“Dude, what the fuck?” I ask.
Andrew just shrugs at me. “I figured it’s what got us all here in the first place.”
“Well… I can see I joined a sane and totally not out-of-the-ordinary family,” Uriel says as he walks in.
Lucifer laughs loudly then shakes his head at us all. “Children, put the toys away.”
He loves it though, I know it. He may love each and every one of us, but deep down he’s wondering which finger will accidentally pull first.
As the guns are all put back in their places, Uriel looks at me and shakes his head. “What did your dick do this time?”
“I got a vasectomy in Kuwait,” I say with a smirk.
“Figures. You go with Doctor Al Mutairi?” he asks.
I nod. “Yup, best one out there.”
“Simon, see if this simpleton really did get a vasectomy,” Lucifer says with a growl.
Raising my hands, I say, “Anyway, back to this world.”
Raising one pale eyebrow at me, Lucifer sighs and says, “Agreed. For now.”
“Good, now that the bum-fuckery is over with…” Simon sighs loudly as he gives me a pointed look. “We need to discuss the issue with the police department.”
“TO Dickers, Trent Morrison and his father,” I say, ticking the names off my fingers.
I count down three, leaving the middle one up for Simon.
And by god, I swear his thin lips fucking crack the briefest of smiles before he shakes his head. “I have a list of men that were trained under Dickers. Most moved on to different precincts or different departments…”
“How many dropped or quit during or after their time with him?” I ask, interrupting Simon.
Rolling his eyes, Simon taps on his keyboard for a few moments then stares intently at his screen.
“How many of them can be accounted for if they quit or were cut with him as their TO?” Uriel asks and looks over at me.
“That’s a good question. How many went to something different, like becoming a teacher, and how many went on to something less legal?” I ask.
“Give me a few moments,” Simon says as he starts typing rapidly.
“What are you thinking, James?” Lucifer asks, his eyes staring intently at me.
He’s trying to read my mind again, I can feel it. Well, not really read it, but he’s trying to see inside my head. Like it or not, I really am a bastard. Because he’s king, he will never fully trust or believe that I have nothing to gain from his death.
“I want to know how many fuckers went full on criminal. And how many died from unknown causes or suicide. Like you know… shooting themselves five times in the head,” I explain.
“What about the guys who went way off the reservation?” Uriel says to Lucifer.
“Militias, mobs, gangs, and criminal records,” I add.
“You’re thinking that just because they couldn’t hack it as a cop, they didn’t flip to the opposite side of the coin,” John says.
“I’m betting all those dirty little things in the department memos that couldn’t be swept under the rug could easily be ins with the Russians, the Irish, and the Italians,” I say and look over at Simon doing his work.
As if he can sense me staring at him, Simon says, “James and Uriel have hit something, but this kind of information isn’t going to come quick or easy. I’ll have a more detailed picture tomorrow. But, suffice to say, there’s an issue it seems with the men who spoke a little too loudly about Dickers. Deaths, threats, transfers… They’re all there.”
Leaning back in his chair, Lucifer frowns before asking, “What’s our exposure on this?”
Simon looks up from his laptop at that. He looks at every single one of us for a long moment before he sighs loudly.
Reaching up and pinching the bridge of his nose, he closes his eyes, “As of right now? About thirty percent. The biggest problem was Cronin being shot in broad daylight. We were supposed to keep such activities from happening in Garden City. In truth, most of this links back to the kidnappings outside of Johnathan’s bar.”
Jonathan growls loudly. “Hey, it isn’t like I wanted that shit to happen.”
Simon amends himself. “Not that it wouldn’t have happened regardless of him owning it. We were able to keep it out of the press and the official channels. And we got three of the four back. Two are now married to the family.”
Lucifer peers intently at me and I roll my eyes. Then I flip Johnathan the bird when I hear him snicker.
“Yeah, two of them,” I reluctantly agree. “But that new marriage is being put on hold until we’re able to sort some of this shit out.”
“It would look better if we tied you to her sooner rather than later,” Simon says. “At least to those who are watching us. We need to make sure they know we have still have ties to the department.”