Chapter 3
Three
The basketball bounced off red brick and sent a dusting of concrete into the air.
Luca snatched the ball and turned, tossing it toward the basket so that it sailed over Hammer’s head.
It bounced off the rim and sank into the net.
Overhead, the night sky was threaded with clouds obscuring whatever stars might be visible.
Probably he should start thinking of the guy as “Rowan,” since that’s how everyone here referred to Hammer.
“Looks like I’m going to win.” He raced over to face off with Hammer, who bounced the ball, doing that steady stare thing. Trying to psych out Luca because he knew he wouldn’t win unless he threw Luca off his game.
“You always say that in every game, and then you end up losing.” Hammer bounced the ball a couple more times, then faked out Luca and made a run for the net.
There was something about basketball that enabled him to push out everything that was happening and focus on the physical exertion. Challenging both of them. He and Hammer had been doing this for years, whenever they could. Though less now that Hammer was married with a kid and a baby on the way.
Luca wasn’t going to begrudge the guy not spending as much time with a ball in his hands in favor of being with his family.
But Luca needed the moment of clarity that came when he saw Hammer’s move coming, intercepted it, and got the ball.
When there was nothing in his mind but the game and anticipating his friend’s move.
Besting him. Luca turned and gave the jump shot everything he had.
Hammer whistled. “That was sweet.”
Luca wandered over and got the ball. He wanted to gloat, but what came out of his mouth was “I went to see Jenkins today.”
Hammer’s brows rose.
“Detective Martinelli is still trying to get information out of him.” Luca wandered over and set the ball next to the dumpster by the back door of the Chinese restaurant. The one below the office space he rented.
Way too much room for one guy, but commercial rentals in this city were hard to come by if you didn’t have two hundred employees.
The two-thousand-square-foot apartment had been converted into a travel agency years ago, but it had gone bust and they’d left everything behind—including a prehistoric printer that didn’t work but liked to rattle at random moments.
The back door banged open, and Andrew, the restaurant owner’s oldest son, came out. His jet-black hair had been cut super short on the sides but left to hang long over his eyebrows. The kid sniffed and lifted his head. “Hey.” He swung the bulging trash bag and tossed it into the dumpster.
Luca said, “How’s it going?”
“Can’t complain.” Andrew grabbed the door handle and swung it open, heading back inside.
Luca called out, “Have a good one.”
Andrew waved a hand over his shoulder before the door shut.
Hammer slapped a hand down on Luca’s shoulder. “You have such a way with people.”
“It’s a gift.”
The fact was, he spoke more with Andrew’s elderly uncle than anyone else who worked in the restaurant.
They played checkers every Wednesday afternoon before the older man went downstairs to the restaurant to prep for the weekend.
He had caught Andrew tossing the basketball through the hoop a few times, which was why Luca left the ball out on purpose now.
“I have all the friends that I need in this city. Everyone else is considered a suspect until they get ruled out.” He opened the door for Hammer, and they both headed inside, taking the stairs up to the second-floor apartment.
Hammer went to the refrigerator in the kitchen and grabbed two bottled waters, one of which he tossed across the breakfast bar.
Luca didn’t twist off the lid just yet. “I noticed you didn’t argue with me that everyone in this city is a suspect.”
Hammer finished the water bottle, his throat working as he drained the last drops. When he lowered the water bottle and crunched it between his hands, he said, “Not sure I disagree with you. Even if there are some people I’d love to trust and believe in.”
“You have roots in this city and people you’ve known since you were a kid. There are plenty of good folks here.”
“I’m glad. Because I trust them with Huck when I’m not around. And I’m going to be trusting them with Sierra and the care of my baby. Hospital staff. The nursery people at church. Teachers and staff at the school. I can’t be around the kids twenty-four seven to make sure they’re protected.”
Luca got a read on his friend’s body language. “We know more than most people that the world is a dangerous place. But that’s why you do what you can to make it safe, so you don’t have to worry about the worst things happening. You can just rest in the peace that you did what you could.”
“And God will cover the rest.” Hammer folded his arms, leaning his hip against the counter.
