I used a car service because I need someone who would know backroads. When I jumped in the car that was waiting for me at the curb, I leaned forward. "Max, as fast as you can, this address." I gave it to him and then sat back, texting the lads. Hazel… All those times Nyla thought she was being followed, all those times she was uncomfortable, had it been Hazel, stalking her?
Ben's response was immediate.
Ben: Hazel? Who the hell is Hazel?
I gave him a brief rundown again.
East: She has her right now.
I gave up and just called. Turned out he was with Drew and Bridge, so it saved a lot of typing. "We're not going to text back and forth. I'm on my way to get her now. I found her on CCTV. Hazel is actually Krista Wilson, the one behind the case that Nyla has been working on. And if I'm right, she killed that bloke Ryder Stone. He'd been trying to go straight."
"Jesus. Do you think she's the one who shot at us at Grimwald Square?"
"Considering she killed a man in cold blood, has a connection to Sinclair, is always a step ahead of Interpol, and she made it a point to worm her way into Nyla's life, I'd say yeah. She's a threat to her right now."
Bridge whistled low. "What do you need?"
"Nothing yet, but I want all resources on finding whatever she has to hide. Everything we have. We might not be able to stop her right now."
The lads hung up with me just as the car arrived at the shops.
I told the driver to wait as I jumped out of the car, barely waiting for it to come to a full stop, nearly being run over by a lorry as I sprinted across the pavement.
The little shopping area was a maze of boutiques and restaurants with little alleys and cobblestone walkways between them, allowing patrons to go in any formation they liked. I found them in the center of the courtyard, and Hazel saw me first. When her gaze turned to me, she narrowed her eyes imperceptibly, and then her brows lifted as if she was surprised that I'd been able to track her down.
She said something to Nyla then turned to leave. Nyla looked around, and when she saw me, she gave me that winning smile. So pretty, telling me how happy she was to see my face.
My gaze was trained on Hazel, trying to figure out what she'd do and if she'd try and use Nyla like a shield or something. A bell began to ring from one of the shops, and people started gathering in the courtyard to see what was going on.
There were balloons coming down in the courtyard. Someone had won something. The crowd grew larger and larger, and as I fought through them, pushing aside whoever dared get in my way, Nyla's gaze shifted and she stared at me. The grim determination was probably apparent on my face because she glanced at Hazel, glanced back at me, and then started to walk toward me. Hazel caught her arm, and Nyla winced, glowered at her, and then escaped the whole situation efficiently. Hazel grabbed at her again, but Nyla turned to her and shook her head. Nyla freed herself again, and then I watched in horror as Hazel eased into the crowd. I pointed at her. "Get her, focus on her."
Nyla shook her head, and then Hazel was gone. In ten more steps, Nyla wrapped her arms around me. "Hey, what are you doing here? Hazel was trying to call me into the loo, but I told her I was going to say hi to you first. What's going on?"
"Her name is not Hazel."
Her brow furrowed. "What are you talking about, East? How did you find me?"
"You have a GPS tracker on your phone. That's not Hazel. She's been stalking you, and I think she was the one shooting at us in Grimwald Square. Her real name is Krista Wilson. And I think she killed Ryder Stone."
Chapter Thirteen
Nyla
Everything was a lie.
I didn't even know how I felt.
Cold. Numb.
I'd been so desperate for community, for family, that I'd let that woman in my life. Jesus. I’d been looking for her the whole time. And she’d been, what? Laughing at me?
You think you feel bad? Imagine what it’s like to be Denning.
That was a good point. But I still felt used… and duped. I tried to climb up the slippery slope of my bewilderment, and East tried to tell me I wasn't going back to the office, but I overruled him.
I needed to find a way to put this in a box that made sense. I turned on my phone, and he drove me back to work, clearly displeased about my choice. When we arrived, we didn’t head to my father’s office or Denning’s, but rather to Amelia’s.
She was at her desk, dark brows drawn down in consternation. When we barged in, she took one look at me then turned to East. "What the fuck did you do to her this time?"
East opened his mouth as if he was going to argue. But then he shut it. When he found his voice, it was soft. "Luckily, this time, it wasn't me that hurt her."
Amelia pushed to her feet. "What's going on?"
"Denning Sinclair's fiancée, Hazel Frost, is not Hazel Frost. Her name is Krista Wilson."
Amelia's eyes went wide, and she played mental ping-pong with both of us, trying to face me, then him, then back to me. "Oh my God, the prints we found. They belong to Krista Wilson."
I sighed. "We’ve had drinks with her, and she killed that poor man."
East pulled out a chair for me to sit. But I wasn't sitting down. "I want her head on this."
Amelia turned to East. "How did you find out it was her?"
"Facial recognition. I was doing a search for Garreth Jameson and known associates of the Wilson Crew because they went to school at the same time and the same place. And since we know Walter Jameson is Henry Warlow, I wondered how much he talked about his past, who he was, and just what he'd done. Warlow is a thief. But not just a thief, he was an excellent forger. I double-checked if there had been anyone at the university good enough to forge a master. I found a scandal involving Marc Wilson and his friend Riley Mills. Marc had a sister, and that's how I found her.
She winced. “Fucking hell.”
East continued. "Also, the other day while we were tailing Garreth, he met with her."
Amelia looked like her head was going to pop off. "What? And you thought to just tell us now?"
"It seemed irrelevant. I thought they were just having some clandestine shagfest. I had no idea it was something like this. And I would have mentioned it, but we got so caught up in everything else it just slipped my mind."
Amelia ran her hands over her face. "Oh my fucking God. I swear to God, when these cases are over, I need a vacation."
"Well, if I'm lucky, you'll get one and give Nyla a break." East said.
Amelia tossed a pad of paper at him. "Write down exactly what photo you were searching for."
He took the pad and jotted down his notes. As he wrote, his phone started going off. He glowered down at it. “I’ll be right back."
While he marched out in his characteristic take-charge fashion, I turned my attention to Amelia, who was picking up her phone. "What are you doing?"
"We have to warn Denning." Her gaze met mine. "Well, we need to warn Denning and your father, because God knows what information Denning has given her and not even realized it. In the meantime, I have to make the search look legit because we can't say one of the London Lords gave it to us. Remember, those people who we were trying to investigate that one time?"