“What? No flowers or some sweet talk before you start demanding shit?”
Dante’s teeth ground together. “I’m sorry, what can I do for you?”
Zan snorted. “I’m just fucking with you, man. I’m in New Beige; that’s New Bedford to you lay folk.”
“I know what New Beige is.”
“Of course you do. There’s a party in one of the old warehouses.”
“Is this one of Opal’s parties?”
A jolt of adrenaline ran through Cassidy when Dante mentioned Opal, and she shot Kyle a look. She almost seized Dante’s wrist when he removed his pad and a pen from inside his jacket. He couldn’t go alone; she wouldn’tlethim go alone.
“Yeah, it’s the last hurrah,” Zan said. “Opal’s getting out of the business, but she’s throwing a major goodbye party. Your boy got word of it.”
“Can I get the address?” Dante asked.
“There better not be any problems here; I called you because no kid should be involved in this and because you helped me in the fire. However, you start anything while you’re here, I will personally beat you down, understood?”
Between him and Zan, it would be a pretty good fight, but if Bull decided to join in, he’d probably end up cozying up to some trash. “There won’t be any problems. I’m just going to ask him some questions.”
Zan hesitated before replying. “Okay.”
Dante wrote down the address Zan rattled off before ending the call. Dante returned his phone to his pocket before putting away his pad and pen.
“Is Preston there?” Cassidy asked.
“Yes.” Dante braced himself for what he knew was coming.
“I’m coming with you.”
“You have to work, and I’d prefer if you stay out of this one.”
“You don’t know what’s going on; he could be setting you up.”
“Zan’s not that type of guy.”
“You barely know him; you can’t know what type of guy he is.”
“I’ve been around enough of his type to know.”
Zan worked with Opal and ran these parties because it was fun for him. The fights and the possibility something would go wrong helped keep the adrenaline junky in him happy. He’d probably turned a blind eye to a lot over the years, both figuratively and literally, but he retained a sense of morality.
Thatwas the real reason he called and not because Dante helped him in the fire. He would never admit it, but Dante would bet one of his toes that Zan had been looking for Julie and Preston since the night of the fire.
“I’m not letting you go alone,” she said.
“I’ll go with him,” Kyle offered.
Cassidy glanced between them. She’d never be able to sing while knowing they were out there and possibly in trouble. “No. I’m coming with you. I’ll convince Rick I had arranged to leave work early with Kyle. Don’t leave; I’ll be right back.”
Before Dante could protest, she was already vanishing into the crowd.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Dante paidthe taxi driver and climbed out of the car to stand behind Kyle and Cassidy on the broken sidewalk. The chunks of concrete standing up at awkward angles reminded him of alligator teeth. Like a hungry alligator, these pieces were waiting to snap someone’s ankle.
His head tilted back to take in the warehouse before them. The blacked-out windows, probably boarded over with plywood from the inside, revealed no hint of light, and no one was on the street outside the building.
