“That’s right.” Luke leaned forward. “Tell him, Cara.”
“We know all about your nightly tastes,” I said, leaning closer to him. “And your halfmillion debt.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Been playing a lot of cards?”
“Dice,” he grunted. “All right, so you guys got the files. Good for you two. What the fuck do you want?”
Luke raised his eyebrows at me and cleared his throat. “I want you to deliver a message to your chief.”
Captain Melino snorted. “Yeah, all right, I can do that, but I’ll tell you right now, Chief James is a stickler piece of shit and he’s not going to listen to anything a guy like you has to say, no offense.”
“None taken. We already tried, and you’re right on that assessment. But the thing is, Chief James is in the dossier, and I don’t think he really, truly understands the gravity of his situation.”
Captain Melino’s eyes went bugged and he sat up straight. “You’re kidding me. He’s in the folder?”
“We’ve got a file on him a mile long,” I said, grinning. “You’d love the pictures.”
Captain Melino blinked at me then burst out laughing. The bartender flinched like a gun went off then scowled and shook her head. Captain Melino leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his burly chest, grinning widely like he’d just won the lottery and the payout was twice as big as he thought.
“God damn, Chief James is in the Lionetti files. You two realize that dossier’s famous among cops, right? We all fucking know about it, and we all know half the precinct is on their payroll and the other half’s in those pages. They run that place.” He shook his head, grinning. “I thought the chief took cash, but apparently not.”
“He’s just as garbage as you are,” I said, nudging him with my elbow.
He snorted at me. “I doubt it. Who the hell are you again?”
“Cara,” I said, offering a hand, which he shook. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“So, what, you two are running the file now? The Morozov family’s in the blackmail business on top of the heroin business now too?”
“Just me,” Luke said. “And I only want one thing out of you people, and then I plan on destroying the whole goddamn folder.”
Captain Melino’s smile slowly faded. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“Tell me something, Captain. What’s a guy in the Morozov family want more than anything? Who do you think we’d want to hurt?”
“The Lionettis,” he said without hesitating. “Is that what this is about? You’re using it against them?”
“You’re quick.” I said, nodding.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Let me understand this. You want me to go against the Lionettis because now you own the file that owns me, is that about right?”
“More or less sums it up, but your role’s actually not all that big.” Luke leaned toward him. “I want you to talk to the chief and convince him that he’d better stop playing hard to get and start busting down Lionetti doors. They can’t hurt him anymore, but I can.”
Captain Melino slowly shook his head. “You’re insane. That’ll never work.”
“Tell me why not.”
“Because even if you can convince Chief James to do what you want, which I sincerely doubt, the Lionettis are still paying off the rest of the cops.”
“Then make sure the cops in my folder are prepared to get some revenge on the fuckers that put the screws to them.” I tapped at his drink with my knuckle. “You understand me?”
Captain Melino’s eyes narrowed. He was a drunk and a gambler, but he didn’t seem stupid. He picked up the whiskey and tossed it back.
“Let’s pretend I can make this happen, just for fun. Let’s say I can convince the chief to start making some arrests, to start hassling the Lionettis. What do I get?”
“You get your debt wiped out. All of it, all half a million, gone. All the pictures, gone, everything gone. If you get your other cop buddies to play along, it’s a clean slate for everyone.”
“Why would you ever do that?”
“Because the Morozov family isn’t in the blackmail business.”
He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. I could see it in the way his shoulders relaxed and his posture straightened out—he had hope.
And hope was a dangerous thing.
“How can I trust you?”
“You can’t,” I said quickly before Luke could answer. “But I’m not directly involved in all this, so maybe you should trust me. I’ll personally burn the file and make sure all your problems go away.”
He narrowed his eyes then looked up at the ceiling. “Another drink,” he said.
Luke gestured, paid, and the bartender refilled. Captain Melino sipped it.
“This is your one way out,” Luke said softly. “If you’re not going to help me, I’ll move on to the next guy in the folder, until one of you steps up and saves everyone. You want to be the hero for once?”