Sullivan shook her head. “The FBI would have known. The background checks…”
“Were legit. I never had any connection to the family on paper. Heck, my aunt still thinks my mom was raped. But the Mazzucas were there for me. Helped with money, with things we needed. All they asked for was a little help to keep them in the clear. And here we are. The Mazzucas got into organ theft a few years back.”
“Not the Kaminskis?” Jane asked.
“Not…exactly. My family got a little reckless. But I was in Vegas to help. I put a stop to any investigation that pulled the family into it. We blamed some crackpots instead, made it seem like it was all about money and not about the power that came from our buyers.”
“August Kaminski,” Jane said. “Tell me about him.”
“Aw, Jane. That’s above your paygrade.”
“I know he works with your family. That he’s quiet and stealthy and invades like a hidden parasite, sucking up all the riches until there’s nothing left. Then he kills the host and moves on to the next one.” She paused, watching Williams but not seeing a reaction. “He told Phillip Keiser who to kill, didn’t he? So that we’d be distracted while he hid your family from us and destroyed any evidence to nail them on RICO charges.”
“I don’t know what you think you know.” He winked. “But wow, that’d be pretty clever if it happened.”
“One thing that’s bugging me though. How did Phillip pick his targets? That’s been driving me nuts.”
“Oh right. You’re stuck on the Code Blue Killer case.” He snorted. “We’ve been keeping track of that since the task force started. You could almost say it was our idea.” He laughed.
“The victims?” she prodded.
“Well, one of them, Stevens, used to help us when we had medical needs. He was one of the EMTs who bit it. Turned out he was a snitch. So he got what was coming. The others pissed off Leo in one way or another. I’m not sure on the details, but we used the Keiser wacko to take out the trash. No loss there.”
“And the rest of them? They’re also on your list?”
“What rest?” He frowned. “He did the job. He’s on his own now. I think aliens are telling him who to kill. The guy’s looney.”
“You were never my friend, were you?” Sullivan sounded broken up.
Jane studied her, worried about her state of mind.
“I’m sorry. Maybe if we’d slept together, if you’d taken a chance on me, you might have seen what we could have had. But you threw me over for wonderboy in the back.” Williams didn’t seem too upset about it.
“Yourfriendsnearly killed her on the pier. Why should she want you?” Jane asked.
He shook his head. “No. That was all a mistake, and your fault.” He aimed his gun at Jane. “They were there for you. You kept looking into things, checking into Las Vegas and the Harvester case. That was old news. You became a problem.” He turned to Sullivan. “I am sorry about that.” He glanced down at her injured leg. “I wish?—”
Sullivan launched herself at him before Jane could react.
The gun went off. Sullivan sagged to the ground. Blood seeped under her.
“And that’s why women don’t make good FBI agents, Jane,” Williams said as he stood. “They’re too emotional.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
“Let me help her.”Where was Raine?
Williams backed up and motioned to Jane with his gun. “Go ahead. But any sudden moves and you’ll be bleeding out with her.” He sounded tough, but as Jane looked into his eyes, she saw regret.
For all his posturing, Williams did care for Sullivan. Just not enough to keep her safe.
Jane hurried to her friend and pushed her onto her back, staring at the blood around her belly.
Sullivan stared up with glassy eyes and a weak grin. “Not my week, huh? First the leg, now the gut. Jackass shot me.”
Williams scowled. “You shouldn’t have rushed me like that.” He ripped a curtain from the wall and threw it at Jane. “Put that over the wound. She’ll be okay.”
“I don’t know, Rob. Hurts a lot.” Sullivan started to slur, “R-rright over an old scar, at least.”
