Chapter 23 #2
“They could be watching the place twenty-four-seven, so maybe have him wear scrubs and hide his pad in a backpack or something.”
“Good idea.”
After Chief Olson left, I felt a surprising relief for the first time in twenty-four hours.
Holding on to the information about the potential suspect—and not being sure who I wanted to give it to—had kept me awake last night almost as much as the pain.
I sank back into the bed and let the quiet of the room finally settle around me, knowing it wouldn’t last long.
***
Two days later, I was packing the few things I had with me into a plastic bag, getting ready to go home, when Chief Olson walked in again.
“Look at you, up and around.” He smiled.
“Won’t be running a marathon any time soon, but I’m glad to get the hell out of this place.”
He nodded. “I’m not a fan of hospitals either. You’re supposed to get rest, but all they do is wake you up to take your blood pressure and give you meds.”
“What’s up? Juliette is going to be here any minute.”
“I have a guard at the entrance. My phone will buzz if anyone shows up. Just wanted to let you know we might have a lead. It’s going to be harder to have access to you once you’re discharged.”
I stopped packing. “Whatta you got?”
“We canvassed the area surrounding the market and asked business owners if they had security cameras. Guy who owns a liquor store said he didn’t have any.
Turns out he was lying because he’s going through a divorce and was afraid if anyone knew he had cameras, his wife might find out his girlfriend stops by a few times a week.
But he checked the footage himself and called this morning to say he has video of a guy running from the farmer’s market—short, dark hair, leather jacket, hook nose—around the same time as the shooting.
I’m on my way over to take a look at the footage now.
Gonna need you to check the phone your captain gave you so I can send through pics to see if you can identify the guy as the same person you saw acting suspicious. ”
“All right. I can do that.”
“Where you heading after this?”
“Back to Juliette’s.”
Chief Olson’s brows pulled tight. “Ginocassi put other guys on her. He’s not gonna let you guard his daughter in your condition.”
I shrugged. “She feels guilty for what happened and wants to take care of me. Figured it was my way to stay in the game.”
His eyes searched my face. “Be careful. Getting close is good. But too close can be dangerous.”
Tell me about it. “I know how to play it.”
“I hope so, for your sake.”
***
Two hours later, Juliette and I pulled up in front of her house. She got out of the car and ran around to offer me a hand getting out.
“Thanks. But I got it.”
Up and down movements caused the worst pain, but I managed to get out on my own. Her two new guards followed as we made our way up the path to her door.
“Wes needs his rest,” Juliette said. “You guys are going to have to stay out here from now on.”
“Boss won’t like that,” Eddie warned.
“Ask me if I care.” She opened the screen door and put her key in the lock. I was grateful they didn’t fight her on it because all the moving around had wiped me out.
Inside, I plopped down on the couch, and Juliette brought me a blanket. “You relax while I make us some lunch.”
“Thanks.”
The smell of soup soon wafted through the air. I hadn’t eaten much of the disgusting hospital food, so by the time she was finished, I was starving.
“Grilled cheese and tomato soup.” She smiled and pulled out my chair, hovering until I sat.
“Thank you.”
While I dug right in, Juliette barely touched her food. “Aren’t you going to eat?”
Tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if anything had happened to you.”
I put down the sandwich and reached across the table, taking her hand, even though stretching hurt. “I’m right here. And pretty soon I’ll be as good as new.”
“You almost died because of me.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I stepped around it. “But you’re fine, and I’m going to be too.”
“This is why I hate my father’s life so much. Innocent people get hurt.”
“It’s what I signed up for.”
“You didn’t sign up for it, not really anyway. You took the lesser of two evils.” She shook her head. “I’ve been thinking about how my father deals with things. I’m sure he’s grateful to you right now.”
I nodded. “He actually came by the hospital to tell me he was.”
“We need to capitalize on how he’s feeling, use the shooting as a way to get you out, Wes. You can ask my father to be released from the deal you made, tell him you want your freedom rather than cash.”
