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The words are spelled out in magazine cutouts, a clear sign that this is a ransom note. There’s no money demanded, and no real promise of a safe return. It’s absolutely nothing to go on, but I walk over to Snake’s office and hand it over to him anyway, just in case he might be able to detect something from the wording or the magazines.
“Who’s that?” Mayor Prudent asks, craning his head to see into Snake’s office. “Are you the one who sent it? You sick fu—”
“Mayor Prudent,” I say in a calm but firm tone. My hands are up again, urging him to calm the fuck down. “My name is Seer. I’m the president of this organization, and I can assure you that no one here took your daughter. In fact, we’ve been up all night trying to find her. Can I get you a drink?”
He looks completely taken aback, like all the wind has been knocked out of him. None of this was what he expected to hear, but I can tell by his change of demeanor and the tears welling in his eyes that he believes me. At the very least, he really, really wants to.
“It’s 9 a.m.,” he says softly, his voice breaking.
“Do you care?” I ask with a shrug, motioning for him to follow me to the bar.
Buffy isn’t up yet, so I go behind the bar and pull out our finest bottle of scotch. After all, he’s the mayor of New Orleans. Only the best for him. I pour it in a glass with two ice cubes and hand it to him, not coming back over to join him. It’s probably best for both of us if we keep a physical barrier between us for the time being.
“I know about the youth center,” he says after a long sip of bourbon. “It’s a front for your group, right? You’re using it to launder money or something.”
“Not at all,” I say, surprised. I’ve tried hard to keep our name away from any association with the youth center. I didn’t want to sabotage Meredith or cause any trouble for those kids. “We have strong ties to the youth center, but it’s a legitimate venture started by the wife of one of our members. We personally donate a cut of our earnings to the center, not the other way around.”
He takes another swig of his drink as he considers this.
“She’s my baby,” he says, his voice breaking again. He clears his throat of the emotion. “I’m sorry for busting in here, guns blazing, I just want answers. It gave me hope that maybe I could find her on my own.”
“You would have died,” I tell him seriously. “We aren’t the kind of people who do things like this, but the people who do wouldn’t have let you through the door. You do understand that this was a suicide mission, don’t you?”
“It would have been worth it if I brought her home,” he replies, his face flushing. With the alcohol in his system and a little perspective, it seems that the stupidity of his plan is finally dawning on him. “Shit, my wife would be so mad if she knew I was here.”
I laugh at this. How many times have I put Tori through similar stupidity? And if it were Nicky in trouble, I can’t say that I wouldn’t do the same. In front of me is not the leader of a major city. He’s just a broken, terrified father who wants his daughter back.
“Mayor Prudent, I’ll be honest with you,” I say, pouring another shot into his now empty glass. “I don’t like you. I find your policies to be overreaching and your results to be underwhelming. Goddamn, you have every gang in this city quaking after the takedown of the Bayou Reapers. We’re afraid to breathe the wrong way.”
He smiles just a bit at this.
“All that to say, I would never do something like this to you. Or anyone, for that matter. I don’t generally practice this kind of blackmail on anyone. Children are strictly off-limits.”
“I believe you,” he says into his glass, his voice hoarse.
“Thank you,” I tell him earnestly. “I should also tell you that one of my men has feelings for your daughter. In fact”—I look down at my phone to see Bones’s face on my screen, calling again—“he’s been calling me all night, asking for updates about our investigation. We haven’t been able to find anything yet, but I promise you we’re working as hard as we can to bring your daughter home.”
A sob rips through the man’s chest and I’m forced to take a step back, surprised by his overwhelming emotional response.
“You have no idea what that means to me,” he says through his rapidly falling tears. “I came here trying to fight you and you’re trying to save my baby. You’re a good man.”
Buffy walks into the bar, completely unaware of what’s happening, but when he sees the two of us, he slowly backs away. I can almost hear the sound of his footsteps running away. I wish I could run, too. It certainly wasn’t my intention to make the man cry, and now I don’t know what to do with him. Comforting people is really more Tori’s forte. Maybe I should call her.
“I have a son,” I tell him, trying to distract him somehow. “He’s just turned six and he’s the love of my life. My namesake and everything.”
“You named your child Seer?” he asks through sobs. “That’s such a stupid name.”
I can’t help but laugh. He’s slightly inebriated and definitely distressed, so I’ll let it slide.
“No! He has my real name,” I say with a chuckle, purposely not revealing that information to him. I don’t want to inadvertently give him more ammo to take me down someday. “And he’s my world. I’ve made a lot of stupid decisions in the last few years just to give him a chance at a happy life. If anything happened to him, I would set this city on fire just to get him back.”
He nods, though I immediately regret telling the mayor that I would set the city on fire. The last thing I need is to get deported.
“In any case,” I say quickly. “I’m not doing this because you’re the mayor, not even for my friend. I’m doing this because I’m a father, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to have someone take my son.”
“You’re a good man, Seer,” he says, gulping for air so he can calm down. “Are all the gang leaders as good as you are?”
“No,” I answer with unshakable certainty. “Like I said, if you’d gone to anyone else’s clubhouse in the state you were in, it would have ended very badly for you. Lucky you came to us.”
