Page 108 of The Hitman and the Psychic

Vanetti waved me inside. “Yes. Come in.” He glanced behind me, and his brows drew together. “Nate didn’t come?”

“No. I convinced him that it was safer to stay away.”

He blinked. “I’m impressed. He’s usually not so pliable, but I’m glad he’s not here.” Vanetti sighed and shook his head. “I’ll feel better when this is all over. At least you know who this fellow is now.”

“Yes. We’re closing in on him, so that’s good.” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but at least we were making progress.

“Good. Thanks for keeping Nate safe.” He pushed his chair back and stood. “I didn’t tell Nate, but I’m pretty sure someone broke into my safe. I wouldn’t have known except for this.” He pointed to a gold coin on his desk. “I found it on the floor, right before I called him. I keep this coin in my safe, so the only way it could have fallen on the floor is if someone opened it. I thought if you touched the safe before I did, you’d get a vision of who it was.”

“Oh, wow. I hope they didn’t take anything important.”

“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Vanetti opened the lower cabinet door, revealing a black safe. “Go ahead.” He stepped away to give me some room.

I closed my eyes and touched the handle, taking a moment to feel the smooth texture before gripping it with my palm. I got a faint impression of a gloved hand, which didn’t tell me anything.

Letting out a sigh, I glanced at Vanetti. “I saw a gloved hand. Maybe if you opened the safe, I could touch whatever’s inside and find out more.”

Vanetti’s lips turned down and he nodded. I moved out of the way, and he made quick work of opening the door. After taking a look inside, he shook his head. “It looks like everything’s there.”

He moved aside and I knelt in front of the small safe. There were several stacks of paper currency on one side. A couple of folders, along with a few black binders, and a small leather notebook on the other.

Figuring the money had been left alone, I reached in for the small leather notebook. As I tugged it out, I immediately felt the beginning of a vision. My hand turned into someone else’s, and I watched as both hands flipped through the notebook to a table of numbers and dates inside. Holding it flat, they took a photo before slipping it back inside and closing the safe.

My vision cleared, and I focused on the notebook. “This was what they were after.” I opened the book and found the page with the table. “They took a photo of this page.” I handed the book to Vanetti.

“Shit.”

“What is it?”

“Delivery dates and shipments.” He sighed. “I’m glad you caught this. It gives me time to make some changes.” Hepursed his lips. “Knowing this schedule would put Stone in danger, since he’s usually involved. But this hints at something bigger.” He raised a brow. “I think someone’s trying to move in on my territory. Did you see anything else?”

“Yes. The person’s hands had tattoos on the fingers. Just like the ones I saw on Johnny’s hands. But it wasn’t him, because they were smaller and more delicate… like a woman’s.”

Vanetti narrowed his gaze. “The only people with after-hours access to my office are the cleaning crew. I don’t have a camera in here, but surveillance video might show us more.”

He picked up his phone and pushed a button. “Slater. We need to see the surveillance video from last night… yes… now.” He set the phone down. “Slater’s on Nate’s security team. He can access the video on my computer, so he’s on his way. While we check it out, do you think you could sketch the tattoos you saw? I’d like to know what they look like.”

I shrugged. “I can try. But honestly, I didn’t see them all that well.”

Vanetti nodded. “That’s okay. Anything would be helpful.”

I sat at the round table in Vanetti’s office with a pencil and piece of paper while Vanetti and Slater watched the video. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the vision. I’d thought the tattoos were symbols, but maybe they were letters or numbers in an Old English style font.

“There she is.” Vanetti pointed at his screen, and I hurried over to take a look. The cleaning woman wore light blue overalls and a ball cap. She pushed a cart into Vanetti’s office, but kept her face turned away from the cameras, and all we could see was the top of her hat.

Vanetti turned to Slater. “Call the cleaning service. I want to know who was here last night.” Slater hurried out of the office, and Vanetti picked up his phone. “I’m calling Nate.”

While he explained what we’d found, I went back to the table and closed my eyes. Concentrating on the vision, I managed to draw a couple of symbols, but they just looked like circles with lines drawn through them. They weren’t right, and frustration tightened my jaw.

Vanetti ended the call and glanced my way. “Get anything?”

“Not really. I’m sorry. I might recognize them if I saw them somewhere, but it’s not real clear what they looked like.”

“That’s fine. I told Nate I’d send you home, so you might as well get going. He’s probably more familiar with those kinds of tattoos than I am, so maybe he can help you figure it out.”

“True. But at least we know it’s got something to do with a gang, right?” I jumped to my feet, suddenly anxious to get home.

“Yes. But which one? Didn’t you check them out all ready?”

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