42. Anderson
42
ANDERSON
M y first instinct is to go home and tell June the good news. But there are more pressing matters. Moss’ people on the force are compromised.
We text to meet up at the pizza parlor. Instead of sitting in the restaurant part of things, the owner gives us his office. “You take all the time you need,” he says before leaving us there with a closed door.
Moss looks tired. “Is it as we feared?”
“Well, if it was, I probably wouldn't be out.” I shake my head at him. “They don't have shit.”
“You are certain?”
“I had another person look into it for me. Their people are good. I dare say better than yours. There's no video.”
He growls under his breath. “My people are the best.”
“Maybe usually, but not this time. I'm not sure if they knew and they lied to you, or if they were lied to. Whatever the case, you can't trust them. They're giving you bad information.”
He sighs deeply, cursing in Italian under his breath. “Should have seen this coming. I should have known. Anderson, I am so sorry.”
I could tell him that it's not his fault. These are people that he trusted. People who had helped him before. I imagine he had helped them, too. I know how hard it is when somebody that you should be able to trust lets you down. But if I tell him that he's no longer on the hook, then he will deny it.
Above all else, Moss knows he's responsible for this. Had he done a better job with the body, this wouldn't be happening. It's his people who fed us the wrong information. If I were an underworld boss, like my father, there would be serious consequences.
But I am not my father. “I know you’re sorry, Moss. But what I need you to be is better.”
He nods respectfully. “I will do everything in my power to be that.”
“Their lack of a video is a win, but this case isn't going away. While I was in questioning, I threatened to sue them for harassment. Hopefully, that will keep them at bay for a while. Make them hesitate to bother us again. But I’m not sure it will work forever. Those detectives are like a dog with a bone.”
“Should they meet an end like the haddock?”
“What? No! No more haddock. From here on out.”
He sits back and takes a breath. I can’t tell if he is relieved or disappointed. “Your father's lawyer is a piece of work.”
“You heard from Pym?”
“No. I only watch him for few days. He makes threats, but I never see him carry through.”
I shrug. “His reputation precedes him. Most people are happy to do what he wants.”
“Yet you see other lawyer.”
“Pym wanted to hang June out to dry over this. So I needed somebody in her corner.”
“Despicable.” He spits on the floor. “When men blame women for their troubles, that is when they are no longer men.”
“I could not agree more.”
“The evidence they do have. It's not much.” He rubs his hand over his bald head. “My people may be compromised, but they can get their hands on evidence. Or maybe evidence lockup has fire.” He's still trying to make it up to me.
“I appreciate the offer. But I think I'd rather take my chances with where we stand now.”
He nods. “As you wish, boss.”
“Their forensics lab is going to have to really earn their paycheck this year if they think they can build a case on a soggy body.”
“It is unlikely. But not impossible.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Moss says, “With enough supposition and a little bit of evidence, I have seen people convicted for murder with less. Though, that was in Europe.”
I'd studied enough case law to know what I was up against. “Well, here we have more burden of proof on the prosecution. As much as I hate to admit it, I will use every bit of privilege that I can to keep my ass out of jail.”
“There is no shame in this. It is no different when I do my job. Some say it is dishonorable to use poison.” He shrugs his giant shoulders. “I say to be a great killer, you must use whatever you have available. Poison. Fire. Sniping. Anything. Whatever gets the job done. That is what I do.”
Icy spiders dance up my spine. I know he killed people. I'd seen him do it. But those methods … then again, who am I to judge? I had killed a man, and in the heat of the moment, I would have used anything to end that bastard.
He tried to assault June. He would have killed her, too. If it came down to it, I would have killed him with anything I had.
“You're right about that. Any tool in the toolbox.”
He nods. “The world is an ugly place for men like us. But we sleep well knowing we protect those we love.”
“Indeed.” I sip my soda and think. “For now, we should lay low. Keep these meetings to a minimum. As things stand, you and I don't have much in the way of official business, so being seen together is suspicious.”
“We don't exactly travel in the same social circle, eh?”
“Not yet.”
“This means … ”
“When the organization is under my control, Moss, I want you by my side. I trust you.”
The brute is silent for a moment. “It is not a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“I fail you on this. I could fail again.”
But I shake my head at him. “You know better now. You learn from this mistake, and that's that. I know you'll never let this happen again. That's what makes me trust you.”
I watch as the gears turn in his mind. It would be a mistake to think of Moss as simple or dumb. The man has been in his line of work for decades. He knows how this world works better than I do. He knows the players. Their men. He is an invaluable resource. And a silent one right now.
So I tell him, “When I get you in that position of power, you will be paid as such. This I guarantee you. So yes, for now, we are not in the same social set. But we will be.”
He takes a breath, surprised by what I said. “You believe in me that much?”
“And more.”
His voice goes hoarse with emotion. “Thank you, boss.”
I am fairly certain my father never paid him that kind of respect before. He looks struck. I smile at him, unsure what to say next. “I should be getting back. You should, too. I need to let June know about everything.”
“You tell me first?”
“The sooner you stop trusting your people on the inside, the better for all of us.”
“Agreed.” As we part ways, he says, “This is good news. I do not like losing assets, but it is good news.”
“Losing assets?” I don't like the way that sounds.
“They could have gotten you in prison. They are no longer assets.”
“Moss, you're not going to hurt them.”
His lips tightened. There's a coldness in his eyes. “If you say not to, I don't.”
“I'm saying not to. We don't know if those people deceived you on purpose. It could have been a completely innocent mistake. If those detectives fed them false information, that was all they had to go on. That's not their fault. And we don't punish innocent people.”
“As you say.” But the frostiness doesn't leave him.
“I'm serious, Moss. Don't lay a hand on their heads.” That might not be specific enough. “No harm is to come to them. Not from you, not from anyone you know. No one connected to us will harm them. I want them protected.”
He sighs, defeated. “Very well.”
“If we're going to do things better than my father, then we need to start now. I won't keep doing things the way that he would do them.”
“Your father, he makes a lot of money. Not all his schemes are bad ones.”
“I don't care. I'm not him. Things will be different when I am in control.”
“Yes, boss.”
I am mostly certain that Moss will not hurt those people when I leave. But dealing with him is sort of like dealing with a tiger on a leash. One wrong move and things could become very bad, very fast.
But I can't focus on that now. For now, I get to tell June the good news. I didn't want to tell her when Dana told me. If this shit went sideways, I didn't want her to be disappointed. But when I come home and find her there with expectation on her pretty face. I tell her, “There's no video.”
“What?”
“There's no video. I found out from Dana, and I confronted the detectives. They don't have anything. All that they have is Neil's corpse. No video of the attack. No physical evidence of us being there. Otherwise, I'd be in jail right now.”
“Oh my God.” Her knees go loose, and I catch her before she falls.
“Are you okay?”
She laughs at herself. “I think I almost fainted. Like some weak Southern Belle or something. That's embarrassing.”
I smile and kiss her. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Not ever. Not with me.”
She stands on her own two feet and hugs me. “So, does this mean we're out of the woods?”
“Not yet. There's still the matter of a dead body to be dealt with. But for now, the focus is less on us. I threatened to sue them for harassment for both of us, and they didn't like that much.”
She laughs. “Of course, they didn't. The last lawyer you walked in there with was Otto Pym.”
“He does tend to scare the panties off of cops.”
“We should celebrate.”
“I have been working on some ideas to incorporate those fuzzy cuffs again.”
She grins. “Oh?”
“Race you to the bedroom.”