Page 3 of Dangerous Rhythm

Lina’s eyes narrowed on Marcus as she seriously wondered if he was clairvoyant. “You want me to get a team ready for another tour? Is this the schedule? I’ll start working on the plan. I think John will be a good lead for it.”

“No. It’s not about the band.” He gestured for her to look at the file.

Lina opened it and found a copy of a police report. She scanned the content and certain words popped out to her: stabbing, Stiletto, died on the scene. Then her breath caught in her throat.

Curtis Bisset.

Her alarmed gaze flew back to Marcus for a brief second before diving back into the report, reading it more thoroughly: Curtis Bisset witnessed the stabbing of Sean Murphy at The Morrigan’s nightclub. He identified and provided evidence against the perpetrator, leading to the arrest of Rocco Stiletto.

“Rocco Stiletto? Is this one of those Stilettos?” Lina questioned, thinking of the city’s infamous organized crime family.

Marcus confirmed with a nod. “He’s Serafina Stiletto’s youngest son.”

“Shit. Why is Curtis’ name all over this report? Shouldn’t the police keep his identity concealed?”

“It is now. We made sure of it when his name popped on our morning report that day.”

Ken’s army of computer whizzes scanned the internet twenty-four seven for anything concerning their clients: corporations and the people involved with them. And Marcus’ network of informants did the same for anything they couldn’t find on the internet. Since Curtis Bisset’s band, Canis Major, was under the wing of Aquarius Media Corp—a big client for B&Y—he was a person of interest to them. Most of the reports concerning their celebrity clients were benign gossip or media-related, but when their names popped up on a police blotter, it would send a red alert to Marcus or Ken.

Lina glanced at the date of the police report: December 12.

“This report is a month old.” She flipped to the next set of paper, some news article printouts. She started reading them.

“The stabbing victim was a member of the Murphy family, formerly known as the Irish mob and a Stiletto rival. They used to deal in the same stuff Stiletto is in, but the Murphys have gone legit, at least on paper. From what we know, he had no record except for a note of his familial connection with the Murphys. But the two young men got into it, and one ended up dead and the other in jail,” Marcus said.

“Does Curtis need to appear in court to testify?” Lina asked, already thinking about the protection he’d need during a trial that would definitely get a lot of attention. And the press wasn’t her concern at all.

“Well, that’s not an issue anymore,” Marcus said. “Rocco Stiletto was shivved last night in jail, presumably a revenge kill by the Irish.”

That information wasn’t in the file. Lina set it aside.

“Damn,” Lina said. “That’s not a good development, but it’s a problem for the NYPD. Why are you bringing this up?”

She had a good idea what the answer to her question was, but the look in Marcus’ eyes confirmed it.

“Rocco was Serafina Stiletto’s baby. She is out for blood,” Marcus said.

Understanding what that meant, Lina straightened. “We need to ensure Curtis Bisset’s identity isn’t leaked to the Stilettos. You know better than I do that these people have their own sources in the police department. Who knows about Curtis?”

“Detective Steve Bolt and the ADA. Then there are the first responders at the club,” Marcus answered.

“Meaning the Stilettos could easily get his name if they were asking,” Lina concluded.

“I’ve heard no one asking—”

“They’re asking. They most likely already have it.” Lina grabbed her jacket. “We need to assess the situation. I’ll go check on Curtis.”

“Good. I was going to suggest you do that while I put my ears on the ground. I’ll have Ken’s people keep an eye out on their end.”

Lina walked out of her office, Marcus right behind her.

“Where’s Ken?” she asked as they walked to the elevator banks.

“On a special project in Southeast Asia,” Marcus said.

Lina nodded. If Marcus could elaborate, he would, but he didn’t. Without another question, she swiped her specially coded card to open the door.

“Hey.” Marcus put a hand on her shoulder. “The Stilettos are most likely to focus on the Murphys. This is just a precaution.”

---