The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

"Dare I ask? Are you trying to have me replaced?"

She gave me a cheeky grin. "Never. But next time you bag a billionaire, make sure he has a brother or something, preferably one who is not a homicidal maniac, doesn't traffic women, and isn't an all-around asshole. I know, it's a tall order."

"God, you asked for a billionaire, and all you can talk about are reasons why you can't have that billionaire."

She laughed at me. "Exactly. I'm such a pain in the ass, aren't I?"

We located the room where the body was found, and a tech guy motioned for us to come in.

"All right, tell us what we're looking at."

He shook his head. "What you are looking at is Ryder’s place. Obviously, he lived here. It's him in the photos on the wall. We're testing everything, but we assume we'll find his DNA all over the place. All said and done, someone cut out his tongue."

A shudder ran through me. "Jesus Christ. His tongue, really?"

Amelia slid me a look. "Who did that?"

"Well, something like that is usually done because somebody talked. Do you think this is about the car park?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I do.”

I sighed. “This is the last thing we bloody need."

I turned to the tech, Davis, I thought his name was. He was new, younger. "Anything else?"

"We found his phone. It was clutched in his hand. Obviously, we didn't want to disturb the body."

Amelia nodded. "Yup, can you show us?"

He pulled up the digital photos they'd taken.

She frowned when she stared at it. "It's only a partial shot. Do you know who he was texting?"

The tech shook his head. "Not for sure. But he’s got it labeled as Camberwell College of Art. That’s all we got."

Camberwell College of Art. I frowned. Why did I know that name? "Can I make some inquiries?"

Amelia nodded absently, but I knew she fully expected me to take it to the London Lords. After all, they were very much our partners on this. "Yup, you go ahead, I’ll finish this up."

"Any sign of a break-in or anything?" I asked Davis.

He shook his head. “If I had to speculate, he could have known the attacker, as there is no sign of forced entry. We checked all the windows and doors, all of which were locked up tight except for the front door."

I frowned as I kneeled next to the body. He might have been a criminal, but he'd been nice. Affable. Really funny. I didn't know why, but seeing him dead struck a chord deep within me, and I wasn't sure it was one I could let go of.

Who would do this? From what he’d told East and me, he hadn't been in the game in a long time. Something prompted him to give up the storage at the car park. But what? Or who?

I turned to Amelia. "After all these years, why turn in the car park location?"

She watched me. "Maybe he was sick and tired of his partners. Maybe they hadn't paid him. Maybe they tried to cut him out. I don't know. There’s a myriad of possibilities."

“This doesn't make any sense because he'd been cooling for so long. He was trying to go straight."

“People will do things for all kinds of reasons, Ny."

"I know. I just want to know why he did this. I'd been meaning to come over here and speak to him, ask about his sudden change of heart. The last time I saw him, he was all mum, straight and narrow. He went on and on about how he had gone straight. He was putting his skills to good use on the legit side. So, why even involve himself in something like the car park? It would put him in the crosshairs with his partners."

Amelia shrugged. “These are career criminals. They'll say they want to do things, but half the time they don't really mean it, Nyla. Especially not if that thing that they want to do comes along with work. If it's too hard, they don't actually want to follow through."

I considered this as I spoke to Ryder softly. "Did it get too hard to stay on the straight and narrow? Was it too complicated? Was there something that you were leaving behind?” I spotted something small and silver that had rolled under his palm. Reaching out carefully with my gloved hand, I moved his finger to retrieve it. I picked it up and inspected it closer. It looked like a cufflink. Silver with a simple cursive J embossed on it. I grabbed an evidence bag, dropped it inside, and handed it to the tech.

Amelia watched me, well aware of my process as I tried to piece things together aloud. "Why would someone want him dead? If you're his partner, there's no point. He's already ratted you out, so you would think that you would be hustling to get the hell out of Dodge, right?"

She just shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe they were pissed off at him for blabbing to the cops."

"Maybe. But something really doesn't make sense to me. He was out of the game. So if you were out, what makes you go back in? What makes you decide that you weren't done with the life yet?"

I paused. "Love," I stated simply as I looked more closely at the layout of his body.

"What do you mean?"

"That's the only thing that everyone acts crazy about. Everyone."

She laughed. "Are you telling me love is the great equalizer?"

"Isn't it? We're looking for the one thing that he would break years of being on the straight and narrow for. Imagine you've done everything you needed to do. Sorted your life. Gotten your act together. What would you end it for?"

Amelia just shook her head. "Okay, suppose I buy it. Suppose it made sense to me, and he would give that all up for someone. Who? And why now?"

"That's the real kicker. Why now? I have no idea. But