CHAPTER NINE
-:- TwoCents -:-
Sitting behind my desk and verifying all the deposits that have been made over the last month are showing on the bank statements, I’m happy to see that we have no issues. I really don’t want to go into the bank and give them a whupping after the last time they made an error.
Picking up my phone when it vibrates, I frown when I note it’s a message from Forest.
Forest: Come to the department. Having a meeting you need to be here for.
TwoCents: OK. When?
Forest: Soon as.
TwoCents: OK.
Closing up my office, I step over to Axel’s and with his door being open I can see he’s not inside. I head through the common room and kitchen. Still not seeing Axel, I send a text to inform him where I am going to be.
TwoCents: Pres, I’m going to see Forest. Can you get someone to watch Paisley? She’s with Mia at the moment.
Axel: Yeah. Keep me informed.
TwoCents: Will do.
I send a message to Paisley so she doesn’t panic when she can’t find me.
TwoCents: I’m going to the Sheriff’s office, be back later.
Wifey: OK. I’ll stay with Mia and the twins.
TwoCents: OK.
I grin when I see ‘Wifey’ because it just felt right when I put her in my phone contacts. She’s said nothing, but I saw her give a twitch of a grin when she noticed it for the first time.
Arriving at the Sheriff’s Department, I park my bike around the back, because the last thing I want is some little asshole touching it.
Buzzing for someone to open the back door I give a nod to Bren, who cleans the place these days.
“Hi, TwoCents.” Bren closes the door and locks it behind us. She is wet-mopping the floor, so I’m careful not to make a mess as I walk over it. Tiptoeing the best that I can, much to her amusement.
Inside the reception, Zack gives me a chin lift and then points at the empty deputy”s office. “You’ll find them all in the Sheriff’s office.”
“Thanks, Zack,” I reply as I pass and walk by the deputy”s office, and then into Forest’s office, where they are all sitting with paperwork on the desk.
“Take a seat, TwoCents. This is quite some information we have found. You know that Paisley was married to the Senator, that it was an arranged marriage that her father manufactured to give him peace of mind before he died and Paisley security.
“What we have uncovered is that when Paisley divorced him she got three million dollars. Yeah, you heard right. But she gave two and a half million of that to children”s charities.
“She also had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. That was the only way the Senator would sign the divorce papers. It’s something that seems odd when you consider she was hardly at home. Either away taking photographs or immersed in starting her business.” Forest hands me the divorce information, which I read carefully.
Francis leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees before speaking. “The good news is, she is really divorced and your marriage is legal. Well, as legal as it can get without going to City Hall.” JP, Hands and Sober all chuckle, but I remain quietly looking at the paperwork.
Dep grabs my attention with his comment. “I think Paisley knew something that the Senator was into, and he had to keep her quiet. He had two ways of doing that, one being the NDA or he had to have her killed.
“We can agree he went with the NDA, but what was the fucker hiding? He has to be into something dirty, and we need to find out what that is. The last thing we need, or want, is some asshole coming after Paisley when she regains her memory.”
“It was a huge payout, and it put a serious dent in the Senator’s financials,” JP chips into the conversation.
That’s when I realize all the deputies are here for the meeting, and they are all taking this seriously.
“My FBI friend is being terribly quiet, rather shifty, if I had to describe it. It’s not like him and I think he’s found something, but isn’t willing at this time to share what it might be. That tells me he could be compromised, or the Senator is someone who is being guarded by them,” Forest adds, and looks like he’s annoyed with this contact.
“So, what next?” I ask.
“We are going to go check what we can find out. I’m going to go out of town and do some digging. I’m taking Sober with me, but I’ll keep in contact. If you can let Pres know what’s going on, TwoCents, it will save me some time,” Dep states.
“Yeah, I’ll do that. But you take care because if something is going down with the FBI, neither you, nor us, want to get caught up in it, unless it’s to protect Paisley.” I’m getting more than a little worried something is going down that Paisley may know about, but just cannot remember which could make this a volatile situation.
“We found a connection with the Senator and Charles Irvin, who I think you all know was part of the DeSantos Cartel. He got out thanks to a massive cleanup operation. But if DeSantos is back to his old tricks, that means he’s opened up his gun running and trafficking again,” Forest snarls. “If this fucker is doing this shit, we’ll bury the bastard or take him to Nell’s as gator food.”
None of us will defend this asshole if this is what he’s up to, and DeSantos needs to be checked out too. But the mention of Nell has me perking up, because she has a contact with the mafia, and he’ll maybe have the answer that we need.
“I’m gonna have another discussion with Aaron, see if I can squeeze anything from him,” Forest scowls.
“I, however, am going to visit Nell.” Grinning at the thought that maybe this could gain us more information than the FBI will give us.
Parking my hog outside of Nell’s, it only takes a minute for the front door to open and Graham, Nell”s brother, stands, giving me a broad smile.
“Long time, no see, TwoCents.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while. You got a drink for a brother or what?” I laugh as I follow him into the house and through to the large kitchen.
“Hi, TwoCents,” Nell greets and gives me a smile. I like Nell and walk up to her, giving her a hug before taking a seat.
“Coffee?” Graham asks.
“Yeah, that would be good,” I reply, then turn to look at Nell.
