The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (40 page)

The brothers, Anthony and Vito, weren’t talking. They lawyered up, but the lawyer was doing a lot of talking apparently to ruin the jury pool or request a change of venue. The brothers were being as silent as proverbial lambs while their lawyer handled the dirty work. And Vincent Roman, their father, was by his side for every sound bite.

*     *     *

Blaze threw his
dirty laundry into the laundry room, and began to refill his bag with fresh clothes. He also went to his closet, and unlocked the built in safe. The doors opened revealing an array of guns. He wasn’t sure if he’d be flying, like their last job. They had taken their weapons on the last case, but had to leave them behind until that case was settled. He looked at the stock he had left deciding on what he might be able to bring.

Bella had run within the last twenty-four hours, and Angela hadn’t been able to get a line on her whereabouts. She had already put in the call to their fact checker, and internet/electronics guy. They were waiting to see if she left a trace, runners usually did.

His phone began to chirp. Blaze flashed a quick glance at the screen before connecting, confirming his thought that it was Andreas.

“Yo,” he answered. “What’s the scoop?” He was always known for wasting no time, and getting straight to the point. Andreas shared that quality with him.

“Nothing on her credit cards, or her mother’s.” Andreas spoke quickly.

“Her mother’s?” Blaze queried.

“Yes, she lived with her mom. Her bail was contingent upon her mom living. We thought she might have tried to use those. We also checked the hospice workers cards. They went in during the week and she could have pilfered theirs. This morning at eight AM they found the mom dead, no sign of Bella. They were their yesterday evening at 7:30 and Bella was home then. It’s nearly 7:00pm now, so she possibly has a twenty-four hour head start on us.”

“So, no leads then,” Blaze whistled softly. It’s what he had concluded as well.

“I didn’t say that. I got someone bringing a copy of her files to you now. I’m heading home in a bit after I give you a report. I need a shower and to clear my head. A bit jet lagged.”

“Okay, but the leads?” Blaze responded. His brother was thorough before granting bond, and there was sure to be plenty to go on in the file he had prepared for him.

“The mom’s car is gone. She’ll probably dump it, if she hasn’t already. If she was smart she dumped it before leaving the state and before an All-Points Bulletin went out on her. I figure she drove for the border. Girl moved here from Tennessee four years ago. I figure we start there.”

“Angela, book me a flight?” he interrupted.

“Nope, you’re driving.”

“That’s eleven hours,” Blaze quickly calculated.

“Yep, but you may need your weapons. Those brothers are connected. Their lawyers are coming up with a good defense. No camera images of them; they wore masks. No finger prints; hell, they didn’t even speak, used signs so no voice recognition software could be used to identify them. They released a story on the six o’clock tonight; Bella robbed the bank to buy drugs for mom’s new cancer treatment. They are innocent, she duped them. They were her patsy’s. They must have gotten wind that she ran so the lawyer is using this opportunity to blow more smoke and mirrors and try to get some public sympathy. They are working on trying to get another bond hearing now. I also figure once big poppa hears Bella’s gone MIA they will want to silence her. If she disappears that only helps build doubt for a jury in the trial for the sons. I’ve already called Gio. He’ll fly out and meet you there in a day or two once Nikko is out of the hospital.”

“Tell him to wait for my call, no sense rushing until I find out if I’m the only one chasing her, but I’ll bring extra ammo just in case.”

“Okay, but you catch wind of anything you call for back up?” Andreas was sounding tired. They’d been up late and up early. He knew his brother hadn’t even gone home yet.

“Gotcha.” He heard Andreas about to click off. “Wait, one more thing?” he asked.

“What?” He heard his brother’s tired sigh.

“The girl dangerous? She innocent?” He asked wanting to know if he was in danger from her end as well.

“I provided the bond, easy money, as she was going back to jail in a few weeks. Thought she was innocent myself when I saw her in court. Like I said earlier, Mom came in personally and begged me to help get her out. Woman was at death’s door. Paid me in cash, said it was all she had. It’s all in the report. Frankly, I don’t know. Even sweet and innocent girls can be false and deceiving. I went with my gut on this, and frankly the mom’s story got me to do it. Did she rob the bank for the drugs to save her mom? Maybe. Her mom was going all out for her. Did she dupe those boys into helping her? I doubt they are innocent, but you never know.”

Blaze could hear the weariness in his brother’s voice. The fatigue. His brother had worked round the clock practically to wrap up all the loose ends of their last case in Maine. It wasn’t like him to speculate so much on a client.

“Get some rest,” Blaze told his brother. “I’m gonna drive a couple hours tonight. I’ll call some guys to check for car dump sites on the way too, so we know if we are on the right track. Call me if you hear anything.”

