more. Hunter looked at him questioningly as he walked out, and Tristan made a little motion beneath his neck. “I’m calling this off. They’re not going to tell us anything useful.”

Gage and Hunter both relaxed marginally but still were on guard. “You mean they’re useless?” asked Gage.

“I wouldn’t say that.” Tristan took out his phone and glanced through, making sure there were no incriminating messages or contacts. Since pretty much every phone used was a burner phone, it didn’t take long to confirm that it was clear. He then tossed it to Anthony, who caught it. “Okay, kid. Here’s your chance to get out of this in one piece. I want you to call Perlman. Tell him that you came here, you checked the entire place, but it’s clear. There’s a car in the driveway, and all the owner’s stuff is here, but no sign of anyone. You have no idea where she is.”

“That’s it? What if he doesn’t believe me?”

Tristan stared at him, the annoyance obvious. “Look around you, man. She’s not fucking here. You’re not lying. Now make the damn call before I decide there’s really nothing I can do with you.”

The poor kid made the call with trembling hands. Like he thought, Perlman had made the kid memorize the number. Problem was that Perlman was undoubtedly using a burner phone too, so the number wouldn’t be that useful. As it started to ring, Tristan got closer, putting his head awkwardly close until he could hear the ringing on the other end. He didn’t tell Anthony to put it on speakerphone, because he would be able to hear that and get suspicious.

After one ring, Perlman picked up. “Is it done?”

Anthony was quiet for a moment, and Tristan nudged his elbow into the kid’s ribs. “I, ah, yeah. I mean, no. She wasn’t there. We went to the address you gave us and everything. It matched the pictures so we know we’re in the right place. There’s no one here. Like, her car’s here, and it looks like all of her stuff is, but no girl.” Tristan put an approving hand on the kid’s shoulder, and Anthony tensed.

Well, he supposed they weren’t there yet. Perlman, who was ever grateful, cursed on the other end of the phone before he hung up.

“Good job. Now just get the fuck out of here,” said Tristan.

“What about the cops?” asked Hunter.

“Well, they’re already overdue. So the sooner we make ourselves scarce, the better.”

“Hart’s not going to be happy about this,” said Gage.

“Well then, Hart should be here himself.”





“So you didn’t turn the guys over to the cops?” asked Hart the second Tristan walked inside the mansion.

Tristan rolled his eyes and debated which of the two men had ratted him out. Probably not Hunter. He wasn’t one to squeal unless there was something in it for him. Gage, however, was probably pissed about the Melissa comments he’d made. “Kids,” said Tristan simply.

“What?”

“Kids. They weren’t guys. They were kids. Three brothers. I’m not even sure if the youngest can legally drive.” He didn’t mention that the youngest had also been stealing cars, but he didn’t see how that would help this conversation go any better.

Hart rubbed the bridge of his nose, a sure sign that this job was getting to him. Tristan felt for the guy, but he’d chosen this. In fact, Hart had handpicked Blackthorne as one of the first evil organizations for their little group to go after.

Speaking of that, Tristan needed to get an update on any progress made on the Blackthorne front during the time he’d been gone, but right now he was too fucking tired. “Yell at me about it tomorrow. Tell Toni that I had the kids call a dirty cop on my burner phone. They said his name was Perlman. See if you can find out anything about him. I don’t think we can use the kids to get us any closer to Blackthorne, but Perlman might be the key.”

“Toni’s already looking into it. You look like shit. Go get some sleep, and we’ll regroup tomorrow.” Tristan started to head for his room until Scott ominously added, “Toni has a little present in there for you.”