Now, Nell is shrewd. She hasn’t built a business by being an idiot, and this business is one you’ve got to be on top of or you could end up in the slammer for the rest of your life.
“I need some information if you have it, Nell,” I ask, giving Graham a nod of thanks as he passes me a mug of coffee, then I continue. “I need any information you have about Senator Maurice Brooks…”
Before I can continue, Nell snorts. “Oh, I know of Senator Maurice Brooks, all right. He was married to a sweet woman. She was a photographer, and kept her distance from him from what I recall. She spent a lot of time out of the country, and then when she finally came back, started up her own business. It wasn’t long after that she divorced him.
“If I remember right, he had other women he was ‘visiting’,” which Nell says with air quotes. “If you ask me, she had a lucky escape. Not sure what happened to her, but I hope she got her life on track. Why do you ask?”
“Well, she’s my wife,” I drop into the conversation, and the look on Nell’s face is a gem. I wish I’d gotten it on video to show everyone, because it is very rare you can surprise Nell. “Was the Senator dirty?”
Nell shakes her head and thinks for a minute before she answers. “Not that I know of. He was just a philanderer. Had mistresses and did the clubs with the other assholes that like to sample women all the time.”
Tank walks into the kitchen from the back door and gives me a chin lift. “Ajay and Oscar are fed, watered, and settled down.”
“Thanks, Tank.” Nell gives a squeeze to his forearm as he leans down and kisses the top of her head, before walking out of the kitchen and to the office, I’m sure.
“I need to know if DeSantos is back in business, and wondered if Vincenzo Vitale would know if he is and, if so, what he’s doing.”
Nell frowns at me, then gives a small smirk. “I’ll find out and let you know. But if it sets Vincenzo after me again, you’ll be in trouble. It’s taken me years to stop him chasing me, to go for dinner with him, and be his lady.”
Graham chuckles, “Fuckin’ hell, you should have seen him last time. Honest to fuck, I thought Nell was gonna shoot him.”
“You are obviously talking about Vitale,” Richie smirks as he walks into the kitchen from the back of the house.
“How did you guess?” Graham laughs.
“Shooting him was a good clue.” Richie pours himself a drink, then takes a seat. “We need to check on Jaws. I’m not sure he’s feeling well.”
That’s all it takes for Nell to be on her feet and out of the kitchen. I follow behind because I’m just goddamn nosey. I’ve not seen the gators for quite some time either, and it always amazes me that these four keep them in such good condition, considering they are kept like pets. Mind you, Nell has had a sliding roof put onto a section at the back so that the gators can bask in the sun.
The gator is in a sectioned area, not able to move very much and certainly not able to move its head. The containment, if you like, has a bar that Richie slides across behind Jaws’ neck. It holds him in place and funnily enough, he’s calm about it.
“We do this regularly so they don’t panic if we ever find ourselves in situations like this, where something could be wrong, and we need to deal with it.” Nell is squatting down and giving the gator a close examination with her eyes. She points to the back leg and there is a slice oozing what can only be described as an infection. “Okay, get the tranq, Richie. We need him out so we can clean that and get antibiotics into his system.”
It”s not long before Jaws, as they all call him, is snoring and Nell is cleaning up the gash. She is good and quick at it, and has sprayed a new layer of skin to stop any more dirt from getting into it. Richie has given him a huge dose of antibiotics via an injection, and then another to bring him around.
We stand and wait for Jaws to wake, and then he’s released back with the others. Giving a nod to Richie, Nell walks away and to a room where there is a sink, shower and cabinets full of medical equipment.
“Richie, make sure he gets antibiotics in his food every day and monitor that cut. If it looks like it needs attention, we’ll have to knock him out again.” Nell doesn’t look happy about that, but we all know if they are going to make sure it heals they have to watch it, and re-treat if needed.
Back in the kitchen, Nell informs Graham and Tank, who’s come back from the office, what has happened with Jaws, then she informs Tank she needs to speak with Vitale.
“You know that’s going to set him off again, don’t you?” chuckling to himself.
“More than likely, but I can always shoot the man if he won’t be told to go away,” Nell grins, and that’s when I see she enjoys the banter that the two of them must have.
“He’s a pain in our ass. We had three of his enemies here last week. Honestly, TwoCents, they cried like babies. But they’d been at a club, saw a woman they took a fancy to and grabbed her. They kept her for weeks doing whatever they liked before they cut her fuckin’ throat. Well, Vitale made sure they knew what was going to happen to them before he did the deed himself, and he cut those fuckers” dicks off and threw them to the gators while the fuckers watched. I’ve never heard crying quite like it, but it didn’t last long ‘cause they were dead in no time,” Tank blandly states.
“They deserved all they got, and more,” Nell snaps, and I can see her sense of justice is just as strong as it’s always been.
“Trouble is, the system does fuck-all to them these days, they let them out saying they are all good and off you go,” Richie shakes his head in disgust, “Not our justice system they don’t, they can rot in hell where they belong.”
“I’ll let you know about DeSantos as soon as I get the information. If Vincenzo doesn’t know, we’ll dig and see what our system can find. He’ll be in it, I’m sure.” Nell passes me a piece of fruit pie as though we’ve not been speaking about death and assholes that need a bullet, and I enjoy it, so what does that say about me?