Page 30 of Prey

“Toros?” Danny questioned. “I’m familiar with that family, and ah, I’d say that’s a good place to start. If you want to hire me, that is.”

I took a pull from my cigar and blew out smoke to give myself a chance to think it over for a few seconds. I’m not entirely convinced that Danny could come up with the goods, but there’s only one way to find out.

“What about Annika?” Ronan asked just as I was about to give Danny the go-ahead.

The sound of her name lit a fire in the pit of my stomach, although that fire wasn’t quite as fervent as it was when I had more time to stew in prison. “What about her?”

He pointed his chin toward Danny. “Do you want Danny to find her too?”

I didn’t know why the thought of hiring a sleuth disturbed me a little, and I had no patience to analyze why. “No. I want you to focus on hunting down the killer of Lars Kaisers, and I want weekly updates, right.”

“Sure. So, you’re hiring me?” he seemed ambivalent, and it was difficult to tell if he was pleased with that prospect. Maybe because he knew I’d get on his back, or perhaps because of what type of people we were.

“Yeah, but I want results. I’m not paying you to waste my fucking time,” I warned, and he flinched. “I want the name of Lars Kaiser’s murderer, and I want you to bring that name to me and only me.”

“I understand,” he stated, then adjusted his posture. Now he’s on the clock. “I’ll need to speak to witnesses-”

“There are no fucking witnesses,” I snarled at him, then turned to Ronan and pointed my thumb at Danny. “What’s up with this guy? If there were witnesses, we wouldn’t need to hire him. It’s taking a while for it to sink in.”

“Apart from Annika,” Ronan clenched his jaw, and tension claimed my chest again.

The girl created an internal conflict, primarily because of her age and our assumptions that the police manipulated her. But she should’ve come to us first. We were her fucking family. We were all she had.

“We don’t know for sure if she was a witness or paid or threatened to lie,” I suppressed my urge to raise my voice.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Ronan reasoned. “Let Danny find Annika as well.”

Something inside me struggled with hiring this guy to find her when it was better that we did that job ourselves. And I still had no idea what to do with her once we found her. Kill her? Strangle her and throw her body into the lake. I didn’t know.

Danny cut in, getting us back to business: “Look, I’ll need the names and contact details of everyone in Mr. Lars Kaiser’s life at the time.”

“Yeah, sure,” I pointed to Ronan. “Ronan can give you the names.”

“And the Annika girl?” Danny pressed, and I suppressed a cringe. “If she is helpful to the investigation, then…”

I looked to Ronan, who nodded. “We need to find her, Mikky, to fill in the gaps.” I noticed he used his words carefully when the real reason we wanted to find her was to make her pay for putting me in prison. But torturing information out of her came first, then we’d chuck her in the lion’s den. “At least it would put Gunner out of his misery.”

I snorted. “That’s one upside.” I took another drag of my cigar and blew out the smoke, suddenly finding the urge to pour a whiskey, even though it was only midday. “Fine. Find the girl. Bring her to me.”

Danny twitched. It was easy to tread his mind, wondering what he would do with her and if it would make him liable if he participated in her demise. “And what is Annika’s surname?”

“Annika Kaiser,” I mumbled. “Boyce.”

“Boyce?” Danny questioned.

“Before she came to our family, her surname was Boyce,” I flicked my hand dismissively. Talking about bottom feeders was an unpleasant conversation. “The daughter of a junkyard cat or drug addict, the dregs of society. As they say…you can take the girl out of the trailer park, but…”

“Alright, thank you, Mr. Kaiser,” Danny said as he left. I offered my hand for him to shake, and he turned to Ronan. And Mr…”

“Just call me Ronan,” he replied, shaking Danny’s hand. “If you want to follow me to my office, I can give you some names, and I’ll let them know you’ll be coming to speak to them.”

“Much appreciated,” Danny said, and they left my office.

The silence was welcomed as I grabbed my phone from the top drawer to call Sylvia in Larsson. A gentle tap at the door interrupted me, and I hesitated before allowing them to enter.

“Mikky, just me,” Betty poked her head into my office. “I won’t take long.”

“What is it?” I grumbled. The meeting with the PI put me in a bad mood. Although he’s likely to find out something relevant, I refused to get my hopes up that he’ll supply the goods. Secrets had been buried deep, and to access the key to unlocking the goldmine, he’d probably have to traipse the Larsson police department, and I doubted he was prepared to do that.

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