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“Listen,” she said quietly. “I want to help you. I really do. You have to keep quiet and stop asking questions, okay? That’s all I can tell you right now.”
“I’ve been taken against my will—”
“We all have!” she whispered harshly.
I dropped my mouth open. She was once beautiful, but was now an old woman. Not old so much as…used. She looked used. So very used.
“I’m sorry for whatever you’ve been through, but—”
“Quiet. That’s enough for now, Zee. I’ll tell you more when I can. In the meantime, you need to stay here, stay quiet, and eat your food. That’s your only job.”
25
Reid
“Rock.”
My brother turned to me. “What?”
“He said he’ll talk. You’re going to have to unclench your fist from around his collar.”
“Why should I?”
Good question. I found I had no good answer.
Turned out Rock didn’t need an answer. He let Manny go, and the other man crumpled to the ground.
I looked to the sky, mesmerized. Montana, even in a big city like Helena, looked vastly different from Manhattan. I could actually pick out the Big Dipper as if it were flashing in neon. It was that visible.
“Start talking, Manny.” From Rock.
“Can we go sit on the deck?” Manny asked. “I’d like a chair.”
“Nope,” Rock said. “You might have audio set up on the deck. We’ll talk out here. In the open air.”
“I swear to God. No audio. Nothing.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sorry, I’m with Rock. We basically don’t trust you.”
Manny gulped. Rock and I stood over him. His pudgy face was visible under the starlight. No flashlight necessary. Unreal.
For the first time, I understood my brother’s love affair with Big Sky Country.
“You’d better start talking, Manny,” Rock said. “I have no problem with kicking a man while he’s down.”
“Yeah, yeah. Okay.” Manny coughed, clutching at his throat.
“Save the dramatics.” This from me.
“He just tried to choke me,” Manny gasped. “Give me a minute, will you?”
“Nope.” Rock kicked him.
“Jesus!” Manny clutched his side.
“Start talking,” Rock said again, “or more is coming. From both of us.”
“Not a fair fight,” Manny said.
Rock let out a low guffaw. “Fair fight? You’ve been fucking me over, and you talk about fair? I ought to pummel you for that comment alone.”
I said nothing. I wouldn’t undermine my brother in front of Manny, but if Rock pummeled him, we’d get nothing out of him. I hoped Rock could put aside his anger to realize that on his own.
Instead, he gave Manny another kick to the gut. “Last warning. Spill it.”
“All right. All right.” Manny managed to get himself into a sitting position on the grass. “It started with Nieves.”
“We know that, asshole. Give us something new, or I’m going to open up a can of whoop-ass on you like you’ve never imagined.” Then Rock growled. Seriously. He growled.
“Nieves knew Hoss and me from the biker bars. She and Hoss had worked together before, and—”
“Say what? Nieves worked with Hoss? On what?”
“Nieves had run a credit card scam and she got caught. She knew Hoss was an attorney, so she went to him, and he got her out of it.”
“Back the fuck up,” Rock said. “The Nieves I know wouldn’t go near either of you.”
“The Nieves you know isn’t the real Nieves,” I said softly. “Did you ever think she’d go into your place after you broke up with her?”
“Good point. She slid right under my radar, just like you and Hoss did, you prick.” Rock kicked Manny again.
“Fuck!” Manny doubled over.
“Easy, Rock,” I said. “He’s starting to talk.”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep talking.” Rock adjusted his Yankee cap.
“Anyway, Hoss got her out of the mess. I’m not sure of the details, but knowing Hoss, she probably had to sleep with him.”
“Oh?” Rock lifted his brows. “Not buying. Nieves told me point blank she wouldn’t let either of you near her.”
Manny let out a laugh. “So Nieves is a liar. Are you really surprised?”
Rock said nothing. Manny was right, and we both knew it.
“Keep going,” Rock finally said.
“A while back, Nieves intercepted a message on your answering machine.”
“We know all that,” I said. “Get to the new stuff.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know everything you know? Jesus.”
“Just keep talking, ass-wipe.” Rock raised his knee. “Or you want another kick?”
“No. No more. Jesus.” Manny cleared his throat. “Nieves went to Hoss with this information. Evidently the two of them had a deal.”
“A deal?” I asked.
“Yeah. After he took care of the credit card fraud for her. Part of his payment was that she’d come to him with any possible moneymaking ventures. I guess she thought this message had potential.”
“Of course she did,” Rock said. “Since Derek Wolfe was worth billions.”
“Yeah,” Manny went on. “She thought you”—he nodded to me—“must be in on this hit on your dad somehow, and that maybe we could blackmail one of you to keep quiet about it, or whatever.”
