“They were killed in a hit and run, I read.”
Maria nodded, but Kyle’s pinched expression warned Jane to tread warily.
He nodded. “Yes, a little over two years ago. It was a travesty.” He took a sip of tea. “Phil was always such a smart kid. An honor student. He wanted to be a doctor like his father, but he’d also been a fan of the military, like his grandfather, who’d served in the Army. His plan was to do a few years to serve his country then transition out and become a doctor.”
“But he didn’t. He left college before getting his degree.” And without that, he’d never be able to get into medical school.
Maria patted her husband’s knee. “His mother was my cousin, who was more like a sister to me. And of course, Phil took some classes from Kyle before he dropped out. Such a lovely and talented boy. It broke his heart when his parents died.”
“That boy was so bright and full of life. Losing his parents crushed him.”
Maria gave her husband a sad smile. “After he lost his parents, Phillip came to live with us for a while, but then he left. He had to start fresh somewhere without so many memories, he said. He used to call but stopped even that six months ago. I miss him.”
“We both do.” Kyle clasped his wife’s hand, his eyes glassy.
“I saw that Anton Kaminski was behind the hit and run but never prosecuted for it. How did Phil take that?”
Kyle scowled. “That Kaminski brat hid behind his gangster father. Crooked, the lot of them.”
Maria sighed. “You’ve always hated my family.”
Jane paused in the act of taking a second bite out of one of the best cookies she’d ever had. “What now?”
Maria shrugged. “Lena, Phil’s mother, and I shared the same grandmother. August Kaminski is my uncle.”
“Phillip’s great uncle?”
She nodded.
Another tie to organized crime. Or was it?
What the hell was going on?
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Jane’s report toRapp detailed everything she’d learned from Kyle and Maria Lito. On the surface, the tie to organized crime spoke of a subversive attempt at criminals to undercut the stability of the city.
But even Rapp thought that might be reaching. Phillip hadn’t known about being a Kaminski relative, not according to Kyle and Maria. He’d been a regular guy who’d joined the Army, planned on becoming a doctor, then retreated into his own world after the death of his parents.
She had no proof any of this tied into the Mazzucasorthe Kaminskis, who were at best minor players.
Yet the adjacent tie to organized crime bothered her.
It bothered Rapp too, so he asked her to do more digging.
With Diego and Gina working their own angles on the case, it was left to her to figure out how Phillip had started down his path toward vengeance. Because maybe if she did, they could stop him from hurting anyone else.
Already, a statewide BOLO had been sent out to pick him up, and law enforcement knew to treat him as dangerous.
But what pushed a young man to turn on innocent people? Why punish medical people who had nothing to do with whathad happened to his parents? What was all his talk of cover-ups and conspiracies?
Her nose itched, telling her she’d found something worth digging into.
With Diego’s help, she spent the afternoon looking up files on the Kaminski network that might involve Phillip or his family. She found nothing of note. Just a lot of arrests for various Kaminskis dealing with prostitution, drug possession, or petty theft.
The Kaminski family had been around for over a decade but were known mostly for opening restaurants and entertainment facilities where criminalsmightcongregate. Some strip clubs, a few underground card games that would ultimately get busted. Small-time crime, staying under the radar.
Studying their activity, she thought they might be smarter than the Mazzucas. They appeared content to work behind the scenes a lot, because the Seattle office was aware of them but had no open investigations. The police kept them in check.
