Page 62 of Elliot

“I’m heading to her apartment with Rob and Silas, then to Dillon’s. Let me know when I can talk to that cop.”

“You got it.”

He looked at Rob and Silas. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah, but, dude, you need a change of shirts.”

Elliot looked down at his blood-stained shirt. The nurse hadn’t found a shirt large enough for him. “You got something against blood?”

Rob shrugged. “Only if it’s my own. Even so, that shit is pretty drastic.”

“We can grab you a t-shirt on the way out in the gift shop,” Rob suggested.

“Then let’s go.” Elliot turned down the hallway. He would stop to check on Maya one more time before he left, even if she hadn’t been moved to her room yet. Then, well, then, he had a man to find and answers to get.

CHAPTER 23

Elliot led the way down the hallway to Jessica’s apartment. The building was far from being run down, but with the money Maya had been paying Jessica, he thought she’d live in a better neighborhood. He reached the door, took out his lock set, and had the door open in under ten seconds.

“Not bad at that,” Rob said as they entered the apartment.

“Little rusty,” Elliot said as he took in the sparsely appointed but functional space. “Rob, kitchen, Silas, here, and I’ll take the bedroom.”

They’d discussed what they were looking for on the drive over. Anything that would link Jessica to Dillon Ulman and any rationale for her hatred of Maya.

He walked into the small bedroom and made a direct line for the closet. The first was crammed with clothes—all for a female Jessica’s size. He moved shoe boxes and looked through everything on the top shelf and the shoes, purses, and boxes on the bottom of the closet. Nothing. He checked under the bed and the mattress before checking the nightstands. Again, nothing. Elliot’s agitation grew as he walked around the bed and opened the door to the second closet.

Well, fuck … there you are, little miss. Yep, one fixated person, weren’t you?Elliot reached up and pulled the string to turn on the light in the small closet. The top of the closet was lined with journals. The closet walls had newspaper clippings of Maya taped all over them. He knelt and looked at articles about the alleged theft of proprietary information. An article about the abandonment of the backers on the building and several others about the ongoing lawsuit.

“Boss, we’re clear out here,” Silas said from the door.

“Call the forensics team. I haven’t touched anything, and we need these journals analyzed.”

“That’s my gig. I’ve got them on speed dial,” Con said in his ear. “And head over to central booking. You can talk to the undercover cop.”

He looked at Silas. “Forensics is being called. We need to head over to talk to that cop. Rob, wait here for the team.”

“You got it,” Rob said as he looked at the closet. “I didn’t really think shit like this existed. I mean, in movies, yeah, but damn …”

“Even the movies have an element of truth in them,” Silas said as they left the apartment.

“Which explainsFatal Attraction, right? Truth is scary,” Con said in his ear. Elliot shook his head and declined to respond.

It took them almost two hours to get the cop out of holding and to an interview room. Elliot tossed the man a pack of cigarettes and a lighter as soon as the door was closed behind him.

“Thank fuck!” the man said and lifted his hands. Silas unlocked the handcuffs. The man had a cigarette going within seconds. “What can I do for you, and, dude, the ‘I Love NY’ t-shirt is classic.”

Silas chuckled, but Elliot was too focused on the answers he needed. “Who’s the boss?”

“Some dude named Dillon. Didn’t get a last name. He pays us in cash every week. Watch him, though. He isn’t right.”

“Where did you meet him?”

“I’m working a sting on what we believe is a … well, it’s a company or corporation recruiting men without records who can provide any kind of security and will do so without questions. The requirements are no entanglements, no police records, and, if you have a military background, no dishonorable discharge. Weapons training is a plus, but they’ll teach you if you don’t have it. He used that entity to hire us.”

“And Dillon Ulman recruited how many people like you’re portraying?” Elliot asked.

“Three teams. One for him, one for the dead woman, and one for specialized tactics.”

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