Ruthless Games

“Now that we’re all here…” Lydia places a brown manila envelope on the table.

“Not quite.” I stop her. “I’m actually still waiting on my coffee.”

Two incredulous faces stare back at me.

“I hope you realize how serious this situation is, Mrs. Barretti. You’re connected to a very dangerous man.”

I give a trill of a laugh. “Like I said, it’s a misunderstanding. Nero wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Lydia opens the folder. Surveillance photos, trained on the club and some warehouses. They show Nero, mostly entering and exiting with various people. Chase… Avery… even me.

“What am I supposed to be looking at?” I ask, still smiling, as Miles sits beside me, making notes.

“A criminal conspiracy.” Lydia glares. “Guns, drugs, money laundering.”

“Really? But I don’t see him with any guns. Or drugs. It just looks like a legitimate business organization to me.” I push the photos back to them. “Nero Barretti is a respected entrepreneur.”

Lydia looks impatient. “We arrested these men yesterday.” She points a red manicured finger at a picture of men in a warehouse. “And they work directly for your husband.”

“Is that they’ve told you?” I ask. Her face doesn’t flinch.

“You know your husband isn’t an innocent man in all this,” Lydia snaps. “He’s taken over his father’s position as leader of the Barretti organization, and we all know it.”

Miles clears his throat. “I have to protest this ongoing harassment of Mr. Barretti,” he says.

“Disrupting his social engagements, making a display of his arrest instead of simply inviting him for an interview. If you had any evidence, you would have charged him by now. Have you?”

“We have up to seventy-two hours to charge him.” Agent Greggs says, but his reply makes my nerves ease a little.

They don’t have anything.

The realization sinks in. Miles is right. There’s no direct evidence. Nero’s men haven’t turned on him.

They’re fishing here.

I try to hide my relief. “Did you want to take my statement?” I ask, sounding bored. “Because I have a manicure booked at ten, I don’t want to miss it.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Lydia seethes. This woman is a real ball-buster. I can see why Greggs was so determined to get me on his side if he has to answer to her. “The men Nero has been seen with have been connected to drug deals and weapons shipments into the city. You need to tell us what you know about it.”

I give a shrug. “Absolutely nothing. Because your information is wrong.”

“I think you’re lying,” Lydia says. “I think you know far more than this dumb blonde act you’re putting on. Which means you know how deep you’re in—and what liability you have for his crimes now.”

She shoves a legal pad over to me, and a pen. “You have a chance to get out of this mess. Tell us everything you know. Write it down. Give us the information we need to charge Nero for his crimes—and protect yourself.”

I pick up the pen, weighing it in my hand. I’m surprised to find it’s a good one: black, with gold trim. There’s an insignia on it, too, and I recognize the logo of the hotel where I met Greggs a few weeks ago.

“So, you’re offering me immunity?” I ask, curious just how far they’ll take this.

They exchange a look. “It depends on what you tell us,” Greggs says. “How you can help link Nero to the delivery we picked up yesterday.”

Because they have no link.

I put the pen down.

“You know, it’s interesting,” I muse sweetly. “You’ve clearly been sniffing around Nero and his business for months now, yet here you are, with absolutely nothing connecting him to any criminal activity. You wouldn’t need me if you did. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”

“You’re not going to cooperate.” Lydia says flatly.