“I wanted to speak here.”
“What do you need?” He fully stepped into the library, shutting the door behind him.
“Have you heard anything?”
“You mean besides Giovanni’s death?” His brow arched. “There are already rumors spreading about who did it.”
“We know who did it,” I said tightly.
“How? The autopsy report hasn’t even come back yet.”
I didn’t even know how he knew that. It wasn’t like he was our father, but I guess he did have his own ways to find things out when he wanted to.
He caught the look on my face. “You think it was that guy. The Snake?” He snorted. “Couldn’t have come up with a better name, could he?”
“I don’t know. Dying from an Eastern Diamondback’s poison looked pretty painful,” I replied, an edge to my words.
“Look.” He sighed, sitting in one of the chairs. His long legs stretched out before him as he slumped down. “If you need someone to get on the inside, then just let me know.”
I glance at him sharply. “It’s too dangerous. I don’t want any of us to go in until we know who we’re dealing with exactly.”
“Yeah, well, you might never find that out. I’ve been keeping my ears open, like you wanted, and I haven’t heard shit about this guy’s identity.”
My hands ran through my hair as I sat across from him. “How the hell is he keeping such a low profile despite all this? How does he pay his associates? Does he contact all of them by a shitty old cell phone?”
“From what I know, yes. And they’re all encrypted as far as I can tell,” Killian says darkly. “The dude has to be, like, old if he’s giving his own people ancient burners.”
“Or maybe he’s just smart. Newer phones can be tracked easily. Older burners can’t.”
“But who would know that other than someone in their thirties to sixties?”
“Great profiling.”
“I do my best.”
Sighing, I let my head fall back against the chair. “I don’t know how to fight this. It’s not like there’s a solid person right in front of me.”
“Yeah, sort of makes it hard to fight a ghost, I guess.” He at least looked sympathetic.
“I’m glad you’re not pissed at me anymore,” I told him. “I don’t think I could do this without you.”
“Oh,” he snorted, “I’m still pissed at you. Watching you get stressed out and disappointing dad has only sort of made up for it.”
Right. “Well, I’m happy you’re happy.” I glanced down at my phone. Sienna hadn’t texted me, but it was getting late.
As if he could read my mind, Killian said, “Got to get home to that wife of yours?”
“She needs me.” I don’t know why I sounded so defensive.
Killian’s hands went up. “Hey, no accusation here. If I got to go home to a woman like that every night, I’d be anxious to get back, too.”
My jaw clenched. “Kill…” I said. A warning.
“I’m just kidding!” He scoffed. “Jesus. I know you’ve never really been fun to begin with, but marriage has made you even more boring.”
I stood, ignoring his last comment. “I’m leaving now.”
“Tell my sister-in-law I said hi!” he called after me. I ignored that, too.