Wild Justice (Nadia Stafford 3)

"I think he left it in the car."

"You're not in the car?"

"Nope."

"Where are you?"

I looked around. "A park. We went for a walk."

She grumbled at the preposterousness of that. Hitmen apparently did not take walks, unless they were stalking someone.

"Okay, then, where is this park? How far are you?"

"Mmm, I dunno. Few hours from Chicago?"

"Either I just woke you up from a lovely nap or . . ." She paused. "A walk, was it? Well, I did tell you to make him happy. That's one way."

"It is." I stifled a yawn. "We're on schedule. I know that much. Do you want to talk to Jack?"

"Actually, I need to speak to both of you. Does that thing have a speaker?"

"Mmm, huh. Apparently, it does."

"Then use it and try to wake up. Give Jack a shake, too. I'm sure he's not in much better shape."

I put her on speakerphone. I expected her to make some comment to Jack about what we'd been doing. When she led with, "We have a problem," instead, I sat up quickly, drowsiness falling away.

"I need you to head back to the car," she said. "Now."

"Um . . ." I looked at our scattered clothing. "Right."

I tugged my jeans over as Jack grabbed his. We tried to be quiet about it, but the sound must have carried.

Evelyn sighed. "Get dressed and then head back to the car. Quickly, please."

"Keep talking," Jack said. "We're moving."

"I got our answers from the Contrapasso guys," Evelyn said.

"What cost?" Jack asked.

"We'll discuss that later. For now, what's far more important--"

"That's important," Jack said. "What did you--?"

"It's okay," I said as I pushed to my feet. "Evelyn's right. We can get that later."

Jack and I started walking, quickly, back along the darkening path as I asked Evelyn, "What's wrong?"

"The Contrapasso Fellowship did not order a hit on Drew Aldrich."

"Wh-what? Sorry. I heard you. I just . . . They didn't order the hit? But I'm sure Koss killed him. Are they saying he didn't?" I paused. "No, they're saying Koss isn't one of them. That's where we made the wrong connection."

"No, the connection was correct. Sebastian Koss is a part of Contrapasso. They confirmed he's been a high-level member for years, and his primary role is bringing them cases exactly like Aldrich."

"So they rejected Aldrich, and Koss took matters into his own hands."

"No. Drew Aldrich's name isn't in their files. No one there has ever heard of him. Koss acted completely on his own."