Crash shook his head. “There’s nothing you can do, Cole. It is what it is.”
Mack walked up, a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other. His eyes took in Crash, and then moved to Cole. “Who’s paying the visit to Artie tonight?”
“Me,” Cole and Crash both replied simultaneously.
Mack and Cole both looked over at Crash. Mack took a puff on his cigar. “Yeah, okay.” He walked away.
Cole turned to Crash. “Crash, I got this tonight. Why don’t you head home and-”
“Cole, I need this. I need to do something other than go home to that empty loft.”
Cole studied him and nodded. “Okay, brother. But I need you sober.” He looked at the bottle to emphasize his point.
Crash pushed it away. “All right.”
Cole stood and hit him lightly in the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get some coffee.”
*****
Artie Gorman was in the gravel parking lot behind The Queen of Hearts. He finished loading a couple of boxes into the trunk of his Cadillac and straightened, slamming it shut. “Shit!” He jumped back startled to see the two men standing there in their Evil Dead cuts, grins on their faces.
“Hey,” Crash greeted him.
“Oh, hey,” Artie mumbled.
Crash glanced down at the vehicle. “Nice car.” Before Artie could respond, Crash grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed his face into the trunk.
*****
Shannon stood in her bedroom at the French doors that led to the second floor veranda overlooking the rear gardens. Turning, she looked over at her sister. “Shelby, I don’t need this right now. I’m done talking about it. I’m done thinking about it. I can’t do this anymore.”
“You need to do this. Look at you. You haven’t left the house since the funeral.” She strolled over to Shannon’s dresser and picked up one of the half dozen prescription bottles. “You’re not sleeping. You’re not eating. You’re back on all these damn pills again.”
“My father died!” Shannon screamed at her. “Can you get off my back?”
“My father died, too, Shannon.”
“Well, maybe I’m not as strong as you.”
“You were when you first came home. You were stronger than I’ve ever seen you. And it was because of him, wasn’t it?”
Shannon put her hand on the paned glass, pressing her forehead to its coolness. She wished to God she’d never shared her feelings with her sister. She wished she’d never confided in her how broken hearted she’d been when she found out Crash practically put the gun in their father’s hand. She’d broken down and confessed everything that had happened between them. She shook her head. And now her sister was going to throw it all back in her face. “Shelby, I don’t want to talk about this. I should have never told you anything.”
“Well, you need to talk about it. Someone has to talk some sense into you, because you’re being unreasonable. That man loved you. Everything he did was for you.”
“Shelby, you didn’t even know the man.”
“I know what you’ve told me. And I saw how much he cared for you the day he brought you home.”
“He told our father the best thing he could do for us was blow his brains out. That’s why he killed himself. How can I forgive that? How can you?”
“What a load of crap.”
“What do you mean?”
“Shannon, our father was being investigated by the SEC. That’s really why he killed himself. He was going to jail.”
Shannon frowned. “The Securities and Exchange Commission? How do you know that?”