“Yeah, well, she blocked me,” Rio admitted.
“Ouch,” Taylor said.
He’d have plenty of time for ouch later—right now his full focus was on keeping Casey safe.
“Can you give me Ella’s number?” Rio asked.
“Sure, give me a sec—although she said she called you.”
Rio looked down at his phone. “Shit, does she have a 360 area code?”
“Northern Washington state. Yep, that’s her.”
“Fuck me, I gotta learn to listen to messages.”
“Yeah, man, I’m not good at that either,” Taylor said easily. “Don’t beat yourself up.”
“Let me call her,” Rio said. “I’ll call you back.”
“I’ll be here,” Taylor said cheerfully, and cut the connection.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Okay, Casey. Emotional red alert.” Ella’s calm voice came over the sound system in the high end SUV that Casey was driving. She and Ella had kept the phone line open between them for the entire two plus hours they’d been on the road so far—with the exception of that one chunk of the Five where cell calls always dropped. And even then, they’d reconnected quickly. “Mario Rosetti is finally calling me back. I’m gonna conference him in, which I know would not be your first choice, but I do want to hear what he has to say, and I don’t want to cut my connection with you.”
“Shit,” Casey said.
“I understand,” Ella said. “And I will keep this as short as humanly possible. Stay quiet and he won’t even know you’re on the line, too.”
“Shit.”
“If you’re gonna keep saying shit, I’d recommend you mute yourself,” Ella said. “Answering his call in three... two...”
The one was silent, and then Casey heard Ella say, “This is Ella Martinez. Mr. Rosetti?”
“Yeah. Hi. It’s, um, Rio. Thanks, uh, for answering.” His voice was familiar, but the awkward uncertainty of his phrasing was not. “I was just talking to Chief Taylor—I’m sorry I didn’t call you back sooner—I went to see Jon. Esparza. Casey’s brother?”
Is he okay? Casey had to clench her teeth to keep from saying the words out loud, counting on Ella to ask the question for her.
“Oh, I’m familiar with Jon,” Ella said.
He laughed a little. “I’m sure you are, ma’am.” He was annoyingly polite—and clearly trying to win Ella over with that ma’am. But Ella was Ella—which he’d find out soon enough.
“He’s at the Infinity Lounge.” He rattled off an address that Casey was very familiar with. The so-called lounge had been one of Jon’s favorite places to get shit-faced, back in the not-too-distant past. She had to clench her teeth to keep from making an involuntary sound of frustration.
“He’s there trying to get a guy named Miller on audio,” Rio continued. “To get him to confess to... I’m not even sure what.”
“Is he okay?” Ella asked and Casey gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly. Because now that the question was asked, she had to worry about the coming answer.
“Yeah...?” Rio didn’t sound completely convinced. “He’s sober. So far at least. He’s scared, though—and he should be. I’m pretty sure he’s in over his head, but... Look, the reason I’m calling is, he didn’t come close to convincing me that everything that happened last night was a coincidence, or an accident, the way Casey thinks it was— Well, everything that happened in Werewulf’s parking lot, I mean, not everything, not...” He cleared his throat. “This is awkward, because you really should know, but you don’t know me, I don’t know you and... I don’t even know Casey that well—well, I think I do. I thought I did. I thought...”
“Mr. Rosetti,” Ella’s voice was gentle but firm. “Casey understands that I need to know certain private details of her personal life in order to keep her safe. I’m aware of the fallout from last night’s entanglement.”
She could always count on Ella to be discreetly vague, yet crystal clear. And so diplomatically neutral, too.
“Okay,” he said. “All right. That’s uh... that’s good. I mean, shit, none of this is good, but I’m glad you’re aware of how, um, angry she was. Is. And I want to reassure you that I have no intention of making this harder for either of you than it has to be. As much as I want to talk to her, to try to fix this, or at least explain—apologize—” he cleared his throat “—it’s far more important to me to make sure she’s safe. I promise I’ll keep my distance. You can share that with her—or not. I’m not asking you to talk to her for me,” he added hastily. “I’m not. I just want it to be clear—to both of you—that I’m not gonna come knocking on the door and making this any harder for her. Unless you need me. You need me? I am right there.”
He sounded so much like Luc, Casey’s heart was in her throat.
