Chapter 40
forty
LOGAN
I’ve always thought of Max as an unassuming guy. In any group, he drops into the background. If he made any effort, he’d stand out. He’s good-looking, scary-smart, and can find out anything about anyone in less time than it takes me to make a cup of tea. But he’d rather be wallpaper.
He’s not unassuming today. He’s angry. It crackles off him as he sets up at the dining table, unfolding keyboards and screens.
“You hacked Presbyterian, didn’t you?” I ask.
“Yes,” he says curtly.
“And?”
“And Theo’s password was laughably easy to crack.
Mother’s maiden name and date of birth. Seriously?
Someone should slap his IT department. I got into his investigation file.
He barely has enough to hold the five he’s brought in for questioning.
The only one he’s got enough to charge is Emmett.
Unless someone rolls over, these assholes are going to walk.
His file on Drew is three pages long. Background and bullshit.
Nothing to hang the fucker with. He’s too slippery. ”
I glance at our girls, who are in front of the television, watching a movie and playing Chutes and Ladders with True. They may be little but their ears are big. I appreciate that Max hasn’t detailed Fleur’s injuries in front of them.
“Okay.” I acknowledge his anger with a pat on the shoulder. “What are we doing?”
“We’re getting leverage. Two possibilities.
That Hans asshole is in the middle of an ugly custody battle.
If I can tie him to anything, we threaten to turn it over to his wife’s divorce lawyer.
She’s a shark; if he’s not careful, he’ll never see his kids again.
The other one is a long-shot. There are five years between Drew graduating from Mary Mann Academy and graduating from Cornell.
He might have taken a gap year but that doesn’t seem like his family’s style.
They’re all fucking overachievers. I’m hoping he had an involuntary sabbatical during his time at Cornell.
If there’s an allegation of sexual assault that can’t be substantiated, that’s the way a lot of these colleges deal with the offender. ”
“Jack went to Cornell,” I remember.
“I know. I’m hacking into their student records through his alumni email.”
I shake my head. Max is fucking scary; I’m glad he’s on my side.
I make a pot of coffee and let him work.
Myles doesn’t emerge from Emily’s little room until the onions Emily’s frying for dinner waft upstairs. The shower goes on briefly. He stumbles downstairs looking like he still needs another eight hours of sleep.
Max clears enough of the table for Emily to serve dinner.
The mood around the table’s subdued. Max has spent most of the afternoon grunting in frustration.
Twice, he texted phone numbers and a brief list of questions to me.
I holed up in my office to do the interviews.
I thought we were getting closer when the second call was to a woman named Mary Roberts who confirmed that she knew Drew at Cornell.
As soon as I began asking about his year off, she hung up and blocked my number.
We don’t have time for dead-ends.
After dinner, I sit at the end of the table among Max’s electronics with Myles, Max, Mac, and Jiro. Max gives us a low-voiced update of what he’s been able to find today, although it’s not much more than he told me this morning.
“Drew’s year off definitely wasn’t voluntary,” Max says, tapping a white stylus against his palm.
“But the disciplinary file attached to his student records isn’t digital.
There’s just a reference number. It’s got to be to a paper file.
Short of going to Cornell and getting that file, I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to find out. We need a witness.”
“What if we turn Mary Roberts over to Theo? See if he can get her to talk?” I suggest.
“Burns me unless you can figure out another credible way we found her,” Max says.
“Drew and Jack are how many years apart?”
“Three. They overlapped at Cornell by a year.”
“Friend of a friend?” I suggest. “Jack remembers something about Drew when he overhears us talking about him?”
“Plausible,” Myles says, turning his coffee cup around in his hands. That’s his third cup since he woke up. I don’t think he intends to sleep tonight.
“I’ll run it by Jack,” I offer.
Myles nods. “I think it’s time to discuss Plan B.”
“What’s Plan B?” I ask.
Myles lifts his head and looks straight at Jiro. “If you have moral concerns, now would be the time to leave.”
Jiro holds Myles’ gaze. “I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Myles watches Jiro for a moment, then nods.
“Andrew Selman has substantial resources. A personal fortune in excess of three million and on his mother’s side of the family, access to another fifteen or twenty million through immediate relatives.
Not all of that is liquid, of course but it’s certainly enough to get him out of the States and set up in a non-extradition country for an extended period.
We’re only going to get one chance at him.
