Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
G RANT
When Jay arrives at the Avarice, I feel the buzz of nerves down my spine. This has to go flawlessly, or we’ll all end up in prison for the rest of our lives—or worse. Hudson and Rowan are on call, a few short meters away in case we need them, but Levi and I are meeting him alone to keep suspicions down. He pulls his aviators off as he walks into the back entrance where he’s parked, and he tucks them into his pocket before he flashes a brilliantly fake smile at us.
“Hot as hell out there today. How are y’all holdin’ up?” he remarks on his way in, nodding at Levi before turning his attention to me.
“As good as it can be, considering the past weekend. Ramsey and Hazel are obviously disappointed, and the staff at Seven Sins are having a hell of a time, given the circumstances there.”
“Right. Can’t believe it’s a total fucking loss. Fire department’s still on that one. Investigating the cause of it. The fire chief still thinks it could be a burst gas line. You know those old buildings… lot of maintenance and upkeep. Not as nice as this place.” He chatters on as he follows us down the hall. “They’re still sorting through the rubble but making progress.”
“I assume they’ll let us know when they’ve got a final finding?” I ask because the communication has been nearly nonexistent, given that I’m the property owner and Dakota owned most of what was inside. Then again, it’s not exactly surprising with what I know now.
“Of course. I’ll keep you updated as I know more. They just had that house fire up on Elk Landing, and that’s been a fucking doozy of a mess too. Guess this whole town’s going to hell in a handbasket.”
“Certainly seems that way,” Levi mutters under his breath, and I shoot him a look behind Jay’s shoulder.
“So you boys got something you want me to look at?” Jay asks as we step onto the elevator.
“Yeah. There were a couple of things that were out of place, and with everything going on, we can’t be too cautious. Figured you were the best person to look into it,” I explain.
We’d invited him over under false pretenses, telling him we were unable to find something in our vault and that the log codes had been off for a period of time last month. That combined with some strange gaps in the entries in the security system this past week had us wondering if we had a problem on our hands.
“You guys don’t have internal security?” He lifts a brow.
“We do, but we want to explore all possibilities and get your input,” I answer as we ride the elevator down to the vault floor in sub-basement four. Running a casino meant having a fortress underground, particularly when that casino was a money-laundering facility and housed a fuckton of black-market cash at any given moment.
“Can’t dismiss the possibility of an inside job right now.” Levi looks over my uncle. His underhanded jabs, teasing too closely to the truth. I’m half worried my brother is going to kill him before we get off the elevator. We both have tempers, but Levi’s is less practiced and more unhinged than mine, particularly when the offense is to something he holds dear—like this family.
“That’d be a real fucking problem for you boys. You gotta shore up leaks like that. Your dad and I had a couple back in our day. Not a fucking thing I wish on anyone.” His eyes go distant for a moment, and I swear it’s remorse I can see there. Given that we can’t know anything for sure now, like whether or not he was part of the machinations that killed my parents, I have a hard time trusting any emotion on his face. For all I know, it’s for show.
“You ever regret leaving the family business behind?” Levi asks, studying him.
“Not a day in my life. Only regret is not leaving it sooner. If I thought you two would listen to me, I’d tell you to pack it up and move somewhere you could forget you were ever a Stockton.”
Which begs the question of why the man would return, but asking that would open a Pandora’s box I’m not ready for yet. Not while a gun and half a dozen other weapons are strapped to his body and backup is a short phone call away. If I could tell my younger self something, it would be not to get into a life-or-death fight with family. But there’s not much I can do about it as it stands.
“Well, hopefully, someday we can all have a quiet retirement.” I offer up half a smile as we get off the elevator.
“Someday,” he echoes.
We have to pass through several locked doors sealed by triple verification, badge, code, and biometrics. He does the courtesy of looking away, but we’re trusting he doesn’t have any sort of recording device on. Once we get to the vault, it’s one final series of locks and challenges to prove our ability to have access.
“Do you have any idea how the vault could have been breached? How many employees have access to it?” he questions.
“A dozen not counting us,” Levi lies. It’s less than that, but we don’t want to give him additional data points he could use against us if this doesn’t go our way.
“Any that would have an interest in stealing from you? Disgruntled? Anyone who’s left?” He presses on.
“We’ve had a few employees who have left, but not who we could point a finger at though. One of them retired, and the other had a wife who took a job across the country. The others who departed didn’t have this level of access,” I explain after Levi opens the vault, and we step inside.
“All right. So tell me what’s missing then.” He turns around in the vault, taking everything in, from the stacks of money to the lockboxes and shelves that contain valuables and art. We were a veritable underground bank, not just for our family but for friends and associates as well. Not to mention the cash that passed through the casino, legitimately and illegitimately alike, but that’s in a different vault.
“If you look down here, you’ll see the empty shelf.” Levi distracts Jay while I step back toward the door. Jay follows, peering at the place he points toward. “Yep, just a little further down here. ”
Jay takes another step and misses the drop down in the floor. It was a constant hazard, but in this case, it was a benefit.
