Chapter Twelve
Nico certainly hadn’t expected to still be at the police station with Callie. But then, he also hadn’t counted on seeing that photo of his handler and Estie bare assed naked in bed.
That had left him with a dilemma.
He needed to talk to Yancy to find out what the hell was going on, and Nico had decided he didn’t want that meeting to happen at his place. With all the doubts he now had about his handler, he had figured it best to hold the meeting at the police station. That way, if Yancy was dirty and tried to…well, Nico didn’t know what the man would try…but if there was going to be violence, then he preferred it happening here where Callie and he had backup.
Callie had made it clear to him that she preferred that, too, so Nico had called Yancy and insisted he come to Outlaw Ridge right away. And while they waited for him to show, Callie and he had dived right in to not only find out what she could about the photo, but also any updates from the investigation and the latest crime scene.
Nico had copied the photo to a laptop that Callie had loaned him, and he was doing his own analysis of it. Or rather attempting that anyway. So far, he hadn’t been able to pinpoint any details that would help him with a time, date or place when it’d been taken.
“Owen just finished his interview with Dante,” Callie relayed to him after she read the text she’d just gotten. “Dante didn’t admit to any wrongdoing, and since there wasn’t enough evidence to hold him, Owen had to cut him loose.”
Nico had expected that, but it was still a big-assed disappointment. Even if Dante had told the truth about being lured to that spot, his cousin was up to his eyeballs in crime. Nico hoped that soon Dante would pay for that.
His own phone sounded with a text, and he saw it was from one of the techs on Owen’s Strike Force team. It’s where Nico had decided to send the photo of Estie and Yancy rather than feed it through more official channels.
At least for now.
If it turned out to be real, then he would have to get the FBI involved. But he didn’t want to do that until he had more answers.
And he got one.
A bad one.
“According to the tech, the picture hasn’t been Photoshopped or doctored with AI,” he let Callie know.
She groaned, and he heard the frustration along with a handful of other emotions. One of them was dread. There was also some worry for him, too. After all, Yancy had control of Nico’s undercover assignment.
Nico had hoped this picture was all a ploy by Zed’s lawyer to stir up the situation. Why he’d do that, Nico didn’t know, but he hadn’t wanted to believe his handler had been in bed with Estie.
And that was both literally and figuratively.
Because if Yancy was her lover, and the picture indicated that he was, then Nico needed to know what else was going on between them. Had his handler gone over the edge and was dirty, or was this incident a one-off, something that had maybe been set up by Estie to discredit him?
That was yet another unanswered question and pain in his ass, along with the missing bald guy who might or might not be Tucker’s killer. Added to that, he had The Fixer ready to murder him since he hadn’t gotten to the witness.
So yeah. Lots on his plate. And the picture of Estie and Yancy just added another nasty side dish to the mix.
“I need a burner phone,” he muttered. “I have a couple back at my place, but for now I need to disable this one.” He took out his phone to do just that.
Callie’s eyes widened. “I thought it was safe, that it couldn’t be tracked or traced.”
“It is safe from most people. Not from Yancy though. Until I know what we’re dealing with, I’d rather he not be able to use it to monitor me.”
Of course, Yancy knew where Nico was at the moment, but once Callie and he left the station, he didn’t want his handler to have the capability to pinpoint his location.
Nico had just finished with his phone when there was a knock at the door, and a moment later, Shaw opened it. “You have a visitor,” he let Nico know. “Estie Harrington.”
He definitely hadn’t expected Shaw to say that name, and the first question that came to mind was, what the hell was she doing here? He kept that one to himself for now but asked Shaw about something else.
“Is she alone?” Nico wanted to know.
Shaw nodded. “And she’s been searched. No weapons. You want me to take her to an interview room?”
Nico considered that for a moment and shook his head. “Bring her in here. I’m also expecting someone else, Yancy Dylan. But when he shows, don’t let him know that Estie’s here.”
It’d be interesting, and maybe very telling, to see how his handler reacted to seeing the woman.
It didn’t take Shaw long to return with Estie in tow. She didn’t have her dog with her this time, and Nico’s first impression was the woman looked harried. Definitely not her usual cool and polished self.
“Leave us,” Estie practically snapped to Shaw, but Shaw didn’t budge until Nico had given him an okay nod.
“A sonofabitch calling himself The Fixer has threatened to kill me,” Estie blurted the moment Shaw had shut the door.
Again, Nico was surprised. And skeptical. Then again, skeptical was his default when it came to Estie. “Explain that,” Nico ordered.
