Judged (The Mercenary Series Book 4) Read online

  “And he said you and Nicole could stay here?”

  “Of course. This is our home.”

  His lips twisted as he considered my words, and then his gaze flicked down to my injured hand. “What happened?”

  I shrugged. “It was nothing. A stupid accident in the kitchen. I wasn’t paying attention.”

  “Miss Guerra—Verity—I’m thirty-five years old, and I’ve been doing this job for most of my adult life. I know you’ve gotten yourself caught up in some serious shit. You currently appear to be residing in the house belonging to the man you were in Witness Protection to testify against. You’ve clearly been hurt, and a few days ago we arrested the man you were with for murder. I think I have every reason to believe something is going on.”

  “He didn’t do it,” I said.

  “Who didn’t do what?”

  I opened my mouth, almost calling him X, and then remembering the alias he’d been using. “Lee Mason didn’t kill Harvey Baglione.”

  “Mr. Baglione hasn’t been seen alive since he picked up Lee Mason at the hospital. We have Harvey’s blood on the car Lee was driving, together with a sizable dent in the fender. Due to his complete lack of background, with him apparently only existing when he was found with gunshot wounds and no memory, Mr. Mason hasn’t been granted bail—if that’s even his real name. If you have information that can help us with this case, you know you can always speak to me.”

  Dammit. X wouldn’t be getting bail.

  “I don’t know any more than you do,” I said, trying not to show my disappointment at the news, “but I do know he didn’t kill Harvey.”

  “How? How do you know that, exactly? Where you there?”

  I had been there, but I couldn’t tell him anything without opening a huge can of worms. The truth was that X was a killer. He might not be responsible for killing Harvey, but he had plenty of bodies piled up. I didn’t want to say anything that might end up getting him sent down for multiple murders. I needed to think things through before saying or doing anything rash.

  “I just know he wouldn’t have killed Harvey.”

  The detective gave me a tight smile. “I’m sure you realize that isn’t going to be enough to get him off.”

  “Do you even have enough to convict him? It’s not as though you’ve even found Harvey’s body, is it? Surely, without a body, you can’t confirm the man is even dead.”

  “If there is enough forensic and circumstantial evidence to believe Lee Mason is responsible for Harvey Baglione’s death, then yes, we can prosecute him for murder without a body. Baglione claimed he and Mason worked together, but no one else seems to know who Lee Mason is. Then Harvey goes missing, and the same person he helped from the hospital is found driving a vehicle covered in Harvey’s blood. You don’t think that looks like he did it?”

  “I think it would make him look like an idiot to be driving a car around which he used as a murder weapon without even cleaning off the guy’s blood. Does Lee Mason come across as an idiot to you, Detective? Because he sure doesn’t seem that way to me. You got an anonymous tipoff, right? Seems more like a setup to me, just like I told you before. My father is responsible for this. It’s his way of getting revenge against me.”

  “Well, until we can prove as much, your guy is staying behind bars, and it’s not as though your father is around to give his side of the story.”

  “I’ll be able to visit him, though, won’t I?”

  He nodded. “Yes, if you fill out the correct paperwork and apply for a visit. Assuming he wants to see you, of course.”

  “He’ll want to see me.”

  He paused for a moment, and then said, “Verity, why don’t you get you and your sister out of here? Go somewhere else. Start fresh. Leave all these people behind you. You seem like a smart woman who just seems to get herself caught up with the wrong men.”

  My shoulders tensed. “I didn’t get ‘caught up’ with my father. I didn’t have much choice having him as my dad.”

  “Yes, I realize that, but he’s clearly not around now, or you wouldn’t be here. Where is he really, Verity?”

  “I told you, away on business.”

  “With no chance of coming back any time soon.”

  I shrugged. “Not that I’m aware of.”

  He leaned to one side, looking past me, toward Nicole. “Is everything okay with you, Nicole?”

