Cruel Lover

“Howard,” he says. I recognize the name, he told it to me several times, some sort of handler I’m guessing. The name means nothing though.

“Who’s Howard?”

“I don’t know. That’s all. Just Howard. He works for McKenzie.”

I see Malta freeze and take a small step back, but Brian tightens his grip on her hand and she doesn’t pull away. “McKenzie?”

“McKenzie.” Brian nods. “Malta, I need to get out of here. I don’t want to die.”

She pulls her hand out of his, turning away, not meeting my eyes. “You won’t die, Brian. I promise.”

A moment later, she rushes past me, and I follow her into the kitchen.

“What is it?”

She taps her hand against the kitchen counter, shaking her head. “I know that name.”

So it’s personal. How the fuck did my private investigator miss this?

“Who’s McKenzie?” I ask, trying to keep my voice even. Has she had an affair with some lowlife? Fury bubbles within me at the thought and I try to keep it pushed down, but my voice is gravelly with it when I speak again. “Malta, who is McKenzie?”

When she hears the menace in my voice, she finally looks my way. But my wrath isn’t aimed at her. Whoever this McKenzie is, it just became personal. I don’t care about what he did to my father’s casino, I’ll rip him limb from limb for even thinking about her, for so much as letting her face cross his imagination.

“Who is he, Malta? When I ask a question, I expect an answer.”

For a second, I think she’s going to defy me, then she licks her lips.

“There was a trial I was involved with in New York,” she says. “Some small-time gang banger. Jay McKenzie. He was seventeen, no priors, up in front of the judge for stealing a car. Jay was…” She shakes her head. “He never should have been there, Oz. He wasn’t a criminal, not really, just a nice kid who did a bad thing. He told me his uncle was something to do with organized crime. Something high up. He got dragged in but he wasn’t like that. He was terrified. His father was furious with him for getting involved with that, something he’d worked hard to keep his family away from. They couldn’t afford legal representation, so they got me.”

Malta laughs, as if that’s derisive. But I’ve seen her court records, she’s a fucking superhero. I take her face in my hand. “Lucky kid,” I tell her, but she shakes her head.

“That’s just it. I tried everything, Oz.” She meets my eyes. “Everything. It fell on deaf ears. Jay should have got parole, community service. But they decided to charge him with grand larceny and take him through the adult justice system. He got two years behind bars. I failed him.”

From behind me, I hear a loud moan and a shout. Brian is getting restless.

“You didn’t fail him, angel,” I tell her. “You did what you could, right?”

She nods. “But it wasn’t enough. Jay wasn’t cut out for prison. They found his body two weeks after he went in. Cause of death inconclusive, but I know what it’s like for kids his age in a place like that. His father, Robert, blamed me, and he was right. I should have passed his case on to someone with more experience. But I wanted it, I wanted to prove myself.”

“Baby, that’s not your fault, but there’s something I have to tell you.” I grab her chin and tip her face up to mine. “Brian already told me that McKenzie was the one behind it all. I didn’t know what it meant at the time and I wanted more information, but he said more than that. He said it was Robert McKenzie.”

Her eyes go wide. “It doesn’t make any sense though! He couldn’t even afford legal representation because he’d left his whole family behind. That’s why they came to my firm, we take on a lot of pro bono work. How could Robert McKenzie be behind all this? He had nothing.”

Brian’s voice suddenly comes through loud and clear. “The hospital!”

Malta just looks shell-shocked, as if all of this is too much for her. Brian is probably delirious and in pain, asking to be taken away from here, but I pull open the door to the basement anyway. I’m about done with him, and he’s a small cog in this machine.

“I’m coming, Brian, we’re going to move you to somewhere a little more comfortable.”

“No, the hospital. Howard. I overheard him on the phone. I don’t think I was supposed to. Talking to McKenzie. He said something about a hospital.”

Malta gasps. “My dad.”

Chapter Ten

Oz

Brian’s earned himself some rest, and Malta wouldn’t stay behind. So he’s currently in my bed and she’s on the seat beside me in the Fairlane, letting Roxie lick her gently as she stares straight ahead. I don’t think she’s even aware of the speed we’re doing. I don’t think she cares, so long as we get to her father as quick as we can.