Page 44 of Marked

“Yeah, those Blackwood attorneys were able to get the conviction overturned.”

“Everything leads back to Jimmy Blackwood, then.”

“In the end, yeah.”

“Well, we’ll pay him a visit after we speak to Vince.” Taking a Mafia son out will need more finesse than one of his low-level thugs. He’ll have people surrounding him, and possibly force of his family behind him.

It doesn’t let him off the hook, it just means we need to watch our steps.

There’s more static on the line, like it’s fading out.

“Phone’s gonna die on me. These prepaids are getting shittier,” Jeff complains.

I chuckle. “They are when you go cheap.”

“I’m saving for retirement. Not all of us get field bonuses.”

“You couldn’t stomach what I do. Besides, you have that wife and kid to protect. You’re fine right where you are.” There’s movement behind me.

Harley is up, finally, brushing her hair from her face as she walks into the living room with a sleepy smile on her lips.

“You’re right.” More static. “If I get more, I’ll get in touch.”

“Thanks,” I say to a dead line. He really needs to pay better attention to the equipment he uses.

“Who was that?” Harley pulls her hair into a ponytail as she makes her way to the kitchen. I don’t miss the way her hips sway as she walks. Or the gentle curve of her ass that peeks out from her pajama shorts.

“A friend, getting information for us.” I toss my phone onto the side table next to the couch on my way to meet her in the kitchen.

I slink my arms around her waist while she drops a coffee pod into her coffee machine, and kiss her bare shoulder.

“Sleep okay?”

“Yeah.” She freezes. “I did.” After hitting the brew button, she turns in my arms and faces me. “Not a single nightmare.”

“Were you expecting one?” Taking out Artie was her first kill. He deserved every ounce of pain he got, butHarley’s not the monster he was. It wouldn’t be surprising if she’d found it hard to sleep.

“I was.” She nods, pressing her palms into the edge of the counter. “After yesterday, I thought I’d be up the rest of the night with them. But nothing.”

I brush an errant hair from her cheek.

“How are you doing? With what we found out yesterday?”

She lifts a shoulder, but her eyes move away from mine.

I nudge her chin until she’s focused on me again. “No lying, Harley. Tell me.”

She frowns. “We didn’t find out much. I still don’t understand why and who, other than that Vince guy.”

“I was able to track down that Vince guy, well at least his last name. I have a little more digging to do, but I think I’ll know where we can find him soon enough. Then we’ll get more from him. It’s slow, but one monster at a time, right?”

The little wrinkles around her eyes deepen with her smile.

“Yeah. One bite at a time.” She laughs. “That’s what I tell my kids when they’re learning something new. You wouldn’t eat a bear all in one bite, right? No, you’d eat it one bite at a time, so that’s how we do the lesson.”

“Why would you eat a bear?” I ask.

She thinks about it, then shrugs. “I don’t know, none of the kids have ever asked.”

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