Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
“Yeah,” I said.
I heard a deep sigh of relief. “Thank God,” she said. “They said Moretti had taken you, but I didn’t know what to think.”
“I’m very sorry about Matthew and Sarah,” I said.
“There's no need to be. It’s not your fault. We know the risk we take when we sign up. It was our job to protect you and we failed. Thank God for Moretti.”
“Yeah,” I said awkwardly. I wasn’t sure how much I should tell her about Dante’s involvement.
“You are with him now, aren’t you?”
“I just wanted to ask a few questions,” I said, evading her question. “I really don’t know what’s going on but I want to know enough so I can make an informed decision.”
“What do you want to know?” she asked. “I’ll tell you whatever I can.”
“Okay. Is Dante in trouble?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Oh,” I said.
“On top of kidnapping, I’m pretty sure they’re planning to throw in tampering with witness testimony, obstruction of justice. The list could go on. You're meant to be testifying against his enemy so you’re not exactly supposed to be in his custody. It could make your testimony completely unusable. You need to bring yourself in, otherwise, things could get a lot uglier for Moretti.”
“I know.”
“We can help you and we can help Moretti. All you need to do is come in.”
I thought about this and had never felt more confused.
“I’ll consider my options,” I said. “And then I’ll let you know.”
“You only have a few hours at most, Zola,” she said. “The window’s closing up fast.”
“Sure,” I said and ended the call.
Chapter 52
Dante
“How is she?” I asked the moment Foster walked into the interrogation room.
“Doing good,” he replied. “At least, she was when I spoke to her.”
His words gave me no comfort and I lifted my wrist to look at my watch. “Fucking four more hours.”
He nodded. “Hudgens is a chump. He knows he’s not going to get anything out of you so why go through the trouble?”
“He’s not trying to get anything out of me,” I replied.
Foster paused for a moment and he looked up, the hot coffee in his cup had steamed his glasses. I looked at him with irritation. He was good, but he was no Marco Leone. Zola’s father had foresight and an intuitive intelligence that was almost impossible to find in anyone else.
He set the cup down and cleaned his glasses with a white handkerchief.
At that moment, the door was pushed open, and Hudgens came in along with another stoic-faced agent. He dragged out a chair, turned it backward, and sat before us while the agent stood by the door and acted tough. I watched him closely and looked forward to the performance he was about to put on.
“How was your night?” he asked. “It’s no county jail, but I think we did our best. No blankets, but you didn’t need one, did you?”
I lifted my wrist and pretended to look at my watch.
“You’re impatient to leave, I get it, but it's not going to be that easy for you.”
“It is going to be that easy,” Foster said.
Hudgens turned to him. “I’m in a lot more control here than you think.”
Foster smiled. “Sure, that’s why you had to fabricate some nonsense to keep my client here for twenty-four hours. We let that one slide so you could at least save some face, but any longer and you can kiss your career goodbye.”
Hudgens feigned an exaggerated shiver. Then he stared at Foster menacingly. “You need to excuse us.”
Foster smiled pleasantly and took a sip of his coffee. “Sorry, but you don’t speak to my client without me being present.”
“That wasn’t a suggestion,” Hudgens said before he turned to me and looked at me meaningfully.
I knew what was happening. I knew the kind of officer he was. I had encountered him so many times in the past and we had our dealings and I guess now was the time to speak off the books.
I locked eyes with Foster and gave a nod. He stared at me, his eyebrows furrowing into a frown, making it very clear he wasn’t happy at all about being dismissed.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “It’ll be fine.”
He didn’t like it, but he understood that he didn’t have a choice so he silently got to his feet and took his leave. I returned my attention to Hudgens, and he smiled at me.
He switched off the tape recorder. “Let’s talk off the record.”
I could sense the trap from a mile away. “Nothing is ever off the record,” I said, glancing at the hidden surveillance cameras in the corners of the room.
“Look,” he said with fake friendliness. “We’ve had our run-ins several times in the past, but things have always been cordial between us. I’m hoping it can be the same this time around.”
It was the same conversation over and over again and frankly, I was getting sick of it. He saw my irritation but still waited for a response.