  “She’s fine,” I snapped. “She’s with me now.”

  “I just wanted to make sure she was safe.”

  “You weren’t that interested when I came to you, worried about her because she was staying with Tony Mancini.”

  “I did everything I could, but then things didn’t end up so well for Tony either, did they? I assume you heard he was killed at his home.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “Yeah, I heard. The guy probably tried to rip off the wrong people. I can’t say I’m sorry he’s dead.”

  “Neither can I, but I can’t help noticing how many of these deaths you seem to have links to.”

  “This is my life. These are the people I grew up with. I’m sure you know that. Most of us don’t go on to live long, happy lives.”

  His expression softened. “It concerns me to think you might go the same way.”

  “Don’t worry about me, Detective.”

  He pressed his lips together. “You make that very hard to do.”

  I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that.

  “Well, if there’s nothing else,” I said, “I’ve got things to do.”

  “Sure.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card and handed it to me. “I’m not the enemy, Verity, even if you think I am. You can call me, about anything, okay?”

  I gave a single nod. The only time I was going to call him was if I discovered something that would free X. The news of him not getting bail was like a fist to my gut. They’d been right not to give it to him, though. If they’d released him, we’d have taken off, for sure. Nothing was more important than X’s freedom, and all of us being together, especially for when the baby was born.

  I stood in the doorway as Detective Caraway turned and walked back to his car. I remained there until the vehicle had started up and pulled out of the driveway. It wasn’t until the electronic gates slid shut that I allowed myself to breathe again.

  Nicole’s voice came from directly behind me, making me jump. “Do you think he knows?”

  I twisted to face her. “Knows what?”

  “What I did to Dad?”

  I shook my head. “No. How could he know? The only other living person who was there that night was X, and I’d trust him with my life. He wouldn’t say anything. Detective Caraway knows something is off, but he has no way of ever finding out.”

  “What if someone finds the body?”

  “That’s unlikely. We were in the middle of nowhere.”

  “I know, but even so ...” She lifted her hand to her mouth and chewed on the nail of her forefinger.

  I reached out and pulled her hand from her mouth. “I know this is hard, Nickie, but we have to hold it together. Okay? Tell yourself nothing happened back at the cabin, if that makes it easier for you. Tell yourself he left on a business trip and we don’t know the truth.”

  “I don’t know if I can do that.”

  “You have to,” I told her, taking her hand and squeezing her fingers to try to offer her some reassurance. “Lie to yourself until that lie becomes the truth.”

  Chapter Five

  X

  “Mason! Someone here to see you.”

  I sat up from my bunk at the corrections officer’s shout, and swung my legs out of bed to jump down. I was relieved to see it wasn’t the C.O. with the ratty face who’d been giving me shit, but an older guard called Bernard Wyber. None of the men around here were anything close to being nice, but some were a little more tolerable, and tolerant in return.

  My skinhead cellmate hawked and spat on the floor, just as my feet hit the ground. He’d done it to
get a reaction out of me, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. Anticipation wound tight inside me.

  Was Vee here to see me? I’d put both Vee’s and Nicole’s names down as people able to visit me, but no one else. I’d put Nicole’s in case something happened to Vee, if she ended up sick and unable to visit, and Nicole needed to come instead. Of course, it wasn’t something I hoped would happen, but I’d thought it would be best to be prepared. There were no other names on that list.

  Wyber unlocked the cell, and stepped back to allow me through. I could feel my cellmate’s scowl burning through my back. I’d be glad to be moved to the main part of the jail. I was sure I’d have plenty of other assholes to deal with when I was there, but at least it wouldn’t be in quite such a confined space.

  Wyber shut the cell door again with a clang and locked it behind me. I followed him down the corridor toward the visitors’ room. I was about to head into the main visitors’ room, where I could already see numerous people sitting at small tables, either opposite an inmate, or else waiting for one, but I couldn’t spot either Vee or Nicole.

