Chapter 13
H ayes stared at the latest threat.
Like all the other times, it was written in block capitals in pen. The person who wrote it was trying to disguise their writing. Not that it mattered since their handwriting would only help if they had a suspect’s writing to compare them to.
This note was quite graphic about how they wanted to kill him. There were details about where he worked and how they would find him.
How he would never be safe anywhere. Hayes understood why Stein was on edge.
Donovan sighed and sat back.
“It’s got to be someone related to a case of Stein’s,” Liam said through the computer screen.
They were on a video call with Kent, Liam, Zeke, and Dominic. Kent wanted to throw as many minds at this as possible.
“I’m going to send everything we’ve got to Zander,” Kent said suddenly.
“Zander?” Donovan said, sitting up. “Are you crazy?”
“Well, last time I checked, no,” Kent said dryly.
“I just mean . . . he’s nuts. Zander is crazy. And how will he help?” Donovan asked.
“Sometimes he sees things that the rest of us don’t,” Kent replied.
“I don’t understand the timing of the notes,” Zeke said. “There hasn’t been one in weeks. Why now?”
“This is the only one since we started guarding the Steins,” Hayes said. “I thought we must have scared them off.”
“Maybe you did. But they couldn’t help themselves?” Dominic said. “Perhaps the urge was too strong. Or maybe there’s a trigger.”
Liam sighed. “It’s all guesswork. We still have no clue.
Each letter is sent from a different location around Denver which indicates it’s someone living there or close by.
If we’re working on the theory it’s someone related to an ex-client of Stein’s who ended up being incarcerated that narrows it down to around twenty-five people. ”
“Awesome,” Donovan muttered.
“It has to be from his more recent cases,” Kent said. “These letters have only been coming for two months. Let’s only look at people from the last three cases that he’s lost.”
Hayes flipped through the cases. That left eight people.
“Unless it’s a former client who recently got out of jail and is looking for revenge,” Donovan suggested.
“Shit,” Kent said. “That too.”
“Wouldn’t someone like that do something more than send a few threatening letters?” Zeke suggested. “Stein defends murderers and rapists. Those guys don’t send handwritten notes. They spray bullets at your house or firebomb your car.”
“Nice thought,” Donovan said dryly. “I’ll be sure to look out for firebombs the next time I’m driving that douche to work.”
“Donovan,” Kent said with a sigh. “Can we please try not to refer to the client as a douche?”
“I’ll try,” Donovan told him. “But the fact is that he’s a douche.”
“It’s true,” Hayes said. “He’s condescending and rude. And really jumpy. For someone that deals with hardened criminals all the time, he’s surprisingly rattled by a few letters.”
“Agreed,” Donovan said. “I understand that getting death threats is scary, but this seems to be something more.”
“And it isn’t the first time he’s received threats,” Liam said. “However, it is the first time he’s ever hired security. Which I find interesting.”
“So he likely knows something more than he’s letting on,” Kent said. “Liam, is there anyone who has recently gotten out of jail or from his past who could be behind this?”
“Not that I could find,” Liam said. “However, one of his former clients recently died in jail. So I’ve been looking into his relatives.
That leaves us with three, uh, suspects for lack of a better word.
Arnold James who died in prison. He’s got three kids.
All boys. But they live in Texas. I’m digging into their backgrounds to see if any of them have visited Colorado recently or know someone who lives here. But that’s time consuming.”
“And it doesn’t feel likely that they’d start looking into revenge now,” Kent said. “Arnold James was sent to jail five years ago.”
“Yeah,” Liam said. “Then we have Miles Brown. He has a girlfriend who has some gang ties and a rap sheet of her own. I think she’s a likely candidate. He also has a mom and a nephew. Could be them too. The nephew has just joined the same gang he belongs to.”
“I don’t know,” Zeke said. “This seems too restrained for them. Would they really just send Stein notes?”
That was true.
“Well, then we move to Rohan Dawson,” Liam said. “He’s a member of the Black Scorpions. But I’ve started digging into his background and it’s hard to find anyone who has a bad thing to say about the guy. Even in prison, apparently he does his best to keep out of trouble. While staying alive.”
“You think he was wrongly incarcerated?” Kent asked.
