Page 28 of The Woman on the Jury

“And?”

“And it was bad,” he said, shaking his head. “More than that, though, nurse I know says they found some other shit wrong with him while they were examining him, so he’s likely gonna be in there for a bit. Might even need to go to a step-down place after.”

“Okay. Now, want to really fucking impress me?” I asked, watching him cast aTry melook in my direction as he weaved effortlessly around a car door that someone threw open without looking. “Where is Halle staying?”

“Well, see, that was a little harder,” he said, but the way his lips twitched told me it wasn’t impossible. “Spent the day at the library before heading to The Empress. Hasn’t left since. Last I heard.”

“The Empress?” I asked, lip curling.

I’d given her enough money to get a room at literally any of the luxury hotels in the city. She could be fine dining on fucking caviar. And she was staying at The Empress?

“Women,” Miko said, shaking his head. “Never can know what’s going on in their heads,” he added.

He would know. He had three sisters.

His mom and dad were some of the rare few who still got on like lovesick teenagers. The evidence of that was the fact that they had seven kids. Four sons, three daughters. So many progeny, in fact, that he’d needed to move them out to fucking Greenwich to fit them all, choosing to commute into the city each day for work shit.

“You got her number?” I asked.

Reaching in his pocket, he passed the paper toward me.

She had surprisingly neat handwriting. Nothing curvy or overly feminine.

I reached for my phone, shooting off a text. Then waited for the response.

Okay.

That was it.

No thanks.

Just okay.

“Prolly woke her up,” Miko said, as if reading my thoughts.

“When’s the last time you got a raise?” I asked, shaking my head at him.

“Dunno. Two weeks ago? Why? You wanna give me more?” he asked, smiling.

“I’m gonna need some men,” I said as we stopped at a light, watching a bunch of women clad in bubble coats rush across the street. I should have been wishing it was warm, and they were all in their barely-there club dresses. But, for some reason, I didn’t give any of them a second thought.

“How many?”

“Need someone on the old man,” I said. “Day and night.”

“Three men on a rotation would work for that,” he said. “Three more for the girl?”

My knee-jerk response was to double that. Two sets of eyes and hands if they were needed.

But twelve of them taken full-time away from their jobs? Jobs that kicked up money to not only me, but the organization as a whole?

It could be overkill.

“Yeah,” I agreed, nodding. “Got any ideas?”

“You’re pissed at Leon, right?” he asked, shooting me a devious smile.

“He got anyone worthwhile under him to steal?”

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