15. Miceli #2
Ellory nodded as he stood. “Point taken. I guess I will have that drink after all.” He crossed to the liquor cabinet. “Where are your guests?”
“I didn’t ask them to come. They’re exhausted and healing. We should talk awhile before I send for them.” I glanced at the Agent Di Angelo. “When I’m satisfied I won’t have to kill anyone, then I’ll decide when he meets our guests?”
Rocco threw the used wipes in the trash can beside my desk, his tattoo now revealed to my PI friend.
“Ellory said you have some information on the Hollis murders. Can we begin there since that has been the agency's focus for the last year?” He pulled a small notebook from the inside pocket of his government salary suit. Not the ones we both knew he’d become accustomed to over the years.
“Fine,” I agreed. “Have you checked Theo Hollis’ office for any type of recording device? Cameras or audio?” If he wanted to play the agent for now, I’d allow it. I’d press for more direct answers later when things were settled between the three of us.
Rocco stared at me. His topaz eyes were vacant, holding none of the answers I needed, or he carefully shielded himself from giving anything away.
Neither of which would endear me to him, especially when I knew the truth about him.
When he didn’t speak, I looked to Ellory, who gulped down the rest of his drink, appearing a tad bit anxious before pouring himself another finger of whiskey then returning to his seat.
Good, if he was nervous, that meant my plan was working.
“Agent,” I snapped, growing tired of his inability to answer the question.
A simple yes or no would suffice for the moment.
“I see no need to continue this conversation if we can’t be frank with each other.
We were co-workers at one time, as it stands.
The point of you being here is to grant some assurances for the two people staying in my guest cottage, both of whom are tired of running. ”
“You said you would help,” Ellory pushed. “Don’t make me lose face here with my friend Rocco. Particularly, after you lied to me about you really are.”
“No.” Di Angelo frowned. The simple answer didn’t go far enough. I wanted more.
“No? Never?” If the agency is saying no, does that mean police haven’t either?
Rocco cleared his throat. “The police have been tight-lipped about the case. They went against the bureau’s wishes when they announced Stephanie Hollis was dead a few months ago, along with saying her brother died the day her parents were murdered. We’re not working with them.”
Finally, an answer. “Do you believe they are dirty or someone within the higher up ranks is dirty?”
He frowned again. I’d hit a sore spot. “That’s a complicated answer.”
“No, it’s not. I knew several officers were on the take with different families.
Their inability to clean house for this case is telling.
” Yes, I had eyes within the department as well, but I never asked for anything illegal to be done for me.
I only cared about information I could use against other families and then for my Rosalina after her death.
Agent Di Angelo—that still stuck in my craw—cut his gaze to Ellory, who shrugged, giving a curt nod. “There is a virus infecting the police department, slowly spreading to even the officers who have the best of intentions.”
I hummed, acknowledging what I’d already figured out over the years. “Indeed, there is. It’s a pervasive sickness within the ranks. Someone should cut the cancer out before it continues to spread.”
“Likely wouldn’t happen,” Rocco grunted. “There are protections in place. Umbrellas open. Several families at the table who pay too much for their protection.”
Again, not something I didn’t know. However, the confirmation bolstered my confidence in Rocco. “So, you’re hoping to bypass them by gathering information from me?”
“Among others,” he agreed.
“Kira.” He didn’t have to say another word.
Her world had blown up in her face longer ago than mine had.
She’d been a bebe when she began her retribution plot.
Sixteen, getting ready to go to graduate the following year and start college.
Then her world imploded. She single-handedly razed the ground within her family, along with those she knew without a doubt had something to do with her family’s murder.
Had we, the Bloody Anarchists, not stepped in to cool her yearning for blood, we would have all gone down because the body count was that high.
I couldn’t allow her grief to snuff us all out.
“Again,” Rocco stated, cutting off me off before I could delve deeper.
“You should know her brother is making incredible strides within the Oak View 9.” Rocco’s hands flexed into fists, and I knew I had him. “Onyx runs a tight ship, but the boy has spirit.”
“Stop baiting him, Miceli,” Ellory admonished. “This isn’t the road we should be on.”
No, it wasn’t. However, we all understood how he left Kira after the tragedy.
More so when he popped up as the right hand of Sebastian Goff at the Southside 9’s table.
The weasel was like a fucking chameleon, changing his colors as he pleased or as the agency directed him.
He had no loyalty to any of us anymore. I suspected he never did, considering the fact he was in a fucking suit.
“Dick measuring isn’t getting us anywhere,” Rocco said. “Now, what’s with the question about Theo’s office?”
Fine, I was going tired of the games, anyway.
“First, if I find out you are luring the people who are here into a trap to have them killed or to kill them yourself, I will find you and I will make your execution a slow, torturous event everyone can watch. Then, I will out your status as an FBI agent to the Table. Understood?” I wasn’t bluffing.
His death would last for hours. I’d take perverse pleasure in it because I’d have nothing left.
He swallowed hard. “This isn’t a trap. I wouldn’t have come if I wasn’t serious about helping find who killed Theo. He was a good man and an outstanding agent.”
Yes, everything I knew about Theo was the same. He worked hard. Been dedicated to his family. Loved his wife with such abandon, they were sickening sweet together. He lived for his children and would die for them, too. “We believe there could be footage of whoever killed Theo.”