  “No, not there,” Wyber said. “You’re through here.”

  I frowned, but didn’t ask any questions. Instead of the main room, I was taken to a smaller space, with just enough room for a larger table with several chairs on either side of it.

  A private interview room.

  A slightly overweight man in an expensive suit sat behind the table. My heart dipped with disappointment. I’d been hoping to see Vee, but this clearly wasn’t her.

  “Who the hell are you?” I said as I stepped through the door.

  “Mr. Mason,” he said, rising from his chair and extending a hand toward me. “My name is Joseph Monroe. Verity Guerra sent me. She’s instructed me to be your lawyer.”

  Something warmed inside me at the thought that Vee was looking out for me on the outside.

  “Okay,” I said, shaking his hand, but still feeling cautious.

  The lawyer cleared his throat and sat back down, shuffled some paperwork, and then looked up at the guard. “Some privacy, please. I’ll shout if I need you, though I’m sure that won’t be necessary.”

  Wyber gave me a look and I shook my head. “No, it won’t.”

  I took a seat opposite the lawyer.

  “Right, Mr. Mason,” the lawyer started. “Let me be straight with you. I’m not here because I want to be, but I’ve known Verity her whole life, and I didn’t want to let her down when she came to me for help. I’m doing this for her, not you. Got it?”

  I nodded. “Of course.

  “Good. I’ve taken a quick look at your file, and as you know, you won’t be getting bail. Your lack of background is enough to suspect the name you’re going under is, in fact, an alias. That you might be known under different identities makes you a flight risk. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. I already knew this. I’d been told I would be refused bail when I’d been formally charged in court.

  “So,” he continued, “what is your real name?”

  “Lee Mason,” I said, holding his gaze.

  “I guess I’ll have to take your word for that, as the only records belonging to that name seem to start when you were found after an accident only a few weeks ago, and taken to the hospital.”

  He was right. I’d had my prints taken when I’d enrolled for the police department as Xavier Creed many years ago, but I’d had enough bent contacts inside the force who’d been happy to take a payment to erase those files. I’d known even back then that there was a chance I’d be picked up for something eventually, and the last thing I wanted was to be linked to the police officer I used to be. That man felt like a different person now. I was a different person now.

  “That’s right. I was mugged and I lost my memory.”

  “And then you killed the one person who came to help you?”

  I sat back in my chair. “No, I didn’t. I’m not responsible for Harvey Baglione’s death.” Except, I kind of was. If I hadn’t taken him into Tony the Hound’s house to rescue Vee, he would still be around today. He’d felt he’d owed me, even though he hadn’t, and I’d taken advantage of that. I should have walked away from him as soon as I realized I was far from being one of the good guys.

  “I need you to tell me the truth, Lee, if that’s even what your name is. I can’t help you, if you don’t help me.”

  “That is the truth. I didn’t kill him. Verity’s father set this up. I don’t know how he got hold of Harvey’s body—I assume it was when he took Nicole from Tony Mancini’s house—and he planted that blood on my vehicle. I’d hit a deer on the way to the city, and he saw an opportunity and took it.”

  “What reason would Mickey Guerra have for wanting to frame you for murder?”

  “To get back at Verity, of course. He would know that the way to hurt Vee is by hurting the people she loves.”

  “Trouble is, we can’t ask Mickey about any of this. Seems he’s vanished.”

  “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

  “No? That’s pretty much exactly what Verity said.”

  “Then take it as the truth.”

  “I would, but I’ve known Mickey for over twenty years, and he doesn’t just take off for no reason.”

  I wasn’t about to start telling this guy that Nicole had hit her father over the head with a branch and we’d left him for dead somewhere in the Catskills Mountains.

  “Maybe he did what he wanted, and decided he needed a vacation. Maybe he knew I’d be bringing his name up in relation to Harvey’s murder, and figured he’d be better off out of it.”

