Chapter 24
We got the first call from Pearl thirty minutes after Bernie Faulks had let us know that all of the homes had been cleared out.
“Jase, that man is vile,” Pearl said.
“Pearl, hold on, let me connect everyone before you keep talking,” I said.
“I can’t stop talking. My first husband’s second cousin, who was put away for life, gave me a better feeling than this Viktor fella,” Pearl continued.
I connected Lettie, Little Grandma, Ruby and Florence. “Are you talking about Ray-Bob?” Florence asked.
“That’s the one. Florence, this man is a snake. He made me shiver. I could barely hold my pen and paper, and you know me, I can talk to anyone, but this man is pure evil. He came in with two other men. Big men. Bigger than even you, Jase.”
Jase and I looked at one another. That was not what we had expected.
“Did you talk to him?” Ruby asked.
“Of course I did,” Pearl snapped. “He might have been vile, but I knew what was at stake.”
“I wouldn’t have expected anything else,” Little Grandma soothed. “What did you do? What happened?”
“I took his damn order, that’s what I did.”
“That’s good. That was exactly right,” Jase said.
“Of course it was. I wasn’t going to let our town down,” Pearl bit out. “He tried to act all smooth, but he won’t be able to fool any of us.”
I looked over at Jase, who was sitting at the dining room table in the sparse cabin. He did not have his normal at-ease expression when listening to the ladies. “What did you end up telling him, Pearl?” Jase asked.
“First, there was a problem. He came during rush hour, so it was Becky who set him up with water to begin with. It was a mess. It took me more than a minute to get over to him, but I did.”
“That’s real good,” Little Grandma said.
“What did he say about the change?” Ruby asked.
“He gave me an odd look to begin with, but I explained we were backed up, and I was helping out Becky in her section. He seemed to believe it. It wasn’t until I served each of them their sandwiches that he had his phone out on the table with a picture of Kit showing.”
“That was smooth,” Florence said, awe clear in her voice.
“It was.” Pearl agreed. “I pointed to the phone and asked him if he was a fan. He said that he was. Not just of her, but of Angelica Drakos too. He said he had heard a rumor that they were spending time decompressing in this part of the country.”
“How did you respond, dear?” Little Grandma asked.
“I asked him if he needed anything else to go with his sandwich.”
Ruby laughed. “That’s perfect, Pearl. You made him work for it.”
“Damn right I did.”
“What did he say then?”
“He pulled out his wallet and put two hundred-dollar bills on the table. I told him our sandwiches don’t cost that much.”
Little Grandma laughed.
“He told me that good food like mine is worth it; so is just a little bit of information. I picked up the bills and put them in my apron. Then I told him that Kit and Angelica had found a secluded cabin a little ways up the mountain and that’s all I knew.”
Little Grandma giggled. “Pearl, you’re a genius. What did he do then?”
“I walked away, but I watched them out of the corner of my eye. They each ate a little bit. Then, before I could leave a check with him, he left another hundred dollars and left with those two goons.”
“Pearl, honey, you did good.”
“I did better than good. He was driving a red GMC Yukon. I would have taken down the license plate number, but that would have been too obvious. I called before I had a chance to check our parking lot video.”
“You did an amazing job,” I said sincerely.
“I did?” For the first time I could hear a little bit of uncertainty in the older woman’s voice.
“Absolutely, Pearl. You handled this like a trained operator.”
She let out a long sigh. “I was protecting my town.”
We called Nash and told him to look out for a red GMC Yukon and to let us know where it was headed next. We had already let him in on the operation. Ten minutes later he explained it was pulling into the parking lot behind Java Jolt.
“Fuck.” Jase looked at me.
“There’s a shit-ton of cars in the parking lot,” Nash said.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.” Jase continued.
That meant that Ruby was going to be knee-deep in customers. We’d considered bringing her staff into the operation, but they were too young and green. Florence was the better bet, and that was saying something.
I looked around the room. Jase and I were the ones who had been handling this part of the op. Nolan and Simon had things handled when it came to the ambush. Neither of them looked happy as they listened to Jase’s swearing. Then I saw Beau grinning.
“What?” I asked in the calmest voice I could muster.
“You’re reading this all wrong,” Beau said.
Jase spun around and glared at Beau. “How do you figure?”
“Mizz Florence used to babysit me before my mama got sick. The woman had eyes in the back of her head. She was sharp as a tack. Still is. Don’t get me wrong, biggest gossip in town, but that takes a lot of smarts to keep up with everything. She’s going to handle this fucker just right.”
I thought about what he had to say, and he was exactly right. She might have gotten the movie name wrong. She might have wanted inappropriate equipment. But Florence Horton had made sense during our planning session. She’d made a lot of sense.
I looked over at my cousin, who was younger than me by two years. He was looking at me with a hint of dread.
“Jase. She’s got this.”
Twenty minutes later, Nash called in.
“The GMC left Java Jolt. It’s headed out of town toward Knoxville.”
I texted Thompson to see if he’d had any luck hacking Viktor’s phone. He had to be using a satellite phone. So far, Thompson hadn’t had any luck. But now that he had Viktor’s coordinates, it would be easier.
Before I was done texting, Jase’s phone rang. It was Florence Horton.
“How do you make these calls conference?” Florence Horton demanded to know.
“Just give me a moment, Mizz Florence,” Jase said in a soothing tone.
“I’m in Ruby’s office, and my hands are still shaking. You'd better be fast. I’m plumb ready to pass out.”
Jase got everybody on the line.
“Pearl, you there?”
“I’m here, Florence.”
“You’re right. That man is the devil. Code. Jase. You’re going to make sure he gets his comeuppance, aren’t you?”
This was the first time I’d heard genuine fear in Florence’s voice.
“You have my word. Viktor Sokolov will pay for everything he has done,” I said.
“That’s good. That’s real good.”
“Get to it, Florence. Did you give him the address, or not?” Pearl spat out the question on everyone’s mind.
“Just you hush, Pearl Bannister. You let me tell it.”
“Well, hurry up.”
“Pearl, hush,” Little Grandma said. “Florence, take your time.”
Jesus fucking Christ.
“Viktor tried to get Ruby’s attention when he ordered, but she just took his money and suggested that he take a seat and wait until she had time to talk. Him and his two bodyguards sat down and took up two whole couches, which was really rude, if you ask me,” Florence started.
Beau snorted.
“This time while he was drinking his black coffee, he spoke to one of his bodyguards and said he was hoping he could find a cabin up the mountain that he could rent. He said it loud enough for everyone to hear.”
“He was getting desperate.” Ruby agreed.
“I shuffled over. I pretended to be old.”
Beau laughed, and Jase shot him a dark look.
“Who’s that laughing?” Florence demanded to know.
“No one. It’s static on the line,” Jase said. “So, you went over to him?”
“I did. I sat down next to him. It made me kind of sick, but I patted his knee and said I might know of something.”
“I saw her do it. She was smooth,” Ruby inserted.
“I really was.”
“But that wasn’t the plan,” Jase protested.
“I was improvising. It was the right thing to do. I told him that Bernie Faulkes sometimes rented cabins, but he probably wouldn’t have anything right now, seeing as how he just rented a place a few days ago.”
Jase let out a deep breath. I grinned.
“Then what did he say?”
“He asked if the place might come on the market again if it was just a short-term rental.”
“I told him that maybe he could drive by and see if he liked it, and then he could call Bernie and find out. I gave him the address and Bernie’s number.”
“That’s perfect, Mizz Horton,” Jase said.
“I know.”
I looked around the cabin, and every man inside was grinning. Everything was going to plan, thanks to the town gossip.