Chapter Fourteen
Nico decided that sex with Callie was a cure for exhaustion and a whole bunch of other things, too. Since their romp on the floor, the tension was gone in his body. No more dull headache. And he’d been able to focus on work and no longer felt as if he were mentally slogging through mud.
But he was worrying some.
About Callie having regrets. About the bad timing of them picking up where they’d left off all those years ago. He wasn’t seeing regrets on her face, now, as she worked on a laptop, but he knew that was the sort of thing that could sneak up on you.
As if she’d known he was studying her, she looked up and flashed him a quick smile. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “Better than fine,” she amended. “But I’ve decided not to dwell on what happened.”
He nodded. That made sense to postpone the personal and focus on the investigation. Nico was totally on board with that. And it’s why he didn’t understand why his mouth developed a mind of its own.
“I’ve been in love with you since I was fifteen,” he blurted.
Callie’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open a little. What she didn’t do was say anything, and after more than a few crawling moments, Nico was ready to wave it off. Fast. But he didn’t get the chance to do that because her phone rang.
Even though they both knew the call could be important, Callie kept her attention on him a little longer before she finally glanced at the screen. “Unknown caller,” she muttered. She answered it on speaker, and Callie also hit the record function.
“It’s me, Seth,” the caller said, and just those three words shoved aside their conversation and his confession.
“Where are you?” Nico couldn’t ask fast enough.
“I’m not sure I can trust you so I won’t tell you that. Not yet,” he added in a mutter. “Have you found out how Tucker died?”
“Not officially. His body is still being examined by the ME,” Nico answered. “But unofficially, he died from a gunshot wound to the head. Explain how you know he was supposed to meet me,” he tacked onto that.
“Tucker and I have been in contact. Had been in contact ,” he amended, and his voice cracked.
That wasn’t protocol for a protected witness. Nor was safe since any communication with the outside world could have resulted in the safe house’s location being compromised.
“Before I left with the FBI agents, Tucker and I set up burner phones,” Seth explained. “We stayed in touch every couple of days, and he texted me you were meeting him.”
“Did he also happen to mention if he planned to try to kill Deputy Brandon and me?” Nico snapped, recalling just how damn close Callie and he had come to dying in those fires.
“He didn’t lure you there to kill you,” Seth insisted. “Tucker was trying to find out who The Fixer was so he could stop him from coming after me.”
Nico had to mentally shake his head about that. “The Fixer hired me to get to you,” he spelled out. “So, it’s hard for me to believe that Tucker didn’t want me dead.”
“Tucker knew you were working for the FBI,” Seth said.
Everything inside Nico went still. No way would he verify he was an agent. “Why would he think that?”
“Because Tucker hacked into the lawyer’s computer. Zed Coulter’s lawyer,” he clarified. “He found a picture of two naked people.”
The photo of Yancy and Estie.
“Tucker recognized the woman,” Seth went on, “and he was already suspicious of her. He started digging because he thought one of them might have hired Zed. Or one of them might be The Fixer. From there, he found out the man in the picture was FBI, and he started tracking him and hacking into his computer.”
Hell. Hell. Hell. There shouldn’t have been anything on Yancy’s computer to link back to Nico. Had the man gotten careless? Or was Yancy dirty? Nico had no idea which, but he was glad Yancy no longer had a way to track him.
“Tucker was good at hacking,” Seth added, his voice still dripping with grief. “He found enough info to convince him that he could trust you, that you might be on his side.”
Enough info to blow his cover, too. Yeah, there’d need to be a full-scale internal investigation once this was over.
“So, Tucker wanted to meet with me with the hopes of us teaming up to find The Fixer,” Nico summarized. “Who did he think The Fixer was?”
“He didn’t know, but he suspected the naked woman in the picture. Estie Harrington.”
Yeah, Nico suspected her, too. Not of the actual murders but of hiring a hitman. And he figured the hitman was the bald guy they’d seen in Tucker’s truck.
“Tucker’s death has changed things for me,” Seth went on a moment later. “I’m done with witness protection. I’m done with all of it. My goal now is to get justice for Tucker.”
Nico didn’t like the sound of that. There was icy rage now coating the grief in his voice. “Get justice how?” he asked.
“Tucker taught me some computer skills,” Seth said. “And I put out the word on the dark web that I’m ready to meet face to face with The Fixer.”
“You did what?” Nico snapped.
“I’ve set up a meeting for eight tonight, and I’ll post the location twenty minutes prior so The Fixer won’t have time to go there ahead of me.”
Nico cursed. “You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”
“I can and will do that,” Seth stated without a shred of hesitation. “I want to draw out the sonofabitch who murdered my friend. Tucker put his life on the line for me, and now I want to do the same for him. I want his killer dead.”
Damn it. He had to stop this. Somehow.
“You could be the one who ends up dead,” Nico spat out.
“No. Because that’s where you come in. I’m trusting you, Mr. Salvetti. You and Deputy Brandon. I’ll give you the location, too, and I want you there.”
Nico groaned. Callie and he had already been lured into one meeting, and that hadn’t turned out so well.
“Just rethink this,” Nico told him.
“No, the meeting is happening.”
Again, there was no hesitation so Nico tried a different angle. “All right, go through with your plan, but we’ll use a decoy for you. Someone who’ll be able to go head-to-head with The Fixer and not die.”
“You’ll be the decoy?” Seth asked.
Well, that hadn’t been Nico’s initial thought, but it was better than a witness walking into a showdown with a killer. Of course, Seth could use this meeting to try to kill both The Fixer and him. Callie, too. And in Seth’s mind, that might give him the justice he wanted for his friend.
“I’ll be the decoy, and you’ll stay back. Far back,” he emphasized. “I don’t want you anywhere near The Fixer. Now, tell me the location of the meeting,” Nico insisted.
“No,” Seth quickly replied. “I’ll tell you at seven-forty, the same time I post it on the dark web.”
“I need that info now,” Nico fired back.
But he was talking to the air because Seth had already ended the call.