I pulled the phone out of my jacket pocket and swore when I clocked the Vegas area code. Unfortunately, there would be no ignoring it either.
With a sigh, I answered it. “Yeah.”
“Black.”
My scowl deepened. Ares Antoni wasn’t quite as much of an asshole as his father, but he was close. The Albanians had largely assumed the mob activities in New York and then had come out to Vegas to continue their takeover. Neither of father nor son were people I’d want to be speaking at the start of my weekend.
“What is it?”
“There’s a situation. With your last trip to the desert.”
He was speaking obliquely on purpose, of course. We used burners as a precaution, but that was not a guarantee they weren’t tracked.
But his meaning was clear: something had happened to Billy Richards.
I drummed my fingers on my knee. “Go on.”
“Missing persons report was filed a couple of days ago. Vegas Metro’s sniffing around.” A pause. “Your name hasn’t come up. Yet.”
Fuck.
The threat was veiled, but clear. The Antonis were the only connection between me and Billy Richards, since they were the ones who directed me to him in the first place. Chances were, they would have taken care of things if I hadn’t, but as it was, they had a choice to make: cooperate with the cops to throw their scent off, or cooperate with me for a much bigger price, I was sure.
“I don’t have to tell you that my guys found nothing out there.”
It could have been interpreted as an assurance, but I knew it wasn’t. Generally, I paid the Antonis well to clean up the messes I made, and sometimes, like this one, they went out on their own accord just to be safe. But this time, they’d gone out to the desert, and I happened to know they hadn’t found anything there.
“You know what I’m saying here. Is there anything that needs to be… addressed? Loose ends? Some garbage or whatnot?”
He was asking where the body was. More importantly, he was asking for money to take care of it when it was found. A solid bribe to make sure he didn’t decide to cooperate with the cops on the matter.
Mac was watching me in the mirror.
“We took care of everything,” I said. “Completely. But I appreciate your thoroughness, and I’ll send a token of that appreciation soon.”
There was a long pause. For a moment, I thought he might argue. Ask for more than just a token.
Christ. One dirty family had already scammed its way onto the Blackguard board. The last thing I needed was a bunch of mobsters making their entrance.
“All right,” Ares said at last.
I exhaled. Thank fuck.
“But Black—if there’s any more noise, we’ll have to dig into things ourselves. Can’t take too many chances with the environment. Vegas has a very… frail… ecosystem. You understand.”
Translation: If we go down, you’re coming with us. If Billy Richards was found and could be traced back to either of us, the Antonis would take care of it. I knew that. But then they’d have even more leverage over me. A very significant card to play.
I just prayed they’d never find a trace of what I’d done.
“Absolutely,” I replied.
“All right, then. Give my regards to your wife, by the way. I hear congratulations are in order.”
The call ended before I could respond, before I could even think through the sudden tightness in my chest. Fuck. It was one thing for them to leverage veiled threats against me. Another completely for someone like Ares Antoni to mention Laney’s existence within the context of this conversation.
I stared at the phone, fighting the sudden urge to punch my window out and hurl the device into oncoming traffic.
I could use a drink. Or a hit. Or someone to beat the shit out of.
