Cassel holds up a finger. “Let’s rewind a moment. I didn’t get to the issue at hand. This all happened like six months before Zachary disappeared. I just wanted to bring it up because I guess the two of them knew each other before any of thisshit happened. It actually seems like the two of them became somewhat close to each other and even closer after the passing of Jasmine. About four months after her death, Arthur finally made a discovery leading to a close friend of Jasmine’s being convicted for the murder. When Zachary brought her in, the woman, named Sally Bower, confessed. Sally said she’d hit her and had fled out of fear. Then a couple months later, Zachary disappears.”
“What case was he on at the time?” Leland asks.
“Nothing big or of note but I’ll see if I can figure out anything pertaining to them. With Arthur involved, this seems to be our best lead, though,” Cassel says.
“Interesting.”
“So his daughter really was killed? What he told Tavish really did happen?” Jackson asks.
Tavish nods. “In a way. He lied abouthowshe was killed. And I guess it depends on whether you think of vehicular manslaughter as murder or negligence. The information that he gave me, which I now know was forged, listed her as missing. He had proof of her contacting Ellis. And he even showed her similarity to other women of the same age and build who’d been murdered, all of whom supposedly had contact with Ellis. I don’t have any idea where he got the photographs. I have to assume they’re from a different case, and someone had enough skill to fudge it around to make it all fit. He didn’t know Ellis’s current name or location. The photos of him were much younger, likely before he’d gone into protective services.”
Tavish looks at me apologetically as he continues. “It took me a bit to find him but once I did, everything really did line up perfectly with the stage Arthur set. Whoever he has working this shit did a very good job faking the whole incident.”
“So they possibly convicted the wrong person, Zachary found out, someone made him disappear, and that’s how it connects to Arthur?” Jackson questions.
“I don’t know.” Cassel leans back in his chair, but he stares at his computer like there’s something fascinating on the screen. “And, Tavish, I did look at the files you were given. They are really fucking good. Whoever did them has some talent, but by doing some checks on them, I did find that they are from random cases. They just tied them all together to convince you to do whatever you could to hunt Ellis down.”
“But why me?” I ask. “I know so little. Wouldn’t it be better to hunt my father down? I mean unless he really is dead.”
“Possibly,” Leland says. “But if you didn’t know anything, they could use you for leverage against your father. People cave so much faster when they have to protect those they love.”
Waylon pushes his glass around a bit. “People do really fucking stupid things when it comes to protecting the ones they love,” he comments, making me wonder if he’s speaking from experience.
“It’s why having a family or someone you love can be detrimental to having a successful career as a hitman. The moment someone finds out, everything could be destroyed,” Leland says as he anxiously looks over at Jackson.
Jackson just gives his hand a squeeze.
“So is this lady in prison? The one who killed her?” Jeremy asks.
“She is, so we can speak with her too. I can make an appointment for that,” Cassel suggests, but it’s one thing to break into a secretary’s schedule and make a business meeting and another to deal with one at a prison.
“Let’s wait and see where we get with this. I tend to hate speaking to prisoners,” Leland says with a grimace, making me wonder what that means.
So once we’re ready, we head out to the meeting with Arthur’s business partner, which is nearly an hour from here. Jackson drives, taking everyone but Waylon who’s waiting for the bus.
“Aren’t they going to be suspicious when we arrive, and this guy has no idea who we are?” I ask.
“You just pretend you belong and bullshit your way through every scenario. Works amazingly well for me,” Tavish says. “We’ll leave Leland in the car since there’s absolutely no one who would ever believe he belongs anywhere.”
“Um… is there a reason we didn’t take two vehicles?” I ask as Leland sits on Jeremy’s lap. I really feel like Cassel would have chosen to sit on his boyfriend’s lap, but nope. The moment the door opened, Leland just climbed on board, which caused Cassel to take one look, shrug, and climb into the passenger seat.
“We’re dropping Jeremy off at work,” Cassel explains, like this solves anything. “He left his car at work last night since I picked him up. But if I give him my car, then I would need someone to drive me to his work. It’s just easier this way.”
“Jerebear likes it like this,” Leland says as he caresses Jeremy’s face. It’s obviously done in an attempt to irritate the man who has not said a fuckingword. He’s just stoically sitting there, staring out the window like nothing’s happened to him.
“Jeremy is doing what’s called ‘If I pretend he doesn’t exist, maybe he’ll pester me less,’ which would work on anyone but Leland,” Cassel informs me as Leland slowly runs a finger down Jeremy’s cheek.
“I see…”
“I feel like a little baby in Papa’s embrace,” Leland says as he waits for Jeremy to doanything. “I hope Daddy Henry doesn’t get jealous.” Leland is quiet for nearly a minute before it’s clear he’s irritated that he’s getting absolutely no reaction out of Jeremy. He quickly looks over at Tavish.
“Don’t you fuckinglookat my lap,” he warns.
“But Jeremy’s lap is boring,” Leland says, a mischievous look in his eyes now that Tavish is looking put off by him.
Tavish is not having it. “I’ll fuck you up. I will push you out this window if you come over here.”
Is Tavish really not aware that the only reason Leland is prepared to ditch Jeremy’s lap for his is because he wants a reaction?
