Page 75 of Lawless in Leather

Chen looked up. He’d worked his black hair into a series of rumpled spikes, and there were several empty energy drink cans next to his monitor. The red and gold koi tattooed on his forearm twitched as he drummed his fingers on his trackpad. Frustrated then. So mostly likely the answer to his question was going to be no.

“Done with the police?” Chen asked.

“Yes. They dusted for prints but there are way too many of them. They’ll have to fingerprint all the Angels and the maintenance guys and anyone else around here who’s been in that room for a start. But if he’s good, he will have worn gloves anyway. They didn’t find anything else except some scratches around one of the vent covers.”

Chen started. “They think he came in through the vent system?”

The thought of someone crawling around in the ventilation system, which went on for miles, was Mal’s worst nightmare. “They don’t know. Maybe. The vent looks pretty clean but we had them all cleaned when we were doing the refit. So there wasn’t much dirt to start with. But get Spike to get in there and have a look. He’s the skinniest.”

“He’ll love that.”

“That’s why I pay him the big bucks,” Mal said. “Did you call in the other teams? I want as many extra bodies on the ground as we can get tonight. But only guys known to us. No outsiders.”

“Yup, all the Saints’ teams are coming in and I called Em back at the office to see who she could rustle up as well. And I’m running background on the contractors again. Don’t worry, boss. No one will get through us.”

“That’s what we thought yesterday,” Mal said.

Chen shot him a look.

Mal held up his hands. “I’m not blaming anyone unless we can prove that someone fucked up. This guy is obviously good. But we’re better. So move over so I can help you run this damned tape.”

It took about an hour but they finally found something. “There,” Mal said, pointing at the screen where a lighting crew was entering. “Six of them, then that other one by the truck. His cap looks like it’s a bit darker than the others’. And there’s only six at the bottom of the tower there. So where’s the other one? Our dark-hatted friend.”

“Maybe he’s gone inside, or taking a leak or something,” Chen said.

“I want to talk to that crew,” Mal said. “Double-check. And then start looking through the tapes for anyone who looks like our odd man out.”

“If he took off the cap and the overalls after he broke away from them, then he could be anyone.”

“Yup. So start playing with the recognition software you like so much. Get it to find me a match. Maybe start at the lower levels. If he did go in through the ventilation system, that would be easier to access from a lower level. Fewer people around than in the office tower. And he’d stand out on the stadium levels.”

“Will do,” Chen said.

“Call me when you find it,” Mal said. “He’s good but no one’s perfect. He will have fucked up somewhere. We just need a good look at his face.”

“Home sweet home,” Mal said about eight hours later when he unlocked the front door to his apartment and turned back to take the cat carrier from Raina.

Wash squawked indignantly, as he’d been doing on and off since Raina had wrestled him into the carrier, but he weighed a ton so she handed him over without protesting. She was too tired to protest. She just wanted a flat surface to lie down on and eight hours’ sleep. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had eight hours’ sleep.

“Come on in,” Mal said.

Lights came on as Raina stepped over the threshold, pulling her suitcase in behind her. She’d only brought a small one because she just couldn’t face trying to work out what to bring to fill more than one tonight, and she was still hoping that this was all going to blow over in a few days. So that she could go home again. Wash’s stuff, his bed and bowls and food and the carrier, took up more space than her suitcase.

The sudden illumination revealed a semicircular entry hall that was empty except for a battered-looking square wooden table to the right of the door they’d come through and a couple of huge black-and-white photos of mountains on either side of the double doors opposite. Mal opened those and she followed him into his apartment. Though it was hardly an apartment. Penthouse was the word she was looking for. They’d come up the elevator right to the top of the building. That meant penthouse.

The double doors opened onto a huge room. Big enough to fit Raina’s entire apartment plus probably all of Madame R’s twice over. The walls were bare red brick; iron girders ran the length of the roof. Warehouse conversion chic. Or something.

There were several groupings of big brown leather sofas in various parts of the vast space, either facing the row of windows that ran the length of the left side of the room or in squared formations to create the illusion of closeness.

“Cozy,” she said drily.

“I like space,” Mal said.

“You could play baseball in here,” Raina said.

He shrugged. “Basketball, maybe. Baseballs and windows don’t mix. Come on, the bedrooms are this way. Do you want me to let Wash out or do you want to keep him in one room for a day or two? Isn’t that what you do with cats?”

“Something like that,” Raina said. “He’s fairly relaxed as cats go but one room might be a better idea if you’re attached to your sofas.”

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