“Don’t stop now, Red. I can see it on your face that you’re hesitating again. You’re afraid for me. What did he do? Did he want you to do something for him? Did he threaten you in some way? Who is he?”
“He’s an associate of Harvey’s. That’s my best guess. I don’t know for certain. He told me he wanted me to give Harvey a message. I told him I didn’t know Harvey, I wouldn’t be seeing him,and I didn’t know how to contact him. Nothing I said mattered to him. He was adamant that if I didn’t do it, there would be consequences, and I wouldn’t like them.”
“So, he did threaten you.”
She nodded.
“Javier showed up. I knew you were in trouble. I sent him to you. Doc wasn’t happy with me, but I wouldn’t go under until I knew you were safe. You didn’t tell Javier much.”
“Javier isn’t you.”
“Did Tinsdale give you a message?”
She nodded again. “It wasn’t a verbal one. He gave me a sealed envelope and told me to always carry it on me. He said if Harvey showed up, to give it to him.”
Gideon wore his impenetrable expression, that strange crystalline silver-blue color taking over his eyes as his gaze fixed on hers. “You have this message on you now?”
“Yes. I’m afraid to leave it anywhere. I have the feeling Harvey is going to show up for the message and I’d better have it for him. The cops are around all the time. I know they think I have something to do with Harvey. When they question my friends, they don’t ask them pointed questions, but they do me. Especially questions about all the places I’ve traveled and why I move around so much. I don’t even know what Harvey does, but clearly, they think I work for him in some capacity. If they think I’m delivering messages to him, they’ll never believe anything I say. And maybe Tinsdale is setting me up, but for what, I have no idea.”
“You haven’t touched the envelope with your bare fingers, have you?”
“Of course not.”
“I’d like you to show it to me, but when you give it to me, don’t touch it with your bare fingers. Use a glove or your shirt.”
“It’s sealed.”
“It isn’t hard to open a sealed envelope and reclose it without damaging it, but I suspect you already know that. Did you open it?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t want to know what was in it.”
“Harvey Matters is a major crime lord, for lack of a better description, Rory. He’s one of the biggest players when it comes to selling arms and bringing in product. He doesn’t live in apartment buildings. He owns large estates. He’s very wealthy. Scott Tinsdale is one of his top lieutenants.”
Her heart began to accelerate. “How would you possibly know that?”
“I told you, sweetheart, I’m in the security business. We’re sent out to other countries to prevent shipments from entering this country as well as tracking them if they do manage to get in. We’ve run into his people on multiple occasions. He’s never come out into the open before. Never once. Certainly not near any of his partners, and both Ret Carnes and Dustin Bartlet were longtime partners of Harvey’s. Jarrod Flawson is as well. You don’t want any part of those men.”
Rory sat back against the dark leather and looked up at the hard angles and planes of his face. “Why would they be living at the apartments where I live?” The envelope was really burning a hole through her pocket. She didn’t want anything to do with it, but now, more than ever, she was terrified that if she didn’t do what Tinsdale ordered her to do, he’d kill her.
“I have no idea.”
“Harvey’s going to come for this message, isn’t he?” She kept her gaze fixed on him.
“My best guess would be yes.”
She pulled a pair of thin suede gloves from her pocket and put them on before extracting the envelope. She put it carefully on the leather couch between them. He stood without preamble, holding out his hand for her glove. Using the edge of one of the gloves, hepicked up the envelope and walked over to the bar. He put the envelope in a plastic bag and then into the freezer.
“What else did Tinsdale have to say, Red?” Gideon asked, glancing at his watch.
“Javier ran him off, and then we walked back to the apartments.” She moistened her suddenly dry lips. “We talked downstairs for a little while, and then he waited until I went upstairs.”
“Why do I have the feeling there’s more?”
“There is, but not about Tinsdale. At least I don’t think he had anything to do with it.” She pushed a hand through her hair, feeling nervous. “When I got home from work last night, someone had broken into my apartment.”
Gideon whirled around to face her. She knew immediately that she was in trouble. His usual expressionless mask was gone, and in its place was pure fury.
“What did you just say?”
