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“No, I’m good for the ride,” he said. “Besides, I have an alibi for the time of death. Thank my stomach for wanting a burrito on my way through Arizona.”
“Guess that’s better than giving them Vazquez’s number.” The current link to the drugs in the south was a necessary connection the Feds would love to get their hands on.
“Probably smarter,” Ice said, his fingers wrapping around the top of the chair as he leaned a bit. “There any chatter out there about me?”
“As in what?”
“I don’t know,” Ice said, running a hand over his head, “a gut feeling.”
“Misty should be buried by us,” Aries said. “Married or not, those babies are yours, which makes her one of us.”
“I know,” Ice said, then realized he might have an in that way.
Heading back to Preacher, he approached the man with new resolve. “Any chance you want to pay last rites at the county morgue?”
“No,” Preacher said without hesitation, flipping the page in a book.
“Come on, you know the words. I need to get in to see a body.”
Half of Vegas was ordained in one way or another. Drive-thru chapels needed ministers twenty-four hours a day. Preacher wasn’t any more or less valid than the next man. Who needed a card when you had the words to get them in for the few minutes it would help? Ice passed Bree money and the keys to his truck, and she took the kids to eat as he went on a field trip to see his future accommodations.
There were no rose-colored glasses on him diluting the idea he wouldn’t end up on a steel slab in a freezer. He hoped it would be in Vegas, but then again, he could end up anywhere his bike traveled, resigned to the fact violence was more than likely the way his life’s story would end. Each time he visited to retrieve a body of a fallen brother, he approached the place as if he were going on an apartment tour. A smaller, NYC-style one, but one nonetheless. An older guy named Gus was working the desk. Settled into the government position of little work and great benefits, the man had long ago given up on the idea of getting a management position.
“Didn’t see any of you guys coming in here?” Gus said, pushing up the dark horn-rimmed glasses he sported. “Just a few overripe senior citizens, a homeless kid that got hit playing chicken in traffic, and a woman from the north side of town.”
“That’s the one,” Ice said. “The woman.”
“Really?” he questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Heard her husband was some big mucky-muck, but he ain’t come to claim her yet.”
“You pay enough to bleach your asshole and suntan your taint in peace and tranquility, you don’t want to be bothered with police finding you,” Ice replied, and Preacher pinched the bridge of his nose. “What? That’s what those types of men do to feel like a man, I guess.”
“I’d say he was lying, but I walked in on Dr. Clement doing inventory after a Lambo accident,” Gus said, his fingers finally moving to the computer. “Just say you’re undersized, but your wallet isn’t. They buy extenders for playtime, the woman will be happy.”
“That from personal experience?”
“I wish,” Gus grumbled. “I may not look it, but I can make a girl walk funny.”
“So can I if I forget the lube,” Ice said, then tapped the counter three times with his rings. “Misty Welch, I wanna see the body.”
“Why?” he questioned.
“Look, I brought a preacher, says so right there on his chest. He needs to set her soul at ease.”
“Nope, there’s a hold on the body. Nunez would cut my balls off and hang them over her rearview.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen her collection,” Ice said, drumming his fingers on the top of the counter. “Can’t he at least go in and say a prayer? Come on, she’s one of ours.”
“Trixie still working at the Review?” the old horndog asked.
“Nah, but her daughter is,” Ice offered, “goes by Charity.”
“Yeah, might avoid that, never know if one of my boys made their way, if you know what I mean,” he said and glanced between the two of them. “Fuck it. You can’t touch, just look, and only him.”
Preacher narrowed his eyes at Ice.
“Gus, I thought we were friends?” Ice held his arms wide.
“You want it too much,” Gus grumbled. “I’ll be watching. You even think about lifting evidence and I’ll hit the panic button.”
