Page 148 of Bossy Hero

“Got it,” he responds crisply. “For the record, I’ve never liked the man.”

I sweep my pointer finger toward Mia. “While he’s doing that, I want you to take the lead on the email Salgado’s sending us.”

“Her analysis of the list?” Mia confirms.

“Yeah. The architect gave us that list for a reason, and it’s taking too long for us to figure out why. Compare whatever the detective has highlighted to what you’ve already uncovered in your financial research. Summarize anything of note for our next update. We’re still unsure whether those are strictly customers of the trafficking organization or Lenkov’s business associates. I want those answers like yesterday.”

Redirecting to Klein, I barely take a breath. “Call Patterson for a routine check-in like you’ve been doing. See if you get any sketchy vibes from him during the convo. Anything to corroborate or refute Salgado’s hunch. We can’t automatically trust her either.”

Tomer’s intelligent gaze flickers between the rest of us. “Are we all thinking the same thing regarding the timing of Patterson’s absence from work?”

I suspect we are, and I’m about to say as much when Mia beats me to the punch.

“I don’t know about you guys, but I bet Lenkov hauled him in to punish him for letting us take out Viktor. He probably sent him back with a very specific job to do. Otherwise, he’d be dead.”

Her musings align with mine, so I look at Klein and add, “Speaking of Patterson’s work. Comb through our past dealings with him, identifying intel we’ve shared back and forth. I recognize it’ll be a hefty list, but I’m wondering if we can pinpoint anything we thought would turn out one way but then went another. Something that should have been an open-and-shut case until we gave it to him, and then it fizzled. We would have taken it at face value, but perhaps we need to second-guess anything he’s ever given us. Partner with Tomer and Mia on that as needed. If we have any proof that he’s dirty, I can take it to the chief.”

Klein scoffs and shakes his head. “Things that have fizzled out? Like the entire Franco Financial case? Somehow Nikolai’s been untouchable there. Only underlings have gone down thus far, which is total bullshit considering what we had on him.”

I snap my fingers at him. “Exactly. Now that we suspect him, perhaps we’ll be able to see something we missed before.”

A hint of foreboding gives me pause before I face Shep. I hate sending him into the lion’s den. But we gotta do what we gotta do.

“You know what’s coming, don’t you?”

“Fucking hell.” He lets his head loll around in a mix of genuine and sarcastic dramatics. “Let me guess. Go see Yuri again?”

Klein quirks his head. “Will he even see you after how you and Jonesy treated him last time?”

“I’ve seen him once since then. He was pissed, but he talked.”

A flash of awareness crosses Klein’s face. “Oh yeah, that’s right. When you asked him if he knew Alexei.”

Resigned to his miserable fate, Shep asks, “Am I feeling him out in general, Boss? Or do you have specific questions in mind?”

“A little of both. Find out what he knows about CPD, keeping Patterson’s name out of it. Ask if he trusts Katia and explore that relationship more. I’d like to know if he’s heard from Savin and Tasha. If they’re part of thisfamilyof his, he might know where they are. And while I don’t want to put them in Lenkov’s sights, we could use Savin as a witness to make some of these charges ironclad.”

He takes notes, nodding along as I ramble.

“Additionally, since the architect’s latest email doesn’t point to the next arm of the mafia he wants to take down, see if Yuri knows what’s next—drugs, guns, financial shit, cyber, or something else. It’ll be faster if we’re already heading there by the time he gets around to whatever the fuck he’s planning. And for fuck’s sake, ask Yuri again if he’s fucking around with us via this Alexei character. I agree with you about these riddles. They’re totally his style, and it’s pissing me the hell off.”

“Same,” Tomer grumbles under his breath.

With frustration mounting, I press my fingertip firmly into the table, hard enough to make the flesh blanch. “Tell Yuri I want a meeting with Alexei. Not just an email. Not a fucking phone call either. I want to meet him in person. Don’t care where, when, or how. Enough bullshit. I appreciate what he’s trying to do, but this is gonna take forever at this rate. Fuck that.”

“You don’t ask for much, do you?” Shep inhales deeply, holding his breath for a beat before expelling it forcibly. “I’ll see what I can do. Can I take Sawyer with me? Or Lionheart?”

“Don’t care. Whoever is free. Just be safe.” I crick my head to the side, eyes flicking to the ceiling. “Actually, take a third.”

“I’ll try to make it happen today or tonight, Boss.”

“On second thought.” I pause, flicking my gaze to the ceiling. “Hold up on that visit for a day or two. Let’s see what the intel team finds first. You might be able to use what they find to steer your questions or put the screws to him.”

Shep’s smile turns fiendish. “Heard.” He scratches his pen over his notepad, pretending that he’s writing down what he says. “Delay meeting with the shit bag. Consider it done.”

I fold my hands in front of me and address them collectively. “As for me, I plan to ask the chief why he assigned Patterson to us out of all his detectives. Maybe I’ll catch something I missed in past meetings. Put my damn gut to use. I’ll make up some other bullshit to explain the meeting request. An update on our findings or to talk about Katia to make it seem more natural. I also want to ask what he knows about Undersheriff Dempsey.”

“Do you suspect the chief is involved too?” Mia asks.

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