Mafia in Death - an In Death series fanfic (J.D. Robb)

Chapter 14

"Our perpetrator has a certain pattern.", Salvatori began. "His victims were rich and shady businessmen, and all of them were associated with Don Miguel."

"Roarke is rich, but not a shady businessman.", Eve pointed out.

Well, he was before, but he gave it up completely for her.

"But he has a connection with the Don."

"I'm not favouring that he's the suspect here."

Salvatori didn't debate further.

He showed them several clips of the murder cases they were investigating, and by reading the autopsy records, Eve could see a connection.

Beside of their famed statuses, the vics were drugged, disemboweled, tortured, mutilated till death, and then left in an empty dumpster – a certain pattern that Eve believed to be a ceremonial of sorts, a symbolism from the killer.

She clenched her fists as she brushed off the imagery of Roarke as one of the murdered victims.

"Three years ago, Don Miguel had announced his retirement, travelled to various countries to engage some private meet-ups with these individuals, and within that timeframe, these individuals were murdered. We believe that the private matter was the cause of their deaths."

"That's why the Don is your suspect?"

"The Don is the centre of our suspect.", he corrected. "You and Roarke went to Italy last night for his social function, and though it ended up roughly, he immediately flew to New York for what, a truce? An agreement? What was your discussion?

Tricky, she thought, since it aimed on her personal level.

"Don Miguel and I engaged a short conversation about my previous cases, particularly the Icove's. And because of our limited time, Roarke and I decided to retire early. Unfortunately, the Don's minions misunderstood our actions and began to chase us with guns, stunners, bazookas, and bombs."

Webster whistled, while Whitney raised his brows with awe.

"Are you telling us that Italian mobsters were actually dim-witted enough to wage war on both of you?", Whitney said. "How many DBs?"

"None sir, since I told Roarke to play along."

"Any other topics?", Gant asked this time.

"Money. Business flows. Something that Roarke knows."

"Any specific discussion? Like...a missing kin?"

If Eve was not a trained officer, she would gawk on his question. Instead, she maintained a neutral expression.

"I believe it was a false rumor."

"Not false, Lieutenant. It was a fact. A very valid reason why he's the center of the killings, and why his associates were murdered."

"And from the looks of it,", Salvatori mused, "This is news to you."

"Don Miguel never mentioned about the killings.", she murmured, "But I admit he mentioned about a missing child. He never explicitly mentioned that it was his."

"Of course he couldn't, because if he did, his child would be in danger. We hope you understand Lieutenant that this is a race – a bloody hunt to locate that missing child. And him tapping Roarke means that he has a clue that the child is in New York. And our killer might be one step ahead by eliminating all the factors that could lead to its discovery."

"And your stand is…?"

"None.", Gant replied. "We only want to solve the murders, especially of our fellow cop's murder. That’s it."

"Is that the reason why you let the rats join this gang? Sniff our asses?"

"That's very rude, Dallas.", Webster frowned. "These agents were kind enough to follow our bureaucracy, giving us a heads-up that they'll be sniffing asses, and because these asses were at Central, IAB were summoned. Fortunately, you nailed it before we could do a sweep."

"We’re expecting for your cooperation, Lieutenant, since your case entwined with ours, and one of our Person of Interests is your husband.", Salvatori said.

“So you’re planning to use IAB now to convince me of letting my husband be the bait of this motherfucker?”

“Lieutenant.”, Whitney snapped. “Interpol is not allowed to use any civilians of New York, or even my men for this matter, and I believe that having you here was the right choice – that you wouldn’t unleash your rage to any of us because it became personal.”

“Pardon me, Commander, but this is fucking personal.”

She had once lost her badge, but she didn’t lose her life because of Roarke. If she would lose Roarke, she would lose her life, her will to survive. Even that simple idea could break her; reality would destroy her.

She’ll be meaningless.

"I would like to have a private word with the Commander. A private matter, Agents.", she emphasized before one of them could speak, "It was a personal topic that has been discussed during my personal time with a promise of confidentiality on my end. This is a sensitive case not only for you but for me as well, so I'm covering my ass here."

"We'll expect for your tag, Lieutenant. Commander.", Salvatori said before they left the office.

"Can I stay?", Webster asked her. “Or leave?”

"As long as you won't leak some information, or I'm gonna kick your ass."

He nodded.

With a stoic expression, Eve told them about McQueen's case related to Stella, narrating about her relationship with Don Miguel and his past. She also gave some salient about their lunch discussion, minus her DNA discovery.

“You have two cases on your plates now Lieutenant, yet you haven’t reported it to me?”, Whitney asked.

“I will, Commander, before the end of your shift. Peabody was currently retrieving the autopsy results of McQueen’s partner since she’s handling our current vic’s tox with Dickie, while I’m validating Don Miguel’s confession and our vic’s ID with EDD. It would be appropriate to have relevant and reliable data before I inform you about these cases.”

“You said that the Don was positive that McQueen’s partner was the woman he was looking for.”

“I have to double check it before I endorse the case to the Missing Person.”, she reasoned. “It never occurred to me, until now, that there’s a connection. That means it now falls under my department.”

“The missing child is the link.”

"A battle of legacy.” Webster stated. "Don Miguel was a very wealthy, influential and dangerous man, and his retirement was a great advantage to his competitors. If he has an heir, it imposes a threat to them. If Dallas confirmed that the reason Don Miguel tapped them because of that missing child, then no wonder Roarke was the killer’s prime target."

"Because he has the connection and the influence to search for that missing child?"

"It was more than that, Commander.", Eve muttered.

He was married to the said missing child.