Chapter 36 #2
I want to say some of the pieces start clicking into place, but every answer just brings forth more questions.
Suddenly, Legs gets off Midas’s lap and walks over to the wall of photos, her hand going to her mouth.
“What is it?” Midas gets up and walks over to her.
“Can you blow this one up?”
G starts tapping a moment before the image triples in size.
“That’s Lil’s husband?”
“It’s Lilian Taylor’s husband. Or it was, I guess. Why?”
She turns and swallows. “Because I’ve met him. I just didn’t recognize him with the beard and glasses.”
Her words land like a bomb, as people fire out questions left, right, and center. Midas drags a visibly shaken Legs back to the chair they were sitting in and pulls her down into his lap.
Havoc leans in closer. “Tell me when and where you’ve seen him, Legs.”
“I can’t remember how long ago it was exactly, but it was at the park. I took Alex there when I finished early at Au.”
“Did he say anything? Do anything?”
“He asked me out,” she whispers.
“Wait, that was him?” Midas growls.
She nods, shock still covering her face. “Yeah. I can’t remember what he told me he did, but he never said he was a doctor. I’d have remembered that. He gave me his card with his number on it.”
G jumps in. “I’ll need that if you still have it.”
“Midas trashed it. Sorry.”
She looks up then. “He has a daughter. I think she was around six. That’s why he was at the park.”
“G?”
“Nothing came up about a daughter. I’ll dig.”
“She was sweet, funny. She was rapping a Big Sean song, that’s what I remember. She wasn’t scared or wary of him at all. I’d have noticed.”
“I think I’ve seen him, too. At The Book Nook,” Delphi admits, staring at the photo with her head tilted.
“Good-looking guys tend to stand out, mostly because of how other people, my serving staff included, react to them. I think this was the guy my staff were fawning all over a few weeks ago. He was looking for the history of this place.”
I blink, wondering if it was the same guy I held the door open for that day. I never paid any attention to him, too interested in getting to Citi.
We all look to Amity, who shakes her head.
“In my line of work, I’m surrounded by people who are considered the most beautiful people in the world.
I’m pretty much blind to it all now. I’m much more likely to notice the bearded version for standing out than the good-looking guy who’d blend in.
But I don’t think I’ve seen him regardless. ”
“It doesn’t matter. This asshole has been too close too many times. We need to find this motherfucker.”
“That’s what we have been doing, Havoc. But this asshole is good—too good. Someone with his money and resources has plenty of places to hide,” Kruger growls in frustration.
“So let’s make it a little more difficult for him,” Powers grits out.
“How?” Havoc questions.
“Everything he’s done, everything he hid, everything he’s suspected of, bring it all to light.”
Havoc and G look at each other. “It doable?” Havoc asks.
G nods. “Byte, send me everything you have and then flood every news outlet and social media website with anything that will incriminate him, redacting only the names of his victims. Leave in everything else. If these motherfucking hospital paper pushers are left scrambling to keep their own reputations clear—”
“They’ll hang him out to dry.” I hear Byte reply over the phone. “I’m on it.”
“Hannibal?” Havoc leans closer to the phone, measuring his words as he stares down at the scuffed table that’s seen many meetings over the years.
“Yeah?”
Havoc rubs his fingers over his lips, his eyes on Powers. “Before this motherfucker tries to spin the story, I want to put our own twist on it.”
“Alright, how?”
“I don’t want the world to think Lilian ran from her husband. We know she did it as self-preservation, but I wouldn’t put it past this asshole to make out she ran off with a lover or some shit.”
“You want him implicated.”
“I want him implicated,” Havoc agrees. “Your ME guy, he easily bought?”
“No. But he has a twisted sense of honor. His mother was a DV victim. He’ll do this for Lil if I ask him to. Tell me what you need exactly.”
He replies, without taking his eyes off Powers. “Change the time of death to coincide with the time she was reported missing and remove all photos and mention of the raven tattoo from the report.”
Hannibal blows out a ragged breath. “Nothing much then, huh? Leave it with me.” He hangs up as Powers runs his hands through his hair.
“You want to erase Lil from the club?”
Havoc shakes his head. “I want James Taylor to pay for what he did to his wife, Lilian.” He opens his mouth to say more, but a knock at the door has us all turning toward it.
“What?” Havoc bellows.
Con opens the door and pokes his head around. “Capone’s not back, and he’s not answering his cell.”
I feel something inside me shift. I get to my feet as Kruger frowns. “If he’s picking Star up, he’s probably just taken her for ice cream.”
“No, I texted him the news about Lil,” G murmurs as I walk over to Con.
“I called the school,” Con says, looking sheepish. “He picked her up an hour ago. I know I might be worrying about nothing, but something feels off.”
“No, I feel it too. Something’s wrong.” I turn to Havoc. “He got the same text as the rest of us. He’d come right back.”
“He would. It’s Lil, for fuck sake.” Circus jumps to his best friend’s defense. “Of course he would.”
“I’ll see if I can track his phone,” G grumbles, typing away at his laptop.
“Track his…wait. King got trackers for Star. Citi’s been putting them in her sneakers.” I pull out my cell phone and open the note with the tracking info, then hand it to G.
We all wait in silence as G does his thing, then he hisses and looks up at me. “Found Star.”
“Where is she?”
“Where, G?” I grit out when he doesn’t answer.
“According to this? In the middle of bumfuck nowhere.”