I waved my hand in the air. “Cops in this city will always be dirty so long as there are men like Pava Moretti out on the street. Again, I’m not asking anyone to turn. I’m asking that your overtime be paid by me in exchange for your best clean men to reopen this case and give it another look.”
He glared at me. “Overtime?”
“Yep.”
“For all of my men that touch this.”
“All of them.”
“And we don’t owe you anything?”
I shrugged. “All you’ll owe me is the actual verdict, and whoever it is that staged this to look like an accident.”
He nodded slowly. “And if someone who staged the accident is one of my men?”
“Then, I guess your department isn’t as ‘dirty cop free’ as you think.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right. Yes. Okay. I’ll re-open the case.”
I nodded. “Wonderful. All of my contact information is at the back of that folder. I want to be kept up to date as quickly as you have new information. Understood?”
“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”
I stood to my feet. “And Chief?”
“Yeah?”
“I want this done right. The woman who’s paying for this is a good woman. I want to give her closure.”
“You have my word she’ll get it.”
I turned toward his office door. “I sincerely hope you’re right.”
I made my way out into the hallway and headed back for the front doors of the precinct. Even though the officer behind the plexiglass stared at me from the front desk as if I’d grown a fourth head, I nodded my appreciation to him anyway. No use in coming off like a dick since we had enough of those in town. However, the second I walked to my town car, I saw a very familiar figure leaning against it.
And the sight of Pava made me sick.
He grinned. “Israel. Fancy meeting you here.”
I swallowed down the urge to put a bullet in his head as I approached. “Pava. I didn’t realize we were on a first-name basis.”
He chuckled. “Cute.”
I drew in a deep breath. “Did you come here with a threat? Or a punch? Or more snipers? Because it really is growing old, and I have a date to keep.”
“Just came here with a warning, that’s all.”
I opened the door of my car. “Then, spit it out so I can go on about my business.”
He stared me down. “You keep that woman of yours in check. You hear me?”
I smirked. “You mean, the woman you raised and claimed to love? That woman?”
He growled. “Keep her in her place, or war is coming. A war unlike anything your family has ever seen.”
I looked over at him, leveling him with a heated stare. “War was inevitable after what you did. After what you’ve already done. And I promise you; you will pay heavily for it. You and your family.”
He snorted. “Are you really still upset over the fact that you married Bonnie and not my daughter? Are we really stuck on that?”
“It’s cute you think I’m even mentioning that in the first place.”
His face fell. “Well, if you don’t want to keep her on a leash, then why don’t I extend the idea of a peace offering?”
“In exchange for…?”
“Two hours alone with Bonnie.”
What is wrong with this man? “You’re delusional.”
I tried to get into my car, but h slammed the door closed before I could. “You listen to me and you listen good. Whatever I want I get. That’s how it’s always worked. Bonnie’s been a thorn in my side ever since you fucked with her mind and made her jump ship. I don’t know what you did and I don’t know what you said, but I’m telling you right now. If you don’t hand her back over to me—”
I hovered over him, cloaking him in my shadow. “You’ll what?”
His back straightened. “Take the peace offering and give me my time with my daughter.”
“She’s not your daughter. Never has been, never will be.”
“You watch that tongue of yours, you selfish son of a—”
I wrapped my hand around his neck. “You won’t get her or me or anything even remotely related to me. All you’ll get is revenge. That’s the peace offering I give you.”
Then, I tossed the man to the ground in front of the police station and got into my car.
“Driver? Home, please. As quickly as you can.”
Because the sooner I could get back and see that Bonnie was all right, the better I’d be.
And the more my bloodlust would be abated.
18
Israel
My eyes scanned the papers in front of me as blood thundered throughout my body.
That chief of police wasted no time in getting me documentation I could pour over myself while his men were working around the clock. And what I saw in these documents made me furious. Even to the untrained eye, it was clear something had been covered up. The redacted statements were easy enough to read, especially since they hadn’t deleted the text. Just placed faded black blocks on top of all the words.
Almost as if they wanted someone reading what was really happening.
I held the paper up to the light and held it down in my lap. I contorted the papers every which way, adding heat and water and scanning the documents into my laptop. I manipulated them every which way I could before I finally pieced the redacted text together into cohesive sentences that were easy to read.
And with all of that information in play, I already had theories as to who was responsible for the cover-up of the murder of Bonnie’s parents.
“Hey, Israel?”
Her voice made my heart jump, but I kept my cool on the outside. “Yeah?”
“Could we talk for a second?”
I slid the papers easily into the file, hoping not to startle her with my movements. “Yeah. Sure. What’s on your mind?”
She walked in and sat a glass of wine in front of me. “Here. You
