Page 77 of Top Dog

“Ball up your fist, please,” he said.

“Gladly,” I said as my eyes locked with Johnson’s.

“I’m interested in seeing it as well, Officer Johnson. Walk on over there,” Langley said.

I grinned as the man stood in his place.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” the woman from Internal Affairs said. “Hello, Mr. Martine. I’m Officer Lawrence.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said.

“Officer Johnson, we have you on the evidence locker security footage planting this ring in Mr. Bianchi’s case box.”

He and the detective exchanged a look, and I knew we had them in a place of vulnerability.

“And you, Detective. We have pictures and surveillance footage of you having a sit-down meeting and shaking hands with Stefano Bianchi. Two days later, a sum of seventy thousand dollars showed up in your personal checking account that we traced through a couple of shell companies. Want to take a guess as to who those shell companies are rumored to belong to?” Officer Lawrence asked.

“Whoops,” I said with a shrug. “Sounds like a bad day for you two, gentlemen.”

“Officer Johnson? Detective? You’re both under arrest,” she said.

“Actually, I was hoping you’d hold off on that,” I said.

Everyone stared at me like I was an idiot.

“Excuse me?” Officer Lawrence asked.

“What if I told you I have a way to bring down Stefano Bianchi?” I asked.

“I would be all ears,” the investigator said.

“What is your name?” I asked.

“Conrad. Detective Michael Conrad.”

“I’m not working with a low-life like yourself,” Johnson said.

“Oh, that hurts. Especially since you work for Stefano Bianchi. Either way, Officer Lawrence, I would enjoy it if you held off on busting Johnson. He is on Stefano’s payroll, and we could use him since he’s the only advantage I’ve currently got,” I said. “You can get your confession later.”

“And what makes you think we would even want to help you?” Detective Payroll asked.

“Besides you not going to prison yet?” I asked. “I know Stefano Bianchi’s a bigger pain in your ass then I’ve been since my father passed. I can help you bring him down, and in the process, I can help both the Bianchi and Martine families clean up their act. But I’m going to need help. And a lot of it.”

“Clean up their act? You're serious,” Conrad said.

“Yes, I am. That’s my goal, and Stefano is a ruthless psychopathic killing machine. Officer Lawrence.”

“Yes?” she asked.

“If you held off on arresting these two until we can nail Stefano Bianchi to the wall, I would very much appreciate it. I would owe you a favor. A legal one, of course,” I said.

The woman looked around the room before she sighed heavily.

“Fine,” she said. “But I will need to be kept in the loop of this entire operation.”

CHAPTER 26

JULIA

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