“Luna. Are you Manuel’s boy?”
“Yes Sir I am.”
“Well I’ll be. This is Om. How is your father?”
“He is doing well Sir.”
“Good. Good. Tell him my bike is still a beauty.”
“Yes Sir. I will Sir. I am not calling on behalf of my father, however.”
“You don’t say? How can I help you young man?”
“I seem to have picked up a tail. I got the plate number before they sped off. I was wondering if you could tell me who it belongs to.”
“Is that it? Huh. That is easy. I thought you were going to give me something hard. Tell me the number.” I recite the plate number to him and he hums on the phone. There is about five minutes of silence and then it is broken by the sound of a baby crying. “Hold on a moment.” he puts the phone down but I hear a muffled conversation and then the silence is back. “Apologies. My wife Taryn and baby daughter walked in to pick me up.”
“My apologies Sir. I'm fine with you getting back to me.”
“Nonsense. Your father is a great man and a man of his word. If his boy is coming to me, I am going to take care of him.” He says nothing and then.. “Ah. Gotcha. Seems the car belongs to a Carl Ross.” Shit. That doesn’t help me. That is not the fathers name or bitchboy’s. “Does that mean anything to you?”
“Not a damn thing.” I am pissed that this is leading to a dead end.
“Maybe this will help. He is the brother of Conroy Ross.” Then the lights go off. Conroy is bitchboy’s father. So he must have borrowed his uncle's car hoping I wouldn't know it was him.
“That helps tremendously. Thank you Sir.”
“Don’t mention it. Is there anything else I can do for you before I sign out?” I didn’t intend to make my next request, but something has been niggling my mind and I know it is important to my girl.
“Actually Sir, I am looking for information on someone.”
“Friend or foe? I won’t bring trouble to the doorstep of Manuel’s boy.” Shit.
“Neither, Sir. My girl wants to know if she has more family out there somewhere. All we have to go with is her mother’s married name.”
“Oh that I can do but it may take a few weeks.”
“That is perfectly fine. The name is Agnes Abell. She is Married to a pastor John Abell.”
“That is plenty. I will get back to you. Anything else?”
“No sir. Thank you.”
“You are welcome. Don’t forget to tell your father what I said. Good night.”
That is what brings us here tonight. My plan all along was to hold onto all the information I had gathered, pictures, surveillance and such and not use them unless I was forced too. Well, this is force.
The thing is, I have more than this. Hell, I even have information on the Chief of Police I can use if I need too. Yeah. He has a nasty habit that goes up his nose. Ran across that by accident while I was picking up some wings for game night.
I rode up to Buffalo Wild Wings and had to piss like nobody’s business. I was walking to the bathroom which apparently is by the kitchen. Yep. Not going to touch that. Right as I was walking in, the kitchen door swung open and lo and behold there was the guy supposedly keeping us safe, putting it up his nostrils in his uniform no less. Luckily, he was too busy to notice he was exposed.
So, when the coast was clear, I grabbed my phone, opened the door slightly and got the money shot. You never know when this shit will come in handy.
This damn town has more skeletons than a graveyard. Buzz. “Yes Julie.” The mayor says into his intercom.
“They are here, Sir.” The mention of Evan and his father has my blood boiling. He has been a fucking thorn in my side since I started in this damn town and it has gotten worse the closer Imogen and I have become. Every fucking beatdown I give him only seems to fuel him more. Like he is piling them up for a big showdown. Yeah well this shit ends here.
“Show them in.” Mayor Cullum says. He sits behind his desk and straightens his gait. It is almost humorous how in charge he looks when the truth is he couldn’t be further from the authority in this room now. Hell, he is letting me use his office to deal with some trash and he doesn’t even know what is going on. If I wasn’t so hyped up right now I might be laughing.
“Mayor Cullum we were surprised to hear..” Evan’s father’s voice fades out when he sees my father and I are also seated in the room. “What the hell is going on?” His demeanor changes in a flash.