Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(101)
Like she was going to let that happen. “I’m fine. The last thing I need to do is sit in a cheap motel eating takeout. I’m good.”
“Have you wondered why the only times your life gets really dangerous is when that man is in it? I’m not saying he means to put you at risk, but he’s involved in something none of you can handle.”
“What have you found out?”
“The bullets match a very specific gun. We found three casings on the assassin’s perch across from your building. And yes, I said assassin because those casings were specially made and matched casings found at three other crime scenes. Apparently they’re this bastard’s calling card. He’s some kind of European hit man. Holland, someone is trying very hard to kill Dax Spencer and this killer won’t care that you’re in the way.”
That was interesting news. “Is he Russian?”
Beau paused. She could hear her uncle shuffling paperwork. “Um, they think he’s Russian because he does a lot of work for one particular syndicate. Have you ever heard of someone named Ivan Krylov? I fucking hate these foreigners.”
She’d read all of Connor’s documentation about the events in New York a few months ago. A lieutenant with the Krylov syndicate had shot Dax. The same group had also been involved in Maddox Crawford’s murder. She held her tongue, though, because that information was classified—not in any formal way, but Connor and Dax didn’t want it leaking. “I’ll check into it.”
“Damn it, Holland. We’re all worried about you. I know you put in a request to visit the prison so you can interrogate Sue Carlyle again.”
She’d had to. Unfortunately, one didn’t simply walk into a prison and visit without paperwork. “It’s not really an interrogation. I just have some follow-up questions.”
“She’s dead,” he said, his tone flat. “She was found in her cell hanging from her bed sheets a few weeks ago. She didn’t leave a note.”
It wasn’t a stretch to imagine a mad woman becoming suicidal but . . . damn it. “Can I read the reports of her death? I presume there was an autopsy?”
“Sure. Come into the office and I’ll let you read everything I’ve got.”
So he could put her in protective custody? No thanks. “Just e-mail me the report, please.”
He sighed. “Haven’t you noticed that people around Captain Spencer and his friends die? His buddy Connor was visiting a woman at a nursing home a few weeks ago when this same assassin apparently murdered the woman he was talking to.”
Natalia Kuilikov. “I wasn’t aware it was the same assassin who’s after Dax. Of course, I didn’t know any assassin was after Dax. I can tell you’re worried, but I can’t let this go. Maybe the heat would be off Dax if the NOLA PD would officially open an investigation into the admiral’s death. If we start shining a light on this, the vermin will run back to the shadows.”
“Or you’ll get my men killed.”
She was so frustrated with him. “I let you talk me out of this once, but I have to ask . . . Why the hell did you become a cop? To walk away the minute an investigation gets dangerous? That’s the nature of our job. We take those chances so everyday citizens don’t have to. Protect and serve, Uncle Beau. It’s what we’re trained to do and you’re telling me to do neither.”
“I’m telling you to grow up and stop being so fucking naive,” he growled. “Do you know why I became a cop? Because it was that or getting my ass shot off in the goddamn military. I’m not about to get me or my men killed because your boyfriend stuck his nose in where it doesn’t belong. Tell him to get out of my town and go back to D.C. where he belongs. You know what? I’ll tell him myself. And, Holland, you better rethink your position, because he’s going to get you killed.”
The line cut off abruptly and she stared at her phone. Her uncle had never spoken to her like that. Never.
“You all right?” Dax stood not ten feet away from her, his big body illuminated by the afternoon sun.
She slipped her cell in her pocket. “I’m all right. We can cancel our trip to the prison.”
His eyes closed briefly. “Sue Carlyle’s dead, then. Suicide?”
“By all appearances.” The time had come to choose a side and make it known. “Likely the Krylov syndicate arranged the scene, just as they did with your father. They killed your father and now they’re trying to kill you.”
He stepped closer, and when he put his arms around her, she didn’t push him away. “I’m sorry this is causing trouble between you and your family.”
“It’s all right. All that matters is figuring out what happened and what these criminals want.” She let herself soak in the warmth of his body.
He stepped back, taking her hand. “I’m glad you said that, because I think Freddy found a clue.”
“Good.” She turned to follow him, when something caught her eye. She stopped, staring for a moment at the dirt nearby. It had rained earlier, making a single footprint on the far side of the dirt road they’d driven up visible. “Has anyone been out here?”
She crept closer to inspect. Connor had parked close to the tree line in order to give Dax room on the narrow road in case he needed to leave in the Jeep.