Page 53 of Mine to Save

“Sure am.”

Emmett slipped from behind the steering wheel. It felt strange to be going to question someone when not in uniform. It didn’t matter that he was carrying his service weapon and his badge. It still felt different.

“Who’s taking the lead?” Rhett asked.

“You can. For now.”

Emmett was also used to working with his mom, Nathan, or Emmerson—all control freaks.

One his boss.

The other two older.

Well, Rhett was older, too. But he wasn’t a cop. It was a different dynamic—most days.

Rhett chuckled. “You mean I get to knock on the door and ask if Tony is available?”

“Something like that.”

Emmett glanced over his shoulder, checking out the neighborhood. It was a nice one—mid-range houses and condos. Decent cars lined the streets. And it was only five miles from the beach.

Rhett rang the bell.

It took about two minutes before an older gentleman with long, white hair and a matching beard answered the door.

“Can I help you?” the man asked.

“Are you Tony?” Rhett asked.

“That depends on who wants to know.” Tony held the door open.

“My name’s Rhett. This is my brother, Emmett. I left you a message this morning about your statement regarding two murders.”

“Oh. Yeah. I didn’t call you back,” Tony said. “Pretty ballsy of you to just show up without an invite.”

“I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news or not. A man was shot in Lighthouse Cove,” Emmett said. “He was wanted in connection with the same murders you came forward and said you had some information regarding.”

“I saw it,” Tony said.

“We’re not sure he’s the guy,” Rhett said. “We want to know what you think.”

“That fed told me I was mistaken. That my account was wrong,” Tony said with disdain dripping from every syllable. “She told me my statement was useless.”

“We disagree.” Rhett held pulled a copy of the sketch from his pocket and unfolded it. “Is this the man you saw?”

“Yeah. That’s him. Swear to God. He took meetings in my bar. I didn’t keep track of them all because I didn’t know what they were about at first. And I doubt they were all hired for the same thing. But I can tell you about one of them. Because it was a woman I know. She wanted to hire him to kill her husband.”

Emmett stole a glance at his brother. That wasn’t in the report they’d gotten.

“You told the agent who took your statement that?” Rhett asked.

“No,” Tony said. “I couldn’t toss that poor girl under the bus. Her asshole of a husband beat the shit out of her on a regular basis. Bastard would have deserved it if it ever happened. But it didn’t. She didn’t have enough money.” Tony ran his hand over his long beard. “The jerk hitman would have done it for sexual favors.”

“Where’s this young woman now?”

Tony smiled. “She’s a waitress in my bar. Her now soon-to-be ex-husband is in prison.”

“I take it you had something to do with that?” Emmett asked.

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