Adam and Scarlett were nodding earnestly. Marcus stared up at the ceiling, but Diesel still caught the roll of his eyes. They both knew that law enforcement’s hands were often tied by the very law they enforced. Sometimes channels were too dirty to navigate.

“Except Wesley tried that,” Diesel reminded them mildly, “but Detective Stuart was corrupt and, for reasons we might not ever know, didn’t do his duty.”

Deacon shook his head. “That might be true, but we won’t know Stuart’s reasons, because he’s dead. So is Wesley Masterson. It’s a risk of vigilantism.”

Dani cleared her throat, her gaze moving pointedly to Grant’s stricken expression. “I think we can all agree that Wesley paid a high price for taking the law into his own hands. Maybe you can have this conversation another time?”

Deacon looked at Grant and winced at the pain on the man’s face. “I’m sorry, Grant. That was insensitive of me.”

But Diesel knew that Deacon’s comments had really been aimed at Marcus and himself, because he cared about their safety. “Point taken,” Diesel murmured. He gestured to their phones. “Does the list I sent you help?”

“Absolutely,” Deacon said with a wry smile. “We know where to start looking.”

“And,” Adam added, “it matches up. We’ve identified two more of the . . . recent bodies. They’re both on this list. One offered his underage niece. The other had admitted liking underage girls.”

“Why did Cade Kaiser kill Richard Fischer when he did?” Dani asked. “This poker game has been going on for a while.”

“Maybe Joshua was the first time Cade knew that people were being trafficked,” Diesel suggested.

“Is . . .” Grant faltered, then cleared his throat. “Is Laurel on that list?”

“She is,” Diesel said gently. “But Kaiser didn’t start working at the casino until a few months after Laurel went missing. He had nothing to do with her disappearance.”

“You mentioned a Clinton Stern as the . . .” Grant swallowed. “The buyer. He’s on the list?”

“He is,” Diesel confirmed. “He’s also dead, killed in a home invasion.”

“Wesley,” Grant murmured. “I can’t say I’m sorry he did it.”

“Neither can I,” Dani told him in a whisper.

Scarlett tapped the table to get their attention. “I agree that Kaiser didn’t kill Laurel. But you do assume that he killed Richard?”

“Well, yeah,” Dani said. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” Scarlett admitted. “Unfortunately, we don’t have Kaiser on the security vids from Richard’s house. The alarm system was turned off from eight twenty a.m. on Saturday through one p.m.” She glanced at Grant. “You’re not a suspect. We traced your credit cards, and you were getting gas in Cleveland when the alarm system was reactivated.”