Estie whipped out her phone from her purse. “He called me about an hour ago and insisted if I didn’t find the witness that he’d kill me.”
Nico was sure he looked puzzled because he was. “Why contact you?”
“How the hell should I know? I don’t even know how the little shitbag got my number, but he said I had twenty-four to find and kill the witness.”
Callie and he exchanged a long look, and he could see she wasn’t buying this hook, line, and sinker. That’s because Estie could be using this as some kind of ploy to make herself seem innocent of hiring Zed to kill Abilene.
But it was doing the opposite for Nico.
For one thing, the person who’d hired Zed had also probably hired The Fixer. Hell, was perhaps The Fixer himself. Or in this case, herself .
“So, why bring this to us?” Nico asked the woman.
Estie stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Why do you think? The Fixer said he was after you, too. We’re in this together.”
“No, we’re not,” Nico let her know. “If you got a threat, then go to the Austin cops.” He paused, pinning his attention to her so he could see her reaction when he added, “Or maybe someone in the FBI.”
There. It was a flash in her eyes. Not panic or fear but something close to those emotions.
It was a gamble, but he turned the laptop around so Estie could see the photo of Yancy and her. She got a second flash of that stew of reactions, but she quickly reined it all in. When the woman turned her attention back to him, she was sporting a defiant but flippant look.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, certainly not denying that it was a photo of her.
“A gift from someone,” he settled for saying. When he got no reaction from that, he added. “From Zed’s lawyer, Spenser Baldwin.”
Now, there was a flood of white-hot anger. Maybe that was because Estie had been the one to hire Zed, which meant she likely would have hired the lawyer, too. But again, the anger didn’t last.
Estie hiked up her chin and shrugged. “I obviously need to find who violated my privacy and snapped that photo.”
“Yeah, you do.” Nico made sure he sounded flippant, too. “Why didn’t you tell your FBI lover about the call you got from The Fixer?”
Estie’s mouth tightened. “Because he’s not my lover. That was a one-off.” She shrugged again. “And the only reason I bedded him was because I thought he’d be…useful.”
It sounded as if she’d carefully chosen how to say that. Maybe because some version of the truth would have incriminated her.
“And was he…useful?” Callie asked, mimicking the way Estie had emphasized the word.
“Not especially,” Estie replied. “I had hoped to learn some things, and he didn’t cooperate with that.”
So, maybe that meant Yancy wasn’t dirty after all. But then, he had slept with the woman.
“What had you hoped to learn from him?” Nico pressed. “Info about the witness?” he added when Estie didn’t respond. “Info on how to find him and kill him so he can’t testify against Zed?”
“No, of course not,” Estie spat out. “I didn’t hire a killer. I’m the victim here.” She paused. “And maybe you are, too. It’s all over the dark web that The Fixer wants you dead. I can maybe help you with that.”
“How?” Nico and Callie asked in unison.
Some of the tension fell away from Estie’s face. “Since The Fixer seemingly has us both in his sights, why not set yourself up as bait to draw him out?”
So, Estie wanted him to take all the risks to save her ass. Nico would have let her know that saving her ass wasn’t a high priority for him, but Callie spoke first.
“How are you familiar with what’s on the dark web?” Callie asked. And she was all cop now. All cop and a damn good question. It clearly put Estie in the hot seat.
“Uh, I have friends who play around on it,” Estie replied. “You won’t be able to tie it to me directly.” She seemed pleased that she had covered her tracks in that area.
But so much of this was, well, off.
Nico still had no idea why the woman was actually there. And he didn’t know if she was telling the truth about being threatened by The Fixer.
Estie shifted her attention back to Nico. “So, if you set yourself up as bait, you could draw out The Fixer. Or set up the witness instead,” she added a heartbeat later. “I have to believe as long as you’ve been looking for him, you have an inkling as to where he is.”
Ah. There it was. The reason she was here. She wanted the witness. But Nico didn’t know if that was because she’d been the one to hire Zed and was worried about Zed and his lawyer outing her. Or was Estie truly worried about The Fixer murdering her?
“So, you want me to exchange my life, or the witness’, for yours?” Nico clarified.
Estie looked briefly taken aback by his spelling that out, but then she nodded. “I don’t want to die because that nosey piece of shit didn’t mind his own business when he was supposed to be working at a party.”
Well, that was one way of looking at a witness. If you were a self-centered waste of space like Estie, that is.
