Page 66 of Bait and Switch
“Dammit, he’s here. Or at least his car is.”
Elton grunted and didn’t bother messing with the lot, he just double-parked directly in front of the entrance. “What are they going to do, give me a ticket?”
One of Rizzi’s wet-behind-the-ears uniformed deputies appeared as they approached the entrance. He tried to stop them from entering, but Elton just shook his head and Casey glared. The deputy stepped aside.
“Sirs, we have a situation,” the kid called after them.
“We know and that’s why we’re here.” Elton flapped Stevens’s confession in the officer’s face and kept moving. The old man could be surprisingly fast.
At first glance, they didn’t see anyone else in the small lobby.
Shit.
“Althea?” Elton called out.
A whimper was followed by a soft rustling, then a pale and frightened-looking Althea slowly rose from underneath her desk.
“Oh, Elton,” she whispered.
Tucking the papers under one arm, Elton stepped around to gently grasp Althea’s outstretched hands. If they hadn’t been an item before, they were now.
A gunshot exploded in the quiet. Althea whimpered and shook. “Oh no, another one.”
“Go,” said Elton, nodding toward the bullpen with his chin.
Stomach clenching, Casey went.
A weight lifted from his shoulders when he spotted Gabriel lingering between several law enforcement officers, one of whom was Bree Eagan. They were huddled near the front of Rizzi’s corner office, presumably trying to figure out what was going on inside.
Casey had a height advantage. He stopped behind the group and peered above their heads through the glass wall.
Rizzi was perched on the edge of his desk and focused on the man sitting in front of him. John Stevens, who had a weapon pointed at Rizzi’s crotch. Casey winced. At four or so feet, there was no chance he’d miss, and a shot to the groin was not how anyone wanted to go.
“It’s time for you to start talking, Eli, telling some truths. Maybe some highlights? Share with these good people what you’ve been up to all these years. How you coerced confessions and framed the innocent. More recently, why you had my son murdered and killed Deter Nolan yourself. And maybe why you needed Gordon MacDonald behind bars for a little while earlier this year, safely out of the way.”
Rizzi didn’t speak, and Stevens waggled the gun.
“If you want to do this the hard way, that’s fine with me.” He squeezed the trigger and then there was a ragged hole in the legof Rizzi’s slacks. Stevens was good—the bullet missed Rizzi’s calf—but Casey would bet Rizzi had felt the heat of it.
Rizzi jerked backward. “Jesus Christ!”
“Stay fucking put. You have one more chance.”
Why hadn’t Eagan or one of the other officers taken Stevens out yet? Casey glanced around. And where was Emmett Spurring? As the sheriff’s right-hand toady, it seemed like he would be in attendance. He also wondered what had been said before he and Elton arrived.
“No one is going to believe a coerced confession, John,” Rizzi countered with remarkable calm.
Stevens barked out a dry, dead-sounding laugh. “That’s rich, coming from you. But don’t you worry, I have measures in place to make sure the information I tucked away over the years gets to the right people. I just want to hear you say it out loud. Confess, tell these people just how lawless you are.” Stevens side-eyed the group watching and caught Casey’s eye, then turned back to Rizzi. “Let’s start with Maya Crane—although there are more names, of course there are. I know most, not all, but most of them.”
The mention of the girl whose murder his brother was currently serving time in prison for had Casey pushing closer so that he was standing directly behind Gabe. He wanted to hear every word, heneededto.
Rizzi spotted him then, his flat dark gaze meeting Casey’s through the glass. For the first time in his life, Casey saw a flicker of worry, just a tease of it, cross Rizzi’s face. It wasn’t much, but fear looked damn good on the asshole.
“Come on now, don’t be shy, Eli. I’ve said one name for you. All that’s left is for you to fill in a few of the details. Just one or two things no one else would know or do you need me to add another? I’ve always wondered about Suzie Warner too. The jig,as they say, is up, my friend.” He leaned a few inches closer to his hostage. “I won’t miss the family jewels from here.”
“I—” Rizzi swallowed and glanced around again, no longer calm, clocking the gathered officers who were now waiting for him to speak. Not one of those present was actively looking to disarm Stevens; they too wanted to know what Rizzi was hiding. At the mention of a murdered girl and a missing girl, the atmosphere in the bullpen became almost electric.
Bree Eagan shifted her stance, seemingly impatient to hear what was coming next but also ready to intervene as needed. Casey wondered how Rizzi had managed to hire someone so competent.
