“I would have died in there.”
“Yes, you would have.”
“They didn’t care about us. We were just cattle to them. We fucked and they got paid. And then when we weren’t useful anymore, they killed us and threw away our bodies like trash.”
I put my hand on her leg, smiling softly. “You’re safe here.”
“I know. But I hate them.”
“We all hate them here. I want to bring them down.”
“I want to help.”
That was what I wanted to hear.
“Tell Kasia that the next time you see her. She’ll help you.”
“Thank you.”
I stood up. “Stay or go, it doesn’t matter. But whatever you do, don’t waste this second chance.”
“I won’t.”
I smiled and then left her room, heading back to the elevator.
Katy was pretty, just like all the girls we saved. The mafia didn’t waste time buying and selling ugly girls.
But she was right about one thing: they didn’t care about her. The girls were just cattle to them.
I was going to change all that.
15
Wyatt
I could still feel her tight body against mine all the next morning as I worked in my hotel room. Ethan hadn’t come back yet, but that wasn’t surprising. He likely was still awake, disposing of the body.
I ate breakfast, drank coffee, and sent emails. That was basically the majority of my job anymore: I wrote emails and made decisions. I didn’t write briefs anymore or get involved in particular cases unless there was something incredibly high profile. That was unusual. Mostly I shook hands and looked busy.
Louisa might change all that. Once we got started, we were going to take this thing all the way. My first move, though, was to meet with Chief Frank Herbert to pretend like I was discussing the Spiders.
Around midday, the apartment door opened. Ethan came in, looking tired. His shoes were muddy.
“You look like shit,” I said.
He sighed. “Dumping a body isn’t fun.”
“I take it he’s gone?”
“He’s gone.”
“Do I want details?”
He shrugged. I watched him walk into the kitchen and pour himself a coffee.
“Not going to sleep?” I asked.
“I have work to do.”
“Take the day off.”
“No rest for the wicked.” He grinned.
“At least shower.”
“I can do that.”
“I have the meeting with Herbert in an hour.”
“I can come with you if you want.”
“That’s okay. Do whatever you need to do.”
He nodded and disappeared back into his bedroom. For the hundredth time I mused about how strange Ethan was, but the man could get a job done.
Myers was gone, and I had killed him. Well, I killed him by proxy. Ethan actually did the killing, though I had no clue how. Probably shot the guy. I didn’t really want the gory details, but I was a little morbidly curious.
A half hour later, I got up from my desk and made my way downstairs. My car was waiting for me, and I climbed in back.
The Chicago PD’s main offices were in a large building in the middle of downtown. You would never have guessed that it was the Police Department unless you were looking for them.
Herbert was expecting me, and I didn’t have to wait long. He let me into his office with a smile and a firm handshake.
He was an older man, in his fifties, with a big bushy mustache, probably a throwback to the days when all cops had a mustache. He looked like a cop, which made me wonder why all cops seemed to look exactly alike. Was there something in the water they drank that made them all have that look? Maybe it was just the way they carried themselves.
I never trusted the police when I was young. Nothing good ever came of calling the cops back then, I was a fucking hoodlum, and never really imagined that I’d get involved with being on the side of the law myself.
Lawyer and cops had a loose alliance. We weren’t exactly working for each other, or not really. We were both serving the truth, though in our own ways. Cops felt like they had the moral superiority because they were out walking the streets every day. Lawyers thought cops were glorified jocks and that they were the real keepers of law and order. Neither was fully right.
“Wyatt,” Frank Herbert said.
“Frank.” We walked into his office and I sat across from him.
“I was surprised when my secretary said you requested this meeting.”
“I’m in the city, so I thought I’d drop in.”
“Well, I’m happy to have you. What did you want to talk about?”
“A few things.” I looked around the office, mentally cataloguing anything useful. “Mainly, though, I wanted to talk about the Spiders.”