Page 48 of Devil's Due

“Sure.”

“Want you at church next week.”

So I’ll be making the trip back anyway. I don’t tell him he’s just contradicted himself, but maybe he means for me not to be seen around town or working at the shop on a daily basis. Should be able to get there and back without being followed, but how much can I get out of her between now and then? He’s given me a week to earn her trust. “May not have much to share,” I warn him. “Reckon it’s going to take more than a minute to get Stevie to open up.”

“It probably will. But the brothers will want to hear anything you do find out from your own mouth.”

There’s a knock at the door. Demon calls out they can enter, and Ink comes in. His face is grim, and he brings with him a faint acrid smell of smoke. “Pyro’s pal from the fire service was there and got his team to turn their backs while I had a look around. The back door was fastened shut with heavy duty wire. No way she could have opened it.”

I know that myself. If a big fucker like me couldn’t budge it, she wouldn’t have had a chance.

“You go inside?”

“Nah. The fire was intense, man. Continued to burn after you got out. There’s virtually nothing left. Anything she had is gone. If anything survived, it would be badly smoke or water damaged.”

I doubt if she’d have brought many personal possessions with her. Anything she had would have pointed to her past. Having escaped with her life, I doubt there was anything gone she’ll be too worried about. This won’t be the first time Stevie has had to start all over again.

Except for some stuff. “She needs clothes.”

“She’s about the same size as Jayden. Ask Pal if she’s got anything spare that will keep her going for a few days.”

“Can you send Vi out to stock up? I’ll pick it up when I come back for church.”

“That’s a plan.” Prez nods.

My mind circles back to the fire. “You see anyone other than firefighters?”

“Like who?” Uninvited, Ink takes the second chair.

“Cops? Marshal?”

Ink’s eyes shutter as though he’s trying to remember. “Cops, yeah. Hanging around waiting for the firefighters to get what they need.” He pauses. “What does a US Marshal look like?”

Demon and I look at each other. I see his mouth turning up at the corners. Ink’s got a good point. A marshal checking on a woman who doesn’t exist would hardly be wearing his badge. “All the cops in uniform?”

“Nah, looked like a detective there.”

It was obviously arson. A detective is likely to be assigned to investigate a crime.

“If the marshal knows he’s lost his witness, they’ll be searching everywhere,” Ink notes. “Firefighters have already determined there’s no body in the ruins of her house.” I look at him assessing, wondering if Demon’s considered tapping him for VP.

He’s come up with another good point. Wiping my hand down my face, resting my fingers on my chin, I shake my head. “Got more than one group of people searching for her, Prez. Starting to wonder whether we’ve bitten off more than we can chew.”

Demon studies me for a moment. “She’s right, though. Marshals will move her fast if they know she’s exposed. It’s not something that’s gone into lightly. The info she’s got must be hellishly important for them to give her a new identity in a new town.”

“And the people coming after her scary enough that she’s given up everything.” Ink looks impressed. “She either hates these people she’s up against, or puts society’s needs above her own. Pretty damned impressed with that myself. Now it’s likely she’ll have to do that all over again.”

A little earlier I’d been considering telling the authorities where she is so she could be looked after by people who, to date, have never lost a man. Or woman, come to that. Now I’m realising, if the US Marshals knew, they’d take her away and I’d never know where she was, would never see her again. It’s just my need to protect her that makes me want to keep her close, isn’t it? Along with my desire to want to reunite her with her dog. Sure, she’s an attractive bitch, wouldn’t turn down someone with her looks, but I’ve got a stable of sweet butts here I haven’t tried yet. Nah, that’s not influencing me at all.

I glance at Ink, then at Demon. “Someone who isn’t meant to know where she is, found out. Unless we discover the how and the who, we could be putting her back into danger again. Sure, the US Marshals have an impeccable record. Doesn’t mean they can’t fuck up a time or two.”

Ink nods. “There’s a leak somewhere. Could be within the US Marshals’ outfit, or with the cops.”

“Or someone just got lucky, or she herself slipped up.”

Demon looks sharply from me to Ink, then back again. “You’re right, Beef. Anyone can fuck up. We didn’t know Taser would go off the rails, but Ingot certainly found out. He’d prospected, earned his patch, spent more than a few years sitting around this table, then killed Ingot off in the hope he’d get an officer patch. Maybe a marshal wants something more. It will be a big case, possibly big money involved. Maybe enough to prove tempting. We need to know more. Right now, I’m as much in the dark as she is, and that’s what I don’t like. We get her to contact her handler, might be the very man she shouldn’t trust.”

Ink’s shaking his head. “Bad business with Taser. Man must have had a screw loose. Who’d want an officer patch when that comes with responsibility.”

---