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“Loretta, I need to talk with him. If he doesn’t produce her—”
“What makes you think he has her?” she challenged as she poked him in the chest. “It ain’t our fault you got your consultant all up in your mess. Remember, we don’t clean up after you.”
“No, but it seems like I always do for you. You tell Dominic I need to have a sit-down.”
“I’ll pass on the message, but you ain’t comin’ in here today, baby.”
Knight fumed, nostrils flaring. The muscles in his neck tensed as if he was reigning in his anger. “I’ll get a warrant.”
“You should know better than to threaten us with a warrant by now. It’s hollow. You got no evidence. You just hope she’s here, ‘cause you scared of somethin’. Even if you find a half-drunk judge to sign off on that shit… because it will be shit… it’ll take you the rest of the day for processing. Have yourself a good day, Detective Knight. See you in the mornin’ with your warrant.”
Anastacia watched from the corner of the street, the hood of a dark rain cloak over her head. The conversation was loud enough that she would have heard it from the Square easily, but she had to make sure Knight wasn’t around when she came up to the building. The last thing she needed was her one possible ally to be brought up on kidnapping charges, or worse.
“You gonna just watch this for the rest of the night, or you gonna get in there and talk with the boss?”
Anastacia jumped, finding Montgomery right behind her holding an umbrella over them both. She blinked for a moment, trying to navigate the shock.
“How did you know I was out here?” She nodded for him to lead.
“We’ve been expecting you since we heard you left the hospital in such a hurry.” He walked into the alleyways leading to the back of the building, far from the front entrance, the officers, and Knight. He pointed up to the second-story windows. “The boss has been watching you since you showed up on that little corner. You’re lucky Knight didn’t turn around.”
“I’ve been under his radar.”
“Why are you hiding from your partner?” He opened a side door she didn’t even see in the brickwork, lifting his chin toward the doorway, and she entered without more prompting.
“He’s not my partner,” she answered, pulling her hood back once she was inside.
“Good enough.” Montgomery shook off the umbrella and pointed at the stairs to the right. As they climbed up, she mentally noted that these stairs ran opposite the ones in the dining area. Separate entry and exit points were always a smart option. Leave it to a known criminal to have contingency plans. To bring someone in on those plans meant one of two things. One, he trusted her enough to keep his secret. Or two, he didn’t and she wouldn’t be leaving down any stairs. She forced a hard swallow down her throat.
A cold spot tickled her right hand. Anastacia glanced down to see the same little girl from the car holding on tight to her. It wasn’t a physical touch, but it was more than just a breeze.
“You got nothin’ to fret about." The little voice soothed her as the girl’s other hand came up to pat Anastacia’s as if petting a scared pet.
Anastacia squeezed back, letting the girl know she had been heard.
Montgomery led her to another set of doors and into a room more relaxed than Dominic's lounge; definitely not a room for business. Plush armchairs, couches, and table games were spread throughout the room with a giant pool table at the far end. A massive stereo filtered in jazz music as the occupants of the room bounced their heads to the rhythm. There weren't more than six people in the room, all alive from what she could tell. She found Dominic leaning back in a thick lounge chair, cigar lit, but nearly done. He saw her enter and reached toward an ashtray on a nearby table to put it out.
“Please, Dominic, it’s okay. Finish it. I’ll plug my nose if I need to. I would hate for you to waste another one on my account.”
He smiled, taking one last puff of the cigar before he set it off to the side.
“My thanks, baby,” he chuckled.
The girl let go of Anastacia’s hand and ran to him, her little form climbing the large chair quickly to attach again to his side. Anastacia saw his body shift ever so slightly, from the temperature change.
“First Knight and then you.” He peeked over his shoulder out the small window to his side where he had a view of the front entrance. “I didn’t think I was in such high demand these days.”
“I was trying to make sure you weren’t. Seems like Knight has made a strange connection between the two of us and thought I would come here.”
“And so you did. He’s good at what he does.” Dominic fully closed the curtains at his side. “Truthfully, I was expecting you a little earlier. I heard about your hospital stay. I’m sorry.”
“Me too.” She sat in the armchair he gestured to. “I was lucky I had someone looking out for me. I was safe… stillsafe, for the time being.”
“Hm,” he grunted and lifted an eyebrow. “So, if you’re tucked away safe and hiding, what’chu doin’ here?”
“I need your help and I have a feeling with Knight coming around, you’re going to need mine.”
“He seems very interested in our ties as of late and many of my boys are being taken in for little things. Things he usually has a habit of overlooking. You still got connections to the station?”
