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“Win Jackson has been a crook since day one, Emily. Don’t worry yourself over it. This is all gelling for me. Now, if we could just wrap up the Snow White case. Baldwin, was there any more news about the Macias girl?”
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J.T. Ellison
Eldridge nearly jumped out of his chair. “What Macias girl? What are you talking about?”
Taylor raised an eyebrow. “We had a girl go missing last week, during the height of all the Snow White killings. Fit the vic profile for the Snow White. Her name is Jane Macias.”
“Holy shit!” Callahan and Eldridge exchanged looks. Taylor held her hands up.
“What, what is it? Do you know where she is?”
Eldridge had gotten pale. “No, but I know who she is. She’s a reporter, was a reporter, at least. Did some articles last year about Delglisi’s operation. Her dad owned a restaurant up here, in Little Italy. It’s the same old story—Delglisi’s goons hit the place up, offering protection. Macias said no way in hell. They made it clear that if he wanted to stay open, he’d comply. He must have gone along with it eventually. They usually do. About a year ago, Macias had an accident. Slipped and fell in the kitchen of the restaurant, managed to get the knife he was carrying buried to the hilt in his stomach. His daughter found him.
“Word on the street was he tried to get out, and Delglisi ordered his murder. Jane Macias was working for the New York Times, a junior cub reporter. She bylined a story about the corruption in the restaurant business, how the foreign mobs are taking over the city.”
“Where’s the mother?”
“The Maciases were divorced. She’s remarried, name is Ayn Christani. I don’t think she lives in the city, though I remember something about her moving to Boston a few years back. So Jane has gone missing in Nashville? What’s she doing there?”
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“She’s working for the Te
appeared last week and she fits the profile. We’ve been as
suming all along that she’s a casualty, that we just haven’t found her yet. But with this new information, it seems like we’re off base. Delglisi’s cleaning house.”
Taylor thought about Frank Richardson, and the photos of Jane Macias. Her father. That silky voice who promised to hurt her if she didn’t look the other way. Anger built in her chest.
She looked at Baldwin. It was time to go home. Forty-Two
Baldwin made a quick series of calls. One to the FBI offices in New York that handled money laundering and RICO matters, one to the pilot of the FBI plane sitting at the ready at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, the closest private airport to Manhattan. He arranged for a car service to pick them up, then they checked out of the hotel. Standing on the sidewalk waiting for the car to arrive, Taylor mentally replayed the taped message from the cell phone. Her father’s voice. God, she hadn’t heard it in so long. It had been so easy to go along with everyone’s as
sumptions that he was dead. To ignore the sense of wrong
ness in her gut. But the voice on the tape certainly seemed to dispel that theory.
What in the world could her father have to do with Edward Delglisi? Was Burt Mars the key?
She must have made some sort of noise, because Baldwin quickly hung up his cell phone and took her hand in his.
“Want to talk about it?”
She smiled.
“I don’t even know where to begin. There’ve been a few 14
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revelations this morning, haven’t there? I’m just trying to understand Jane Macias’s role in this. I can’t imagine it’s a coincidence. Can you?”
“I’ve been thinking about that. What if Snow White took her purposefully to calm things down between him and Delglisi? Jane may be a tool to broker peace. If someone is killing in Snow White’s name, under his sanction, but went against the plan and hit the massage parlor, Jane could have been taken to appease Delglisi. Deliver the girl who caused him trouble, get on his good side. Trade one for the other?”
“That’s…who knows. Might be what’s going on. But how does my father play into all of this? Do you think he’s working with Delglisi?”
Baldwin ran a hand through his hair. “Yes. I think you need to prepare yourself that he may be involved with Delglisi.”
A black Lincoln slid to the curb, and the driver came around to greet them. He got them settled and pulled away. He spoke over his shoulder as he tapped the horn and jerked the wheel, a perfect imitation of a taxi driver, just wearing a black suit and driving a nicer vehicle.
“Sorry, boss, but we’ve got to take the tu
Taylor looked out the window, watching as they passed by all the familiar landmarks, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, on to the West Side before they hit the Lincoln Tu
J.T. Ellison
long that was going to last. She put her head back against the soft leather and closed her eyes, finally answering.
“You may be right, Baldwin, but I hope to God you’re not.”
Baldwin’s phone rang as they boarded the Gulfstream. He answered, then turned to Taylor, who was already seated with a cup of tea in her hand.
“It’s Lincoln.”
She took the phone, a smile actually reaching her eyes.
“Hey, Linc. How’s it going?”
“Taylor, we’ve been missing you, girl. Are you on your way home?”
“We just closed the doors on the jet and the plane is moving. We’ll be there in a couple of hours. What’s hap
pening back there?”
“Well, I’ve been doing some snooping around. Found a co
“Fu
“Edward Delglisi.”
“Right. Where’d you get that name?”
“Jane Macias’s laptop. I finally cracked the code, found what she had so well hidden. She’s got a massive exposé
in here, all about Delglisi. His crimes, his setup, the whole shebang. This is big stuff. Front-page-news kind of stuff.”
“Great work, Lincoln.”
“There’s more. Interesting things. There’s a name in 14
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here that Jane has traced back to Delglisi. One you might recognize. Anthony Malik.”
“Anthony Malik? Why is that name so familiar?”
The memory hit her like a ton of bricks. The men at the New Year’s Eve party. The four who were joking and laughing with her father. Burt Mars was one, Anthony Malik another. And the fourth man, the one she couldn’t name, was wearing a signet ring. His wife was the woman who’d so offended her mother by wearing the same Marie Antoinette costume. She was big because she was preg
nant. Damn it, what were their names?
“Lincoln, what information is in the files about Malik?”
The note in her voice made Baldwin look up from his files.
“Not a lot. She hadn’t drawn any conclusions about it, just has the name Malik next to all the Delglisis. There is some stuff in here about forged birth certificates, but it’s unfinished.”
“Okay, Linc. Thanks. I’m going to give you a phone number. I want you to call Detective Emily Callahan and tell her everything you found out in those files. Maybe she can help you trace Anthony Malik to Edward Delglisi.”
“Will do. I’ll see you soon?”
“Very.” She clicked off the phone. Shook her head, met Baldwin’s eye.
“And the hits just keep on coming. Lincoln found the name of one of my father’s old friends in Jane Macias’s computer. She was trying to prove links between him and Delglisi. The name is Anthony Malik. Baldwin, he’s one of the men in my memory.”