Shadow Fire (Shadow Riders 7)

Brielle stepped away from Dario, crossing the room toward the nearest shadow, trying not to appear as if that was what she was doing. Dario seemed so menacing and Valentino didn’t look much better.

“I misspoke. Sheesh, you two. You look like you’re about to leap on me or something.” How to play this off? They might not be able to hear lies, although she suspected they could. They knew body language. They interrogated people all the time. Emmanuelle definitely could hear lies. “I’m used to finding information immediately. This is a huge puzzle. I can’t find a single link to the Santoro family with any employee here at the hotel. There are a lot of employees to go through, by the way.”

“You’re stalling,” Val accused.

Dario didn’t say anything. His soulless eyes didn’t leave her face. She felt like he could see right into her. She took another step closer to the shadow, so close she felt the pull on her.

“Brielle, don’t,” Emmanuelle whispered. “The doctor did say the wound inside wouldn’t hold. It’s too dangerous. We’re here to guard you, not hurt you. Why do you feel so threatened?”

Why did she? She knew they were there to protect her.

“Because she’s lying her little ass off, that’s why,” Dario said. “She does have a suspect and she doesn’t want to name him—or her.”

Dario was so right. She felt guilty and she knew the two men would be able to tell she was lying to them. Elie always knew. These men weren’t shadow riders, but they were like Elie, very perceptive.

“Why wouldn’t you want to tell us, Brielle?” Valentino asked. “We can’t keep you alive if we don’t have all the facts.”

She pounced on that. “That’s just it, Val. I don’t have any facts. I don’t have anything at all. No reason to be suspicious. I’m not going to chance naming an innocent person and be wrong. I’m an investigator. I deal in facts. I get suspicions and I follow those until I hit on trails that lead me to real facts. It’s the only reason I’m good at my job.”

There was a small silence. She knew her voice rang with truth because she was telling the absolute truth. She did have a suspect because the moment her fingers touched the keyboard, every instinct went in the direction of Stefano’s chef’s assistant. His name was Constantine Babell. He was forty-three years old, divorced and had lived in Chicago his entire life with the exception of the years he’d gone to culinary schools.

She’d tried every other employee she could input and her keyboard wanted her to go back to Babell. She followed him as far back as she could and there was no connection she could discover between Babell and the Santoro family. He had never been to New York. She couldn’t find that he’d ever been near organized crime in his life. She’d checked for weaknesses. Prostitutes. For the possibility that he had used any part of Santoro’s human trafficking operations. She’d checked his computer for porn. For any evidence he might be a pedophile. She’d found nothing.

“You could still tell us your suspicions so we could watch out for him,” Val suggested. “We could have your security detail on the alert for him.”

“See, that’s just what I don’t want. The man goes for a walk and someone shoots him.”

“He wouldn’t innocently be walking up here, Brielle,” Val pointed out. “At least we know you suspect a man.”

“Tell me and I’ll watch him from the shadows,” Emmanuelle declared. “That way, if he does anything he shouldn’t, I can report back to you. Also, I can search his things.”

“Fine, but, Dario and Val, don’t you touch him until I know more about him or anyone else I suspect.” She threw that in there just so they would think she had more than one suspect.

“He’s worked for the Ferraro Hotel for seven years as the chef’s main assistant. His name is Constantine Babell. Again, there is nothing to suggest he is involved with Santoro.”

“What about the Colombo family?” Emmanuelle asked.

Her cousins had wiped out the Colombo organization in Los Angeles in the same way Elie and her family had taken down the Santoro family in New York along with all key personnel that had been involved in trafficking.

“Is there a tie between Constantine Babell and the Colombo family?”

Brielle resumed pacing. “I did think of that and checked. Babell was never near them that I could find, and believe me, I was thorough.”

“The Toselli family in Barcelona?” Valentino suggested.

“No ties to them, either.”

“Did he go to Spain at any time? They like to get their hooks into tourists,” Dario said.

Brielle spun around and stared at him for a moment then she rushed over to the desk and her laptop. “He was in Spain. He attended a couple of culinary schools in Europe before returning to the States.” She sucked the side of her lower lip into her mouth and bit down, chewing on it while she read through what she’d already found out about Babell’s time in Europe.

“He spent two weeks in Barcelona with two other students. Okay, my man, let’s see what you were up to while you were on your little vacay.” Her fingers flew over the keyboard. Almost at once, she felt she was on the right track. She didn’t know how she could tell, but that feeling was there, as if she’d had a clogged artery and suddenly the passageway was wide open and her blood was flowing normally.

“I’m going to head down to the kitchen and check him out,” Emmanuelle said.

Brielle didn’t look up and gave a little wave of her hand. Emmanuelle crossed the room to her husband and gestured to Dario, who went to her. Brielle was aware of the three huddling together. That drew her out of her usual keyboard fog.

“Watch her close, you two. I think the shadows keep pulling at her. She can’t go into them for any reason. If this chef’s assistant comes after her, and she tries to go into the shadows, it would kill her for sure. That repair they did on her isn’t close to healing. It would get torn apart and she’d bleed out before anyone could fix it. Please watch over her.”