She taps a few keys. “The FBI has bugged his house, so I hacked into their surveillance.”
“Go on.”
“His routine’s pretty standard. He gets up around five, jogs for three miles, gets a coffee at a stand on the corner of Fourth and Madison, goes back to his place, showers, gets ready, heads to work. He’s at the office most of the day, even though the board has taken many of his duties away, and then he may do a charity function or have a date. I printed out a list of his known acquaintances.” She nods over to a piece of paper on the far table.
“How does he distribute the drugs?”
“According to the FBI surveillance, he meets up with a member of Twenty-One Purple at that coffee shop once a week. It looks like happenstance, but it isn’t.”
I roll my neck, smelling Rosalie on me. She’ll always be on me. “So the feds don’t have enough to bring him down?”
“Not yet,” Ella says. “They’re close though.”
“That’s good to know.”
She kicks away from my desk. “All right. Are we done?”
“Not even close,” I say. “Have you conducted your deep dive on Rosalie’s boarders yet?”
Her frown is mutinous. “No, and I’m not going to. I thought we established that.”
“Don’t you want to know who Rosalie lives with?” I ask. “To make sure she’s safe?”
Ella snorts. “I’ve met all seven of her boarders. She’s as safe as kittens. They’d all jump in front of a bullet for her.” Her brows draw down. “Would you?”
“In a heartbeat.” Whatever expression’s on my face must satisfy her because she nods at the pizza box.
“There’s more if you’re hungry,” she says.
“Is that an olive branch?”
Her lips purse. “I’m not sure yet. The kidnapping is definitely against you. However, the offer to pay me handsomely, I’m still weighing.”
“Good to know.”
Her hands dance happily across three keyboards. “You have a great setup here.”
“It’s top of the line,” I say. The woman is amusing, and I can see why she’s Rosalie’s friend. “It’s the best I could find.”
She nods. “I could put a couple of things together to get more juice, but yeah, whoever your source is did a good job.”
I glance at my watch. According to Ella, Howard Fissure is at home right now. “Tell me about Fissure’s home.”
“Sure.” She gives me the lowdown, including the security. It’s not as impressive as I would’ve thought. I wait until she finishes listing problems that could arise if I break in.
It occurs to me that she could be absolutely messing with me and setting me up. But she’s not that stupid. In fact, she’s not stupid at all. She has no idea what my men will do if I don’t return. Frankly, neither do I at the moment. I can’t have Garik watching both Ella and Rosalie, so I have the best men I can on this building. At the moment, Ella seems to be enjoying using my computers, so perhaps this will work out.
“How would your stepmother put a hit out on you?” I ask.
She jolts and then turns around. “I don’t know. To be honest with you, I’m not quite sure how that works.”
“Maybe go through her attorney?”
“It’s possible.”
Any payment would be in cash, and I doubt there’s a way to trace the source. I may need to talk to Reyes myself to find out. The idea of returning to the prison fires anger through me. It’s probably not a good idea.
My phone buzzes, and I glance down to read a text from Garik.
