Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Ezekiel
“She was supposed to come in yesterday to prepare for a special performance.” Malachi and I are walking down the corridor, heading to meet the two detectives that are waiting for us at the bar.
“Jena said she received a message from Diana claiming that she’s sick and telling her she couldn’t make it. ”
“And Jena didn’t think this was something worth reporting?”
“She did,” he continues. “She emailed you, but it got buried between the numerous spam emails you receive on a daily basis from brands hoping to collaborate with Eden.”
“Damn it,” I run my fingers through my hair. “Who replaced Diana for the performance?”
“Mia,” Malachi explains. “It was a last-minute change and Mia volunteered to do it. All of the senior dancers were already working on their own performances so aside from Mia and your new friend, there was no one else available.”
“She’s not my friend.”
My blood boils at the way he says those words.
Your new friend. Riley is anything but my friend.
I’m keeping her close so I can keep my eye on her.
Yes, it’s true that I no longer think she’s involved in any of this, especially after seeing how freaked out she was a minute earlier after finding out Diana was missing.
But that doesn’t change the fact that she could cause us trouble if she opens her mouth when she shouldn’t.
“You should still be careful,” he says. “I don’t know if we can trust anyone at this point.”
We arrive at the bar where the detectives are waiting for us, so I don’t say anything to my brother, even though I agree about not being sure if we can trust anyone at this point. The two detectives are seated at the VIP booth in the corner and I notice each has a glass of club soda in front them.
“We appreciate you taking the time to speak with us, we know how busy you are,” the female detective says. She looks to be in her mid-thirties, and wise for her age.
“Not a problem at all,” I respond as my brother and I sit across from them.
“I’m detective Burgess, this is my partner, detective Salvatore.”
“We appreciate you coming all the way here,” Malachi speaks. “We should get this solved as fast as we can. It’s in our best interest that you find Diana as soon as possible.” His voice is cold and put together.
“And for that to happen, we need your full cooperation,” the male detective, detective Salvatore says. “It’s come to our knowledge that miss Diana was last seen here.”
“You can see how this doesn’t look so good for either of you, or the club,” Detective Burgess adds. “This is the third girl who worked here that has gone missing.”
And this is exactly what I feared, them showing up at Eden and starting to ask questions.
Even though they’re being polite, it’s not a secret that the reason they came here is because we’re on the radar as suspects.
The moment the word gets out, we’re screwed.
Our family name is and Eden are screwed.
“We’re shocked,” Malachi responds, as always being the one keeping it together even if his blood is boiling with anger. “And we’re willing to do everything in our power to help you find the girls. Hopefully unharmed.”
“That’s the goal,” Detective Salvatore nods.
“What can we do to help?” I ask.
“When was the last time you two saw Diana?” Detective Burgess asks.
“It was yesterday.” The memory of her performing the routine on stage with Riley is blurry in my head. My full attention was on Riley, but I don’t remember seeing her after that. “It was during the dance rehearsal.”
“Did she act strange, or maybe make some comment that was unlike her?”
“I don’t think so,” I shake my head. “She was with Jena, the one in charge of the performances, and the rest of the girls. It was a normal day at work.”
“What about you?” Detective Burgess turns to Malachi.
“I saw her maybe a week ago,” he explains. “I spend most of my time at the office downtown, so I rarely cross paths with any of our employees at Eden.”
“I see,” Detective Burgess nods. “Would it be okay if we speak with the other employees here? Maybe someone will know something that could be useful.”
“Especially since it’s not the first disappearance,” Detective Salvatore adds.
“Of course,” Malachi says. “Not a problem at all.”
“Is there anything else that we can do?” I ask, impatient about getting the hell out of here and starting my own investigation.
The previous times we managed to bury everything since they didn’t have enough to tie the missing girls to us, and we kept the police away.
My family has enough power to perform just as good of an investigation as the police, if not better, so we didn’t need them.
We don’t need them now either, if anything, they’re going to slow us down. But this time, we can’t avoid them.
“Since you asked, it would be of great help if you could share the security footage from the last couple of days,” Detective Salvatore leans in, probably used to people falling for his intimidation tactics.
“When it comes to the footage from inside the club, such as the private spaces, we cannot share it without a warrant,” Malachi copies his pose and leans forward. “Even though we want to find Diana and the other missing girls, we also cannot compromise the trust that our clients have put in us.”
“However, we can share the footage from the bar and the club entrance,” I add and my brother nods in agreement.
“Those are good enough for us,” Detective Burgess smiles politely.