“In his office?” Rocco perked up. “Shit. No wonder the police were so fucking tight lipped.” He blew out a breath. “It would help if we had some clue, some piece of information... A crumb. Right now, we all have our fingers in our asses.”
Didn’t need that visual. I flicked a glance at Ellory.
Of everyone within the Table who could destroy me, it was the man sitting across from me, who had the most dirt on me as well.
“I need assurances for this next part. Also, I need to know what Theo was about to expose before I’ll give you any type of evidence I may have. ”
“Understandable. I won’t jump and give them without consideration, however,” Rocco stated. “You’d know I was lying then.”
“Exactly.”
“Off the record,” Rocco began, “Alphonso Tripoli, Ricardo Valentino, and Salvatore Bianchi have been laundering money for the Russian mob for the last sixteen years. Them along with several Bratva ties, have been using their businesses to siphon money back to Russia to help facilitate some of the propaganda you see here today in the news and on social media. They have also been funding the separatist movement in Crimea. Then about three months ago, there was rumblings of other bigger moves being made. What they are or where they’re happening, I can’t say for sure. ”
The. Fuck?
Ellory whistled.
“Do the other families know about this?” I prodded, wondering how deep this little scam of theirs ran.
“I don’t believe so. Theo has always been the accountant most of the families have used. He is one of us. However, when the FBI saw a man as dedicated as Theo was to his family, well... You know the rest.”
Yes, I did. The FBI took advantage of a vulnerable person.
In the meantime, the agency was wholly responsible for getting Theo Hollis and his wife, Silvia, killed.
Bastards. However, Rocco’s candor allowed a glimpse of the inner machinations of the Table.
Like the police department, we too had a cancerous growth that needed lancing.
“Do you suspect Kira is involved in this mess?”
Rocco shook his head. “No. Her stakes are in gambling and strip clubs. She’d never willing pimp her family name out.”
I’d thought the same. It was good to hear my assumption and assertions were spot on for her. “What if I told you, hypothetically speaking, Stephanie and Kyle Hollis are very much alive. In fact, so much alive, I know where they are?”
“Son of a bitch,” Rocco said on an exhale. “They’re here, aren’t they? They’re the guests you keep talking about.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “Fuck. This complicates everything.”
As I figured it would. “I won’t answer your question. However, if they were here, would it make getting back into the Hollis home easier for the bureau?”
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, it would. It might also get them killed. It would definitely bring the police back into the investigation. I don’t like that many variables dangling.”
“I know this all too well. There was another attempt on her life.” Several if I went by what Stephanie told me over the last few days. “I believe Brooke Jennings was the one who told Alphonso Tripoli of Stephanie and Kyle Hollis’ whereabouts.”
Rocco’s features went blank. The subtle flicker of knowing something I might not, or agreeing with me on who blabbed flashed in his eyes before darkening once more. “You believe it was Tripoli who had Theo and Sylvia killed?”
“Possibly.” I shrugged. “Could have been Valentino too. Bianchi perhaps, now that I have the full picture of what’s going on.
” Grabbing the files I’d locked away when I first stepped into my office, I pulled them out, placing them on my desk.
“I have more for you.” Handing them over to a man I knew could be the enemy, went against everything I held sacred.
However, the enemy of my enemy could be my friend.
At least, for the moment. “I am giving you this— trusting you with my dead wife. Help me nail those bastards to the wall, and I’ll introduce you to Stephanie Hollis. ”
Rocco accepted the files from me. His features were set in a determined line. His gaze hardened by the information and faith I’d had in him. “You won’t kill them, then?”
Oh, I’d been tempted, but I didn’t need the attention.
Taking out minions here and there, sure.
Full-on war between the families? Well, I’d helped Kira step back from that ledge already.
It would be hypocritical if I did the same as she tried to do all those years ago. “No. You can thank Kira for that.”
“I understand. And you’re sure it’s these two men?” He tapped the files with this thumb as he stared at me.
“Yes. I’ve been planning my revenge for years.”
“Revenge is best served cold,” Ellory muttered. “I’ll vouch for the file. I helped Miceli build the case. Everything there is verifiable.”
“Do you believe we can close both cases with what’s here and what we can find in Theo’s office at the Hollis home?” There was the agent I could grow to hate.
“Yes. Without a doubt. I wouldn’t have asked Ellory to facility this meeting between us if I didn’t think so.
” Stephanie deserved to know the truth and reclaim her life as well.
Vendettas aside, innocent people had been destroyed by the Table’s actions.
It was time to change how this game was played.
“The only thing I ask is that you leave my name, my associates, and my business out of the investigation. Yes, with the death of Rosalina, I will be forced to make a statement, but the rest... I’d like to live a simple life, Agent Di Angelo. ”
He nodded, catching my drift. “Yes. If you help us, I will guarantee you and anyone associated with you will be left out of the investigation.”
“Fine.” I went to the door where Robbie stood. “Get Stephanie and Kyle and bring them to my office. Don’t tell them why.”
“On it, boss.” Robbie glanced over his shoulder. “You sure about Di Angelo?”
“I guess we’re about to find out.”