“What the fuck!” he shouts as he falls face first. He hits the ground hard. His hands and knees take the brunt of it. He groans loudly in pain as he tries to turn over. The man isn’t exactly young anymore, and his knees struggle to bear his weight as he tries to get up.
Levi and I take the opportunity to step outside the door. I press the lock, and the doors start to shut, but it feels like an eternity until it closes. I watch him start to stand up slowly, dusting himself off, and turning around to see why we’re not helping just as it seals.
The look of betrayal on his face is searing. The same look I’m sure I made when I realized it had to have been him who helped set up the bombs. He runs at the door, slamming his hand against it to try to open it again and desperately pounding the interior button.
“That won’t work.” Levi hits the intercom and opens a line of communication between us.
“What the fuck are you two boys doing?” he snarls at us.
“What are we doing? How about we start with what the fuck you’ve been doing.” Levi’s furious. I place a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to find his center. This wouldn’t work if we lead with too much emotion.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He lies.
“We know . We know you worked with a staff member who trusted your last name to bring in the champagne crates. The ones you intercepted and swapped out. The ones you put bombs in. You tried to kill your whole fucking family and then some, at your nephew’s wedding,” I add. “Can you imagine what Dad would fucking say if he was here?”
“Dad wouldn’t say anything to a corpse.” Levi sneers. “That’s what you’d be if he was here and knew you tried to kill his youngest. His grandkid? Takes a special kind of fucked up to do what you did.”
“Says who? Some staff member? Of course he’d pin it on another family member. He wants to set us against each other. You can’t believe every fucking thing someone tells you.”
“We have a very limited amount of time on our hands. Let’s not play games or lie to one another,” I say, exhausted already that this is his play.
“You want the truth? Then let me out of this fucking cage.” He slams his palm against the door again.
“So you can finish the job you started?” Levi laughs. “Do we look fucking stupid to you?”
“You look dumb as fuck holding a sheriff hostage. You know how that ends? With both of you in prison.”
“Don’t worry. We don’t plan to hold you long.” I shake my head. “Just long enough for you to tell us answers.”
He presses his lips together in a flat line and raises his gun at the glass.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Levi warns. “There’s a chance it’ll ricochet and kill you.”
He lowers the gun, and a desperate look crosses his face before he looks back toward the door. “What the fuck do you want from me? If you’re gonna kill me then be men and come in here and do it yourselves, you fuckin’ pussies.”
“We want information. We want to know who you’re working with,” I demand.
“I told you—” he starts, and there’s a sudden clicking sound and the sound of the air being sucked out.
“That’s the oxygen leaving the room. Part of the fire suppression system.” Levi’s lost his patience already, skipping ahead to Plan B. “You’ve got until it runs out to tell us. Ask me if I care if you live or die after what you did. ”
“You’re gonna kill a sheriff?” Even he knows he deserves death for this kind of betrayal.
“You’re wasting your breath and our time.” I shake my head and cross my arms over my chest while I wait. “We know about the governor. We know the stakes. You need to convince us that your life is worth saving right now, and the sand is running out on you.”
“Fucking hell.” He shakes his head, turning around for a moment like he’ll find a solution somewhere in the vault to get him out. “Fine. Fuck… The governor put me up to it. He’ll kill me just for telling you. But he has his sights on my daughter and her mother. I can’t let anything happen to them. He found me earlier this year, and he put me up to all this. Told me he’d kill me for the way things went down years ago if I didn’t find a way to make it right. I told him to fucking go ahead and do it. That I didn’t want any more of that fucking life. I was retired and living in peace.”
“You mean hiding out in a hole like the scared piece of shit you are,” Levi interjects, and I shoot him a look. We need as much information as we can get before this clock runs out.
“Call it what you like. Live this life as long as I have, watch all your brothers die, and then tell me what you want to do with the time you’ve got left.” He looks to Levi through the glass and then shifts his attention back to me. “I didn’t want to kill any of you. You’re family to me, but you’re not innocent. My daughter? Her mom? They’ve never hurt a fucking soul. They don’t know anything about this life or what we’ve done. They don’t deserve it.”
“Lots of fucking people that would have been in that room were innocent. Dozens and dozens of them who were just there to see a wedding.”
“But they’re not all my kin. I couldn’t live with myself if he hurt my girl or her mom. ”
“So you were supposed to kill us all to save their lives. What else? We need something useful. A reason not to let you die in there. What does he want from us? What did he want all those years ago?” I press him on the essentials.
“It’s a long fucking story. Too long to explain with the time you’re giving me right now,” he counters.
“Then buy yourself some. Give me a reason not to kill you right now,” Levi demands.
Jay scrubs a hand over his face and looks to the ceiling. “I don’t think he has everything he needs yet. I could try to get more details from him. Give you information.”
“How do you know he doesn’t have everything?” I raise a brow.
