“Fuck.”
I pull out my phone. “So, you’re lucky I think on my feet. I filmed it off Sal’s monitor. The quality’s low, but you can still see everything.”
I slide my phone across the table and my brothers lean in to watch. I’ve seen the video so many times I know it off by heart, Parker on his private plane, his redheaded girlfriend naked in his lap. Her face is blank; his, full of a slack fury I know all too well.
“I’m done with words, Morelli. You’ve got twelve hours from midnight to give me January or I’m gonna kill the bitch’s sister.”
He cups the redhead’s tit and squeezes so hard she gasps.“This isn’t some bullshit threat. I’ve already shot your bootlicker. Twelve hours from midnight, I want that cunt in Vegas or it’ll be a fucking bloodbath. Margot Whitehall first and then… who fucking knows?”
Sal’s monitor goes black and the video ends.
Doc slams both palms on the table. “Fucker.”
Bobby turns to me. “How serious do you think he is?”
“He’s already got snipers posted outside the Whitehall mansion. He’s not bluffing.”
A muscle twitches in Bobby’s jaw. “What are we gonna do? Can we get out to Vegas and kill him?”
If things weren’t so dire, I’d smile. For the last year, Bobby hasn’t wanted to hurt anyone. Now I could send him to Parker with a screwdriver and he’d find a way to decapitate him.
I take a long swig of coffee. “We can’t get to Parker. He’s holed up in the Palm Casino with the redhead and fifty bodyguards. Twenty-four hour security. People testing his food. It’s impossible to get to him.”
“Twelve hours after midnight.” Bobby checks his watch. “That leaves…five fucking hours.”
He looks at me in horror. “You let us shower!”
“You shouldn’t make decisions in a state of panic.”
Doc barks out a laugh. “Just tell us what the fucking plan is, Morelli.”
I have a plan, of course I do. But I won’t let Doc bait me into revealing it before they’re ready. “I see several options we can pursue. And one that leads to a good outcome.”
“What?” Bobby urges. “What is it?”
“I’m going to talk you through the other options first, so you understand—”
“Hurry the fuck up,” Doc snarls.
I take another slow sip of coffee. “You know, this isn’t bad. We should get a machine for the kitche—”
“Please,Morelli.Pleasehurry the fuck up?”
I take in Doc’s pinched face and hollow eyes and feel slightly bad. I’ve had all night to dwell on this. For my brothers, Parker’s threat is new and horrifying. I lay my hands on the table. “Option one. We return Janua—”
“No,” Bobby says.
“Not going to happen,” Doc snarls. “Next.”
“Option two, we keep January and leave Parker to his business. Assuming the threat on Margot’s life isn’t empty and she is killed, the Whitehalls are a reasonably powerful family. January’s uncles have the resources to find Parker and the contacts to kill or arrest him. Hopefully, before he attacks January’s brothers.”
Doc snorts. “That’s a lotta faith in the Whitehalls. We’ve had January for ages, and they’ve done fuck nothing.”
“They consider January a write-off,” I remind him. “She’s the youngest member of her extended family and her engagement to Parker caused a lot of guilty consciences. That meant her uncles were reluctant to step in. If Parker kills Margot, it’ll be different. She’s Nicholas Whitehall’s oldest child and assassination looks worse than kidnapping.”
Bobby lets out a long breath. “No guarantees, though…”
“No. And I don’t need to tell either of you that if Parker kills Margot, we are in a world of shit with January.”
