Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 133127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 133127 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 666(@200wpm)___ 533(@250wpm)___ 444(@300wpm)
“Do we have any suspects?” Jes asks.
“We do,” I reply. I take out an image of a man and put it onto the board alongside the deceased girls. “We have two, actually.” I point to the first image of a middle-aged man Italian man. “This is Eli De Luca.”
“Who’s he?” one of the guys asks.
“Eli De Luca is second in command of a powerful crime empire run by one family.” I pull out three more images and pin them to the board. “His father Lorenzo is the head. A multi-millionaire who, apparently,” I air quote and gesture to the image, “owns a granite and Caesarstone importing business.”
“Apparently?” someone else repeats.
“I say apparently because he also owns six clubs in the Kings Cross district and runs the biggest drug ring in Australia. Importing stone is his front.”
I gesture to the images of the other two men. “One brother is a lawyer, but we have no further information on him other than he represents only big-time criminals and mafia. He represented Joshua my brother-in-law once. The other brother…” I gesture to the other image. “He lives in Italy, and we have reason to believe he runs the business over there.”
“So, you think it’s this De Luca family behind these murders?” Jes asks.
“To be honest, no,” I answer. “They are successful criminals already. There’s a lot of groundwork to do when blackmailing people, so it makes no sense that they would risk bringing attention to themselves by having all these women as witnesses. It’s too messy for them, they are smarter than this.”
The boys all nod as they listen. “Who’s the second suspect then?” Jim asks.
I pin up another image and the men all gasp. “Yeah, you’ve all seen him before.”
I turn and smile at the guys. “Steven Coleman. Or you may know him as the Senior Sergeant of Police down at the station. They call him Cole.”
“Why is he a suspect?” someone pipes up.
“Ben interviewed a girl when he came back twelve-months ago, and she gave an ID to match his image, but she wouldn’t say his name out loud. She was edgy about being recorded. She freaked out halfway through the interview and ran. Unfortunately, she was found dead from a drug overdose a week later.”
“Was she really murdered?” Jes frowns.
“We don’t know, but she was pretty heavily into drugs, so it could have just been an overdose. Her autopsy gave no reason for us to think anything else. We don’t know if Cole is linked to this case for definite, but we do know that the girls are scared of him. I need you boys to work on this in between our other cases. A million dollars will be a nice buffer to have in our bank account.”
My phone rings and I wind up my part of the meeting to go take the call. “So, that brings us up to ten cases we’re working on at the moment. We also took on another one this morning that Ben is going to brief you on now.”
I push once, twice, three times, and I exhale heavily as I finish my set. “You’re up,” I pant as I stand. I drain my water bottle and Ben lies down on the weight bench before he pushes the heavy dumbbells high in the air. We’re in the gym and it’s 9:00 p.m. We’ve just finished work for the day. Ben’s wife is at my sister, Natasha’s house, and we came here before he picks her up. Ben’s my brother-in- law, married to my other sister, Bridget, and he’s one of my closest friends. Not family by blood, but most definitely family by choice.
He finishes his set and stands to wipe the perspiration from his brow with his towel. “We got that thing tomorrow night, yeah?” he pants, his hands planted firmly on his hips.
“What thing?” I frown as I sit down on the bench.
The front door opens, and I glance over at the mirror as a woman walks in. The way she walks commands my attention, and I turn towards her instantly. She has a confident air about her. Not many women have it and I can smell it a mile off.
Her big blue eyes and olive skin are an unusual combination with her strawberry-blonde hair. I watch her walk by and put her earphones in, and then head over to the treadmills and bikes. She’s wearing black tights, and a black tight singlet with a hot pink sports bra underneath. I can see her every curve. My cock twitches in appreciation. She may just have the most perfect bone structure I’ve ever seen. She turns, catching me staring at her, and gives me a lop-sided smile before she continues on her way.
Ben watches her for a moment and raises his eyebrows before his eyes come back to mine with a knowing smirk.