“It’s been his plan for years. It was his plan before your dad died. He was going to bring us all in on it. Claimed he’d be so wealthy and so powerful that we could all have whatever we wanted. That we could leave this life behind us for good. That’s what your dad and I wanted—out. Your dad knew more than I did.” Jay starts to cough, making it obvious the air is getting thinner behind the doors.
“Why not tell us?”
“He’s a very fucking dangerous man. He’s related to powerful fucking people. Unstoppable people. If anything went wrong…”
“Like it did.” Levi points out the apparent.
“Then our lives were all at risk. Look at your parents. Look at us now, killing each other.” There’s another long coughing fit. “Just give me a chance to explain. We can figure something out. I just have to make sure my daughter’s safe. She’s your cousin. She’s family.” He pleads with us. “Or if you’re going to kill me, at least let me tell you how to find her. You can’t let him kill her for my fucking wrongs.”
“How come no one ever knew about her?” Levi asks impatiently.
“Her mom and I didn’t last. She didn’t tell me about the kid until she was older. When I tracked her down, after everything went to hell, I found out I was a dad. Blew my fucking world up.”
Levi and I look to each other, me silently asking him if he thinks it’s possible and him nodding but then holding his hands out in frustration.
He’s right. We can’t trust that he won’t try to kill us. He did it once. He could do it again. He’s said he’ll do as much for his daughter. He realizes the conversation we’re having, the decision we’re making for him, and his shoulders slump.
“Her name is Skylar Wilson. She’s from a farming town in Illinois, but she’s attending college. The name is on a card in my wallet, along with her address. Her mom’s name is Tracey Wilson. I don’t know if he’s watching them or if he’s taken them. He told me if I contacted either of them, he’d kill them. So I can’t know for sure. Please tell me you’ll look for them. Make sure they’re okay. Once he finds out I’m gone, and I can’t help with you two, he’ll have no reason not to kill them.”
“I don’t make any fucking promises,” Levi mutters.
“I’ll do my best. If she’s a Stockton, then she deserves our help.” I give Levi a sideways glance.
“Just know. I loved your dad, and I love you boys and your sister. It was an impossible fucking decision to make. I just tried to spare the innocent one.” He shakes his head, and my blood runs cold as he falls to his knees, grabbing for his throat as another coughing fit overtakes him.
“Aspen’s daughter is innocent. Ramsey’s friends are innocent. Hazel’s family is fucking innocent!” Levi roars, slamming his fist against the glass, saying the things I’m trying hard to be too calm to say out loud .
Jay gives us a desperate, twisted look, a mix of remorse and pain, before he collapses forward, gasping for air one last time. Then he goes limp.
I imagine myself in the same position on that floor. If I had to choose a wife or a daughter’s life over the rest of my family. I don’t know what I’d do. I’d probably go mad trying to make a plan to save them all. I slam the button to open the vault with my fist, and the heavy metal door slowly starts to creep open. Hopefully, not so slowly that we can’t make it in time.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Levi looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“Saving him. A dead sheriff on our hands is more than we need. We know he’s got a reason to want to live. If we can find a way to work with him, it’s better for both of us.” I look back at Levi. “Not to mention he’s right. At the end of the fucking day, he’s family.”
“What stops him from killing us the second he wakes up?”
“We strip him of his weapons, and you zip-tie him. We’ll get him to a room, and we’ll talk sense into him. It’s our only real shot. Why let this fucking governor tear this whole fucking family to shreds when we could go after him together?” I reason with Levi. He’s not in the habit of questioning me, but he hesitates before he steps forward.
“If this goes wrong…” Levi doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t have to. I already know all the ways it could go wrong and the consequences.
“We’ll be dead. If it goes right, we have a chance in hell of getting out of this alive.”
“Fuck.” Levi rips out a curse and storms in with me. I strip him of his gun, dumping the magazine and tossing it out of his reach while Levi works to zip-tie his hands just as he’s coming to. He struggles against us as I pat him down for other weapons, taking away his baton and his phone and walkie. He writhes on the ground, trying to get out of our grasp, but Levi works fast, and he’s still struggling to catch his breath.
Levi moves from his hands to his feet, zip-tying them in rapid order and then dragging him to the far side of the room.
“We have you on tape telling us everything. We could take it to the governor or the nightly news,” I explain as he gasps again, desperate for oxygen back in his lungs. “Or you can stay fucking calm, and we can chat. Your choice.”
He closes his eyes, coughing again, and then barely whispers the word, “Calm.”
“You got it. Let’s go.” Levi grabs one of his arms, and I grab the other.
We still need to work quickly. If he goes missing for too long, it will set off alarm bells with the rest of the cops under his watch and likely with the governor too. I can imagine he told them where he was going, knowing full well in his conscience he was the responsible one.
So now, time is an enemy for all of us, and I just have to hope we can find enough common ground to make this work. I don’t know if it’s better or worse to have this small sliver of hope in what’s felt like certain darkness.