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He had PAID them not to try. He had PAID for the cops to ignore me.
If I had my gun, I swear to God, I would have shot him in the head right then and there.
“You paid off Peters personally?” Fordham asked.
“…no. It was always Lou.”
Fordham smiled facetiously. “You didn’t want to get your hands dirty.”
Jack stared at the floor but didn’t say anything.
Of course you didn’t, you hypocritical motherfucker.
“Well, that does me no good,” Fordham said. “If you can’t personally testify that you handed money to Peters, then I need proof. Receipts, bank statements, something. I can’t build a case on ‘Yeah, my partner said he’d handle it.’”
I felt absolutely sick over what Jack had said, and I hated him for it – but I couldn’t afford to wallow in that right now. I had to get us out of this first. I could decide what to do about Jack later.
“We came to help you get Lou and the others,” I said to Fordham. “And Peters, too, now that we know you’re gunning for him. If you arrest us, though, you’re throwing away a valuable asset. We can be of use to you.”
Fordham stood there with his hands in his pockets, squinting at me. He didn’t seem to be rejecting me entirely out of hand, so I continued talking.
“Eddie said he wanted me because he wanted somebody deep undercover. Well, you can’t get any deeper undercover than the president of the MC.”
“Former president,” Fordham said.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s got access nobody else would ever be able to give you.”
“If I cut you two loose, what’s to stop you from heading off to Mexico?”
“I risked my life to solve Ali’s murder. You know everything else, so you must know that Lou put a gun to my head. I’m not going to stop now just because you’re threatening me with jail time. I’m going to finish this.”
Fordham looked over at Jack. “What about you, hotshot? What assurances do I have that you won’t just run for the hills?”
Jack took a few seconds to answer. “I knew you might arrest me when we set up the meeting. It was a risk I was willing to take. I’m not about to cut and run now.”
I looked at the mirror in the wall. “I’ll confess on video right now, as long as I can get it on record that if we deliver Lou and Peters to you, then I…”
I stopped, then forced myself to rephrase the sentence.
“…then we walk. Both of us.”
Jack glanced over at me. He looked like he was feeling guilty as hell.
Fordham jerked his head at Jack. “After everything you just heard about this piece of shit paying off the cops to not solve your cousin’s murder, you’re gonna still cover for his sorry ass?”
I stared at Fordham evenly. “You heard me. That’s all I have to say.”
The DEA agent raised his eyebrows like Whatever you say, kid, it’s your life. Then he turned to Jack and smirked. “What about you, Pollari? You gonna tape a confession for me, too?”
Jack looked hatefully at the DEA agent. “If it means that you let me, Fiona, and Kade walk once I hand you Lou… yeah. I’ll give you a fuckin’ confession.”
Fordham stood there thinking. “When was the last time you saw Eddie Deacon?” he finally asked.
“That night at the Roadhouse when Lou backstabbed me,” Jack said.
“That’s the last you saw of him?”
“I haven’t been anywhere near the Riders, the Seven Veils, or the Roadhouse since.”
