“The easiest path to her is to talk to my old boss, but I’d rather not do that. I’m working on the best ways to find her, but our best option, her cousin Linda Bender, has done a good job of disappearing.” Fin handed over a sheet that had Nicola’s family tree on it. “Linda was a reluctant participant in the business, and she was smart enough to know when to get out.”

“Is she the one who handed over all that information your old team found?” Sometimes it was better to be an outlaw than a lawman when it came to finding your own kind.

“That’s the rumor, and I want to believe it.” Fin stood and pointed to the references about Linda’s family on the page. “Her mother is still looking for her, because Linda didn’t disappear alone.”

“She took her brothers with her?” She glanced up at Fin and saw a glimmer of possibly finding an easy way out of all this. The cousin was the key. “Maybe I can help you with that by looking somewhere you might not have thought to.”

“I’m not turning down any help, and she did go with her brothers. There’s no way to be sure, but I think it was her way of severing the connection to what she hated in her family. Without the Antakov influence, there was no chance of her siblings becoming what Nicola and Fredrick turned out to be. Both boys were doing well in school and were involved in sports.” Fin showed her pictures of the two young men who’d just started high school. “I have to admire her for that.”

“There are things you’d rather starve than do, and this family crossed every line of decent behavior. Exploiting women and children makes you a good candidate for a bullet to the head.” The evil twins had the same smile, but Nicola’s had a coldness in hers that made Cain want to hurt her until she begged for death. “We can’t let Nicola or anyone in her organization anywhere near Abigail and the kids.”

“I know that better than anyone. Like those guys across the street, I spent a lot of time looking and studying these people. They’re the bullies who exploit because they can, but they’re good at evading justice.”

“That’s the only thing we have in common. I’m sure our friends across the street think I’m a bully, but Nicola’s brand of strong-arming responds only to one thing,” she said, standing and embracing Fin. “You started finding your answer with the parents, and we end it with Nicola. That’s the head of the snake that’ll kill the body.” She hugged Neil next and gave them both a warning. “Don’t take any chances tonight. In and out.”