Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 78024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78024 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Not that we have any intention of killing anyone for the crime of being at work, but they don’t need to know that. A healthy dose of self-preservation can keep things moving nicely.
Priest claps loudly. “Okay! Now that we’re all here, listen up! We’ve got a couple fucking questions and if everyone cooperates, we’ll be on our way. You! What’s your name?” He points at the woman.
“Em?”
“That a question, Em?” I ask, walking behind the bar and herding them out into the open where we can see what they’re doing.
She shakes her head, flustered. “No.”
“Were any of you working during the PR party the other night?” Priest asks.
Em nods. “Me. John.” She points at the guy she was talking to. “Um, Selina?” She looks at one of the people from the back. “I think that’s it.”
One of the guys nods like a shaken bobblehead doll. “I was off that night. Took my girlfriend to the movies.”
“Good for you,” Colt says, dripping with sarcasm.
Priest glances down at his phone, taps to answer and moves to the side, talking quietly.
“A girl got a little extra in her drink that night. One of the actresses.” I watch their reactions carefully. “Did you hear about it?”
Em nods. “I—I did, but I swear I told the guy who called everything I knew. We checked the cameras and nothing showed up, but there were a lot of people there that night and we don’t have one hundred percent coverage of the floor.”
John is looking a little too sweaty for my liking.
I move my hand to where I know the butt of my gun is visible, and easy to reach. “Hey, buddy. You got something you want to say?”
He’s probably not a bad guy. Most people don’t know how they’d react in these sorts of situations until they are actually in them. Even in the club, some guys deal better with the shit they’ve seen than others. There’s a reason why we mostly recruit from people who are vetted and recommended. The prospect period is vital to weed out the ones that just can’t handle it.
Our boy John here wouldn’t last long. He panics and makes a move to get away.
“Sit the fuck down!” I snap.
He drops like we’re playing musical chairs and the song just stopped. “I didn’t do anything!”
“But you clearly know something.” Crouching next to him, I rap my knuckles on the top of his head.
Em looks almost as annoyed as I am. “For fuck’s sake. If you saw something, tell them!”
“Look, it was really busy that night, okay? There were a lot of people hired by the show. I didn’t know who was doing what.” His shoulders slump. “Some guy delivered a few of the trays for me. He just sort of showed up, helped for a bit and then he was gone. I was pissed because things started backing up, but like, I don’t know exactly which orders he carried. Just figured he was flaky. You get that a lot in this business.”
“Could you describe him?” Colt asks.
John shrugs. “I don’t know.” He flinches when I move. “I really don’t! Thin, I guess? Dark hair? Dressed like most people that work catering. He was just some guy!”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” Em asks.
“Because I know we aren’t supposed to let anyone touch the orders, and I still don’t know if he was legit or not. It didn’t seem like a big deal, and she didn’t really get hurt, right? Maybe she just got sick,” he says without much confidence.
I look hard into his panicked eyes. “That’s the only reason you’re still breathing, Johnny boy.”
Priest, stuffing his phone into his pocket, points to Em. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m gonna give you a thumb drive and you’re gonna give me all of the fucking security footage from the other night. Then John is gonna be scouring that shit looking for his man, and contacting the production company to see if that guy works for them. Anything else he can think of to identify the mystery helper. I’ll leave you a number to give me an update. If we don’t hear from you in the next few days, we’re gonna have another chat, and not as friendly as today. Got me?”
She nods.
Colt taps his wrist. There’s only so much time we have before more people start showing up. The longer we stand around, the more likely we get complications. Em and Priest disappear for a few minutes to copy the files before coming back out, while me and Colt do our best to look dangerous. No one gives us any trouble.
Priest nods, and we fuck off. Once we’re out, we hit the highway to put some distance between us and the club before we lay low in one of our usual drop locations for a bit to see if there are any repercussions to our little visit.