“Let’s use the witness to lure out The Fixer,” Estie stated. “Eliminate him before he can kill us. And her.” She tipped her head to Callie. “Because if you’re in The Fixer’s sights, then so is she.”
Nico wished he could say that wasn’t true. But that part was. Callie was in danger, and Nico figured if The Fixer got the chance, he would use her, or kill her, to get what he wanted.
“Think about everything I’ve said and call me when you have a plan,” Estie insisted, and she threw open the door.
Just as Shaw and Yancy walked into view.
Nico had to hand it to Yancy. The man maintained a poker face. Hard to do when Estie huffed and muttered a few crude terms about him under her breath before she walked away.
“Why was she here?” Yancy asked, watching Estie and Shaw leave and then shutting the door.
The question had barely made it out of his mouth when his attention landed on the photo that was still front and center on the laptop. His poker face vanished, and his gaze flew to the door as if he might head after Estie.
And rip her limb from limb.
“I can explain,” Yancy was quick to say.
“Then, do that,” Nico insisted.
Yancy wasn’t so fast to talk now. In fact, it seemed to take him a couple of seconds just to rein in enough breath, and temper, so he could speak. “I think the bitch roofied me.”
Nico wasn’t the least bit surprised that Yancy had said that. But was it the truth or his way of trying to cover this up?
Yancy stopped and groaned. “A week ago, I ran into Estie at a bar. She was there for a private party, and she came over and talked to me. She knew I was FBI. And I guess she thought she could get some info about the witness from me.”
“Two questions,” Nico started. “Why would she believe you had that kind of information and did you give it to her?”
Like Estie’s earlier reaction, that lit an angry fuse in Yancy’s eyes. “The answer to the first question is I don’t know. And no to the second.”
Nico lifted his shoulder. “If you were drugged, how do you know what you did or didn’t tell her?”
“Because I wouldn’t have spilled that!” he snapped, but Yancy didn’t look convinced. “Besides, I don’t know where the hell the witness is.”
“True, but you know I’m undercover,” Nico fired back. “You could have told her that.”
Yancy opened his mouth as if ready to deny that, but then he closed it. Muttering out some profanity, he scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don’t recall telling her anything like that. But is it possible I did? Yes.”
Nico’s stare turned to a glare. “You could have compromised me to a murder for hire suspect, and you didn’t bother to let me know?”
All the fight and anger melted away. “I’m sorry. I should have, but if I’d told you, I would have had to report it.”
“And you’d lose your job,” Nico finished for him. “Or at least get one hell of a demotion.” He pointed to the picture. “You will report this. You will let your boss know what happened. And you’ll resign as my handler and anyone else’s as of this second.”
Yancy didn’t argue with a single word of that. He nodded, the gesture of a man who looked totally defeated. But Nico didn’t have a whole boatload of sympathy for him, not when a screw-up like this could have gotten them both killed.
“Why did Estie bring you that picture?” Yancy asked. “Why didn’t she use it to blackmail me?”
“Because it didn’t come from Estie,” Nico explained. “In fact, she seemed surprised to see it, too.”
“But she knew about it,” Yancy snapped. The anger had returned and notched up some. “She must have been the one who drugged me.”
“Maybe,” Nico conceded. “But perhaps someone drugged you both.”
That only seemed to confuse Yancy for a couple of seconds, and then he seemed to have a lightbulb over the head moment. “Dante. He was there at the party.”
“That must have been some party,” Callie concluded. Again, she was in the cop mode. “Why were you there at that bar?”
No lightbulb moment now. Yancy looked plenty uncomfortable. “I’d gotten a tip from one of my informants that Zed’s lawyer, Spenser Baldwin, was there having a celebration because he’d been made partner in the law firm where he works.”
Bingo. The lawyer, the criminal heiress, and his cousin, all in the same place.
“I wanted to see who’d show up at the party,” Yancy added a moment later. “I wanted to hear if there was any talk about the witness. Or about The Fixer. Or about you. I didn’t hear a word about any of that.”
Nico took a moment, letting the images of that play out in his mind. A crowd, loud, lots of alcohol. And someone who wanted either info.
Or simply to take that picture.
But why?
Unfortunately, a theory came to him right away. “Spenser Baldwin could have drugged both Estie and you, setting up that scene. And later, if it looked as if his client might be convicted, he could use it. Perhaps to get Estie and/or you to intervene on his client’s behalf. Or maybe use it to try to get a mistrial.”
