I sighed. "Listen, let's say Bram Van Linsted can tell us something. Whatever it is, it's not worth letting him out. It's just not. I'm not trading alliances here. I'm not going to get in bed with someone horrible just to get to them. There's got to be a better way to do this."
"What other way? You've been dogging them since you met them. If you think that they're somehow involved with the case, which, again, I agree, it doesn't really make sense when we don't have a case against them for the trafficking. But they're involved in other dirty dealings, and if we could uncover them, this is a career making case, and you wouldn't have to work under Denning anymore. I'll be a lead investigator instead of just a regular agent. So come on, strap up. Let's do this."
"I agree with you. This is a career making case." I left out the part about it possibly being a career ender too. "I just want to do this right." And protect East. "I just don't think getting in bed with Bram Van Linsted is the way to do it."
She rolled her eyes. "Look, I hear you, but all I'm saying is that we interview him. That's all. If he gives us something, great. If not, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But it doesn't cost us anything to speak to him."
"He won't talk to us unless we come with something on the table. And let's be real, we have nothing. I'm not even an active agent anymore."
Amelia sighed. "Let's just call you a consultant. I am an active agent. I can get us in there to talk to him."
"Amelia, listen to yourself. You're excited, and you have done so much work on this. I get that. But we need to be careful. And look, maybe this organization actually exists but it's not what we think it is."
Amelia put down her honey-glazed shrimp and then crossed her arms and stared at me. "He's gotten to you, hasn't he?"
I blinked at her. "What do you mean?"
"The venerable Lord East Hale. He’s gotten to you."
I swallowed hard. "No, he hasn't. I'm just trying to be smart. Find the truth of things. That's our job."
She shook her head. "No, something's changed. A little over two weeks ago, you couldn't wait to get your hands on them. You questioned anybody and everybody who was willing to tell us anything about them. You even infiltrated a dinner they had. Went in disguised, mind you, and then had to run for your bloody life. And you're now telling me that we should back off? What else could this be besides they've gotten to you. He's gotten to you. What, just because you shagged him?"
The heat crept up my neck, and I was thankful that I was wearing a buttoned-up blouse over my camisole and that there was low lighting in the flat. "That's not what this is about. My attraction to him has no bearing on my ability to do my job. Well, I guess it’s not my job anymore, right?"
Amelia winced. "Mate, you know that’s only temporary. All you’ve got to do is talk to your father."
"He's the one who suspended me. There's no talking. But look, I don't want to argue about this. This is great work, but I think there's more under the surface. And I don't think us offering deals to Bram Van Linsted is the right course of action just now."
"Why are you so dead set against it? Wouldn't you love knowing the truth? No matter where it leads you?"
She knew how to get to me. And I did love to know the truth. I had to know.
But you already know.
If this was the only way to satisfy Amelia, I knew I’d do what had to be done. Besides, one conversation with Bram Van Linsted and she would see what I saw. That we couldn't let a monster like him run around free and clear. It didn't matter what he could offer us on the London Lords. And there was no believing a word he said. Besides, from what East had told me, they had a currency of secrets. There was no way in hell Van Linsted was going to tell us anything, especially not without a deal on the table. So maybe I didn't have to worry about anything at all. I believed East was telling me the truth, and even if he didn't want my protection, he was still going to get it.
Chapter 6
East
Between Nyla and Theroux, I hadn’t taken the proper time to deal with Belinda’s fuck twat husband.
Seeing as I wasn't going anywhere near Nyla and the team had come up with a plan for Theroux, I needed to deal with this particular twat of a loose end named Jack Lloyd.
Belinda had come to work as usual, alert, ready to go. But there was an all too familiar sadness in her eyes. Watching Nyla every night was going to be bad for my sanity, so Belinda and her problems were a good distraction.
Taking up my old activity was the comfort I needed. Walking through the London streets, following the people who thought they were hidden, I felt like my old self.
We had a deal, Jack and I. He didn't put his hands on Belinda, and I didn't call in his gambling markers. Now I was going to call in his markers because he clearly hadn't listened. But before I did that, he and I were going to have a visit.
And as an added bonus, I was in Walthamstow, completely on the opposite side of Victoria, so there was no chance of seeing Nyla in that dank dodgy hell.
I took the steps down into the basement of the off-book gambling house,
