“What does that mean?” I was afraid I knew the answer before I asked the question.
“I paid for it.”
I closed my eyes. That was the answer I was afraid I knew.
Juno woofed in approval.
I opened my eyes.
Juno located the bed, trotted up and down stairs, made it to the bed, jumped up to it, settled on her bel y, put her head on her front paws and watched us.
“How did you get it done so quickly?” I asked, not knowing anything about alarm systems and surveil ance equipment but this seemed a pretty extensive set up to put in place in two days.
“Vance is good and he’s fast, lots of practice. Monty too.
They prioritized. Hank, Eddie, Nick and Vance al need windows instal ed, they’re staying at The Castle until the windows are replaced and the clean up done. That meant Vance and Monty could focus on Lee and Indy’s duplex and Lee put in a sophisticated alarm system a few months ago so they just had camera work. Same with Luke and Ava’s loft, it already has high security so they just needed the cameras re-instal ed. The bulk of the work was needed here.”
I wasn’t sure how much more guilty I could feel but I figured I was just about at my guilt limit before my body spontaneously combusted with it.
“How did you arrange so much cover with the cops?”
“Indy and Al y are cops’ daughters, Lee’s a cop’s son.
Hank and Eddie are cops. To them, this is a family affair.
You’ve been adopted. And Sid is responsible for a lot of shit in this town. Everyone wants to see him brought down but no one wants col ateral damage especial y if it’s in the family.”
Sheesh.
Wel , lucky I’d been “adopted”.
Okay, one last thing.
“I’ve got gigs this weekend, Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon.”
“I know. We’ve talked to the club owners. We do a sweep before they open. We got men assigned on the inside and no one gets in without getting their bags checked and they’re wanded, including employees.” Wanded?
They were gonna wand people coming to my gigs?
Shit.
After he was done talking, he waited a beat then got closer.
“Any more questions?”
Yes, like, a million! My brain screamed.
I shook my head.
“Now I got one,” he told me.
“Okay,” I said softly.
“Why’re you shakin’?”
I blinked.
“I don’t know,” I lied. I knew. I total y knew. I was scared shitless.