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Warner, Cameron’s second, knelt and pressed a single fingertip against the dead man’s skin. “They froze him.”
“They what?”
“Froze him.” Warner poked somewhere else then shrugged. I didn’t work much with Warner since he was close to my cousin, but I had every faith in his abilities, especially when it came to bodies. He’d been a coroner once upon a time. If he said that was what happened, it was probably accurate.
“Probably killed him and shoved him straight into the freezer.” Nate’s suggestion made sense, but what the actual fuck?
“Dead guy popsicle,” one of the newbies whispered. Warner glared, and the guy shut his trap with an audible click.
O’Bannon’s scowl deepened. “Why the fuck did he drop this on my porch?”
Sometimes I wondered if O’Bannon was genuinely obtuse or if he was playing me. After years of not having an answer, I was going to ask Ash when she got home.
“You just signed a treaty with us. That makes you his enemy too.” When he continued staring at me like I was speaking in Klingon, I rolled my eyes. “It’s just a warning, O’Bannon. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“There is a dead man on my porch, and I had cops here when he was delivered. It’s a very big deal to me.”
That got my attention. “Why were the police here?”
Any semblance of helpfulness he had was instantly gone. “That’s none of your concern. The treaty allows me to continue my business as I see fit unless you need me, or did I read the contract wrong?”
He hadn’t, but I didn’t like that he was keeping secrets. O’Bannon was a boaster. Him hiding things made me wary.
Since I couldn’t show it, I gave him my most condescending smile. “You do whatever feels right.”
Unwilling to dig further when he was obviously on edge, I continued. “Warner will finish the investigation and remove the body for disposal. We’ll need the security footage to see exactly how it got past all of your guards.”
O’Bannon’s scowl deepened to the point that I wondered if his face would freeze like that. Finally, he nodded at his son and underboss, Rory. “He’ll send over the necessary videos immediately.”
That was very clearly a doctor the videos so she can’t see our security system answer, but whatever. His loss if he didn’t want my team to help.
As I waved Warner over, my phone rang in my pocket. Given O’Bannon’s mood, I didn’t want to take my eyes off him, so I handed it back to Nate.
“Yeah?” I tuned Nate out. The call could wait.
“Have you done a bomb check yet?” I asked Warner quietly. After our first run-in with bombs years ago, Cameron had built a protocol to check the area. With him gone, it should have fallen to Joaquin to run through, but that obviously didn’t happen. I was pretty sure Warner knew the protocol, but I had to be certain.
“Did it before you came. It’s clear,” he promised.
Good. “Search it.”
I watched as Warner began systematically searching the frozen body as best he could, prying fabric up when he had to. They hadn’t bothered cleaning him up, so blood covered him to the point of being a hindrance.
All in all, it was a good body to drop. Messy and inconvenient. Point to Cash.
At some point, Nate returned to his position at my back, slipping the phone into my hand. “Greyson is on his way.”
Good. I didn’t like how outnumbered we were, and Grey easily counted for three men on his own. Warner, who had finished his search, laid out his findings on the steps, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Phone, wallet, and a pair of keys. Nate flipped the older than dirt wallet open to find it empty.
Shocker.
The phone was also blank, though redial worked. I texted the number to Grey to investigate later. Warner did his best to check the body over again, but with the way he’d been frozen, it just didn’t work.
Finally, he stood. “What do you want to do about this, boss? We have room in the freezer if you don’t want to thaw him out, but I don’t see the point.”
I stared at the body, wondering what purpose the man’s death served and coming up blank. It felt like a warning no one could read. “Just get rid of him.”
“That’s all you’re going to do? Take the body away and clean my stairs? What the hell did I call you for?” O’Bannon sneered.