“It’s an interesting case. He’s in for murdering his best friend. But the cops had a really weak motive. They claimed that the two of them must have had an argument. But the only witness to this argument was a homeless guy who ended up dead about a week after the trial.”
“Not suspicious at all,” Donovan muttered.
“But it is suspicious,” Liam said. “This guy has a record, but for stuff when he was younger. However, he is a member of the Black Scorpions gang so he’s likely done a few shady things.
But he had no real motive for killing his friend.
He was found at the scene with the victim’s blood on him.
The murder weapon was next to him. And his reason for being there was a text message from the victim that apparently went missing from both his phone and the victim’s. ”
“Sounds like he could have been set up,” Hayes said. “Someone who hated him or the best friend.”
“Yeah, but seems like he was a well-liked guy. Lots of people came forward at the trial to talk about him,” Liam said.
“What did he get?” Kent asked.
“Sixteen years. Ten without parole,” Liam told them.
“Surprised it wasn’t more for murder,” Zeke said.
“Someone might be angry that he got that much if he’s innocent,” Kent said.
“I don’t know, I think I would be spending my time trying to find out who set him up, not sending Stein threatening letters,” Hayes said.
“Right,” Liam said with a sigh. “So maybe not anyone related to this case. I went through some financials, Rohan sold everything he had to pay Stein’s bill.
He grew up in a trailer park. He has a drunk for a father.
His mom died years ago. And his only other close relative is a little sister. She still lives with the father.”
What the fuck?
Why was he only just hearing about this? It wasn’t in the other information that Liam had sent him.
Devi lived with a drunk father?
Why hadn’t she told him?
Hmm. Maybe because she’s under no obligation to? She barely knows you.
Yeah, he guessed that might be the reason why.
Liam held up an older photo of Devi.
“Hey, that’s Devi!” Donovan said.
Hayes shot him a look. “You didn’t know that?”
Donovan shook his head, looking through the notes that Hayes had printed off. He hated reading things on a screen.
“You know her?” Kent asked.
Hayes sighed. “Know is a bit of a stretch. Sondra likes this café in Angel. She goes there every morning except for Mondays when it’s closed. Devi is usually the server.”
“Does she seem like the type of person to seek revenge for her brother?” Liam asked.
Seek revenge?
Well, she’d certainly done that with him, hadn’t she? She’d put salt in his coffee.
That wasn’t something he wanted to tell these guys, though. It was private. And he couldn’t really see Devi being behind these notes.
This was her brother, though.
“Devi’s a total sweetie,” Donovan said. “Kind of clumsy. Hayes rescued her when she fell over.”
Hayes shot him a look. What the fuck was he doing? Didn’t he know when to keep his mouth shut?
Who are you kidding? This is Donovan. He probably came out of the womb talking.
Donovan just grinned and shrugged.
Asshole.
“What do you mean?” Zeke asked. “Did you talk to her?”
“Talk to her?” Donovan repeated. “He touched her. Apparently, she fell on the floor and Mr. Hero here swooped in and picked her up.”
“Do you like having a tongue?” Hayes snapped. “Because I’ve got a sharp knife and access to sedatives. I will slice it right out.”
Donovan just continued to grin. Either he thought Hayes was joking or the fucker really didn’t care if he died tonight.
“You did?” Zeke said in amazement.
Hayes got it. He wasn’t social. He didn’t like people. He certainly didn’t touch people.
“So you don’t think she could be our letter writer?” Kent asked after Hayes refused to say anything else.
“No way,” Donovan said.
Hmm. Hayes wasn’t so sure.
“It’s possible,” he said.
“What?” Donovan sat up. “But she’s a sweetheart.”
He really needed to stop calling her that. And what was he doing noticing her? He shouldn’t even be looking at her. Let alone talking about her.
“She was mad at me the other day for something I said,” he explained. “The next time I saw her she put salt in my americano.”
“Got a flair for revenge,” Zeke said with a grin. “I admire that.”
Hayes shot him a look.
“Look into her, Liam,” Kent ordered.
Fuck.
Why had he told them that?
“If she did do this, we won’t be telling the cops,” Hayes told them suddenly.
“We won’t?” Kent asked, eyeing him with caution. “What do you want to do? Just let her away with it?”
“No. I’ll be dealing with her myself.”
He swore he heard May laugh as he said those words.
Yeah, he was definitely fucking losing his mind.