Reckoning (Wolfes of Manhattan 5)

Hoss sighed. “Fine. She made the call from her phone, pretending to be Leta.”

“We pretty much already figured that part out,” I said. “Go on.”

“We thought we could throw you off track if it looked like someone took her.”

“You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?” Rock said to Hoss. “Except Nieves’s purse is still in Leta’s hospital room, but her phone isn’t. And Leta has no recollection of making a call from the phone.”

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “We figured Leta’s still so drugged up we could blame any lack of memory on that.”

“Except you didn’t think about leaving the phone in her room.” Rock laughed. “You dumbass.”

Hoss looked for a moment like he was going to retort, but then he seemed to think better of it.

“Who beat the shit out of Leta?” I asked.

“We don’t know,” Manny said. “That’s the God’s honest truth.”

I drew in a breath. “We find the person who put Leta in the hospital, then,” I said to Rock, “and then we can trace him to whoever’s behind this whole thing.”

“I sure thought it was Father Jim,” Rock said. “Except he’s dead.”

“Who’s Father Jim?” Manny asked.

“Never you mind, shithead.” He turned to Hoss. “Where’s Nieves?”

“She’s staying at my place.”

I rolled my eyes. That was an image I didn’t need.

Rock gripped Hoss by the shoulders and hauled him to his feet. “I’ll let you keep your jewels for now, but know this. You’re being watched. Every fucking move you make. I have eyes and ears everywhere.”

28

Zee

A pitcher of water sat on my nightstand. I poured a glass and drank it down. My flesh was sticky. I was somewhere tropical. Las Vegas in the summer was dry. The air was cool in my room, but still humid. I felt like a sheen of sweat covered me all the time, even after a shower.

I found, surprisingly, I was hungry again. No food, though, so I went into the shower. Yesterday, breakfast had miraculously shown up while I showered.

The warm water was soothing, but I showered quickly anyway. I didn’t want to tempt fate. If I was supposed to be quiet, running the water for too long could be a problem.

Sure enough, my breakfast was waiting when I left the bathroom clad in a towel. I wished for clothes. My black leggings could probably stand on their own by now.

If only I knew where I was.

If only I could get in touch with Reid.

He must be worried sick!

He’d promised to protect me. And I’d believed him.

I ate more this time. The whole croissant and the whole portion of scrambled eggs. Only one slice of bacon, but I drank the entire glass of that delicious mango-passion fruit juice. Once I was finished, I set everything back on the tray and wheeled the trolley closer to the door. Just for fun, I checked the doorknob.

Still locked in.

Then a soft knock. I jerked, being so close to the door.

“Yes?” I said softly.

The lock clicked, and the door opened. Diamond walked in, glancing over her shoulder. She held what looked like a straw beach bag.

“You ate,” she said. “Good.”

“I was hungrier today.”

“I’m glad. I’m sorry you’re in this situation.”

“It would help if you could tell me what’s going on.”

“I will when I can. In the meantime, I brought you some clothes. Go ahead and change, and I’ll make sure the ones you have on get laundered.”

I nodded. I wasn’t going to give up a chance for clean clothes. I grabbed the bag from her and headed into the bathroom.

Inside, I pulled out a pair of shorts with a drawstring waist, three pairs of plain white panties, two white T-shirts, and a one-size-fits-all island dress similar to what Diamond wore. I still felt clammy all over, so I chose the shorts and one of the T-shirts. In the bottom of the bag was a pair of white socks and a pair of rubber flip-flops. She’d obviously guessed at my shoe size. They were slightly small.

I put the socks and flip flops in the bag. Why not go barefoot? I was far from cold, and I wasn’t going anywhere anyway.

I gathered my soiled clothes, left the bathroom, and handed them to Diamond.

“Put them back in the bag,” she said.

“Oh. Sure.” I went back to the bathroom, dumped the socks, flip-flops, panties, and T-shirt onto the floor, and handed her the empty bag.

Diamond quickly threw my clothes in the bag. “Sorry there’s no bra. I wasn’t sure of the size.”

“No problem.” She probably had no idea I was used to going braless much of the time.

Or did she know? She’d said she knew who I was, but did she know everything about me?

“It may be a while until I can get back here. Is there anything you need?”

“I’ll get hungry at lunchtime,” I said.

“I know, and I’m sorry about that. It would look odd if I took more than a meal’s worth.”