The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

“My informant in the police department told me a body, a very badly burned one at that, was found in an abandoned warehouse that had caught fire last night. When the fire was finally put out, they found a toasted corpse right in the middle of the place. Apparently, they were able to identify that it was Frankie by the ring he wore, and some other pieces of jewelry. He was murdered last night in that warehouse, and it’s partially my fault for sending him after that piece of trash by himself.”

“How do they know he was murdered? Frankie liked to conduct business in that sort of way. Is it possible he botched something while trying to set up the place? I’ve warned him on more than one occasion not to be so careless when handling combustible materials. He took way too many risks with that stuff.”

“Our friend in the police department said they found his charred-up body handcuffed to a pipe. They’re saying at first glance the fire appears to have started at the site where the body was located. So, you tell me if he was murdered or not.”

“Yeah. I’d say it sounds like it to me.”

“My apologies again, my temper gets the best of me sometimes.”

“Boss, please, it’s my turn to tell you to stop apologizing. Trust me, I get it,” Enzo said calmly as he poured us another drink.

“It’s just that we lost two great men in the same week, and now there’s going to be nothing but confusion in the streets. All their people that kicked money up to them for protection and everything else are going to do everything to not pay a thing because of how weak we look now. It’s going to take weeks to sort out all the turmoil, and many more people are probably going to end up dead from the show of strength that we are going to have to display. All the while this was perpetrated by a guy who was too stupid to see that he was being played by his partner the entire time they worked together. Now, all of a sudden, he turns into a hard-core highly skilled killing machine. It’s almost too crazy to believe, but here we are.”

“Do we know if Brandon was there?”

“I just told you Frankie was handcuffed to a pipe for crying out loud,” I said as my anger started to rise again.

“I only ask because we cannot take this man lightly. You saw how fired up Frankie got about going after Brandon, and now he’s dead.”

“What’s your point, Enzo?”

“My point is people tend to make mistakes when they’re emotional, and I know this because I have witnessed it firsthand in those I had to deal with in the past. Now, my pension for thoroughness has served me well for years and has kept me from becoming emotional and making mistakes that had lethal consequences.”

“Maybe I’ve had a little too much to drink, and I’m a little emotional myself, so what are you saying? Enough of this talking in this code crap. This is a highly secured listening-device-free room, so just talk freely already. We have a lot of work to do now.”

“I’m saying we can’t write off that there might really be a guy in a red suit helping Brandon commit these killings.”

I rolled my eyes at the mere thought that Brandon somehow became a tough guy. “What are you talking about? He snapped, okay? The guy has clearly lost his mind and has developed a death wish.”

“I don’t think so, Skeeter. I have seen men who have gone off the deep end before, and they are not this calculating. Their actions are sloppy and not well thought out. Sure, they may be able to kill one or two wise guys out of pure luck, but the murders we’ve seen this week have all the trappings of a man of an intelligent and meticulous nature.”

“Speak English, Enzo. Didn’t I just say cut the code crap?”

“What I’m saying is, Brandon really does have someone in a red suit helping him pull off these killings. Think about it for a moment, Skeeter, he was there when Ron was killed, right?”

“Yeah and...” My patience thinned more and more by the second.

“Just give me a minute and let me explain. The police couldn’t get anything to stick to him, and they had to let him go. He was also there the day Joey died, supposedly warning him about what was coming. The police question him again, and at the end of the day, they still had nothing and had to let him go. Now Frankie is dead, and Brandon is still out there roaming the streets a free man. I don’t care how smart a guy is, no one is that good to kill three different people in a week, and still be out on the streets when we know the police have an eye on him.”

“Brandon used to be a detective. A very good one.”

“I haven’t forgotten that important piece of information, and you know that. Your informant in the police department told you they are keeping an eye on him, so he has to be getting help from someone in order to pull off these murders and stay out of jail.”

“Okay.” I sat back in my chair. “On that we agree. Who do you think is dumb enough to go against us and help him then?”

“I have a strong feeling it’s someone left over from the Riccis that we missed.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Is it? You said yourself Brandon used to be a really good detective, and who else would be able to track down any leftover Riccis to team up with to get back at us? We have given Brandon and every Ricci that might be left alive out there plenty of reasons to come after us. I figured Brandon is so desperate for revenge, he doesn’t care who he works with. I’ve been doing some research on Brandon,