“How did you know Vince wants to give me cash?”
She rolled her eyes. “It’s the way my father fixes all problems.”
“I don’t think your father will go for something like that.”
The truth was, the same idea had crossed my mind while I was in the hospital.
I could tell Vince I wasn’t physically capable of protecting his daughter anymore.
But even if I could get him to go for it, I still had to finish the undercover job to keep up my end of the deal I’d made with the NYPD, which meant sticking around Vince’s organization long enough to take people down.
Basically, I was their bitch, which meant I had to stay Vince’s bitch.
Any way I looked at it, I was royally fucked.
“You won’t know if he’ll go for it unless you try,” Juliette said.
There really was no reason I couldn’t attempt to break free, at least from Juliette’s perspective. So I wasn’t sure what to say. “Let me think about it.”
“Okay.” She smiled, and the glimmer of hope I saw in her eyes made me feel worse than I already did.
Hours later, Juliette asked me if I wanted to take a ride to the pharmacy to pick up the prescriptions the hospital had sent home with me. “You can just stay in the car, if you want. It’s fine if you would rather stay here, but I thought you might want some fresh air.”
I knew I had to check the phone my captain had given me, to see if I could identify the guy from the footage. “I’m wiped out. I think I’m going to stay.”
She leaned in and pressed her lips to mine. “Okay. Is there anything else you need while I’m out?”
“No, I’m good. Thanks.”
I waited until I heard the cars pull away to check the window. Both Juliette and Eddie’s cars were gone. So I went to the bedroom, shut the door behind me, and dug out the phone I had hidden in my bag. Sure enough, there were texts waiting from Chief Olson. He’d sent them an hour ago.
Unknown: Call your captain. She wants to talk to you. Let her know if this is the guy you saw and she’ll relay it to us.
The photo was grainy, but I was pretty sure it was the same guy I’d seen following us earlier that day at the market. Though I couldn’t be a hundred-percent positive. I stared at it for a few seconds and listened to make sure the house was still empty before dialing my captain’s number.
“Hey. It’s Wes.”
“How you feeling?”
“Sore. But I’ll live.”
“Did you take a look at the photo the chief sent?”
“Yeah, it looks like him, but it’s grainy.”
“The video equipment the guy had was fifteen years old. But it was enough for us to run him through our facial-recognition program. We got a hit. Guy is from New York, known associate of a rival family.”
I ran a hand through my hair, ignoring the pain lifting my arm caused. “Who is he?”
“I’m not going to give you his name, just in case it rings a bell and you came across him at some point when you were working with Vince in New York. I don’t want to taint the ID in any way.”
“How do you want to handle it?”
“I need you to meet me so we can do a proper photo array. We need to do this one by the book.”
“Meet you? In New York?”
“No, I’m back out in California. I came out two days ago to lend a hand on the shooting. I didn’t come by the hospital in case any of Vince’s men knew my face. Didn’t want them to question why a captain from the NYPD was coming to see you.”
“Good idea. Okay.”
“I’m staying at the Hotel Adventura. Do you know where that is?”
“Hotel Adventura? Sounds familiar. I can look it up.”
“Think you can give me a time?”
“No. I need to see what Juliette is doing tomorrow. I don’t want to raise any suspicions and sound like I have plans. Can we just play it by ear, and I’ll text you when I’m able to get away?”
“Sure thing.”
“All right, good. Anything else? Juliette only went to the pharmacy, so she’ll be back soon.”
“Nope. I’ll wait for your text tomorrow.”
After I hung up, I shoved the phone back into my bag and slid the duffel under the bed where I’d been storing it.
Climbing to my feet, I listened for any sounds in the house.
It would take at least fifteen minutes to get to the pharmacy and back, but I didn’t want to take any chances.
Hearing nothing but my own breathing, I opened the door.
And walked straight into Juliette.
“Were you just talking to someone?” she asked.