The Woman from the Past (Grassi Framily)

Shaking her head, she said, “What case? You wouldn’t be who you are if you weren’t good, right? Almost perfect, in fact. Almost. But the funny thing I’ve learned about police in my life is that they mostly only succeed at their jobs if the evidence is practically dropped in their laps. They would never work as hard as I’ve needed to.”

“You’ve asked?”

“No,” she admitted, making some of the tension ease.

“Then why are you here? To try to blackmail me?” I asked, thinking of how that wasn’t as far-fetched as I might’ve once thought.

Josie had blackmailed Matteo.

Sure, she thought it was the only way for her to survive, but she’d used it. Successfully, even. For a time.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. Taking a deep breath, her gaze skittered down to her feet for a long moment before they rose again.

I couldn’t say for sure exactly what I saw there. It seemed a mix of several things. Fear, uncertainty, hope, and desperation.

That was a lethal combination in and of itself.

It seemed even more deadly given the situation we found ourselves in.

Her light green eyes held my gaze for a long moment as she struggled to force the words out.

When they did, fuck, a light wind could have knocked me over.

“I need your help.”