Page 65 of Vengeance

“We were late,” Bowie said.

Damn it. “Dante?”

“His men cleared most of the room before we arrived,” Bowie grumbled.

“Most?”

A pause. “We found a steel box beneath the foundation. They missed it.”

“What was inside?” Vengeance asked.

“Files, photographs, and account numbers.” Bowie’s voice broke through another wave of static. “And a recording.”

Vengeance’s pulse quickened. “What kind of recording?”

“Savage interviewing a woman,” Bowie said.

Chloe moved closer. Vengeance already knew the answer before he asked. “Who?” Static swallowed Bowie’s first response. “Repeat.”

The signal cleared. “Elena Manzo.”

The cabin seemed to tilt beneath Vengeance’s feet. It couldn’t be his mother, because she was dead. “What did you say?”

“Savage recorded her twenty-one years ago,” Bowie said.

“That’s impossible,” Vengeance insisted.

“That’s what the tape says.” Vengeance gripped the edge of the counter. Dante had told him Elena died when he was only six. He had shown Vengeance a grave and forced him to stand beside it while dirt covered an empty coffin—or what Vengeance now suspected had been an empty coffin.

“What was on the recording?” he asked.

“She was giving Savage information about Dante’s trafficking network.” His chest stopped moving, and Chloe touched his back.

Bowie continued. “She gave him names, locations, payment records. Everything he needed to build the Lazarus file.”

“Why didn’t Savage use it?” Vengeance asked.

“Because Elena disappeared before she could testify.” Vengeance stared out the kitchen window. The forest beyond the glass blurred.

“Dante killed her,” he whispered.

“We don’t know that,” Chloe insisted.

“He told me she was dead.”

“Dante lies,” Bowie said.

“Bowie—” Vengeance started.

“Listen to me, kid,” Bowie said, interrupting him. The urgency in his voice silenced Vengeance. “The recording ends with Savage asking Elena where she planned to go.” Vengeance waited. “She said she had family in Chicago.”

Vengeance had heard rumors about a woman working for the Black Veil. She was supposedly paying strangers to find Chloe. Ice spread through his veins. “No.”

Chloe moved in front of him. “What is it?”

He couldn’t answer, but Bowie did it for him. “We traced one of the accounts attached to the bounty.”

Vengeance closed his eyes. “What did you find?”