Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(72)

“Tom is Jake’s brother, as I’m sure you already know.” She motioned to him. “And Peter is sheriff of Silver Town,” she said coolly.

“So you take a bunch of armed men to your apartment for protection, anticipating trouble. One of my partners talked to your apartment manager, and she says you have been paying the rent but haven’t been here in some weeks. Why come here now?”

“I came home for some personal things. Because of the trouble I had with Mario Constantino’s men last night in Crestview—I overhead Jake already apprise you of the situation—I’ve moved in with Jake and his family until we get married. But we knew I might not be safe if I came here alone or with just Jake accompanying me, after Mario’s men lost me last night.”

The detective leaned back in the chair, putting welcome distance between them. “You could have called us and let us check out the place first.”

“Would you have spared any men to investigate on an unfounded assumption?” she asked.

He didn’t say anything for a moment, then asked, “Did you know the man upstairs?”

This got really tricky. She tried not to reveal any emotion concerning her mother’s connection, but her damned voice broke when she said, “My mother…” She paused and looked down at the coffee table, trying to keep the tears flooding her eyes from spilling down her cheeks. But she couldn’t control her feelings where her mother was concerned yet. “She was seeing one of the men who worked for Mario. I don’t have any idea what Tony Thomas did for Mario. But my mother’s association with Tony got her killed. And the guy upstairs? He was friends with the murdered man.”

“And”—the detective leaned forward again and his steely look pinned her with the question before he even asked it—“what about you? What was your association with this man who was dating your mother before they were both murdered?”

“None. Only that I had warned her I thought he might be a member of the Mob. I worried for her safety.” Her voice hardened to fight the tears. “She wouldn’t listen to me. She said she loved him. It got her killed.”

“Are you sure there wasn’t something more to this whole case? Seems odd that Constantino would come after you when only your mother was involved with a member of the Mob.”

“I’ve been trying to put him back in jail where he belongs,” she coldly said.

“As a bounty hunter,” the detective said. “We ran a check on your background. You’ve successfully brought in a number of cases, but no one that dangerous. It seems to me you’re a little out of your league on this one. When it becomes a vendetta…”

“I’m not trying to kill him, just put him back in jail!” She swallowed her anger. This was not helping, but Jake had said the same thing when he first met her and had triggered the response.

The detective continued in the same tranquil manner. She wished she sounded a lot more coolheaded, but she guessed that with Jake and Peter’s finding Mario’s man in her apartment and hearing the shots fired, and then worrying that Jake or Peter had been hit, she’d been unnerved more than she thought.

“Did you think Constantino would be here waiting for you today?” the detective asked.

“No. I wouldn’t be that naive. He sends his henchmen to do his dirty work.”

“Even in the event of your mother’s murder?”

Alicia took a steadying breath as she thought of how her mother must have been terrified in the final moments, facing Danny Massaro, his gun held out to shoot her. “He ordered the hit. But Danny Massaro did the killing.”

“And you knew this how?”

She felt Jake tense a hair. He hadn’t asked her himself, and she hadn’t thought to tell him. “Danny’s brother, Ferdinand Massaro, told me.”

The detective quickly began taking notes, then looked up at her. “Where can he be reached?”

In that moment, she knew she was doomed. The police hadn’t known she knew anything about Ferdinand’s untimely death. Or that she even knew him. How could she explain she’d been at his place, had managed to run away without being killed by his murderers, and had never told the police she had been there?

Every time there was a murder of one of the Mob in Mario’s employ or related to him of late, she was involved! The word would leak to Mario and his henchmen that she might be a possible witness to the murder. And then they’d want her eliminated even more than before.

She shook her head. “Ferdinand always left me messages.”

“Left you messages?”

“He was my informant, telling me where Mario could be reached, hoping I’d take him down because I was a bounty hunter.”

“Why was he informing on Mario for you? If his brother worked for Constantino, seems to me it was a good way to get his brother killed.”

“I don’t know. I suspected Ferdinand had his own vendetta.”

The detective motioned to his partner and said, “We need to locate this Ferdinand Massaro, ASAP.”

“Right.” The other detective left the apartment and began talking on his phone.

Alicia swallowed a lump in her throat. She didn’t have any idea if Mario had disposed of Ferdinand’s body or just left him dead in his condo. What if the police could tie her to the crime scene?