had to have been around ten years old with scrawny arms and wild hair. He had his arm around a kid who looked like him. I brought it closer. It was Sal. His brother.
I grinned. They’d been all knees and elbows.
The kid on the far right caught my attention. He looked familiar. Hey. “Scot,” I murmured. I’d seen pictures of him from summer camp in his office just a month before. The blood roared through my ears, pounding between my temples as I studied the fourth kid.
That nose was unmistakable. It was Melvin Whitaker.
I dropped the frame and turned to see Judge Hallenback at the doorway with a gun pointed at me. He’d changed into black pants beneath his Hawaiian shirt. His hold was imposingly steady on the weapon. He cleared his throat. “So. I’m not really crazy.”
Chapter 41
I backed away until my butt hit his desk. “Judge.” Wait a minute. The wind howled outside, and I shivered. “You knew each other as kids.” Then it hit me. Right between the eyes. I slapped my forehead. “The car dealership. Those odd cities circled on the map are car auction cities.”
He nodded. “I thought you were smart from the first time you stepped into my courtroom.”
Once. I’d only been in his courtroom once. “I thought you were nuts.”
He lifted a shoulder. “Yeah, that was the plan. Just in case.”
“Okay.” Why was it so hot in there? Sweat rolled down my back and pooled near my gun. “Melvin manufactures Beast, Scot was supposed to keep the law off you guys, Hallenback’s Used Cars distributes the drug with cars at auctions, and the Lorde’s do what? Deal?”
“They helped finance and have the connections to the dealers in various cities once we get the drugs there.” The judge shrugged. “It’s a good drug. Pain killer. Opioid made at home from yeast. Melvin has always been a genius and they were just taking advantage of him at that seed company. He was meant to do great things.”
“Like start a new drug epidemic?” I tried to look scared, which wasn’t hard because my knees were trembling.
“Yeah, well, nobody is perfect.” The judge flashed his dentures again. “Melvin was a moron for bringing samples of pot home with him, and his even dumber nephew tried to deal that. Jackass.”
“Did you kill them?” I whispered.
“No. I’m not a killer.” He glanced down at the semi-automatic in his hand. “At least, I haven’t been. Do what I say, and I won’t have to kill you.”
My stomach rolled over.
He reached for a phone on the table and dialed. “Hey. Guess who I have?” He leaned away from the phone. “We have men out looking for you, and you came right to me. Spider thought we’d have to take you from the cops, and he was geared up to do it.”
“Most of Spider’s gang is in custody,” I retorted.
“Not all,” the judge said, returning to his phone call. “All right. I’ll bring her.” Then he clicked off and widened his stance. “Take the gun out of your waist with two fingers and set it on the desk. I’ll shoot you in the arm if I have to, and believe me when I say that I’m a crack shot.”
I did believe him. He had the trophies in the corner to prove it. I gingerly removed my gun and put it on the desk, keeping him in my sights.
“Good. Now walk this way.” He motioned with the gun. “Don’t try anything.”
Like what? I moved for him, waiting for an opening. He motioned me ahead of him down the hallway and through the fifties-styles kitchen to a garage, where he had me flip on the light. An older Chrysler waited.
“How can you be all right with Spider having killed Scot?” I asked. “You and Scot go way back.”
The judge sighed. “I know, but Scot had second thoughts, and he was going to turn us in.”
I looked at the car. Okay. He couldn’t drive and keep that gun on me the whole time. If he made me drive, I’d smash into the nearest building when we got close to town.
He reached for a set of keys on a hook and pushed a button. The trunk opened.
“No way.” I started to back away, and he lifted the gun barrel to the center of my forehead.
“Get in the car,” he said. “We want you alive, so you should probably cooperate. I’d hate to kill you. I really would.”
The car was older and didn’t have the safety features