Trusting Danger (Danger, #2)(29)

Hopefully, they’d ID someone who tied into Claire’s life, which would make it easier to find a motive for kidnapping her. As of now, their prime suspect was still the boyfriend. He certainly had motive—a big ransom would go a long way toward settling down his investors. If whoever bought the burner phone could be linked to Gabe Rogers, Grayson would be that much closer to solving this case and getting this annoying woman out of his life.



Marginally better by the time he got back, Grayson took the stairs two at a time. Locked in his room, he stripped off his damp clothes and took a long shower, but resisted the idea of going downstairs once he’d dressed. Wanting to stall a little longer before possibly having to face Claire, he decided to call his aunt for an update on his mom.

“Eleanor’s doing better,” his aunt Mary said. “No more fever, thank God, and her spirits are good.”

“Did she have the blood transfusion today?”

“She did, but . . .” Mary’s voice trailed off, her worry practically radiating over the phone line. “Honestly, Gray, it didn’t really help. She’s still as pale and weak as she was before.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.” He clenched his fist, wanting nothing more than to pound something. “Is there anything else that can be done?”

Mary let out a long breath. “No. She either gets better or she doesn’t, and she doesn’t appear to be on the road to remission. I wish—”

“Please, Aunt Mary, don’t,” he said. “I’ll try to come back later this week, if I can. Just give her a kiss for me, please? And tell her I’ll call her tomorrow.”

“Fine.” His aunt’s voice was curt as she said, “I’ll tell her you called,” and then the line went dead.

So much for relieving the stress.

Just as Grayson was about to leave his room, his phone rang.

“We’ve got some new information,” Eli said without even saying hello. “You’re not going to believe it.”

“You’ve gotten the video surveillance?”

“No, but it’s coming. It was something the techs found in Rex Gibson’s phone records, going back a few days before we got the wiretap in place. A call was made from Fishkill Correctional Facility to Gibson’s phone.”

A chill ran down Grayson’s spine. As part of his former partner’s last assignment with the task force, Camden had infiltrated the Wicked Disciples motorcycle club. During a raid by the task force, Grayson had shot and killed Butch Cobb, president of the club’s Newburgh chapter. The remaining club members had been incarcerated in New York.

“Butch Cobb’s crew,” he said. “They’re at Fishkill. That’s where you’re going with this, isn’t it?”

“Afraid so. We had their cells tossed, and the guards found a phone in Deck Wallace’s.”

“Cobb’s number two, right? Something tells me he wasn’t contacting Rex Gibson for drugs.”

“Guards have reported that Wallace has been making noise about getting back at Camden, so it’s possible he was looking into a hit. And since Camden and Autumn are now living not too far from DC . . .”

“Damn it.” Grayson paced the small room, the phone pressed to his ear. “Camden was hoping they’d be able to stay under the radar in Virginia. But if Wallace was able to track them down there all the way from New York, it makes sense he’d reach out to someone in DC for the hit.”

“Right. The first call to Gibson was made from the pay phones prisoners are allowed to use. We checked the recording of the conversation, but it was cryptic. The other calls were made from Wallace’s cell phone.”

“So he made initial contact on the prison’s phone but was smart enough not to incriminate himself until he got a burner smuggled in?”

“That’s what we think,” Eli said. “And it’s not just Wallace making the calls. A woman we’ve ID’d as his girlfriend has been contacting Gibson too. Maybe if we lean on your guy Darryl, he’ll tell us something.”

“Unlikely,” Grayson said. “Gibson’s group is tight-lipped. He has them on a short leash, and they know better than to cross him.”

“Even if they don’t tell us anything, we’ve got this. We’re arranging a sting on Deck Wallace and the girlfriend.”

“Have you warned Cam yet?”

“I was just about to call him.” Eli paused. “Unless you’d rather?”

“It might be best,” Grayson said. “News like this would be better coming from me.”

“Tell him I’ll follow up once I have more.”

“Will do.” Grayson hung up and immediately dialed his best friend.

“A revenge killing?” Camden asked after Grayson had updated him. “I guess if anyone would be up for it, it would be Deck Wallace. Autumn told me he was closer to Butch than any of the other club members.” Silent for a moment, he sounded tense when he asked, “Who’s working this?”

“Knowing Eli? The whole team.” In an effort to ease Camden’s worry as much as he could, he added, “Remember that case where Rob was posing as a hitman?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re going to do the same thing here, have Rob make contact with the girlfriend and pose as one of Gibson’s boys. We’ll get her on video ordering the hit, and then stage the hit with you and Autumn. There’ll be tons of evidence against Wallace once we show him the pictures and film his reaction. He’s bound to say something incriminating, and when he does, we’ll have him.”