“We're not going to talk about your sex life. Caden is going to suck it up, sit down, and listen.”
Jakob was such a prude and locked up about his sex life, so I opened my mouth to say something. But I closed it again after Jakob shot me a warning look. Fine, I didn’t need to question Zach’s personal life right now, but I would corner him and talk about it at some point. Pulling out a chair, I sat down and loosened the knot of my tie.
“Okay, fine. I’m sitting. Who wants to go first? What the hell is going on?”
“I came here to talk to you,” Jakob explained, and I concentrated on him, instead of Zach and his secret undercover boyfriend. “Then I saw Marcus and his tattoo, and I had a hunch that he could help us.”
“Because of his tattoo?” Raising my eyebrows, I glanced over to where Marcus O’Hare sat.
“It’s real,” Marcus said, catching me looking at his neck. “On cases like this, not getting a tattoo can get you killed.”
“And getting one can get someone else killed,” my mouth purged out before I could stop.
“Caden.”
“What?” Looking from the undercover agent to Zach, I shrugged. “I know what they have to do to get their tattoo.”
“Because Michael Altmann told you.”
“What the hell do you know about Michael Altmann?”
My gaze snapped back to Marcus O’Hare, and I bristled. This whole situation was getting to me, and I still had no clue what was going on.
“I know pretty much everything about him.” Marcus grabbed a bottle of water from the middle of the table and drank from it before he sat back and looked at me again. “I was assigned to this group last year, and I have studied all the files we have on the Altmann family. When Jakob talked to me in the hallway, and he asked if he could ask me some questions about white supremacy cults, I figured that it had something to do with Michael.”
“Why?”
“It would be an odd coincidence that Ian Callahan flew to New York to inform Michael about the parole hearing. Then a few days later, Jakob asks me about the same parole hearing for a quote, unquote friend who needs help. Don’t you think? Truthfully, I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“I spoke with Agent Callahan and did some research. Also, Sam did some background checks on the members of the parole board. Seeing Marcus and the tattoo.” Jakob shrugged. “I felt he was the right person to ask about questions I had. I had no idea that I was asking the perfect person. That’s why we called you.”
“Why do I have the feeling that this isn’t good?”
“Nothing about the Altmann family is good.” Marcus shook his head and took a deep breath. “But not everything is bad. There are only a handful of people who know that Michael is still alive. If it stays that way, he’s safe.”
“And if not?” Remembering what Henry had told me, what would happen if his family ever found out.
“Let me tell you something about families like this. They’re all about blood and honor.” If that was supposed to calm me down, it didn’t. If anything, it worried me even more, especially when Marcus kept on talking. “Once you dishonor the family name…let’s just say, you need to do something to earn the respect of the family back.”
“Hen…Michael said that they would kill him if they ever found him. Why would he need to earn back their respect? I know he has no intention of returning to them.”
“I’m not talking about Michael. Just for the record, I know about his new identity. So you can call him Henry.”
For a moment, I thought he was about to say something else about Henry. Instead, he just smiled a very knowing smile. Which meant our little secret was not so secret anymore. But Marcus didn’t seem very interested in Henry and my personal life.
“I would appreciate it if you called him Henry as well. He hasn’t been Michael for years.”
“Fair enough. Just to be clear, I was not talking about Henry. I’m talking about his brother. Robert.”
“He’s the one who tried to kill Henry,” Jakob said with a small frown. “As far as they know, he succeeded. Why would he be disgraced?”
A sudden revelation hit me and turned my stomach. “Because he wasn’t supposed to kill him,” I answered, and Marcus nodded. “He should have brought him back. They wanted him punished as a traitor because he tried to run away.”
“Yes. Listen, I can’t get into details about my assignment, but I can tell you that the beating wasn’t the first time that Robert fucked up.” Marcus got up and started to walk the short distance to the windows. He looked out, and then he turned around again. “Robert is the reason the Altmann family ended up on the FBI’s watchlist. To earn his tattoo, he was supposed to mess up some Jewish bakery. He did it, but that act attracted the FBI’s attention to him and the family.”
“Robert and a couple of others destroyed a Jewish bakery in Louisville. Why would that gain the attention of the FBI?”
“Wait…” Confused, I looked at Jakob, who frowned and pulled out his phone. He tapped away for a second before he looked up again. “He crossed a state line. It became a Federal crime when he did that.”
“That’s right. Robert had clear instructions to stay in Kentucky. But he didn’t. The bakery was in Indiana.” Marcus nodded and sat back down again. “Robert’s father, Richard, was not happy with his firstborn. The bakery incident was a costly mistake. Richard gave Robert another chance a couple of years later. Bring Michael back to the family, and the bakery incident would be a memory and forgiven.”
“But Robert fucked up again
