“He find it?” Mitch asked.
“Is he alive?” Winchell asked back.
“Don’t know,” Mitch replied. “We can’t find him.”
“Then no,” Winchell answered.
“Fuck,” Eddie muttered.
Mitch kept going.
“You know what he lost?”
Winchell shook his head. “Could be anything.”
Mitch stared at him.
Then he whispered, “You put her out there.”
Winchell held his eyes but his face remained pale and, even being the definition of an assclown, he couldn’t hide the remorse.
“You put her out there, using her place of work, using her boss then you kept putting her out there after she took on those kids,” Mitch continued.
Winchell said nothing.
“And you put your kids out there,” Mitch kept at it.
“Kept them fed,” Winchell whispered his weak excuse.
“No, it kept you in smack and booze and smokes, you piece of shit,” Mitch shot back. “You put them out there. All of them. You f**kin’ put them out there and now that psycho ass**le has got,” he leaned in, “my kids.”
Winchell’s eyes narrowed. “They’re mine, Lawson.”
“Wrong,” Mitch bit out then he shared, “Bud asked to take my name.” At that, Winchell’s face blanched further. “I’m marrying your cousin and we’re adopting them and both of them are taking my name. They stopped being yours at a Stop ‘n’ Go on Zuni months ago. You need to get this, Winchell, this needs to sink in so listen to me closely. They come outta this alive, they’re mine.”
Winchell opened his mouth to speak but Mitch was done.
So done, Winchell didn’t get a word out before Detective Mitch Lawson was out the door.
Chapter Thirty
You Came
Mitch
Mitch angled out of his truck, seeing Tack amongst the huddle and taking a deep breath.
The huddle included Slim, Tack, Delgado and a local private investigator, Hank Nightingale’s brother, Lee Nightingale and Lee’s second in command, Luke Stark.
Heavy hitters. Denver’s elite.
At least that was something.
Slim detached from the group and walked quickly to Mitch. He stopped right in front of him and Mitch allowed Slim to cut him off.
“Your shit together?” Slim asked quietly.
“No,” Mitch answered honestly.