Perfect.
A man’s voice yelled and then there was the sound of glass smashing. Josh gestured that he was going in. Cady nodded and braced to cover him. Josh slid through the door, Cady following him.
They crept down the short hallway toward the noise. Had they been in a better neighborhood, she’d be worried about the cops turning up, but it was unlikely any of the neighbors would call the police.
The yelling hid their presence nicely as she peered into the living room. The place was smashed up, furniture overturned, glass spread over the floor. But it was the two people in the room that held most of her attention. A naked, scrawny man was crouched behind a sofa. A tall, red-haired woman, with a thunderous look on her face, stood across the room. She picked up another vase and threw it toward the man as he raised his face above the back of the sofa.
“Damn it, Sheryl!” he yelled. “Stop fucking throwing things at me!”
“You’re a two-timing, rotten bastard,” she screeched. “How dare you cheat on me! I was slumming it with you, the only reason your little prick got anywhere near me is because I thought you had money. Instead you kept me on the side in this cheap, nasty apartment while you go around fucking other women.”
“Sheryl, please, you’re the only one who ever meant anything. Why do you think I came here? I’ve finally hit payday, honey and I want to share it with you.”
Sheryl snorted, clearly not impressed.
“You’re fucking full of shit, Lenny! Where they hell would you get any money from?”
“I took it, from that stupid charity I work for. We’re rich, baby. Come on, calm down and let me get dressed, then we can get out of here. I’ve really gotta leave town.”
If he’d been smart, he’d have been long gone already.
“You stole money from a charity? What kind of sick bastard are you?” She reached for something else to throw.
Josh gave her a nudge, indicating that she should take Sheryl as the woman threw a small mirror that had been hanging on the wall. Glass smashed everywhere. Cady had a feeling she should have asked for hazard pay. Adrenaline pumped through her, filling her veins. This was it, they’d found the asshole. He was going down.
She stepped forward, raising her gun. “Both of you, freeze!”
Both occupants turned to them, looking shocked.
She kept her gun on Sheryl, even as part of her cheered the other woman on. Leonard Doran was a weasel who deserved to be used as target practice.
“Who are you two?” Leonard demanded from where he still crouched on the floor.
“UPS,” Cady told him. “Who the hell do you think?”
“We’ve been hired by that ‘stupid charity’ you stole from,” Josh answered. “Did you really think you were going to get away from stealing from kids, asshole? Get up and put your hands over your head.”
“Just stay right where you are, ma’am,” Cady warned as Sheryl snarled at Leonard and took a step forward.
“Just give me five minutes alone with him,” Sheryl said. “He’ll wish he’d never been born.”
“Oh, I think he pretty much does already,” Cady said as Josh stepped toward Leonard. He put his gun in his holster before reaching for his cuffs. Leonard sprung forward, catching them all by surprise. Josh fell to the floor with the weasel on top of him.
“Josh!” Cady yelled. Josh let out a grunt of pain before Leonard jumped to his feet and headed toward the open window.
“He’s going out the fire escape!” Sheryl yelled.
Cady fell to her knees beside Josh, horror filling her at the blood welling up from his chest.
“Oh my God.” She started shaking, old memories assaulting her. Rusty with his chest covered in blood, bleeding to death right in front of her as she’d tried in vain to save him.
“Cady, I’m fine! Cady! Snap out of it. It’s just a bit of glass. Get Hunter on the phone, get him here now. I’m going after that bastard.”
Josh jumped to his feet and headed toward the window. Cady snapped back into the present.
“Stay here,” he yelled as he moved back onto the fire escape.
Like hell. No way was she letting another partner down. She opened her phone and called Hunter. It was a company phone and all of their phone numbers were entered into it.