Page 45 of Anarchy Missing

The rest of the ride is mostly me thinking about Case fucking me last night and Randy, messing with the radio as he tries to get a signal. “What the hell is happening? Why can’t I get any stations?”

“The mountains,” I say, pointing up. “And that storm rolling in, probably. It’s the same way out on Wolf Valley. We can’t get shit on the radio out there.”

Randy gives up on the radio and turns it off. The next twenty minutes are spent silently pondering the problems.

I’m sure he’s thinking about the bank heist, this Red Robber guy, and how much of a chance I have of getting Case Reider to let me into his world. But I’m still thinking about Case’s warm hands on my thighs last night. He left bruises on me. The good kind. My ass kinda hurts from the way his hands were gripping me and I shift in my seat to find a more comfortable position.

God, his scratchy face felt so good pressed up against mine when we were together last night.

“You coming?” Randy says.

We’re already parked, I realize. I was so lost in thought I didn’t even notice the car had stopped.

“Yeah,” I say, shaking off the daydream and getting out. It’s cold today, so I pull my coat around me and follow Randy into the wind as we make our way towards the prison.

Inside it’s warm and empty. Obviously not visiting hours because there’s just two armed guards manning the front desk behind thick, bulletproof windows.

Randy takes care of checking in, then stands next to me as I ponder getting breakfast from a vending machine filled with brightly colored calories.

Before he can say anything about my dilemma with the food, a loud buzzer sounds and a door clicks open. We both spin around to find a man in a suit.

“Randy,” the older gentleman says, walking towards us with his hand out.

“Hey, Dick,” Randy says, clasping his hand like they are old friends.

Dick Cage. I smile so I don’t laugh, then extend my hand and greet the warden.

“This is my new assistant DA, Louise Lightly,” Randy says, motioning to me.

“Just Lulu,” I say to the warden. “Everyone calls me Lulu.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Lightly,” the warden says, then turns to Randy and says, “Sorry to bother you, Randy. There’s been talk for about a week now, but I’ve mostly ignored it until last night.”

“What happened?” Randy asks.

“O’Neil’s been shooting his mouth off.” The warden looks around, then motions towards the door he came out of. “Let’s go in. I’m having him brought to my office so you can hear it firsthand. We had to rough him up last night to get this info out of him, but don’t worry, he’s gonna talk now.”

I expected some messy hair. Maybe the remnants of a bloody nose. But when the guards drop O’Neil off in the warden’s office, both his eyes are black and swollen and it’s obvious that his nose needed to be set last night after the roughing up, because there’s white medical tape covering most of it.

I shoot the warden a dirty look. I don’t care what kind of criminal he is, he should not be getting his ass kicked by the guards.

“We didn’t do that,” the warden says, reading my facial expression. “The other prisoners jumped him this morning for talking to us last night.”

“Oh,” I say.

O’Neil doesn’t look at any of us. Just stands there in his shackles and handcuffs, staring at his feet.

“You know Randy?” Dick Cage says, talking to the former chief.

“Sure,” the chief mumbles.

“Tell him what you told me last night about Lincoln Wade.”

But O’Neil just shakes his head slowly. “They’ll kill me if I talk. Just you calling me in here right now is enough, you know. They’ll kill me.”

“Who?” I ask, walking over to him. I know he’s a corrupt asshole and he deserves to be in here. But it’s not fair that he has to fear for his life.

“Who do you think?” he growls back at me. “The other inmates. I’m already on their shit list for being the former chief of police, so you can see that I can’t afford to piss them off any more.”