Gone Too Far (Devlin & Falco #2) - Debra Webb Page 0,116

was the extent of what Sadie had been told. She suspected her father had somehow been instrumental in the raid down south. Or maybe she just wanted to believe he had done one last good thing.

The saddest part, she decided, was not knowing who had killed Asher. He and Leo Kurtz deserved justice too.

Sadie made up her mind then and there that she wouldn’t let the case go until she had uncovered the last of the dirty secrets. Put the final pieces together. Devlin and Falco wouldn’t let it go either. She could count on those two.

She turned into the alley at her place, noting the overflowing crowd already lining up for happy hour at the pub. She planned on having her own happy hour just as soon as she’d taken a nice, long shower. Limit two beers, though. No more hard stuff. She glanced at the cigarette pack. Maybe she’d even give those up.

If she was going to get happy with staying alive, she might as well make the most of it. “One step at a time,” she mumbled.

As she braked to a stop next to her fire escape, she spotted a woman sitting on the rusty metal steps. She looked vaguely familiar.

Sadie parked and climbed out. She grabbed another smoke and lit it as she walked toward the waiting stranger. She’d quit smoking tomorrow. Step one had to be the hard liquor.

“Sadie.”

The woman’s identity registered then. Lana Walsh. To say Asher’s mother showing up like this after everything that had happened today was odd would be the understatement of the decade.

There were still a lot of unknowns about this woman. Sadie wouldn’t trust her until she knew all the answers.

Maybe she never would.

Lana Walsh stood. “Coming here was a bit of an impulsive decision. Perhaps not a good one.”

Wary, Sadie paused a few feet away. “What can I do for you?”

Asher’s mother was attractive, far prettier than her more practical sister. The trouble was she didn’t seem to be as nice as Naomi. Naomi had plenty to say about her, none of it good. Asher had never spoken badly of her, but he hadn’t really mentioned her a lot. And she hadn’t visited him. That was the part that bugged the shit out of Sadie. What kind of mother did that? And if she hadn’t been coming to Birmingham to see her son, what the hell had she been doing here, and how the hell had she concealed her activities so carefully that even Sadie couldn’t find her out?

“Asher liked you. More than a little, I think.” Lana smiled at Sadie. Didn’t seem to notice that Sadie looked like hell, wearing the same clothes she’d had on yesterday and without a shower. Or that she didn’t trust her one little bit. Or like her, for that matter.

“He was a good guy.” Sadie took a deep breath, ignored the desire for a drink of something stronger than beer. She wasn’t going there ever again. Instead, she sucked on her smoke.

“He trusted you.”

Sadie was relatively certain that was correct. He might not have shared everything with her, but Asher had his reasons.

“I want the person responsible for his death to be brought to justice, and I’m terrified that isn’t going to happen.”

Sadie didn’t bother telling her that if his death involved the Osorio cartel, then the person responsible—Carlos Osorio himself—might already be going down. Then again, maybe she was wrong. Maybe this woman was the one who’d given the order. Or soon-to-be ex-mayor Warren? Maybe it was McGill, though Sadie highly doubted that one.

“Asher believed what I had suspected for years,” Lana went on when Sadie said nothing. “His father and Naomi are involved. An affair, I think. But Asher wouldn’t tell me if he’d confirmed as much since moving to Birmingham. I didn’t want the idea to consume his life as it has mine, but I’m convinced he knew far more than he was telling me.”

Whoa. Okay. The lady had Sadie’s attention now. “He never mentioned anything about this to me. He didn’t talk about his father often, and, for the record, he was really close to his aunt.”

“He didn’t want to believe she would betray me,” Lana admitted, “but I’m certain of it. Either way, I fear Asher was determined to find the truth if for no other reason than to reassure me in the event he discovered I was wrong. I confronted Lee about my suspicions yesterday, and he walked out. I haven’t seen him since. I’ve