He nods and that’s all I need to know he’s sure that the body in the morgue is hers.
“I found the last set of instructions he gave her,” I tell him.
Devon turns a page in his book as he asks, “What did it say?”
I pull it from my back pocket and slip it inside of a discarded magazine, then toss it in the empty space between us. He won’t take it until I’m gone. “You can see it for yourself, but he basically told her to make contact, search my room if she can. It’s pretty vague. And she did exactly as he asked. I left something for her to find.”
“I don’t like this. Not at all,” he says quietly.
“You don’t think it was an accident?”
He shakes his head just enough to let me know he doesn’t.
“But why? Do you think she finished her job and we just don’t know it?”
“Or she screwed up and he took her out.”
“What do you think James’s part was in this?”
“Pawn,” Devon says without even thinking about it. “Extensive drug and gambling problem. In dire need of funds. Ridiculously easy to manipulate. Wouldn’t be surprised if Smith wasn’t behind the dad’s broken leg to get him here.”
Jesus. I hadn’t thought of that possibility.
“And do we think Ryan is involved in this more than just an unsuspecting mark?” We had a conversation before I was sent here and knew who the mark was. Also discussed the possibility that this whole job was just a ruse. Once we found out I was assigned to Ryan, Devon dug as deep as he could on him. Mr. Smith’s notes he sends on a job don’t compare to what Devon gives me. We learned about his business and how successful it has become. It made sense someone would want it. Mr. Smith had used Ryan’s transport services a few years ago to move things on a few jobs I was a part of, so it’s easy to see how Ryan was on his radar.
Devon’s shoulders shuffle back and forth a couple of times as if he’s trying to determine how he feels about this subject. “First, we know anything is possible, right?”
“Right.”
“So knowing anything is possible, it’s still a long shot in my opinion. Regardless of the shady shit Ryan has going on, he is too rooted in this community, which goes against everything Mr. Smith looks for in the people he recruits to work for him.”
I was a nobody without family or connections. There would be no flags raised if I disappeared. No one to seek out justice for me if things go sideways. That is not true for Ryan. He lives in a house where his neighbors have literally watched him grow up from infancy.
“We deal in facts and we don’t have any that point in that direction,” he says.
We sit in silence for a minute or so, both contemplating this latest development. Finally I say, “I cornered her in the kitchen. Told her I knew who she worked for. Told her she could very easily find herself in my position.”
His pencil stops moving for the first time since I sat down. “L, why?”
“L” is the closest he’d ever come to saying Lucca, since it’s such an uncommon name and anyone listening would assume my name is Elle. But even with that precaution, Devon hardly ever addresses me directly, so I feel the weight behind it.
“I needed to know if she thought I was a random mark or if she knew I worked for him too. She didn’t, by the way. The surprise on her face was real. And it’s not like I discovered some big secret, since he already admitted to sending her.”
Devon’s pencil goes back to work, and he bounces his head to the assumed beat. “Smith’s greatest achievement is keeping everyone under him in line by keeping them blind to everything and everyone else in his organization. No one knows who he is, no one knows where they are in the chain.” Mr. Smith is the puzzle Devon has been working on for years.
“And the cops are aware of the name Evie Porter of Brookwood, Alabama,” I add in a near whisper, as if I’m confessing my sins.
This admission makes his face turn toward me. “Details?”
I fill him in on our visit to the Bernards’ house and the conversation with the police while he works diligently on the page in front of him.
When I finish, he says, “I don’t like this. I don’t like that I can’t see where this is going. I think we bail.”
This gives me pause. We have found ourselves in a lot of situations where a positive outcome seemed doubtful, but he’s never mentioned bailing before.
“And then what? We knew coming in he was pissed I didn’t get the blackmail info on Connolly back for him. We also knew he’s trying to determine if I actually was successful but kept everything for myself. If Mr. Smith wants to take me out, bailing won’t stop him, but it severely limits where I can go from here, especially now that Lucca Marino doesn’t exist anymore.”