Chapter 60
WE PILED INTO the Silverado in the parking lot. I noticed a Ford pickup truck in the lot and pointed it out to the group.
Rob Trilling said, “Seems like a nice truck for those rednecks.”
I said, “Maybe they were playing a role more than anything else.”
Gary Trilling said, “Either way, they deserve a little payback.” Before I could say anything, he swerved close to the truck.
He hopped out quickly and dug a Buck knife out of his front pocket.
He jammed it in the front driver-side tire.
He looked over his shoulder at us. “No sense in letting these guys follow us.”
I didn’t like pulling petty shit like this. It felt like we were putting ourselves on their level.
I said, “What if it’s not their truck?”
That comment made Gary cringe a little bit.
Then he took his business card and stuck it under the windshield of the truck.
He said, “Those two know who we are already. If this truck belongs to those two meatheads inside, this’ll look like I’m taunting them.
If this is someone else’s truck, now they’ll know who to come to for restitution. I’m good with it either way.”
Once we got moving, Gary turned to his brother and said, “You learn to fight like that in the Army? Guess you aren’t the same kid I used to pick on when we were little.”
Trilling didn’t answer. He and I were in the back seat. I was a little shaken by our encounter, but he didn’t seem bothered at all. He seemed more concerned with the bloodstain on his collar that came from one of the rednecks.
Cindy said she had to text her parents and tell them she’d be home soon, then didn’t say another word from the front seat. She looked a little shaky herself.
As soon as we turned the corner to the car lot, I saw Arnold Marks sitting on the hood of his black Humvee, trying to look cool.
Gary Trilling said, “He must have had someone following us.”
I said, “No one followed us. I’ve been keeping a close eye for any kind of countersurveillance all day.
The two pool players weren’t in any shape to follow us.
The other two might know how to conduct surveillance, but when they left the parking lot, I saw through the window that they turned in the other direction and left in a blue Ford rental car. ”
We got out of the truck and approached the Humvee. The four of us stood in a rough semicircle facing the Los Angeles real-estate developer.
Trilling spoke first. “How’d you know we’d be coming here?”
“Lucky guess.”
I asked, “How did your guys know to find us at Hildebrand’s?”
The developer was very casual as he said, “I don’t know what you mean. The people I have here in Montana working for me are all busy working on projects.”
Gary Trilling coughed into his hand and said, fairly clearly, “Bullshit.”
“I’m sorry you think it’s bullshit. I’m just here to talk business.”
I scanned the area to make sure no one else was around, waiting to ambush us. I figured Marks could easily be armed under his bulky jacket. Who knew what he might have stashed inside the obnoxious Humvee.
I caught sight of Cindy out of the corner of my eye. It was something about her expression. About the way she was standing there. Suddenly the situation became very clear.
I turned to the Trilling brothers and said, “This asshole knew where we were all day because Cindy has been the one giving him a heads-up on her phone.”
Gary was skeptical. “I don’t think you’ve got that right, Mike.” He turned toward Cindy.
She looked stricken. “I didn’t do anything like that.”
Rob Trilling got right to the heart of the matter. “Okay, sure. So why not let me see the last text you sent on your phone?”
It took a second, but that was all that was needed for Cindy to break like a cheaply made toy. Her lower lip started to twitch, then she began to cry. All she was able to eke out through her sobs was “I’m sorry.”