  “Mickey’s never been worried about having his name mentioned to the cops before.”

  I leaned forward. “Is that because he’s got half of them in his back pocket?”

  The lawyer didn’t answer me.

  I sat back in the chair. “Now, are you here to find Mickey, or here as my lawyer? ’Cause it sure as hell feels like you’re out to find Mickey?”

  “The two things are inextricably entwined. You’re saying Mickey set you up, and I’m saying we can’t find Mickey. It’s a bit of a catch-twenty-two, wouldn’t you agree?”

  I exhaled and folded my arms across my chest. “Okay, so putting Mickey aside for a moment, what happens next?”

  “With no bail, we’re going to have to wait for a court date, which could take up to sixty days. With no body, and the only evidence they have being your car and the blood they found which matched the DNA of Harvey Baglione taken from his apartment, I could play it off as circumstantial. There has to be definite proof you were the one driving the car when it hit Harvey, and then killed him. As we don’t even have a body, I think there’s enough doubt in that for them not to convict you.”

  “I didn’t know they could even convict someone for murder if there wasn’t a body.”

  “Mr. Mason, there have been over three hundred murder trials in the United States where there has been no body found. So, don’t think that there not being a body means you’re in the clear. If the prosecution didn’t think they had enough to convict you, they wouldn’t be keeping you here. It wouldn’t be worth them going through with the cost of a trial.” He leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “What I want to know is what your motive is? You get out of the hospital, and you claim you’re suffering from amnesia? What motive are they going to say you had to kill Harvey?”

  “I didn’t have one. I didn’t kill him.”

  “The prosecution is going to do their research. They already know the story told at the hospital was a fabrication. You were never a business associate of Harvey Baglione’s, or at least certainly not a legal one.”

  I pressed my lips together and stayed quiet. I could hardly tell the truth, could I, that Harvey had hired me to do a hit on a guy who was causing him problems. That was sure to get me sent down.

  “They’re going to paint a picture of you and Harvey as a pair of criminals. They’ll say something must have gone wrong
with a deal, and you whacked Harvey because of it.”

  “That isn’t what happened.”

  “So, help me out here. Tell me what picture I should be painting of you.”

  “One of an innocent man. I was attacked and lost my memory, and trusted someone who unfortunately ended up dead. I believe the man who killed him is also the one who set me up.”

  “And why would he do that?”

  “Like I said, I lost my memory. I have no idea what pieces are still missing. The man might have a grudge against me from a time I can’t remember.”

  Mickey Five Fingers wasn’t responsible for Harvey Baglione’s death—that had been one of Tony the Hound’s men—but I felt no guilt at trying to move the murder over to him. It wasn’t as though they could try a dead man.

  The lawyer sighed and sat back, his fingers folded across his stomach. “You’re not making this easy for me, Mr. Mason.”

  I shrugged. “If I could tell you something else, I would. I know how it sounds, but the most important thing is that I did not kill Harvey Baglione.”

  “Okay,” he said, getting to his feet and gathering up his paperwork. “But if you happen to have any of that missing memory come back to you, please, give me a call. It would really be useful to the case.” He handed me a small rectangle card, and I looked down to see his name and several numbers etched across it.

  “Sure.”

  “Guard,” he called out. “You can take him back to his cell now.”

  The C.O. reentered the room and I got to my feet. I’d always known I’d end up locked back in the cell.

  The question was, for how long?

  Chapter Six

  V

  The days passed by.

  Things in my father’s house felt strangely normal. I was waiting for my visiting order to come through so I could see X, and my hands were tied until that happened. Nicole and I hung out at the house, eating too much and binge watching shows on Netflix. Our relationship was easier than it had been since our mother had died. For once, I didn’t feel as though she was furious with me all the time. I didn’t know if my pregnancy caused the change, or that her eyes had finally been opened to our father’s wickedness, but I was glad it had. It felt good to have my sister back again, even if I was missing X.