“Both of you should come with me.” Tony turned and stepped outside, leaving the door open with the chilly Chicago night air rushing in, making Carlos shiver.
He looked down at his socks. “Guess I’ve gotta put my boots on.”
Half an hour later, sitting beside Eliana in the back of the town car she’d told him was technically hers now, Carlos was all the way caught up on the Shrine’s Board of Governors search for Luci. Not that he wasn’t grateful, but…how could they not have an ulterior motive? This wasDominatusthey were talking about.
“I know this street.” Carlos recognized the name he saw on the street sign but couldn’t recall where he’d seen it before.
Tony nodded. “It’s where the FBI was surveilling the Reverence Sisters.”
“Why are we here?” Carlos wanted to reach for Eliana’s hand, for moral support, but didn’t want to get rebuffed. She hadn’t said much on the drive over, but then again, he didn’t really think they’d be rehashing or continuing their conversation in front of Tony.
“Luci was here. We’ve confirmed that from DNA evidence found in the house.” Tony pointed at Carlos’s door. “I’ll show you what we found.”
Carlos got out first, his stomach sinking. Certain that Luci was dead. Because otherwise, why would they be here?
Eliana got out next, followed by Tony.
A car drove by them and pulled in front of another house on the street, where a woman and two kids got out and headed for their front door. As a cop, Carlos knew more than most how evil lurked right alongside good people going about their lives with no idea what their neighbors were really up to.
He observed the dank-looking house. Peeling shutters. Boarded-up upstairs windows, and weeds throughout the front yard. “So the feds have had this place under surveillance?”
Tony led them to the front door. “That’s part of why I wanted you to see it.”
Carlos wanted to protect his sister, but she’d always made her own way through the world. She’d been older and out of the house before he even graduated high school. No way to rein her in or exercise any control over her. Even his dad had found it impossible. After their mom passed away, she just…broke. Like something clicked inside her and was never put right again.
Tony led them through the entry to an empty room on the ground floor with a blood stain on the floor. “See the spatter on the wall here?” He crouched and pointed. “And here? This pattern indicates someone was struck with a hard object. There aren’t many other ways to exert that much force without leaving spatter like this.”
Carlos looked at Eliana. She swallowed, her face pale. Then turned to Tony. “Is there a point to this?”
Tony rose out of his crouch. “All this happened last night. The two men we think are the ones from the apartment…” He looked pointedly at Eliana. “They reportedly left, according to eye witnesses.”
“What witnesses?” Eliana asked, her voice sounding hollow and her attention still on the blood stain.
“Neighbors. A delivery guy.” Tony paused. “Luci was here. Did the FBI tell you that?”
Carlos gritted his teeth. “They said activity here quieted down when I came to Chicago looking for her.”
“They pulled surveillance weeks ago.” Tony shook his head. “By the time we got here early this morning, this had happened.” He pointed to the blood again. “And we ran the DNA. It belongs to your sister. She’s the one who was struck.”
Carlos flinched. “Did witnesses see her after?”
Tony shook his head. “Just two men leaving.”
Eliana gasped. “She’s hurt.”
“Judging by the blood, it doesn’t look like she would’ve survived. I’m sorry to say that the FBI lied to you about having this place under surveillance.”
“This isn’t over. It’s blood,” Carlos pointed out. “It isn’t my sister.”
Tony’s expression remained unruffled, despite the fact Carlos’s words filled the room.
“Where is she?”
When Tony didn’t reply to Carlos’s question right away, Eliana said, “The Board said they were going to help find her. So where is she?”
“I’m sorry,” Tony said. “I don’t think she could have survived this.”
“That’s not an answer!” Eliana spun away and strode to the window, looking out through the ugly floral curtains.
