“Also fakes. He spoofed Devlin’s email address to make them look real and he hacked his expense reports to get information about what hotels he stayed at and when and then he dated the emails to line up with those hotel stays.”
“Why?” I bit out.
Ronan shifted his gaze to Jonas. “Did you know Mateo Santero was appealing the plea deal he made in the murder of Cole’s sister?”
“What? No…no, the D.A. said he wouldn’t be able to do that once he took the plea deal,” Jonas said quickly.
“He’s arguing ineffective counsel.”
“Ineffective how?” Cole asked, the anger clear in his voice. He obviously hadn’t been kept in the loop about his sister’s case either.
“He’s saying his lawyers failed to discover that Casey Prescott’s biological father is a U.S. Senator who used his political connections to influence the investigation into the attack on Casey, as well as Carrie’s murder.”
I glanced at Jonas who was shaking his head. “He didn’t!”
“Whether he did or didn’t is irrelevant,” Ronan explained. “It’s the perception that matters. And it seems to be working because the judge in Wisconsin already threw out the plea deal. But he went a step further and dismissed the case with prejudice – that means the D.A. can’t charge Mateo again for the attack on Casey.”
“But he did it,” Jonas whispered.
“What about Carrie’s murder?” I asked Ronan.
“The hearing is scheduled for next week. Chances are high that the plea deal will be overturned but because of the seriousness of the crime, the judge probably won’t dismiss with prejudice like the one in Wisconsin did. That means the D.A. can re-file charges…”
“And Jonas would have to testify,” I said grimly as it all came together.
Jonas was visibly upset, so I ushered him to one of the kitchen chairs to sit. Like me, Cole had sensed that Ronan was no longer a threat to us and he joined Jonas at the table and covered his hand with his.
“What was Benny’s role in all this?” I asked.
“There’s a contract out on Jonas,” Ronan announced.
Cole tensed up and Jonas looked like he was barely holding it together.
“Benny found the contract but instead of reporting it to me, he accepted it and then set Jonas up to make it look like he was a pedophile. My guess is he knew you’d get the assignment and that you wouldn’t see past your hatred to notice what was really going on.”
I swallowed hard because I almost hadn’t. If Jonas hadn’t been who he was or if I hadn’t been drawn to him for some inexplicable reason, I would have done exactly what Benny had expected me to do.
“Why did he do it?” Cole asked.
Ronan shifted his attention to Cole and said, “The contract is worth a quarter of a million dollars. Benny’s excuse was that he had gambling debts.”
An excuse that had fallen on deaf ears if I knew Ronan.
“Where does a lowlife pimp get that kind of cash?” I asked.
“Mateo didn’t put out the contract. His brother did.”
I heard Jonas gasp and I took my attention off of Ronan long enough to lean down and put my lips next to Jonas’s ear. “It’s going to be okay,” I whispered. “He won’t ever touch you again.”
Jonas nodded but then his fingers bit into my hand where I’d draped it against his chest. Instead of straightening, I took the chair Ronan offered me after he stood up. I saw a flash of something go through Ronan as his eyes studied Jonas but it was gone just as quickly.
When Jonas had settled, I gave Ronan a quick nod.
“Eduardo took over things when Mateo went to prison but he’s doing more than just dealing in drugs and prostitution. He’s built quite a name for himself in the world of human trafficking and it looks like he wants his baby brother back to help him run the business.”
“Does Casey know?” Jonas asked.
Ronan actually seemed reluctant to answer Jonas’s question and when he glanced at me first, I knew whatever he was going to say was going to make things even worse than they already were.
