“He’s my brother, so watch your mouth.”
Cary arched a brow arrogantly at Liam. “Yeah, right. And the other’s your banker?”
Archer opened his mouth, but Aleksei just shook Cary like a potato sack. “You said you needed to speak to the cop about his woman. Or were you just playing games?”
“Hey, stop that, man! I’m not here for you, but her. I saw her go with the woman.”
It was Liam’s turn to grab Cary by the collar. “Catriona? You saw her?”
“Hey, hey, hey! Easy, man! If you want me to talk, I need to breathe.”
Aleksei released his prisoner, and Cary took a few steps from the group, fixing his jacket in the thug-style he wanted to emulate.
“Mind the coat, man. I come in peace. You want to find your girl or what?”
Liam wasn’t ready to completely trust the kid; Finch had coerced many into doing his dirty deeds, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he started using kids. “How do you know we’re looking for her?”
The youngster rolled his eyes. “Come on, man. I saw you and your big gorilla run outside and go to the chapel. I was checking the building when she left.”
“Catriona?”
“Yeah, man. Who else?”
Aleksei growled. “Watch your mouth, kid.”
Cary scowled, but it was clear by his body language he didn’t feel safe. Deva must have seen the same. When Liam put a hand on Cary’s shoulder, she expertly placed herself in front of Alek, wrapping the mad Russian’s arms around her in a sort of hug. “It’s Cary, is it? My name is Deva. We’re worried about our friend. Can you just get to the point and drop the attitude?”
The soft female voice and no-nonsense tone seemed to convince the young man. “I’ve been looking after her.” As soon as the words were out, there was a flicker of emotion on his face. “I had a bad feeling about it, but she didn’t seem scared or panicked when she got in the car. It didn’t leave me, and that’s why I came here. And then I saw your face...”
His voice hitched a little, and Liam gripped his shoulder a little tighter. “Why are you following us? Are you following her?”
He appeared a lot more like a kid now, one who had seen too much, who shouldered too much of a burden for his young age. It was easy for the brothers to recognize, as they’d all experienced it firsthand.
“She was nice to me, didn’t look at me as if I was scum. And there’s something about her that I can’t explain. I had to follow her, to protect her. Do you get that?”
Liam glanced up at Archer, and although he didn’t say a thing, it echoed the conversation he just had with him. There was a thing about Catriona that he couldn’t explain either, that drew him to her like a magnet.
“We get it, and we want to protect her too. But we need to act quickly, Cary.” Archer’s voice cut through the tension, and a quick look between the brothers confirmed to Liam that they believed the young man.
Aleksei kissed Deva’s head before untangling himself from her and standing in front of Cary, his arms crossed. “You better not be playing us, because you’ll regret it, boy.”
Liam kept his hand on Cary and felt him shudder but stand his ground. “Hey, I’m telling the truth. Believe me or fuck you!”
Unmoving, like David facing Goliath, until Aleksei relaxed and gave a nod of approval. “The guy’s legit. What have you got?”
Those words from one of the most dangerous hitmen the mob had, said something. Too bad Cary had no idea whose approval he’d just gained.
Liam brought his attention back to the matter at hand. “Cary, what did you see?”
“I know the neighborhood well, and about a week ago, a new woman came. I thought she was a tourist, but she didn’t act like it, looked around as if examining more than visiting. Catriona left in her car from the chapel. She’s quite old and has bright red hair, you can’t miss her.”
“Fuck, I’ve seen her. She was there when I went to the chapel with Catriona. The woman came and talked to her. I didn’t think much of it, and she sat with her back to me, I didn’t see her face, only the back of her head.”
“That doesn’t help us at all. An old woman with red hair.” Archer shook his head, which seemed to insult young Cary.
“I’m not stupid. I got a picture of the car.” And to prove it, he produced his phone to show them. Liam checked and saw the image was blurry, but with some help, there may be a way to make it more focused. He could’ve taken the photo and have one of his colleagues play with it, but he knew that time was of the essence.
“Alek, send the photo to Kai and have him contact his friend and have him find all he can on that woman.”
