Rugged Guard - Jason Collins Page 0,40
do you mean by that—”
“Life is hard enough, Mr. Lavine,” Iris stated, deciding our conversation was over, her footsteps echoing as she walked out of the kitchen. “No need to make anyone else’s even harder.”
Life is hard enough.
No need to make anyone else’s even harder.
The words hit me like a brick as I leaned against the kitchen counter.
Iris was right. Life was hard enough, so why the hell was I complicating things for Parker and me by getting even more involved with him? Why was I doing any of this? Why couldn’t I just focus on the task at hand and push Parker far, far out of my mind?
And yet, even as I thought about the possibility of calling things off with Parker, I knew that I never would go through with it.
Because I’d meant what I’d said to Iris. I had no intention of hurting Parker.
Even if my days in Park City were numbered.
“Viv?” I immediately picked up the phone while I walked the Bed & Breakfast’s perimeter, going through the usual motions of security for the building. I hadn’t spoken to Parker since last night, even though I’d seen him take his spot at the front desk this morning. He’d offered me a bright smile as I’d passed by, and I’d returned the expression, with that small moment being the extent of my interaction with him for the day. And outside of my talk with Iris in the kitchen, I hadn’t really spoken to anyone about anything.
“You’re bored, aren’t you?” Viv guessed on the other end of the line.
“What makes you say that?”
“Answering your phone on the first ring? While you’re on the job?” Viv lightly laughed. “I know you, Derek. That’s how I know you’re bored.”
“I’m not bored,” I replied. “But I’ll admit that things here are pretty routine. No attempted car bombings, no kidnappings in broad daylight…”
“Well, next time, I’ll make sure to assign you to a case that has more going on. Maybe international espionage?”
“You’ll have to give me a heads up on that one. Gotta make sure I renew my passport in time.”
“Oh, of course. In the meantime though, what I have to tell you should make things a little more interesting.” Viv went on, “Are you alone?”
“If you’re asking if I’m with any of the Williams’ brothers, I’m not.”
“Good,” Viv replied. “Because I think I’ve just learned something… interesting about their father. And I wasn’t ready for them to find out, just yet.”
“Why not?” I paused for a moment. “Please, Viv, don’t tell me the guy was actually a serial killer or—”
“Not so much a killer,” Viv cut me off with her reply. “But there seem to have been some extremely shady dealings on Mr. Edward Williams’ end of the table.”
“Shady dealings? Like what?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“But if you’re not sure, how do you know they were shady?”
“Because they’ve been much too hard to track down,” Viv explained. “And when things are, let’s say, completely legal, people don’t often go through so much trouble to keep their deeds hidden in the dark.”
“So, what are you thinking he was up to, Viv?”
“Well, the brothers did tell me that their father was often gone for long stretches of time.” Viv hummed. “I was thinking that maybe he needed to move something, something that couldn’t have waited too much time in between… shipments.”
“Holy shit.” My eyes went wide at Viv’s unspoken accusation. “You think their father could’ve been a drug dealer?”
“Not just a drug dealer,” she answered. “Probably a major player. I’m just saying. I don’t think you get to Mr. William’s income level by being low on the totem pole.”
“Viv, that’s… quite an accusation.”
“Accusation? Oh, no. I’m not accusing Mr. Williams of anything, Derek,” she replied. “These are all just uneducated guesses. Although, I do believe that you should be on your guard, just in the unfortunate case that I’m right. Because if I’m right, then that means Mr. Williams may owe some very violent people either a very large sum of money or a very large favor, and I’m not sure how open to negotiation they’ll be with his children.”
“Shit.”
“Just tell the brothers they need to restrict their activities,” Viv advised. “Just in case someone has their eyes on their movements.”
“And what am I supposed to tell them? ‘Sorry, Viv might think your dad was a major drug dealer so you can’t go out for a while?’”
“That sounds good actually but take out the part where you mention me by name,” Viv joked.
“Viv—”
“I’ll call