*     *     *

Andreas grunted and
hung up, pissed he hadn’t thought to check the dump sites near the border and have a guy on it already. He was glad Blaze was on this one. Methodical, always. Serious, nearly one hundred percent of the time. And it when it came to the opposite sex, he always had his guard up. Blaze was perfect for this case.

*     *     *

Shit! Sweet girls.
The worst kind, Blaze thought. He went back to his closet and began to assemble the things he would need. Well, one thing for sure whether she did it to get money to help her mom, or her loser boyfriend, she had broken the law. And that’s all he needed to know. It was simple. Black and white. Within twenty minutes he was ready to chase down Bella Chase.

Lucky Breaks

B
ella relaxed. She’d
put in a long day cleaning the small loft that made up the upstairs area of the small cabin. She’d been here three weeks and had spent most of her time cleaning the downstairs area. The place had not been lived in for over forty years and it had taken that long to get just the downstairs habitable. Coated in decades of dust and cobwebs and woodsy creatures she didn’t want to even think about, the abandoned cabin, an inheritance of her aunt’s from a distant relative had become her project and refuge. It kept her mind off her mother’s passing, and kept her busy. It also kept her from worrying too much and obsessing about possibly being caught.

Before arriving in Cherokee, Bella purchased a few cleaning supplies when the bus she had taken made a pit stop. She knew she’d need some things, but she hadn’t a clue. The place had been a disaster. She’d already spent a good chunk of change on cleaning supplies alone, but now after three weeks of hard work it was finally taking shape. It had been a month since she had run, and she’d keep working this hard and take these long days over that first week any day. She’d been so terrified.

She’d dumped her mom’s car in Tallahassee before leaving Florida. The license plate could identify her mom and be traced back to her. The four hour drive she’d used it for had her frantic. Her heart slammed in her chest the whole time and her fingers, white-knuckled on the steering wheel cramped from long hours at the wheel.

After leaving the car, she’d been lucky to get a ride from a friendly female truck driver to Atlanta. She’d rented a hotel and stayed four days delaying her journey to North Carolina until she felt safer about coming here. She’d holed up in the dive of a motel watching the news and carefully planning out her next steps.

She’d heard her name mentioned twice in connection with her disappearance and the upcoming trial of her ex-boyfriend just weeks away. Her ex was bad news, worse than even she had realized. The reporter covering the bank robbery that had taken the life of a security guard had done an expose of the Roman Family. The father owned several strip clubs in Hillsborough and Manatee counties, and had been in and out of the news for drug related crimes, extortion, and running a prostitution ring through several of his massage parlors. He’d avoided prison time due to crafty lawyers, sharks who always managed to get him off on some kind of technicality. The piece the reporter did was entitled
Above the Law
. The sons, one of which was her ex-boyfriend Anthony, apparently had robbed the bank along with her, having been cut off from his father after the father found out the son was actively involved in his own side-line pursuits. The reporter ended the piece quipping sarcastically that the brothers were claiming they did not plan the crime, Bella had in fact planned it in order to get money to pay for her mom’s medical expenses, which was total crap, Bella quietly fretted. Her mom’s insurance had covered her treatments, but that was their defense. The brothers’ lawyers were claiming she had given the weapons to them and told them they were not loaded. Their attorney was arguing the true mastermind was at large, and the brothers deserved to be charged with a lesser crime. Bella had cried silently listening to the clip of the attorney weaving the tale that made her appear guilty as sin. He was obviously one of the many attorneys on the Roman Payroll.

The news story was also one of the reasons she hadn’t left Atlanta either. She’d been too afraid to leave the hotel room. She’d been afraid of being recognized. They’d plastered her drivers’ license photo across the screen and some more recent pictures of her taken from her Facebook page. Luckily she had golden highlights through her long brown hair in all those photos and she could take care of that easily.

The second day after the news report, she’d risked running out across the street late one night to on all night Walgreens and purchased some items to help change her appearance. Unfortunately that meant her hair. A box of mahogany brown hair hid her highlights. She used the scissors she’d purchased as best she could to create wavy layers taking nearly six inches off her hair that had reached three quarters of the way down her back. Now it curled softly, just past her shoulders. She rather liked the ease and the lightness of it. She also liked the color, much more like her own natural coloring she hadn’t sported in years. It made a drastic difference. As for makeup, she’d decided to go without any at all. She normally wore it, but not wearing any at all was enough of a difference. She didn’t think she’d be recognized, if people gave her just a passing glance. But she’d stayed at the hotel for another three days to be sure, shopping at night on occasion for new clothes, jeans, and sweaters and simple shirts that revealed nothing. She’d destroyed all her clothes, much more fashionable, but didn’t regret it as she was looking to create a whole new identity for herself.

*     *     *