Hooked

leaned back in thought. Mario clearly disliked Colin. By blackmailing Martell, the Cockney started a chain of events that resulted in disaster for everyone. But as she suspected earlier, there was more to it. Reggie wouldn’t murder one of Mario’s people without authorization, which meant Mario had contracted the hit on Martell. Why? A family matter? Cheating on his wife’s niece? By his own admission, Mario didn’t think that was a mortal sin. So there had to be another reason to kill Rick Martell. Revenge? For what?
    Ah, for the one thing Mario wouldn’t tolerate. For the same reason he was going to kill Tawny: betrayal. Martell had done something Mario couldn’t forgive, and for that he paid the ultimate price.
    It didn’t take a genius to figure out why Mario entrusted Tawny to these two. He could employ smarter people to do the job. This was Mario’s swan song, and he didn’t want anything muddying his family after he was gone. Colin and Reggie were expendable. So was she. As Mario had tied up the murders of the two women, pinning them on Martell, he would now eliminate her by pinning it on the two hapless dolts in the car.
    Even if Tawny’s analysis was on the mark, it didn’t mean a damn thing. She’d figured out the answers, which only made her more dangerous to everyone if she were free. Maybe she could convince Mario she wouldn’t talk. But he’d seen Walsh go into her house. He’d seen her eating lunch with an FBI agent. How in hell could she sweet talk him out of that?
    Walsh was searching for her. That’s why he was at Upper Eighties. Would he continue when he learned she wasn’t there? Did she even matter to him, or was she nothing more than collateral damage in his pursuit of solving bigger crimes?

Chapter Thirty-Nine
    No Honor Among Thieves

    R elieved, Linc watched as two NYPD squad cars and one unmarked sedan screeched to a stop in front of Upper Eighties. Another car blocked the alley two buildings up from Cooper’s. A for effort; fucked up for timing, Linc thought. Dennis picked up the warrant a detective from their unit brought while Linc went to the unmarked car where Harry was answering his cell. When he snapped his phone shut.
    “Clauson lost Russo.”
    Linc’s gut twisted into a pretzel. “How?”
    “Another car pulled out and blocked his way. By the time the guy moved, Russo was out of sight.”
    “Did he nab the guy?”
    “Yeah, but he was just a kid who said some guy paid him a bundle to get in the way. Didn’t know Russo from Adam. Clauson took his information and let him go. He put out a BOLO on Russo’s car and plates, but he’s probably positioned one of his boys to do a switch. He’s done that before.”
    Things weren’t adding up. “How’d he know about Clauson’s car?”
    “Having followed Russo for years, he always expects someone’s on his tail. He’s usually right.”
    “Shit! That may have been our only chance to find Tawny. We’re going into Cooper’s. You coming?”
    “Yeah,” Harry said, “as an observer.”
    Linc raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. “If the Coopers don’t where those two guys took Tawny, we’re screwed.”
    “Benny should have kept his job on Wall Street. I don’t think he knew the hole he’d dug himself until tonight.”
    Dennis, warrant in his hand, joined Linc and Harry, with the cops following. Charles let them in and stepped aside when Dennis waved the warrant. Cooper answered the door of his apartment with the phone to his ear. His demands indicated he was talking to his lawyer. One of the NYPD detectives read Benny and Eileen their rights, while a uniform made the rounds of the rooms on the first floor and two others took the stairs to the upper levels.
    “I had nothing to do with this,” Eileen Cooper argued. “It was all Colin. Colin and Reggie.” Tears glistened in her eyes. “Benny might have known.”
    Benny rolled his eyes and strained to turn, fighting the cop snapping on handcuffs. “Shut up, Eileen. They can’t prove anything if you shut up.” His body wilted, and he released a long sigh. Pitiful basset eyes centered on Linc. “I couldn’t see past the tits.”
    “You don’t think we can prove anything, Benny? People will be waiting in line to flip on you.” But it was Tawny he was worried about. She knew enough to put the guilty culprits behind bars for a very long time, and it’d be in everyone’s interest if she was never found. “A federal agent is on his way