Reckoning (Wolfes of Manhattan 5)

I couldn’t help smiling as I accessed the footage on the computer. I grabbed three blank thumb drives from our stash of hundreds. I hadn’t used a thumb drive in years, but I didn’t trust this information to the cloud.

I wanted it in my hot little hands.

And there it was, in black and white.

“Do you think I’m asking for a bribe, Mrs. Wolfe?”

“Yeah, Mr. Morgan, you are. You are definitely asking me to bribe you. And I suppose now you’re going to tell me it’s against the law to bribe a police officer. Of course I know that. I’m a lawyer, for God’s sake. But what does it matter? I’m already going to trial for a murder I didn’t commit. What’s bribery? It’s a fucking mosquito. A nuisance. A distraction and a pain in the ass, but nothing, basically.”

“Unless it’s carrying West Nile virus.”

I plopped down into the chair opposite Morgan. “Touché. Now,” I began again, “what will it cost?”

“May I speak frankly?”

“By all means.”

“I want to get out of here. I’m sick of this game. I’m sick of the corruption in the force and in the DA’s office.”

“Welcome to New York.”

“You seem to think I want you to go down for this murder.”

“Don’t you? You’re the one who arrested me. You’re the one who’s been subjecting all of us to ridiculous interrogation again and again when we’ve told you all we know. You know damned well you don’t have any real evidence against me, so don’t try to tell me you do. Neither of us are that stupid, Hank.”

“So what are you asking for?” I continued. “A new life somewhere else? You want money? You want a new ID? What?”

“You could do that for me?”

“I can’t do a damned thing for you, Hank. I’m only asking what you want.”

“I want out.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“Fine. I want ten million. Cash. I’ll get the charges dropped and you’ll never hear from me again.”

Bingo.

I saved the whole conversation to three separate thumb drives. One I placed in the safe in our suite. Tomorrow, another would go in Rock’s safe deposit box that he’d opened as soon as he became CEO of Wolfe Enterprises. The third? I giggled as I imagined hiding it in my pussy or my ass. Rock would love that.

The third I’d keep on me for now. In my bra, not my ass. Which meant sleeping with a bra on tonight, but that was no big deal. I’d done it before.

If only I could get hold of Rock and tell him!

This was great news.

We were on our way now.

27

Reid

“That’s it,” Manny said. “That’s all of it.”

“Bull,” Rock said.

“I’m with Rock.” I adjusted the brown beanie on my head. Damn, my scalp itched after wearing the thing most of the day. “First of all, where the hell is Nieves?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Manny said. “Maybe Hoss would know. This was their baby. Leta and I were just along for the ride, like I said.”

“Bull,” Rock repeated.

I nodded. “I agree. You were all involved so you’re all equally responsible. Now where’s Nieves?”

“I told you. I don’t know. Check with Hoss.”

“Man, you are cruisin’ for a bruisin’.” Rock hoisted Manny to his feet. “Get on the horn, and get Hoss and his skinny ass over here. Now.”

“He won’t come at this hour.”

“You make him come. Don’t take no for an answer. Tell him you have sensitive info. Tell him you want to suck his dick. Tell him whatever it takes!”

Manny trembled. “My phone’s in the house.”

“Then by all means.” Rock gave him a push. “Let’s go get it.”

An hour later, Hoss drove into Manny’s suburban driveway. Rock and I were waiting behind the front door when he knocked.

I pulled the door open, and Rock swept in for the kill. Except not literally. He grabbed Hoss by the collar, jerked him inside, and then forced him through the house and out into the backyard. I led Manny along like a lost puppy.

Hoss gasped the whole way, trying to speak but not able to get any words out.

Finally, Rock let go of him and pushed him onto the ground. “Nieves,” Rock said. “Where the fuck is she?”

“She’s gone?” Hoss rasped out.

“Don’t even think about playing dumb with me. Manny here already spilled everything. How the four of you were trying to make money off my father’s hit. It might interest you to know that he planned the whole thing. It was you who made it a reality.”

I shook my head slightly at Rock. He was talking too much. At this point, our father orchestrating it was still just a theory. A good theory, but we hadn’t proved it yet. Though we were certainly close.

“Sorry, man,” Manny said. “They roughed me up.”

“You damned pussy.” Hoss scowled at Manny.

“You want a little?” Rock said. “It’ll take a lot less effort for me to put your skinny ass down.”