Silk & Bones Returns (Sin’s Bastards Trilogy, #3)

Chapter One

Finn groaned as he pulled his legs up from the hole in the floor. Then he sat and stared at Banger as he called out to Robbie.

“Yeah, old man, it's me. I’m haunting your stupid ass,” Robbie told him. “What the hell are you doing here of all places?”

Banger shook his head. “I was told this is where you hung out when you weren’t at home with your lovely mother.”

“Who the hell told you that?” Robbie shouted. “No one ever saw me here.”

“Yeah, somebody saw you here bucko,” Banger grumbled. “Somebody even saw you driving a truck here one night and unloading several boxes that looked heavy.” He wiped the spittle from his mouth. “I want to know what was in those boxes and what did you do with my gold.”

Robbie chuckled. “What makes you think I took your precious gold?”

“I know you took it. Damn, you told me that yourself in court.” Banger growled. “I also know you killed my brothers, Deven and Richy.”

Robbie laughed as if he’d told a joke or something. “And how did you figure that out?”

“They told me.” Banger growled out. “You killed them to find out where the gold was hidden in the first damn place then you stole it.”

“Yeah I did, and just what are you gonna do about it?” Robbie taunted him. “You’ll never find it, not in this dump.”

Banger glared and then shook his head. “I will find it and I will take back what’s mine. I hope you enjoy the fires of hell, boy. You deserve it for everything you’ve done.”

Insane laughter echoed through the house and then it faded into silence. But it was the silence that almost broke Banger.

Finn cleared his throat.

Banger snapped his head to the side to glare at him.

Finn shook his head and said, “I’m done here. You asked for a ride and I brought you here but I can’t do this. You know Robbie is dead right? You know you can’t talk to the dead, yet I just watched you do it.”

“You owe me.” Banger glared at the other man as he didn’t address the talking to the dead subject. “You owe me more than just a ride.”

Finn stepped up and got in Banger’s face.

“And I’ve paid you back. I met you when you walked out of prison, I rode with you to Troy.

I watched you and Rodney abuse that woman and I rode back home to find our house blown into rubble.

Then I rode back to New York to pick you up.

But I draw the line when you start hitting me and when you are having conversations with a dead man.

I don’t know what happened to you in prison and I don’t want to know.

I realize Robbie set you up. I watched him too, back then.

I saw the lies he told and the look of satisfaction on his face when the judge sentenced you to prison.

I didn’t know he killed your brothers. Hell, the cops never knew that either.

But I can’t do this anymore, Virgil. You take too many chances with your friends’ lives for your own gain.

Then you talking to a dead man is just out there, brother. ”

A sudden noise came from the doorway and for a moment Finn expected to actually see Robbie standing there. He caught his breath and turned slowly only to find Rodney there. Finn closed his eyes and sighed deeply, his heart racing in his chest.

Banger turned and glared at Rodney.

He stood there covered in bruises, with blood dried on his clothing and his right arm in a sling.

“What the hell happened to you?” Banger asked.

Rodney tried to speak but his words were garbled and his jaw hurt like hell. “Those fucking... bikers beat the hell out of me. I barely survived, hell I didn’t think I would survive.”

Banger narrowed his eyes as he stared at him. “How the fuck did you find this place anyway?”

Rodney smiled at him. “I came here because I knew you would be here.”

Banger scowled at him in disgust. “How the hell did you know that?”

Rodney stepped through the open doorway. “I knew because after you left for prison I watched that fucker Robbie. He never knew anyone was following him around. I watched him because I knew he was looking for your gold.”

“You knew about the gold?” Banger barked.

Rodney leaned against the wall and nodded slowly. “Yeah, I knew. I used to follow you too. I watched you meet your brothers in secret. I overheard you and them talk about the gold like it was your family’s honor.”

“Then you knew that gold was my family’s biggest secret, right?” Banger stared at him.

Rodney stared back and didn’t say a word.

“Did you also watch Robbie the nights he killed my brothers?” Banger demanded.

Rodney sneered. “Yeah, maybe.”

“And you didn’t fucking stop him?” Banger raged. “You just stood there in the shadows and let him do it?”

Rodney relaxed as he leaned against the doorway.

Then he shrugged. “Hell, I wasn’t looking to die.

That fucker was a crazy killer, didn’t you know?

I wasn’t sure what was happening. I was looking for that gold.

I figured I could listen then find out where he took it.

Then once he got his greedy little hands on it, I could get it for myself. Robbie never deserved it.”

“Neither did you.” Banger growled. “That gold belongs to my family, not you.”

Rodney brushed that statement away with barely a look.

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Then he looked around the room with a calculating expression on his face.

“I watched the night Robbie brought the gold here. He carried box after box into this house. I know the gold is here, but I’ve never found it.

I’ve been here looking and have never found where the little fucker put it in six years. It’s got to be here somewhere.”

Banger grabbed him by his shirt and snarled in his face. “You never found it because it was never yours to find, you Judas.”

Rodney grabbed his hand and removed it from his shirt.

Banger hissed as it was his bad hand that Rodney grabbed.

Finn snorted and told Rodney, “He thinks he’s been talking to Robbie. And I mean he was talking to him today.”

Rodney scowled. “Robbie is dead.”

Finn nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

Rodney stared at Finn for another minute. “And just what did Robbie have to say from beyond the grave?”

Finn shrugged, “How the hell would I know? I never heard him, only this idiot cussing and swearing at a dead man.”

Rodney turned his head slowly and stared at Banger.

Banger paced back and forth as he did n’t seem to even hear their conversation. Then he stopped pacing to listen carefully.

Rodney paused then he cocked his head slowly to watch Banger. And just like Finn, he didn’t hear anything but Banger talking to himself.

Banger snapped at them, “You two stay here.” He moved down the hallway into the darkness. “Where are you? You fucking little shit.” He paused and looked around. “Well?”

“Cassie knows where the gold is,” the voice told him.

“I ain’t going anywhere near that little bitch.” Banger growled. “She’s dangerous. Her and Peaches are off limits.”

Robbie went quiet for a long minute then he suggested, “Then just take another woman from there. There’s a small house at the edge of the town.

On Peale Street. Like 212 or something. It’s close to the club but not that close.

One of the guys who lives there. So take his woman.

Cassie will come for her. She thinks the other women are vulnerable and not just Peaches.

So she’ll step up to protect them, then you can grab her and make her tell you what you want to know.

Easy peasy, for you anyway. For her? Not so much. ”

Banger grumbled, “Yeah, I can do that. Besides, she owes me now. I took a beating and lost my cycle because she couldn’t keep her word or follow instructions.” He then looked around wondering why Robbie’s ghost would even talk to him. “Why don’t you just tell me where it is?”

Evil laughter rippled off the walls.

“You lousy little pissant.” Banger growled.

“Maybe what you need is a map,” Robbie suggested.

“A map?” Banger asked him.

Robbie chuckled. “Yeah bozo, a map. Tell you what. Go back to Troy and ask Cassie to draw you a map. That little snit was so observant growing up in my mom’s house she could probably tell you where to look to find the gold, if it’s here at all.

She also figured out what Janelle was doing by the time she was seven.

When she left at ten, she knew what to take with her and where she could get it.

She knew everything Janelle was doing. Hell, she turned over evidence to Leon. Damn busybody.”