Dmitri stood, buttoning his suit jacket. "Then you handle it. Both of them. Before they go on record with names and descriptions." He looked at me directly. "Your marriage to Shanice satisfies my concerns about her. We’ll need to get our attorney to draw up paperwork that predates the marriage, but for now this is enough. But these other two are loose ends. And I won't leave loose ends."
I met his gaze. "I'll take care of it."
"Today," Dmitri said. "This gets handled today."
He left without another word.
I looked at Olek. "Anything else I need to know?"
"Just be careful. And call me when it's done."
I nodded and left. I sent Shanice a quick text to let her know that I’d probably be there in the morning, but Olek needed mefor the rest of the day. I sent a bag of her things over to the hotel by one of my guys and made him stay to keep tabs on her.
“If something happens to her, consider it an invitation for you to join her.” I told him before he left. Hopefully, he understood the assignment. Her life was more important than his and needed to do whatever it took to keep her safe.
Period.
I found Eddie Carlson at a run down apartment complex on the south side. I'd studied the file on the drive over. Knew his schedule, his habits, and his vulnerabilities. He was alone when I got there. That made things easier.
I picked the lock on his door and let myself in. He was in the kitchen, making coffee, completely unaware. Stupid for somebody who was supposed to be a professional criminal. I moved behind him silently, pressing my gun to the back of his head.
"Don't move or scream. Just answer my questions and maybe you can walk away from this."
He froze, his hands going up. "Jesus Christ, man, I didn't do nothing."
"You went to the police. Told them you witnessed a murder. That’s definitely something."
"I… I didn't… I mean…"
I pressed the gun harder. "Don't lie to me. You saw what happened to Marcus. You and your friend. Who was he?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
I grabbed him by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the counter. Not hard enough to break anything, but hardenough to make my point and knock some sense into his dumb ass.
"Try again." Fucker was wasting my time.
"Okay, okay!" Blood dripped from his nose. "Yeah, I saw it. Me and Tony Brennan. We were there that night, and saw the whole thing go down."
"And you decided to be a hero? Go to the cops?"
"Marcus was my boy, man. He deserved justice." Eddie was almost bragging now, his voice gaining confidence despite the gun at his head. "We all knew who did it. The Russians. And I wasn't going to let that slide."
The arrogance in his voice, the pride, pissed me off more than the threat itself.
"Marcus was a piece of shit who kidnapped and abused women. He deserved exactly what he got."
Eddie twisted to look at me, and something shifted in his expression. Recognition, maybe. Or understanding. More than likely both.
"You were there," he said. "I remember you."
"And you're the idiot who thought he could report a hit and live." I pulled him away from the counter and shoved him toward the living room. "Tell me about Tony Brennan."
"He was there too. Saw everything I saw." Eddie was babbling now, desperate. Funny how seeing my face struck his memory. "But Tony’s too much of a pussy to do anything about it. Said he had too much to lose. Wife, kids, all that domestic shit. I told him we had to do the right thing, but he wouldn't. So I went alone."
"Where does he live?"
"Over on Maple Street. Blue house with a white fence. Can't miss it. But listen, man—" Eddie turned to face me fully now. "Tony won't talk. He's too scared. So there's no need to go afterhim, right? Just let me walk and I'll disappear. You'll never hear from me again. I’ll forget anything ever happened."
