Material Witness by Lisa Mondello, L. A. Mondello Read Free Book Online Page B

of
Colombia.”
    “Never heard of them. South America?”
Kevin asked.
    “There is a unit out of Chicago that
has been working on this for some time. They traced a connection to the Aztec
Corporation to Massachusetts. But that connection somehow ended here in
Providence. Anyway, they’re a long way from home if they’re working up here.”
    “With Ritchie Trumbella,” Russo said.
    Martha shrugged. “That’s the way it
looked. And that’s all I know. With their inside agent gone, they’re back to
square one. They want to salvage whatever they can by leaning on Angel
Fagnelio. They want him to roll.”
    “Me, too. If we can find him,” Jake
said.
    “Which means they want to keep their
witness safe,” Martha said with a sigh. “I feel sorry for the girl. Cassie
Lang. I’ve read her books. She’s good. I’m not sure how they’re going to be
able to keep her hidden until they bring Angel Fagnelio to trial. That is, if
they find him.”
    * * *
    A few minutes later, Jake opened the
door to the interrogation room. His breath caught in his throat when he saw
Cassie sitting in the cold metal chair, looking lifelessly at the empty chair
across from her until he, Kevin and the captain walked into the room.
    “Sorry to keep you waiting, Ms.
Alvarez,” Captain Russo said. “Agent Tate will be here shortly to give you an
update on what’s going to happen next.”
    “Tate? As in Charlotte Tate?” Jake
asked. “I thought she was in Virginia.”
    “She transferred to the Chicago
office a year ago,” Russo said. “She's in charge of the investigation. She's
calling the shots.”
    Jake cursed under his breath.
    Cassie’s stomach dropped. “What’s
wrong?”
    “Nothing,” Jake said.
    Cassie gave Jake a hard look. “Don’t
give me that.”
    Both Kevin and Captain Russo
exchanged a look. “Working with the feds can be…difficult at times,” Kevin
said.
    “But it’s nothing you need to worry
about. It’s just logistics.” Russo reassured.
    Jake noticed the bags under Russo’s
eyes were more pronounced these days. Since he'd lost his eldest son to a drug
overdose nearly a year ago, he'd let himself go, gaining a thick middle that
made the buttons of his white shirt pucker, courtesy of too much take-out and
maybe a few too many beers when the day grew long. The hours he kept at the
station were taking their toll on him as well, and had less to do with his
commitment to the force than his being unable to go home and face what he'd
lost.
    “I'll try to do some damage control,”
Russo said. “Special Agent Tate wants Ms. Lang, ah, Alvarez turned over to FBI
custody within the hour.”
    After Russo left, an eerie silence
filled the room until Cassie sat up straight in her chair.
    “Everyone talks about me like I’m a
piece of property they can just hand off from one person to another. I don’t
like this.”
    “It's in your best interest to be in
protective custody right now,” Jake said delicately.
    “But it's up to me, right? I don't
have to go with them.”
    Kevin stood up from the table, his
chair grinding against the floor as it pushed back with his movement.
    “You'd be foolish not to. In a
perfect world, Fagnelio will be apprehended, cop a plea and then give up a
wealth of information about the bond fraud ring. But this is Providence. Things
don’t work out that easily.”
    “What are you saying? When can I go
home?”
    “Probably not for a long time.” At
Kevin’s frank comment, Cassie gasped.
    “What do you mean?”
    “It means that if you go out on your
own, while Fagnelio is still at large, not only will you have his people tailing
you, you'll have the FBI breathing down your neck. You won’t be able to walk to
the coffee shop on the corner without having someone’s eyes on your back. The
FBI has one star witness—you—and they’re not going to want to lose you under
any circumstances.” Kevin’s voice was uncharacteristically harsh. “You're
better off cooperating or it could