Free KNOX: Volume 3 by Cassia Leo Page A

Lenny cringing inwardly. “I know you all don’t know me, but you know my company is handling John Veneto’s security detail. And you know Rebecca was abducted last night, right?”
    Gino’s eyes flit toward Lenny, but he doesn’t speak.
    I smile at this. “Do you dress like that every day, Gino?”
    He looks confused for a moment, then he looks down at the tattered brown T-shirt covering his round belly. “Uh… yeah. I guess.”
    “You do realize you look like complete shit, don’t you?”
    “What the fuck?”
    “Have you ever stepped on a fucking treadmill? You know, one of those things you run on that makes you feel like you’re going nowhere? Do you know what a fucking treadmill is?”
    “Fuck you!”
    The gun is out of my holster and the bullet is exploding through the back of his head before either of them know what’s happening. Gino’s body tips sideways toward Lenny, who’s eyes are wider than saucers as he jumps out of his chair.
    “What the fuck did you do?” he shrieks in his awful whiny voice.
    “Sit down, Lenny.”
    “You fuckin’ killed him! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
    I lock eyes with Bruno then nod toward Gino’s body, which is slumped across the chair Lenny just vacated. Bruno grabs Gino’s fat lump of a body off the chair and lays him on the dingy tile floor.
    “I said sit down, Lenny.”
    Lenny’s chest is heaving as he stares at Gino. Then he glances around the kitchen. Looking for an escape. But Bruno and Billy are blocking both exits. He looks at me and I nod at the chair for him to sit.
    “I … I can’t sit there. It’s covered in blood.”
    “Billy.”
    Billy leaves his station near the back door to wipe off the chair and Lenny begins eyeballing the exit.
    “Don’t get any ideas, Lenny,” I warn him as Billy’s cleans up the blood. “Now sit.”
    He shakes his head as he takes a seat again. “I don’t know where she is. I swear to God. I don’t know nothing.”
    He’s going to start crying. I hate this part.
    “Well, I suggest you go home and take some fucking ginkgo for your memory. Because I want you to go home and tell everyone who I am. I’m Knox Savage. And I will kill you and your wife if you don’t have some fucking information for me the next time I see you.” I stand from the chair and nod at Bruno. “Get him the fuck out of here.”

2

    The guy sitting across from me in my office is an old friend of John’s. I agreed to see him as a favor. John Veneto was the only father figure I knew growing up in Bensonhurst. I don’t know if Rebecca knows that her father and my mother had an affair that lasted more than four years. If she does, she hasn’t mentioned it to me. And that’s not like her.  
    Rebecca wears her emotions like a winter coat. All wrapped up in a cozy, protective layer of anger and lust. It’s her standard operating procedure. I don’t mind. She’s beautiful when she lashes out at me.
    “Ahem.”
    I blink a few times as I realize Mario’s trying to get my attention. “So you said your brother-in-law is looking at how many years?”
    Mario looks annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention. This fucker doesn’t know that I don’t give a shit about his brother-in-law or the number of years he’s going to be locked away. I’ve got more important stuff to worry about right now. But I can’t break cover.
    “Twelve years.”
    “All right. I need you to break down the timeline of the case.” I push a pad of yellow paper across the glass desk. “Write it all down, starting from the date of his first crime to today. I need names of accomplices. Addresses if you have them. I need court dates. Names of lawyers and public defenders. I need everything. Write down as much as you can remember. I’ll be right back.”
    I don’t normally leave people alone in my office. It’s an invitation for people to try to spy on me. But I need to clear my head. I need some fucking news or I’ll be useless to Mario. And I can’t stop