Page 14 of Queen's Ransom

“I’m sure it hasn’t,” Helena said.

Brax swapped the view again, reappearing onscreen, his eyes narrowed. He turned his back to the other officers on the scene and lowered his voice. “If you’ve got the VIN and owner ID, send it through to Jax. It’ll speed up our processes.”

“Tit for tat, Brax,” Helena said.

“You’ll get the forensics report when I do. Faster, if I have a good place to start.” He lowered the phone, disappearing from view and preparing to hang up, until Holt’s urgent “Brax” stopped him.

He reappeared after a moment with his aviators on, unnecessary on a gray rainy day.

Hiding then. Curiouser and curiouser.

Holt leaned forward, fingertips on the edge of the screen as if he could reach through it. “Lily would like to spend some time with her godfather.”

Brax’s lips turned down and the divot between his brows deepened. Helena bet, behind those shades, the chief’s eyes were closed. Pained. Holt’s plea had hit its mark. It was well played, even if Helena knew it was only partially the truth. Holt missed his best friend too.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Brax said. “But things at the station are—”

“Busy, I know,” Holt replied. “But—”

“I’ll let you know when I see some daylight.”

He ended the call, and Holt’s wobbly “Brax” raked across Helena’s heart, creating a tear she was sure was minuscule compared to the one opening in Holt’s chest. For a man so big, he was eerily still, his grief palpable and heartbreaking.

“He’s still pissed at us,” Hawes said.

“Possibly,” Helena replied.

They’d had to be more cautious than ever last summer about what information they shared with the chief, which left Brax on the outside more than usual, but it had been for his own protection as much as theirs. She hadn’t been surprised at his anger over it then; she was surprised he was still holding on to it now. That wasn’t like him. There had to be more to it for Brax to distance himself from the two people he loved most in the world. To distance himself from a promise he’d made to her six years ago and to Holt years before that. She scribbled another task onto her mental to-do list, then turned to the current crisis, a distraction Holt could also use.

She laid a hand on his shoulder. “What’d you find on the ECU?”

Holt cleared his throat and brought his fingers back to the keyboard in a flurry of keystrokes. “VIN number. The idiots tried to erase it elsewhere but did a half-ass job on the computer. Barely had to dig.” Onscreen, he displayed the ECU readout and the photo of the partial Arizona plate. “Together with the plate, title tracks to Herman Mosley.”

Helena did not expect the next picture that appeared: a death certificate. “He’s dead?”

“Since last year, according to Maricopa County.”

“So how’d his car get from Arizona to California?” Avery asked from where she rested next to Victoria against the other desk.

“I’ll request the probate records,” Helena said. “See who was supposed to inherit. Arizona is a closed-records state. We shouldn’t have been able to get this much.” She squeezed Holt’s shoulder. “Nice work.”

“We’re also running down parts,” Chris said. “Two have recent serial numbers, according to the manufacturer. If Cee and I can track them to a shop here, we can see about getting receipts.”

“And track who bought them,” Hawes finished.

“I’ll get all this over to Jax,” Holt said. He logged into their encrypted private server and began uploading details for his hacker protégé inside SFPD. Jax would get the info to Brax, who would fast-track the forensics.

Helena crossed the room to her lieutenants. “Where are we on the lists?”

“I added a few names to yours.” Avery tapped her index finger against the legal pad Helena had left for Holt. “Squirrelly fuckers from our meetings.”

Helena read the three additional names. Two she agreed with but the third… “Frank Ferriello? You think?” The Madigans had taken out his brother, Nicky, last summer when Nicky had tried to take out Hawes, courtesy of their traitorous grandmother. Francis had assumed his brother’s merc-in-charge mantel, and he’d been Helena’s first roadshow meeting. “I thought that meeting went well.”

“Too eager to play ball,” Avery said. “I don’t buy it.”

“And he’s reached out to two of our soldiers in the past week,” Victoria added. “He’s fishing for something.”

And that was why Helena had wanted the two of them read in on this. She could never catch everything, not with all the juggling, and Avery and Victoria were a formidable, dependable duo. Their deft handling of the details and the operatives allowed Helena to focus on the bigger picture, which was coming together in her head.

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