Page 75 of Dangerous Deception

Despite a few slaps,Hank knew nothing about Pascal. Given how easily he gave up all the other information, I chose to believe him with a promise to return if I were ever unhappy. The guy literally wet himself as I left after giving me the name of the doctor in charge of covering up the deaths.

He gave Carlos the same name.

Bryan Glow. In Hank’s words, he’d know more.

“What do you think this means?” Vito’s face pinches with tension as we stride down the bright, empty corridor toward the door markedMorgueat the end.

“Honestly?” I glance at him. “I’m not sure I even want to speculate.”

Vito nods solemnly.

“Our matters are private. I never once considered outside intervention. I mean…” I pause briefly and face him. “We handle our problems with our fists. All this sneaking around, whispers to people in office, and fucking toxic water is hardly in my wheelhouse.”

“What if this Bryan is just as useless as Hank? All weak information and no reason?”

“I might just kill him to make myself feel better. Besides.” I resume walking. “If this was Carlos’ last stop before he died, maybe he’ll deserve it.”

Someone, likely Hank, warned Bryan about our visit. He’s in the middle of stuffing papers into a tawny briefcase when Vito kicks down his door.

“Oh, no,” he squeaks and turns his attention to his desk where he wrestles with a drawer that catches on its hinges and squeaks as loudly as he does.

Vito reaches him before he can get the pistol out of the drawer and punches him swiftly across the face, sending him sprawling back into his chair.

“Wait—” he gasps through a bloody nose. “I wasn’t?—”

“Trying to get rid of evidence?” I ask, picking up a few stray sheets of paper on his desk. Most of it is foreign to me. I don’t know much about this line of work, so the names and data displayed may as well be in French.

“Was it Hank?” Vito growls, pinning Bryan by his collar to the chair. “Did he call you? Did he tell you we were coming?”

“Yes, yes,” Bryan splutters. “I didn’t think you were serious until I saw you on the CCTV.”

His computer monitor shows the CCTV for the entire building. Given the shabby look of the building and the stink of piss outside, I didn’t expect there to be any working CCTV, never mind one as in-depth as this.

“Pretty advanced for a shitty, back alley office,” I mutter, tapping the screen to switch between views. “Bit out of your budget.”

“I save,” Bryan gasps, not taking his eyes off Vito.

“Why were you reaching for a gun, Bryan?” Vito asks, shoving him deeper into the chair. “Guilty conscience?”

“The fuck?” Blood pours down over his flapping mouth. “Hank sounded weird. I thought he was drunk but when I saw you, I realized he was scared! Of course I’m gonna defend myself!”

It’s challenging keeping a lid on my temper when so much of this entire mystery is cloaked in shadow. The truth feels within touching distance, but how many more people like this are we going to chase?

“I’ll be brief, Bryan, because I’m really fucking pissed off at chasing my own tail. A man came to see you by the name of Carlos. Remember him?”

Bryan pales slightly and shakes his head. “No.”

“You’re a liar,” Vito snarls, shoving hard into Bryan and raising his fist. He punches him hard in the face again and again.

Bryan tries to fight back with some survival instinct, but other than managing to dislodge Vito’s jacket from his shoulder, he does nothing else. Vito hauls him out of the chair and slams him down onto the desk, then he pulls out his pistol and shoves it under his chin.

“Raffaele is going to ask you again and you'd better tell the fucking truth this time!”

I lean over the two of them and meet Bryan’s wild, terrified eyes. “Carlos. Why did he come and see you?”

“Because—” Bryan chokes and gasps, tossing his head back and forth. “Fuck, I can’t. They’ll kill me!”

“And I’ll kill you if you don’t,” Vito growls.

---