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We hadn’t been involved in a murder for years, so I could cross the FBI off the list.
We occasionally bought guns through back-alley deals, but it was too small-fry for the ATF to bother with.
That left the DEA.
Which, considering that the club was still trafficking in weed, and I’d just started my side deal with Einstein, made perfect fucking sense.
Shit.
I had a mole in my operation.
“I don’t know,” I finally said. “Lemme see what I can dig up, and I’ll get back to you.”
“But Lou – ”
“Nobody’s going to hurt her, kid. Not on my watch. And you better not tell Venus about this, you hear me? Or anybody else for that matter.”
Benjy got a look on his face like a duplicitous kindergartener. “Okay, Lou.”
I noticed he had both hands stuffed in his jacket pockets.
“Let me see your hands, Benjy,” I said.
He looked guilty as he pulled them out. Two of his fingers were crossed. Christ – he didn’t even have the sense to hide his dumbass lie.
“Benjy, I ain’t fuckin’ around with you,” I snapped. “If you ever want to get in the Midnight Riders, you listen to me: you do not fuckin’ tell anybody about this, you hear?”
He got all butt-hurt and sulky, just like a spoiled fuckin’ brat. I wanted to ram his head through the wall, but I knew a different approach was called for.
“You wanna know why?” I said. “Because if you tell anybody before I find out who that bad guy is, Venus might get killed, and then it’s gonna be all your fault. You hear me?”
He went wide-eyed with fear. “She’s gonna be okay, though, right?”
“If you keep your fuckin’ mouth shut. Are you gonna keep your fuckin’ mouth shut?”
“Yeah – yeah, Lou. I pinky swear,” he said, and held up his little finger.
Jesus fucking Christ.
“NO, you give me your word like a man.”
He dropped his hand, all dejected-like. “…okay.”
“Let me hear it.”
“I give you my word, like a man.”
“Like a fuckin’ Midnight Rider,” I said, and he brightened up at that.
“Like a fuckin’ Midnight Rider,” he repeated, and that was the end of the conversation.
90
Ikept my eyes open the whole next week, and I’ll be damned if Venus didn’t do her best to prove my theory right.
She kept sneaking outside on her shift, supposedly to smoke. I told Peanut to go buy one of those surveillance cameras at Best Buy, but with night vision. Then I had him install it on the roof and point it at the dumpster. Every night I watched her on my computer, the picture all different shades of green and black.
She’d go out to the dumpster a couple times every night. Mostly she just chain-smoked and checked her phone, but once or twice she received a call. Of course, she might’ve been talking to a fuck buddy for all I knew. There was no way to tell.
