Page 73 of Lust
The moment Joe found Gareth Smith, his life was over.
“Why?” Geoff asked.
“A day before the Ripper victim disappeared, Liza intercepted this man from taking the victim.”
“That’s a definite link,” Geoff said, eyebrows raised. “And motive to pull a stunt like claiming police brutality. Why didn’t she say anything?”
Joe couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, that Liza was more interested in following Gareth Smith to the source—the Syndicate. If they arrested him now, they’d never find out who he sold the body parts too.
“What did you find at the shelter?” Joe asked.
Geoff leaned back and blew a raspberry out slow. “Not much. We asked around. The girl said nothing while she was there. No one noticed anything strange about her. But if you ask me, we’re fishing in a basket of empty water.”
“What do you mean?”
“The only person at the shelter who wanted to talk to us was a woman who claimed to have escaped aliens who tried to impregnate her. She was high as a kite.”
Joe rubbed his forehead. “All right. Let’s keep digging into Gareth Smith. See if anything else comes up. Let’s get eyes on him too. Geoff?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep this between us.”
“You got it.”
Geoff went to take the case file, but Joe stopped him. “Leave it.”
When Geoff left, Joe flipped back to the pictures taken at the hospital. A name on the report caught his attention. Gareth’s witness was listed as Wyatt Lazarus.
* * *
Late afternoon,Joe arrived at the Lazarus House basement garage. It felt strange to drive in, have a computer recognize his vehicle, and allow entry. Only days ago, he was pinning pictures of vigilantes to his bedroom wall and trying to ascertain how to gain proof of their criminal activities. That Joe was naïve. He hadn’t understood how deep the conspiracy went—beings with powers had been created by a criminal organization. Right now, they were contained, but in the future, they could become the norm. And unhinged. And the Syndicate had military backing, possibly up to the Pentagon.
There was no turning back.
There had to be a way to get the government on the right side, and he was yet to figure out how to do it. The first step was obtaining irrefutable evidence. It was why he was going on the raid with the Seven, to mop up, and then call it in as though he’d been tipped off anonymously.
After being let inside through a side door, he found the Lazarus family in full battle gear, gathered around a central table in the operations room. It was a sight to behold. A wall of television screens depicted news network and CCTV footage. Glass display cabinets around the room were empty, except one. Who hadn’t put the suit on?
He searched the cluster of uniform-clad bodies gathered around the table... there she was. Liza as he’d never seen her before. As no one had.
Even with her back to him, he knew it was her, dressed in a skin-tight dusky gray suit made of some sort of fibrous material that hugged her like a second skin. She cocked her hip to the side and put weight on one leg. There was no fault to her shape.
For a few beats of his heart, he stood on the outskirts of the room, admiring Liza as she watched her family discuss the best points of entry to the Faithful hideout. She stood back with her arms folded, an opinionated eye on Parker as he gave a speech. Daisy stood quietly to the side. She wore a white hoodie and jeans. Somehow, Joe didn’t get the sense she was humbled or submissive as her posture projected. Intelligent eyes took in everything.
The men in the group were ominous shadows, standing silent but with piercing gazes. But Joe’s eyes kept tracking back to Liza—he would marry her one day. The notion was a certainty.
Sloan looked up with a secret smirk that said she knew what Joe was feeling. He cleared his throat and approached the table. Parker frowned.
“What are you doing here?”
Joe scoffed. “I’m going.”
“Like hell you are,” Parker replied.
But Joe was prepared for that. While he and Liza had discussed it that morning, he’d asked that she not share the news with her family. He would do it himself.
Liza smiled at him but said nothing. Her confidence bolstered him.
