Page 65 of Under Fire

He turned her toward the police station. “With cracked ribs, running or swimming will be painful. How is the tape on your side?”

“Starting to peel.”

“When the tape becomes annoying, let me know. I’ll help you remove it or you can ask Sasha to give you a hand.” His cell phone buzzed with a text message. Matt checked the screen and called Zane. “What do you have for me?”

“Can you talk freely?”

“I’m walking to the police station with Delilah.”

“Zach Frost is in deep to a bookie from New Jersey. Name’s Joey Petrelli. He has a stable of leg breakers he uses to persuade people who owe him money to pay up. All would use Delilah to pressure Zach.”

Matt frowned. “Why her? She hasn’t contacted him in years.”

“None of the women Zach dated lasted more than a few weeks.”

“Sounds like he took a page from his stepfather’s black book. How much does Zach owe?”

“Fifty thousand.”

Matt whistled. “Why did Petrelli let the tab run that high?”

“Good old Zach was good for the cash since Mama was flush. When Mrs. Holloway’s health failed in the last three months, Zach made more trips than normal to Atlantic City to escape from Harmony and his sick mother. Petrelli let the tab accumulate because Zach convinced the bookie he would inherit a fourth of the estate.”

Had he known about the provisions in Michelle’s new will? If he did, that would explain the attack on Delilah before she knew about her mother’s illness and will. If they found proof Zach was behind all this, Delilah would be devastated. Treating her with disrespect as a teenager was one thing. Betrayal by a blood relative was a whole different level of pain, especially now that Michelle was gone.

“What else?”

“Holloway is blowing up the Internet with rants about his dead wife and money-grubbing stepdaughter. The gist is he’s been cheated out of his rightful inheritance by Delilah. He’s the wronged party with a broken heart and an empty wallet.”

“Threats?”

“Nothing specific. The usual crap about how she’ll get what’s coming to her one of these days.”

Matt blew out a breath, frustrated with the lack of information from that quarter. “Where did he land?”

Zane chuckled. “I’m glad you asked. He’s staying with his current girlfriend for right now. I found rumors of her discontent with the dating arrangement before Holloway moved in. I think she might be interested in someone else but hasn’t made a move that direction yet. My guess is she won’t put up with Holloway sponging off her for long. He has a few hundred dollars in his account at the moment. Mrs. Holloway died before she authorized the standard monthly allowance for the men in her family.”

“That has to hurt.”

“What hurts more is he planned to take a cruise around the world when his wife passed away. The plans were made without being booked because no one knew when his wife would die. The arrangements were for two.”

“Is the second ticket for the current squeeze?”

“Found her name in the travel agency’s computer along with Holloway’s. Next on my list of information is Norris. He’s something else.”

“Tell me.”

“I poked around in his juvie file. Norris was arrested for sexual assault and attempted rape four times. Never went to trial because the charges were dropped each time.”

Matt growled. “He went after Delilah when she was a senior in high school.”

“How did he get away with the assaults?” Zane demanded. “According to the police files, the cops had him cold on the assaults.”

“His father is the mayor of Harmony.”

“Ah. That explains the reluctance to prosecute this clown. He married his high school sweetheart right after graduation. Had a couple kids. The family relationship is rocky. The cops have been called to his house multiple times for domestic abuse. No jail time if he attended anger management class.”

And this creep had touched Matt’s woman. His hand tightened around the cell phone. “You said house. Did you mean brownstone? He has a place in downtown Harmony.”

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