Tough Justice: Burned. Carol Ericson

Nick said, “Ladies? Anything to add?”

      “Yeah, do we have anything to worry about?” Jenna wrapped her long, brown hair around one hand.

      “Nothing.” Nick rapped his knuckles on the table. “This is related to Anna’s mother, but if I can get back here tomorrow with a sketch artist, can you help us out?”

      They all agreed to help with a sketch.

      She and Nick handed their cards to each of the students and thanked them for their cooperation.

      The girls wandered into the bookstore, their heads together, and Teddy hopped on his bike and pedaled away.

      Lara checked the messages on her phone. “Interesting, but not all that helpful. And those descriptions? Thick hair with bangs? Sunglasses? Facial hair? Obviously, the kidnappers had on disguises. Now, if Teddy had bothered to check the license plate of tattoo lady’s big-ass SUV, we might have something.”

      “Any updates from anyone?” He tilted his notebook her way before stashing it in the inside pocket of his jacket.

      “Mei and Ty are done with Professor Hutter, and Victoria and Xander just wrapped up with Anna’s friends.”

      “Speak of the devils.” His gaze shifted over her shoulder.

      They pulled out the chairs Farah and Jenna had just vacated, and Mei dug her elbows into the table and propped her chin in her hands. “Nothing, nada, zip. Professor Hutter had his mind firmly on Hume, Camus and Russell, not fake FBI agents.”

      “Zip it.” Ty drew a line across the seam of his lips with the tip of his finger. “Here comes the boss.”

      Nick pushed back his chair and stood. “Have a seat, Victoria.”

      Her eyes darted from face to face. “I can tell you didn’t have any better luck than we did.”

      Lara reached across the table and curled her fingers around Victoria’s hand. The woman had been there for her more times than she could count. “Anna’s friends couldn’t tell you anything?”

      “No.”

      “We got a little something from her classmates.” Nick related what the students had told them about the woman, and what Teddy had revealed about the man and the black SUV. “So, we have another black SUV on the scene, like the one that pulled over for Dunst.”

      “Another black SUV in a sea of black SUVs.” Victoria squeezed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose.

      Xander, standing next to Nick, shoved his hands in his pockets. “Hang tough, boss. If Moretti wanted Anna dead, his people would’ve killed her already, stamped her and dumped her someplace public.”

      Lara kicked Xander’s foot under the table. Leave it to him to lay it all out there. She held her breath as Mr. Sensitive opened his mouth again, and Nick looked ready to strangle him.

      “Look, they drove off with her in some comfy SUV. Make no mistake. Moretti wants something. He called her a special target, remember?”

      Lara watched Victoria’s face, waiting for her to crack at the thought of her daughter murdered and stamped, as Xander so delicately put it.

      Instead, Victoria nodded, her mouth tight. “Makes sense.”

      Encouraged, Xander continued. “Of course, it does. They want something in return for her—money, information—and we’re going to give it to them. Whatever it takes, boss.”

      “Thanks for that, Xander. You’re right. Moretti wants something in exchange for Anna...and I’m going to move heaven and earth to get it for him.”

      A feather of fear brushed the back of Lara’s neck as she and Victoria locked eyes across the table. Would Victoria really provide Moretti with anything he wanted?

       Chapter Three

      Lara’s invitation to dinner surprised him. Must be a pity invitation since he got shot this morning. He’d take it. Maybe she’d open up more about her visit to Moretti today.

      She snapped on her seat belt and faced him in the car. “Chinatown? Mei told me about a great place—Han Ting.”

      “I know it.”

      On the drive over, they talked about Anna’s kidnapping and the witnesses’ statements. Lara was back to all business, and that’s the way he wanted it—as long as that business included a discussion of Moretti and her time on the inside of his organization.

      They grabbed a table by the window, and Lara dropped into her chair. “What a day.”

      “You’re telling me.” Nick shrugged out of his jacket and winced at the twinge in his arm. “Getting shot must increase your appetite because I’m starving. Order whatever you want, but I gotta have the kung pao chicken.”

      She ran her finger down the plastic menu. “How’s your arm? Don’t think I didn’t notice the way your face twitched when you removed your jacket.”

      “It’s fine. Nothing a little kung pao can’t cure.”

      “You probably need a beer. I know I do. I’m so wound up about Anna’s disappearance.” She held up the teapot. “Unless you’re on some antibiotics that you’re not supposed to mix with alcohol.”

      He studied the list of beers on the menu. “I think the doc actually prescribed beer.”

      “All right, then.”

      Nick gestured to the waiter, and they ordered their beers and the food.

      Once the waiter delivered their drinks, Lara raised her beer to him, and they clinked necks. “Here’s to getting Anna back safe and sound.”

      Nick took a swig of beer. “I think Xander was right. If they were going to kill Anna, they would’ve done so already. These people don’t mess around.”

      “Although I cringed when he said it, or rather at the way he said it, I think Victoria appreciated his bluntness. Anna’s a bargaining chip, or she’s going to be used in some way. She’s too important to just kill off.”

      “I’m sure that’s some comfort to Victoria, even though her daughter is still in the hands of some cold characters.”

      Lara swept up her cell phone and tapped the display. “Do you think it made the news?”

      “Victoria was very specifically keeping it off the radar, even though she had a team papering the city with Anna’s likeness. I don’t think any news organizations got even a whiff. Lots of girls go missing in this city every day.”

      “That’s probably for the best that her kidnapping isn’t all over the news. Bad enough the media got wind of Nadia.” She still tapped her phone, probably checking news sources.

      He tilted his bottle toward her. “Anything come up?”

      “No.” She placed the phone at the edge of the table and folded her hands. “I’m actually glad that sniper is so good at his job.”

      “Maybe he was trying to kill me, and he’s just a bad shot.” He patted his arm.

      “Somehow, I don’t think so.” She scratched at the moist label on the bottle with her fingernail, her eyebrows creating a V over her nose. “I was so pissed off when I went to the prison. I wish I’d come in with a little more control. It’s so much more effective with prisoners.”

      Prisoners or that prisoner?

      “Yeah, I hear ya, but at least Moretti gave you a heads-up about Anna.”

      “Just wish he’d given us more.” She took another swig of beer and another.

      That visit really had rattled her. Of course, Moretti had a score to settle with her. What else? Why did Lara always leave her visits with Moretti