I didn’t think for one second Knight set him on me.
Or Rhash.
“Knight set you on Rhash and me?”
“Knight said it was a waste of time. I investigated you and Rhashan. Shit like this, no stone unturned. He’s blinded by history and loyalty. He hired me because I’m not.”
“Well, just to confirm,” my voice was barbed, “neither of us would f**k Knight. Ever.”
“Any way that could be?” he asked and I glanced at him again before looking at the road.
“Don’t wanna know, partner, don’t ask,” I said quietly and felt his eyes on me.
“This shit, I need to know. He’s deep with his woman. You two got history I haven’t learned, affects everything, including us working together. You two hook up?”
“No,” I replied.
“Ever?” he asked.
“No,” I repeated.
“Wanted it?” he pushed. “Either one of you.”
“Yeah, absolutely. We discussed it, found we weren’t compatible but that was years ago, one night we both had too much to drink. The other part of that incompatibility is that, you f**k up what we got with sex, it’ll never be the same and what we got is worth never f**king up. You with me?”
“Yeah,” he muttered.
“Then I’ll make sure you’re totally with me. I’m tight with Anya too. We’re solid. She has no reason to know Knight and I even discussed that shit, even one night when we were getting hammered and letting it all hang out. She doesn’t need that thought in her head. He’s not deep with her, Creed, she’s his life. Their daughter is his life. His family is the most precious thing to him, a man who’s got everything so he’s also got a lot to choose from and his two girls are his choice. Do not f**k that and do not put me in the position where I’m even a little responsible for f**king that.”
“She the jealous type?” he asked.
“Don’t know and seriously do not want to find out. There’s even the barest possibility of losing that, Knight will lose me. I got two people who mean something to me, Creed, and he’s one of them. You take half of my world away from me, for sixteen years, you were a memory for me and that’s what I’ll make you for your kids too, except you’ll never stroll back into their bedrooms while they’re sleeping. You still with me?”
He was silent a beat before, “Two people in your life who mean something to you?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
“Banks?”
“He’s not the other one. We’re tight but not that tight.” He was silent again and this lasted more than a beat so I prompted, “Did you get me?”
“I got you, Sylvie,” he answered quietly.
I flipped the left turn signal on, slowed, stopped, waiting for my opening and pulled into the parking lot of The Retreat. I found my spot and reversed expertly in it. I switched off the ignition then I reached behind Creed’s seat to grab my camera. I rested it on my thigh, grabbed my coffee, threw back a slug, returned it then yanked out my cell, found the number and hit go.
It rang twice in my ear before I heard, “You’re killin’ me.”
I grinned into the phone as I stared at the building. “C’mon, buddy, what would you do without my incentives?”
“They find out I’m giving you info, they’ll find other places for their rendezvous.”
“There are no other places in Denver who rent for an afternoon and have rubber mattresses, Clyde,” I reminded him then continued. “Looking for a guy, five ten, salt and pepper, glasses, paunch, suit, drives a Chevy mini-van.”
“No mini-van,” Clyde stated.
“He been in before?”
“Fuck,” Clyde muttered.
He had.
“Wednesday’s his day, yeah?” I asked.
“Fuck,” Clyde muttered.
“Crisp bill, Clyde.”
“They usually get here around one.”
I looked at my watch. Five minutes.
“Right,” I said into the phone. “I’ll be in the office with your money after they check in and get to their room.”
“Fuck. You’re killin’ me.” Clyde was still muttering.
“They ever quit coming?” I asked.
He didn’t answer my question because they didn’t. They always kept coming in more ways than one.
Instead, he said, “See you in ten minutes.”
I grinned again and flipped my phone shut.
“Clyde the day clerk?” Creed asked as I shoved my phone back in my back pocket, grabbed my coffee and the camera. I took a sip of it as I switched the camera on.
“Yup,” I answered as I shoved the coffee back between my thighs then I looked to him. “So, the last month, Drake Nair on radar but nothing, Nick Sebring on radar but nothing and you ascertained that Rhash and I would never f**k Knight. You get anything else?”
“Lively did the full check on your girl’s client last night,” he replied. “I followed him through it even though he didn’t know it. When you hit that house last night, I was as surprised to see the for sale sign in the yard as you were.”
This was good to know.
“So Live isn’t falling down on the job,” I surmised.
“That’s still up for debate. I just know none of the team has deposited anything unusual in their accounts. They’ve also not purchased anything unusual, high ticket items or even medium range toys. Half-assed tails, they aren’t off the beaten path or normal routines. Phone records show nothin’ either. So if there’s a mole, he’s playin’ it smart and that means we dig deep.”
“There’s no mole,” I told him firmly.
“We still gotta look, Sylvie,” he returned, his eyes holding mine.
“Yeah, and that sucks for me because these are my boys. If they ever find out I did this shit, I’m a rat. They’ll get over it, the loyalty they have to Knight but it’ll take a while and I may never have their trust like I’ve got it now.”
“But you’ll do that for Knight.”
I nodded. “I’ll do it for Knight.”
He kept his eyes locked with mine as he said softly, “And the girls.”
I nodded again and didn’t speak softly when I agreed, “And the girls.”