Luca nodded. He hadn’t accounted for that part, but he should have. His faith was a new thing and not so natural yet. Right now, it was another item on his to-do list, like studying the Bible and going to church. Once he had all those boxes checked, he would find that peace he’d been looking for.
“Alden is in prison now, and he isn’t getting out anytime soon. So that’s one part of it you don’t have to worry about.” Once Luca took down the rest of the Shadow Syndicate, Hammer would be able to breathe even easier.
His family would be a little bit safer.
“What did he have to say to you?”
Luca shrugged. “He’s still pretty tight-lipped about this whole shadow syndicate thing. Enough for me to wonder if Rousseau was only throwing us off, sending us on a wild-goose chase when there’s actually nothing to it.”
Just because it wasn’t a good theory didn’t mean he should outright dismiss it, but Luca wasn’t going to base anything on the idea. It was far more likely both men knew who was behind the Shadow Syndicate and were refusing to talk out of fear.
Luca grabbed his phone off the breakfast bar and checked it, but Mack hadn’t called him back. “Any idea where your brother is?”
Hammer pulled out his own phone. “Looks like he’s at work. His GPS has him at the ambulance station.”
“Thanks. That explains why he hasn’t called me back.” The kid didn’t usually answer his phone, or even look at it much, if he was on shift as a rookie EMT. “Alden told me he’ll give us information about the Shadow Syndicate if Mack agrees to come and see him.”
Hammer winced. “I have no idea what the kid is gonna say to that. He’s been avoiding the whole subject of his dad for the past few months, telling me he was just focusing on getting his certification and becoming an EMT.
But we all know it was a smokescreen. Sooner or later, he’s going to have to deal with the fact that the father he thought he had doesn’t even exist.”
“Getting him to go talk to Alden might be the only way to get this case moving again.” Luca wandered across the waiting area, past the conference table he’d put in the center of the room, to his office in the corner.
Not the one he used to have private conversations with clients, but the spot where he actually did most of his work.
Two of the walls were now covered in newspaper articles, copies of police files, and every other piece of evidence he’d managed to assemble related to this case. A ratty armchair in the corner was the only piece of furniture.
“It feels like we’re spinning our wheels. And I’m wondering why I ever thought I could actually be an investigator.”
Hammer clapped him on the shoulder, then went to look at the information, even though Luca knew he’d read it all several times before.
A lot of it was his lived experience, like the newspaper article that detailed the fire where Sierra and Huck had almost died.
“You love puzzles and figuring stuff out.”
“This is definitely a puzzle, but I don’t have enough pieces to see what the picture is. And I haven’t even started figuring out how to put them together.”
“If getting Mack to talk to Alden is what does it, then the kid is just going to have to suck it up and face his dad.”
Saxon turned to his buddy. “Practicing your drawing-the-line dad speeches?”
“It’s easier with Mack, that’s for sure. Huck looks at me with those big eyes, and all I can think is how much of his life I’ve missed. Sierra keeps calling me on it, saying I’m being too easygoing with him.” Hammer lifted his hand and squeezed the back of his neck.
“It hasn’t been long, and she’s been raising him for ten years.”
Hammer might be the kid’s father, but he was new to the dad game. Meanwhile, Sierra had done an amazing job teaching Huck everything he needed to know to be Luca’s favorite kid. Not that he was biased or anything.
Actually, he was hoping they would ask him to be godfather to their baby.
“We’ll figure it out.” Hammer sighed. “Want me to talk to Mack?”
Luca shook his head. “I’ve got it. I’ll track him down and have a face-to-face. You go home and enjoy your time with your family.”
“Sure?”
Luca nodded. “Tomorrow I’ll probably try to track down Ralph and ask him more questions about what he told us. See what else he might have to say about this shadow syndicate.”
Hammer headed out, leaving Luca with his wall of puzzle pieces that didn’t fit.
And the burning need to do what he could to ensure Hammer’s family was safe.
It was what life had instilled in him. Spending his childhood looking out for his brother, whether Amir cared to remember or not.
Taking care of things after his father…Joining the military so he could be someone else and build a different life than the one he’d been working on. Then it all went wrong.
Betrayed by one of their teammates.
Reported killed in action.