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Remy slides his gaze between Burn and me. “We have always smuggled in the best stuff from wherever we could source it. It’s the backbone of our family business. The oil fields and fracking and all that… that part of the business is booming now. But unfortunately, while I was making that part successful, my business partner was in charge of the heroin and the girls. And he made a mistake.”
I straighten, a buzzing sensation in my head. “Mr. Adams? Mr. Adams was your business partner in this… side business?”
Remy nods and flips the binder open. He pushes it across the desk, pursing his lips. “Not a side business. It was the main business when I took up the reins. Now it’s mostly in the rearview, but we have a huge problem.”
Stepping forward, I pull the binder close. The very first thing I see is a huge picture of the inside of a shipping container. The doors hang open and inside, there are bodies.
Twenty or so that I can see, mostly dark haired, mostly slumped on the floor of the container. All dressed casually, in jeans and lightweight jackets. One of the young women is posed, turned with her face out, her head leaning on her arm. Her complexion looks ever so slightly blue and her pupils are cloudy. There are no other signs of her being dead aside from her not moving.
Below the picture, a headline summarizes.23 People Found Dead After Being Trafficked By Human Smuggling Ring; Police Say They Are Closing In On Perps.
“What the fuck?” Burn murmurs. “What is this, Remy?”
“A mistake,” Remy says with a shrug. “Charles Adams was here earlier, falling all over himself to explain how it happened on his watch.”
I scoff. “A mistake? This is… this is murder, Remy.”
Remy points a finger at me, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Do you two really want to get into the nitty gritty details of who did what? Or do you want to know why I am involving you?”
That sucks the air out of the room lightning fast. “Ideally, we’d like to know both.”
Remy grips his cane and shoves to his feet with some difficulty, snarling.
“You fucking brats. I provided you with everything you ever wanted your whole goddamned lives. Now you’re going to look at me like you had no idea? If that’s true, then be glad.” He whips the binder off the table and it flies to the wall with awhap, falling with athunk. “Be glad that I sacrificed for you two! I didn’t have to. I chose to!!”
I am speechless. Burn swallows hard and glances at me.
Remy falls back in his chair, appearing disgusted with both of us.
“This whole mess has to be put on somebody’s shoulders. We are going to turn someone into the cops and they will probably go away for life. So I called you two ungrateful bastards in here because I would like you two to be a part of the decision making process. I’m leaning away from Charles, because there is a ton of shit about company business that he could tell the cops.” He winces, flip flopping his hand. “There is always the possibility of killing Charles and letting the cops find his suicide note… but I think it raises more questions concerning the company than it answers about his mistake. So I’m asking… who do you think should go down for this?”
“Remy, I don’t think I have an answer for you,” Burn says.
Remy slams his hand on his desk. “You’d better! I’m thinking that your father or your uncle Felix would work, but there are fifteen people in the company that this fiasco can be put on.”
I clear my throat. This whole situation is bizarre. Could Remy be making it all up just to fuck with us?
“Just so I’m clear, whoever we suggest would probably end up murdered as well, right? That’s what we’re talking about? Murder for hire?”
Remy inclines his head once, something dark flickering in his eyes. He checks his watch then shrugs.
“My next conference call is in a couple of minutes. I have to hit the head. You two can see yourselves out.”
He reaches over and pushes a buzzer on his desk, using his cane to get to his feet. He lurches toward the bathroom and doesn’t give us another glance.
I look at my brother, mouthing,what the fuck?
Burn shakes his head. In a second, Clive rolls the pocket doors open, his expression apologetic as he shoos us out of the room.
"Mr. Morgan has several more phone calls this afternoon. It is unfortunate that he cannot see anyone for the rest of the day."
Crossing my arms, I shoot him a glare. "It’s nice that you care about us enough to explain anything, Clive. But we’re not fools. We know exactly who Remy is."
Burn snorts but does not say anything. He just turns, looking for Daisy. She comes tripping down the hall, a greedy smile on her face. She throws herself into Burn’s arms.
I feel my own arms tensing. Not that long ago, I was the recipient of Daisy’s attention. Now I am just another bystander, sentenced to watch her fawn all over my twin. A sick feeling pervades my stomach, making me disgusted by everything I see.
Burn doesn’t even notice that I am watching. Instead, he grabs Daisy and swings her around, making the kind of eye contact that makes the rest of the world fade away. There are only Burn and Daisy in their happy little bubble.