If Theo arrests him and he makes bail, he’s gone. ”
Jiro, Max, Mac, and I nod.
“I have no definitive proof that Drew had anything to do with Fleur’s injuries,” Myles continues.
“Fleur was given a cocktail of rohypnol and heroin. The likelihood she’ll remember much about the attack is low, whenever she finally wakes up.
The only things tying her attack to Drew are that he tried to get her to scene outside the club with him shortly before she disappeared; he knew she was leaving the safety of the club; and the combination of drugs she was given, which is very similar to what Cappa was dosed with. It’s all circumstantial.”
“It may be circumstantial but I think we all know he either did it himself or was involved,” I say. “He’s the alpha of this fucking Wolfpack. Everything’s been done at his instigation or on his order.”
“I’m still trying to get the CCTV footage from the New Jersey hospital,” Max tells us.
“But if he’s smart, and I think we can all agree he is, he won’t have used his own car.
He may have worn a disguise or gotten a lower-level wolfpack member to take her into the ER.
I’m not sure we’re going to get anything useable. ”
Myles turns his coffee cup around between his hands for a long moment. “Plan B involves not waiting for proof.”
There’s another round of nods.
My phone buzzes with an incoming text. I take it out and glance at it.
“Damn. Theo’s on the way with Javier and Dana. Max, tell me what to pack up.”
Max shakes his head. “Don’t you touch my rig.” He raises his voice. “Cynnie, baby? Help me pack double-time.”
With the help of Cynnie and Emily—who is evidently allowed to touch Max’s electronics even though I’m not—Max has everything but a very ordinary-looking laptop packed away by the time the door rings.
Theo looks even more in need of sleep than Myles. Javier’s as pale as I’ve ever seen his usually swarthy self and Dana keeps making fists, then flexing her hands like she’s fighting off the urge to hit someone.
I usher the Doms into my office.
“Fleur’s not awake yet,” Javier says when everyone’s chosen a seat, or a place to lean, around the room. “But her doctors say her vitals are rising. She may wake tomorrow or the next day.”
“Rota’s ready,” Dana offers from where she’s leaning against my bookcase, still flexing her hands. “Austin and I will organize transportation to the hospital for each shift.”
Javier nods. “Feel free to make liberal use of the limo.”
“I will,” Dana confirms.
“I’ve got five of the Wolfpack in lockup,” Theo says.
“I can hold them for maybe seventy-two hours if I stretch it out. Less if they get decent lawyers. Emmett’s lawyer is dragging his heels, negotiating for a reduced sentence, before he’ll let Emmett say anything.
Jared Carr’s cooperating but he was a low-level pack member, what they call an omega.
He wasn’t trusted with anything yet, so he can only testify about the recruitment process and what he saw at Blunts.
I honestly think Drew was only interested in him because he’s one of those tech millionaires.
None of the other wolfpack members could afford membership at Blunts.
The guy doesn’t seem like he has the stomach for the Wolfpack’s activities. ”
He falls silent, rubbing his eyes.
“Have you heard anything from Ten?” I ask gently.
Theo nods. “He’s in Maine. I tracked Drew’s plate to Boston. Ten thinks he took a train from Boston to Bangor. His family used to have a house on the river; he spent summers there in college. Knows the area.”
“Has he spotted Drew?” I ask.
Theo shakes his head. “Best lead we have, though. If I can get enough for a warrant, I was going to send it along the wire to Bangor P.D.”
I glance at Myles, remembering what he said about having one chance. He’s watching me. He shakes his head.
I look back at Theo. “How much sleep have you had, mate?”
Theo waves his hand. “I’m in this for the duration.”
Javier shifts in his chair to rest his hand on Theo’s shoulder. “You’re no good to her if your judgment is clouded by exhaustion.”
“Some energy drinks and a dozen aspirin and I’ll be fine,” Theo grumbles.
I meet Javier’s eyes. He nods. I can leave wrangling our guilt-ridden detective to him.
“I think we should call it a night,” I say to everyone. “Theo, if you’d leave the burner you’re using to communicate with Ten, I’ll take point on communications tonight.”
Theo’s jaw sets. “I’m not going anywhere. I know what you’re doing, Lo. You asked me to be more Dom and less cop dealing with True and I did.”
“And I appreciate it. This is not the same. This is not putting down your badge for a couple of hours and then picking it up again. This is different.”