Ten
Luca took the stairs two at a time, pounding up the concrete stairwell. Burning off some of the adrenaline from what had happened last night. Thinking about Kira and the way she’d looked at him. The last thing she’d said before she left. Bring it on.
Right now he had to focus on work.
On the fourteenth floor of the office building across from the hospital, he pushed out of the stairwell onto the open rooftop in the daylight. From the west corner, anyone up here would have a view of the window of Francisco’s room, with line of sight to use a rifle. Someone with a heat-sensing scope could shoot the patient before anyone even realized they were here.
Luca scanned the rooftop and figured out the best angle, shifting his backpack off his shoulders. He pulled out one of the cameras he’d packed, and wedged it beside the air-conditioning vent, using a piece of duct tape to secure it. The trail cameras he had were high-end, wirelessly connected to the computer in his office that linked to an app on his phone, and only turned on when they sensed motion.
If anyone came up here intending to use the spot to take out Francisco, Luca would know about it.
Same with the two other building roofs he’d installed cameras on after Kira left.
As he headed back down the stairwell to the ground floor, he called the detective.
“Martinelli.” Mike’s voice was clipped, as if he was in the middle of something.
“Did they get him booked?”
“All tucked into a cell,” Mike said. “I’ll go chat with him in a bit. Make sure we have it straight what happened.”
Luca figured he and Kira already knew enough about the man’s intentions and why he’d followed her all the way out to her car, looking for “his woman.” But the cops had to ask the questions themselves.
Luca rounded the eighth floor. “I want to know the minute that guy hits the streets again.”
“He’ll probably go before the judge today and get bonded out.”
“On a Sunday?”
“Right.” Mike blew out a breath across the phone line. “And Monday’s a holiday, so it’ll be Tuesday then, which means he spends an extra few days in the county jail.”
“Maybe he can say hi to Jenkins for us.”
Mike chuckled. “Alden really told you that Ralph Rousseau is the one behind the Shadow Syndicate?”
“You don’t believe it?”
“Right now, I wouldn’t put it past anyone, except you and me and our nearest and dearest.”
Luca smiled to himself. “Everyone is a suspect?”
“Within reason, yes,” Mike said. “Outside of the land grab he and Jenkins were doing on the ranchers, Rousseau’s legitimate businesses in Renegade have been making real-estate deals for years with a bunch of his buddies. Mostly business and commercial properties, and it wouldn’t surprise me if any of them were dirty. Taking bribes or going around city ordinances just to make money. He’s either dirty or he’s planning to run for governor.”
“Maybe both.” With a side of stopping a doctor who was new to town from opening up her own practice.
“I’ll dig up everything I can get my hands on, and maybe we could meet up tomorrow. Go over everything we know about Rousseau.”
Luca couldn’t do that in the evening on Monday, as he’d be attending Mrs. Rousseau’s fancy foundation gala. “I have some time early.”
“It’ll be good to find out who he’s connected to outside of hearsay.”
“Catch you later.” Luca hung up the phone and pushed out the exit door into the afternoon sun.
The temperature was just about perfect for a run, but that was the last thing he had time for right now. A nap might be a better idea, considering his sleep schedule was all messed up. If he wanted to line up his schedule with Kira’s, he should probably switch to working nights on a regular basis the way she did.
He headed back across the street to the hospital, thinking about the way it felt so natural to have her in his arms. This woman who had seemed to be working to undermine his mission the day they met. Talk about a turnaround.
But what was it that she’d said? Giving intel to people who made the world a better place?