Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80391 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
***
“So let me get this straight,” I said while leaning forward. “Those two-bit criminals were bailed out by Adeline’s brother?”
Trance and Silas nodded in confirmation.
“Then what?” I asked.
“From what I can tell, they all left the station together and Mr. Sheffield drove them in a shiny new Hummer to a park where they had some sort of meeting. After that was over, the boys left with about twenty grand lining their pockets and took up a new residence in the old Umber House on the outskirts of Benton.” Silas said.
“Okay,” I said hesitantly. “What the hell is going on with the brother? Just a few months ago, he’d broken into Adeline’s apartment and then went to steal from Viddy. How’d he go from zero to hero so fast? What’d he do?”
Trance shrugged. “The brother, as far as we can guess, is the middle man. He finds the suppliers, gets them what they need, makes sure they get their shipment done in time, and then carries the cargo to the buyer.”
“Fuck,” I sighed and rubbed my face. “I don’t fucking understand.”
Trance stood and passed over a file, which I took warily out of his hand.
“A one Jefferson Samuel Sheffield, 27, was penniless up until about three and a half months ago. The day after you had me report the break in of Adeline’s apartment, a cool fifty grand was deposited into his account.” Trance explained.
“What about Adeline...where does she fit into this?” I finally worked up the nerve to ask.
Silas was shaking his head before I’d even finished the question. “We don’t know. Best case scenario is that this is all just a coincidence. Worst case, the brother used her as leverage to get what he wanted. We won’t know until we knock some heads together and shake it out of someone. If I had to guess, though, she’s in danger up to her pretty little eyeballs and doesn’t even know it.”
Before, Adeline just had three young kids pissed off that she’d called cops. Now I had no idea who was after her, and that was part of the problem.
And I had no clue what the hell to do.
Sebastian’s eyes were hard, totally in congruence with my own state.
My hands found their way into my hair, and I grimaced. “Jesus Christ, I’m lucky nothing’s happened to her yet.”
Silas nodded. “She’s going to need a lot more protection than what she has right now. You and I need to go visit the brother. Then the buyer so we can throw our weight around a bit. Let them know what they’re getting into if they go after her. It’d also be better if they know she’s an old lady of one of our men. The Dixie Wardens are four states strong. Right now, her being free of your patch just shows that she must not mean that much to you if you’re not willing to make her yours. With our colors protecting her, they’ll know we won’t take shit without retaliation.”
I’d already gotten that ball rolling over a month ago with Minnie.
Minnie was the wife of our secretary, Porter. Minnie had done nearly every cut and sewn every patch that covered member’s backs; mine included.
When I’d gone to Minnie and explained what I wanted, I knew it was going to be different, but she was extremely excited to get started. I’d never thought it would take as long as it had, but I knew she would make it perfectly, and I wouldn’t be disappointed.
“Minnie’s been on top of that for a month now. She’s been doing it in her spare time, and it’s...different. So it’s taking her longer than she’d originally intended.”
“Different?” Sebastian asked from his position at the other end of the table.
“She’s a teacher. She can’t really be seen wearing our colors like all the other old ladies wear them. I was worried they’d fire her, so I had Minnie do something a tad unorthodox. She sure as hell thought it was awesome though, so I don’t doubt that it was a good decision. She can wear it easily while she’s at school without drawing too much attention.”
“So does that mean you’re asking her to be your old lady soon?” Silas asked after a long pause.
I nodded in confirmation.
“Good,” Silas nodded. “Now, let’s plan for tomorrow at eight. Meet here, and we’ll drive over to Gustavo Amadeus’s house together after we visit the brother.”
So I had a name.
Gustavo Amadeus.
I was sure it wouldn’t be a pleasure to make his acquaintance.
***
“Ma’am,” I said through clenched teeth. “We need you to back off. This is not helping, and your daughter might die if you don’t give us some room!”
I hadn’t meant to yell, but the woman’s daughter wasn’t breathing, and I couldn’t do my job if the woman didn’t back the fuck off and let me work.
Sebastian was giving an infant mouth to mouth, while I worked on another child around the age of three.
Both of whom had been thrown from the car because this stupid woman ran a stop light and plowed into the car carrying them.
There had been two vehicles involved.
A sedan carrying two passengers; a woman and her teenage daughter, had run a red light and plowed into another car. The other car had been driven by a young mother who’d neglected to strap her children into proper car seat restraints.
They’d arrived on scene to find two cars in the middle of the intersection with a crowd gathered around the victims.
Then this woman, the woman who smelled of alcohol at eleven in the morning, wanted them to work on her daughter first, when the daughter only had a laceration above her right eye due to some flying debris in the car.
Probably a fucking liquor bottle.
The officers on scene were busy trying to control the traffic, since it was a major intersection, and didn’t notice the woman currently harassing me to ‘fix her baby.’
“But that baby is dead. No ‘mount of work gonna be done for her!” The woman yelled.
The young mother sitting on the curb by the ambulance heard, and of course had to come join the party.