The Enforcer - Kelli Callahan Page 0,46
didn’t say much. I never heard him say a word about Diana,” Noah explains. “I didn’t know he’d ever seen her and Jake together. I don’t think I’ve seen you guys together before.”
“We have to find his connection to her. What if we took his picture to the ex-mayor?” Lucy asks. “Maybe he knows something.”
“Do you really think he’d help?” I snarl. “The man is an abusive asshole, and not at all the kind of person who cares about whether or not his ex-wife is being hunted.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” Lucy says her voice exasperated. “Woe unto you and all your doom and gloom! Get over your: woe is me, and my on again off again, will we, won’t we relationship with the victim,” she sasses in a rush stepping toward me. “Your attitude isn’t fixing anything,” she snaps. “You need to get over yourself, all of you!” She whirls around, looking at Kenton and Noah. “All these alpha males in a room, having some kind of fucking pissing contest!” she snaps, and Charlie’s mouth drops open. “No wonder you don’t get anything done. We can’t work together if we’re fighting. It’s absolutely ridiculous I have to have this conversation with people who are so much older than me.”
I look at her and all I see is her mother in her. I wonder if Noah sees it too, that same boldness. Under the innocence, the backbone that refuses to break, no matter how much pressure you put under it.
“This isn’t okay, and I’ve had enough!” she yells, “I’ve had enough of all your egos too!”
“Come on Charlie,” she says, walking over and taking the pretty blonde by the hand and leading her out of the station. “Let’s go call Abbie and talk about what assholes the men in our lives are,” she snaps and slams the station door.
All eyes turn to Noah, who stares dumbfounded.
“She’s your fault, Noah,” Kenton says, pointing after his wife, and sliding his hands back into his pockets.
“My fault or not,” Noah whispers. “She’s right. So, what are we gonna do? The bastard’s way ahead of us in this game. I don’t want to see what happens when we lose.”
“I agree,” I sigh. “So, we have a face we’re running through the database,” I say gesturing to Kenton’s computer.
“Yes.” Kenton nods.
Trying to keep my head clear and not remember the way Diana lay limp in my arms. “She stays in the hospital. One of us, probably you,” I say looking at Kenton , “should talk to Michael. Just give it a go, see what happens. I’ll go around talking to people, go to every home, and Noah?” I say glancing over my best friend. And the closest thing I’ve ever had to a real father. “I think maybe we should consider that he has a place out in the woods somewhere.”
Noah nods. “I agree, I’ve been thinking that he’s gonna be holed up somewhere, and without any connections.”
“Well, he’s left with little options, do you think he’s squatting?” Kenton asks.
“It’s possible, worth looking into. It’ll take forever for us to search all those properties. And it’s not safe to send the owners out on their own either. God knows what they’ll find, or how he will react when he finds out that someone’s on to him.”
“So we’ll do it one step at a time, that’s all we can do. Meet back here in the morning?” I ask, looking between Kenton and Noah, who both nod. “Alright, out into the wilderness, I go,” I say straightening my leather jacket and heading out to my car.
The first place on my list of stops to make Denny’s. Denny is what you would get if you crossed a rat, with a ball of slime. If there’s anything nasty going on, Denny is the guy to talk to. He likes to think of himself as the next up-and-coming drug lord kingpin, or whatever else anyone would call Noah. But the truth of it is, he’s nothing like that.
Noah commands respect because of his attitude, his follow-through, and his connections to the community. Denny, on the other hand, is a bottom feeder, who runs small-time crime rings. Mainly involving loan shark schemes and has recently begun dabbling in sex working. Not that he himself participates in those things, or so he says anyway. He just runs a brothel on the outskirts of town. Charges extortionate prices for seven minutes in heaven. When people can’t cover the fee, he fronts the money.