Page 5 of Mafia Handbook

“I was hoping you’d say that. I have a case you may be interested in.”

“How so?”

“Well, this individual, a young lady, has attracted a nasty stalker. Her case has been escalated to the highest level we have and none of them have been able to catch the bastard.”

Nodding his head, Bash knew the police, even in the largest cities in America, couldn't afford to keep someone of his caliber on staff.

“Sure, I’ll take a look.”

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it. Stop by the station and I’ll go over the file with you.”

“You busy now?

“Nothing I can't shove to the back burner.”

“Good, see you in fifteen minutes.”

* * *

Donna Pattersonnearly choked on her sip of water as she caught sight of the hunk of man walking through the front door. Having worked for over thirty years for the Sunnyville police department, she’d seen her fair share of attractive men. This guy was in a league all his own. Her breath quickened as he approached, a swagger to his step which had her hypnotized.

“Morning,” Bash dipped his head in respect. “I’m here to see Grant Malone.”

Stunned silent by his deep baritone, Donna blinked several times before clearing her throat. “A-and you are?” Her hands mimicked her voice as they shook when she reached for the phone.

“Bash Kelly.”

Nodding out of fear of sounding any more pathetic, Donna dialed the extension and waited to hear Malone’s voice.

“I have a Bash Kelly here to see you.”

Bash felt slightly bad for the way he affected the middle-aged woman, and hoped by the wedding band on her ring finger she had a husband at home to assist her with the case of nerves he’d given her.

“Down the hall and to the right, first door as you turn the corner.”

Bash tapped his open hand on the desk as he thanked the woman. Following her directions, he found himself standing outside a door with Malone’s name written on a plaque.

Rapping his knuckles on the wood, his actions pushed the door open enough he locked eyes with a man he hadn’t seen in years.

“Kelly,” Grant jumped to his feet, rounding the desk and offering his hand. “Thanks for coming by. Like I said, this case has left our best computer techs scratching their heads.”

Taking Grant’s offered hand, “No problem, man. Until we get all of our permits, I’m stuck twiddling my thumbs.”

Grant wasn't blind to the level of things he suspected Keystone Securities were involved in. You couldn't drop the amount of cash they did on the purchase of a building by selling alarms and doing the occasional bodyguard jobs as Bash claimed.

Motioning to the table, “Have a seat, man. Let me show you what we know so far.”

Taking the offered chair, Bash sat fluidly into the hard plastic.

“I’ve had to blackout the vital information until we have permission from the victim.”

Nodding his head, Bash accepted the file, spinning it around to face him.

“According to the victim, the initial attack was on her social media eighteen months ago. She admitted to shrugging it off, as most of us would.”

I wouldn't have, Bash thought to himself, keeping his eyes trained on where Grant pointed.

“After unsuccessfully keeping any form of social media open for any length of time, our victim gave up, but her stalker did not. He went from changing her password to sending obscene photos to everyone on her contact list, including two employers who terminated her employment. She then tried to abstain from email, but as a man in your line of work can imagine,” Malone trailed off.

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