Chapter 34 Diem #2
Pocketing his phone after another unsuccessful call, he turned and found me leaning against the open trunk, a boot propped on a box, venom in my eyes, fury in my bones.
He came to an abrupt halt and flashed his attention to the street and back. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
“Your nightmares.” I grinned maniacally, aiming for the essence of a deranged psychopath. “Hello, Aaron.” And if there was a touch of Hannibal Lecter in my tone, so be it.
The man shuffled, seeming unsure how to proceed.
“I hear you were getting handsy with my boyfriend today. I don’t like that.”
“It was…” He paused as though scrambling for words or an explanation, then glanced briefly at the boxes with what seemed a momentary debate. I imagined he was asking himself what had precipitated this confrontation. Was it jealousy, or did I know about the files?
“Tallus initiated it.”
I snorted. “Bullshit. You initiated it weeks ago when Tallus decided my grandmother needed a party, and the director guided him into your orbit. You think I don’t see the way you flirt with him? The way you touch him every chance you get? You think we don’t talk about you at home?”
I had him off-kilter. Aaron’s gaze kept returning to the banker boxes, indecision painting deep lines across his forehead.
“It won’t happen again.”
“No. It won’t because it will be hard to flirt with my boyfriend from behind bars.”
The color drained from Aaron’s face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Where’s Luke? We have a score to settle, and it has nothing to do with whatever dirty secret is inside these boxes.” I kicked the top box from the pile, and it toppled, spreading its contents across the driveway. Brown file folders. Dozens of them.
Nonchalantly, I squatted and tugged one free, thumbing it open. “Interesting.”
Aaron didn’t stop me, but he did step closer as though intent on intervening.
“You might want to stay over there.” I didn’t lift my gaze from the file. “I tend to have a hair-trigger temper, and I’m not over your transgression yet. At the moment, I would love to break your face like I did your boyfriend’s car window, and it’s taking a lot of self-control not to.”
Aaron stilled.
“What is this?” I waved the folder in the air, then tossed it aside and plucked another from the ground. They contained Excel forms. Lists of personal information. Banking information. Withdrawals. Summaries. Social media links. Photographs.
“I… I don’t know. Luke asked me to—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me.” I tossed the second folder aside and stood to my full six and a half feet, broadening my shoulders and lifting my chin.
Aaron cowered.
It was my turn to approach, one slow, easy step at a time. When I was within ten feet, he retreated a step.
I stopped, satisfied that I’d gotten far enough under his skin to make him sweat.
“Guys like you don’t make enough money to drive fancy cars and own expensive properties, Aaron.
Your buddy went out of his way to hide his wealth behind an investment business, albeit poorly.
Tell him he forgot to burn his old tax forms.”
I clucked my tongue. “A shame. They were in a box marked TO SHRED in his storage unit. It wouldn’t take a genius to pick up the discrepancies.
In fact, my boyfriend, the man whose ass you fondled, figured it out at a glance.
What are the chances a skilled police officer who works in IT might find inconsistencies in your finances, too?
Because I know a guy. All it would take is—”
My phone buzzed against my leg with an incoming call. As much as I didn’t want to shatter the tension I’d managed to build, I worried about Tallus and what was happening on his end. His distorted voice came back to me in an instant.
“Don’t move.” I glared, removing the ringing phone from my pocket. “I have to take this call and see how your friend Luke is making out.”
Without taking my eyes off Aaron, I hit connect. “Yeah.”
Tallus answered, and a wave of relief hit me.
His speech was clearer than earlier but nasally. “You send da bolice. I doughd you said you weren’d.”
“I changed my mind.”
“I doughd you said—”
“I know. I was wrong. Why are you talking funny?”
“Luke’s beened arresded.”
“Arrested? Really?” I wasn’t sure how Tallus had swung that without a mountain of proof, but it was music to my ears.
Tallus attempted to say more, but I pressed the phone to my chest and spoke to Aaron. “Good news. Your friend has been arrested. It’s only a matter of time before the cops come for you, too.”
Aaron closed his eyes and looked like he wanted to cry.
I moved the phone back to my ear as Tallus said, “Did you heared me?”
“No. What?”
“He was arresded for assauld. Meed me ad the hospidal. I dink dey have to resed my dose.”
“What?”
“I had do go. Da bolice are coming do you.”
The line went dead, and I stared at my phone as the pieces slotted together. Hospital? Assault? Did he say something about his nose?
My gaze slipped from my phone to the stack of boxes and all they contained.
The police were on the way here? I wasn’t sure how Tallus had convinced them to come, but they were coming.
If I understood correctly, then the arrest wasn’t to do with the scam.
And an assault charge was nothing. Lukyan had enough money to make that go away.
But…
“Do you want to spend the next twenty years in prison, Aaron?” The man had gone from gray to green and looked ready to vomit. I didn’t wait for an answer. “The police are on their way to pick you up. I can help, but you need to do something for me in return.”
Aaron’s terrified gaze lifted to mine. “Why would you do that?”
“Because I suspect you’re as much a pawn as the kids Luke hires to run his scams. You get paid more because you let him fuck you. You keep both his dirty secrets. Am I right?”
Aaron’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He didn’t confirm or deny the truth, but I knew.
“You’re nothing but a paid whore, Aaron, and you’re going to end up in prison because of it. He doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself and his money. I can’t make the charges go away, but I can tell you how to make it better for yourself.”
“How?”
“No way. First, you make me a deal.”
“What?” He glanced down the road at the sound of a distant car approaching. No sirens blared, no lights flashed, but the sight of a police vehicle at the end of the street made him stiffen. “Tell me. I’ll do whatever you say. I swear.”
“Cooperate.”
“I am. I will.”
“No, I mean cooperate with the police. Cut a deal. Give them everything they ask for. Hand over the file boxes. Tell them everything you know about Lukyan and his operation. You throw that motherfucker under the bus in exchange for a lighter sentence. They’ll grant it.
You’re a minor player compared to him. He’s who they want.
You might get a year. Two at most. With good behavior, they’ll let you out in six months.
” I didn’t know if this was true, but it sounded good enough to bait him.
“How does that help you?”
“When you give them a list of people who are involved, you leave Darcy Gingrick out of it.”
“Who?”
“The kid you shadowed at Evergreen. The one who helped set up the scam against Elwood Scarrow. Eject his name from your memory. Give them a false lead if you have to. I don’t care.
If the police come for him, I’ll come for you.
Understand? It won’t matter if you’re behind bars.
I will get to you. I will fucking kill you. Do you understand?”
I was not a violent man. Not anymore. The thought of murder made me sick, but I knew how I came across to people, and Aaron was adequately afraid.
“Darcy Gingrick. Got it. Never heard of him.”
“That’s right. Keep it that way.”
The police car parked at the end of the driveway. Two constables emerged. “Is one of you folks Aaron Daily?”
Without breaking eye contact, Aaron said, “That would be me.”