Yancy stayed quiet a moment and then nodded. “Does that mean Baldwin is The Fixer?”
“Not necessarily,” Nico said. “It could still be Estie, Dante…or you.”
“Not me,” Yancy snapped. “Someone’s setting me up, twisting what happened at that bar so you won’t trust me.”
Nico considered all the things he could say, such as confirming that he didn’t trust this man, this fellow agent. But he settled for saying something else. “Leave and talk to your boss. If you don’t tell him about the photo with Estie, I will. Personally, I’d do it before Estie gets to him and puts her own spin on it.”
That put some alarm on Yancy’s face, and without uttering another word, he stormed out.
Callie and he stood there, and it was obvious she was trying to sort through everything that’d just been said. Nico was doing that, too, and he came to a quick conclusion.
“I need to call someone in the Bureau,” he said, “because I’m not sure what Yancy’s going to do. He might try to go after Estie.”
Nico reached for the landline on Owen’s desk, but it rang before he could lift the receiver. He answered it and hit the button to put it on speaker. “Nico Salvetti,” he said.
“Nico, this is Lexa,” the deputy explained. “Someone’s trying to get in touch with you. They tried your dad’s place, and he had them call here.”
That gave Nico a punch of adrenaline. It was probably The Fixer, but he asked anyway, “Who is it?”
“The guy won’t say, but he insists it’s important. Want me to take a message?” Lexa asked.
Nico considered that. And dismissed it. “No, put it through.”
He heard the slight clicking sound of the call being transferred, and before the person could speak, Nico did. “Who is this?” he asked.
The caller hesitated and then said, “Seth Mitchell.”
“The witness,” Callie muttered on a rise of breath.
Yeah, it was. Well, it was if this guy was telling the truth. Nico wasn’t about to take him at his word. This could be The Fixer trying to fool him by not speaking through that voice alternator.
“My friend’s dead,” the caller went on. His voice cracked, and there seemed to be genuine grief. Seemed. “Tucker told me he was meeting you so I know you and Deputy Brandon were there.”
“Tucker told you?” Nico questioned.
“Yes, and then I saw on the news that he’d been killed. Who killed Tucker?” the caller asked. “Was it you? Did you do that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“But you want me dead. At least that’s the rumor anyway.”
Nico debated how to handle this. He couldn’t confess to being FBI, but he could skirt around that and maybe learn the reason why Seth had contacted them. Along with learning if this call had also perhaps compromised Seth’s safety and location. After all, there were security reasons why witnesses in protection didn’t make phone calls.
“It’s a rumor but not the truth,” Nico settled for answering. “I don’t want you dead.”
The caller stayed quiet a moment, and if this was indeed Seth, Nico figured he was trying to decide if he believed that. Or else this entire conversation was a set-up. Maybe a test from The Fixer to see if Nico was truly doing all he could to find and kill the witness.
“When’s your birthdate?” Nico asked. “Don’t pause. Don’t look it up. Answer fast.”
The caller did. “February sixteenth.”
Since Nico had memorized plenty about Seth, he knew that was accurate. “Your parents’ middle names. Again, answer fast.”
“David and Mary,” he said without hesitation. “Satisfied that I am who I’ve said I am?”
“Almost. Where’d you go to elementary school?” Nico pressed.
“Redland Oaks.” Again, not even a slight pause. So, either this was Seth or else the imposter had prepped well for this phone call. “How did Tucker die?” he asked a moment later.
Nico decided to go with an honest answer. “I don’t know, not yet anyway. He called me and asked for a meeting, but before I could speak with him, someone killed him.”
“Who?” he demanded. “If it wasn’t you, was it The Fixer?”
Nico had to get his teeth unclenched. Had that tidbit come from Dante, too, or had the caller dug deep with some research? Or maybe it’d come from Yancy or Estie? Hell, even Zed’s lawyer. It was also possible that Tucker had managed to somehow get the info to Seth.
“I have to go,” the man said abruptly. “Give me a number where I can call you.”
Callie immediately jotted down her own number, and Nico relayed that to the man.
“I’ll call you tonight,” he said.
“Talk to me now,” Nico insisted.
“No, it’s too dangerous for me to stay here any longer.”
Nico shook his head. “What does that mean? You’re in a safe house.”
“I had to leave witness protection. I can’t keep myself sheltered away with my friend dead.” He made a low groan that could have been a sob. “I need to watch my back, Mr. Salvetti. Things…well, things aren’t what you think they are.”
With that, he ended the call.