“So, we’ll have someone bring the footage over to the police station by the end of the day,” Malachi says. “If that’s all, we have a meeting soon.”
“Of course, go ahead,” Detective Burges replies. “We’ll stick around for a chat with the rest of the employees and then we’ll be out of your hair.”
“Sounds good,” I get up, ready to get the hell out of here and my brother follows. “Thank you, and I hope you find the girls.”
“We’ll do our best,” Detective Salvatore nods.
Once we’re far enough from the bar, I slam my fist into the wall, causing my brother to jump backwards in surprise. I have no idea how I managed to keep my cool in there when all I wanted was to get out on the street and chase whoever is doing this.
“Calm down,” Malachi speaks. “We don’t need anyone witnessing your reaction.”
“How can I calm down when Eden is falling apart?” I hiss.
“The same way I’m keeping my cool,” Malachi’s eyes widen as he takes a step closer to me.
“Leonardo Mancuso is waiting for us in the conference room. It’s bad enough that we made him wait and that we have two annoying detectives investigating our staff as we speak.
You don’t want to get on his bad side and ruin the friendship between the Mancusos and the Kavanaghs. ”
“You’re right,” I hate to admit it, but the family of the Italian Don and our family have been close friends for years. Ruining that now would be stupid. “But when I find out who is responsible for all of this, I will personally make sure they pay for it.”
“I have no doubt you will,” Malachi laughs, his laughter dry and just a little twisted. “For now, let’s see if Leonardo has experienced any similar problems at his club.”
As soon as I open the conference room door, Leonardo greets us with the familiar warm smile on his face.
“Ragazzi!”
“Leonardo,” I go in for a handshake so when he pulls me into a half-hug, for a moment I stiffen but then go through with it. Malachi seems to have a much easier time greeting our guest.
“It’s been a while, how have you been?” The funny part about all of this is that anyone seeing Leonardo would assume he’s an elementary school teacher, or maybe a professional chef.
Out of all the mafia bosses I have crossed paths with in my life, Leonardo is the one that looks nothing like his role.
“Can’t complain,” I say. “No one’s managed to shoot me yet.”
But they did stab you.
“How’s Rome treating you?” Malachi cuts in, appalled by my joke. “I hear your flight was smooth.”
“Oh, as much as I love Italy, there is nothing like flying back to America,” He grins. “It pains me to admit it, but this has become my home.”
“Glad you’re happy to be back,” I lean in, my elbows resting on the round table in the conference room. “And I’m really glad you had time to drop by.”
“Anything for my favorite ragazzi!” He leans back in his chair, and then quickly adds. “Don’t tell your brothers I said that.”
“We won’t,” Malachi smiles politely.
“I hear some of your girls went missing.” Of course he was going to bring it up. Especially with the police on my ass, a man like Leonardo would never miss something so huge. “What’s that all about? Do you have any leads?”
“Nothing, unfortunately,” I reply. “But I’m hopeful that we will find whoever is responsible for it soon.”
“That’s one of the things we were hoping to discuss with you,” Malachi adds.
“But with the police involved, it’s not good,” Leonardo’s face is filled with genuine terror. “You must make sure to remain in charge. Don’t let them take over, there are more dirty cops in this town than honest criminals.”
“I was thinking the same thing,” I speak, pouring a glass of bourbon for myself and then handing the bottle to my brother.
Leonardo already has a drink and the two men behind him, his bodyguards, don’t drink on duty.
I don’t think I ever saw them show any emotion on their faces.
I’m not even sure they’re human, and coming from me that says a lot.
“I’m taking care of that and making sure things remain in our control,” Malachi’s tone is confident and he takes a sip of his drink.
“Leonardo,” I say, leaning back with the drink in my hand even though I haven’t taken a sip yet. “I wanted to ask if anything similar has ever happened in one of your clubs over the years.”
Leonardo’s family has been in the business for a long time. If anyone had a similar experience, it would be him. Or at least, he might have heard about something like it.
“Do you think that this might be related to human trafficking?” Leonardo raises an eyebrow, intrigued.
“The thought has crossed my mind,” I admit. It wouldn’t be the first time those people go after strippers. Their job already puts them in a high-risk profile.
“Sorry, ragazzi,” Leonardo shakes his head. “I would love to have some useful information for you. But I never heard of anything like this happening at any of my clubs. Nor at my friends’ places.”
“Would you be willing to give us a call if you do hear something?” Malachi asks.
“Of course, figlio mio,” Leonardo nods, taking the final sip of his drink. “I’ll keep an eye out for any information that could be useful to you.”
“Thank you, Leonardo. We truly appreciate it.”