Trey

Following an emotional reunion at Trump Tower, Anthony, Mandy and I are anxious to get any additional details from Becky and Aileen that can help us. Aileen was as close to Bill as anyone and Becky overheard parts of his conversation with Tommy the day before. Hopefully, having everyone together in one room will bring some new facts to light.

“Did you talk to Bill yesterday afternoon?” Anthony asks Aileen as we all settle into the couches and recliners in Dad’s living room.

“No. I called him about four o’clock, but…” She chokes up and waves her hand in front of her face trying to suppress her tears. “It was too late,” she whimpers.

“I wish I knew what they were arguing about,” Becky adds, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “Bill was so upset when he left.”

“He had been upset for the past few days,” Bill’s wife Joanna says solemnly. “He kept stewing over Victor and Tyler. They were the only two who knew about the accounting problems at Tommy’s companies and suddenly they both were…” She stops short and pushes her face into her hands. “And now he’s gone too.”

My phone buzzes, so I pull it from my pocket. It’s a text message from Carly saying: I’m headed to Belize to shut everything down. I click on her number and try to call her back, but again it goes right to voice mail.

“Carly says she is trying to stop what is going on,” I tell Anthony along with everyone else. “I find it hard to believe she was in charge of this whole thing. That doesn’t make any sense. Why would she kill Dad?” I think back to the conversation with Chester regarding Dad’s prenuptial agreement.

“Maybe their relationship was on the rocks,” Anthony speculates.

“Honestly, I think she was having an affair with Tommy,” Aileen whispers loudly holding her hand up to the side of her mouth as if she’s gossiping in school or something. Her eyes light up as she continues, “I could tell by the way they would look at each other. It was totally obvious that something was going on between them.”

“My cousin, Chester, who was one of Dad’s lawyers told me that Dad no longer trusted her,” I tell Anthony and the others. “But he never told him why.”

“It usually has something to do with money or cheating,” Anthony says nodding his head and jotting it down on his notepad.

“I’m starting to think it was probably both,” I reply, thinking out loud. “Is Tommy in the office today?” I ask Becky, thinking maybe we should pay him another visit.

“I assume so,” she replies, “but I had to leave my phone behind, so I haven’t heard from him. He was planning on being in today.”

I click on my recent calls and tap his phone number. “Trey?” he asks, sounding surprised to hear from me. “Where are you?”

“I’m at Dad’s place,” I tell him, since he most likely already knows the location of my cell phone since Romeo has been carrying it. “I want to stop up and talk to you about something.”

“Is it something that we can discuss over the phone?” he asks, sounding distracted. There is a lot paper shuffling going on in the background and I hear the distinct sound of a paper shredder at work.

“No. I want to talk with you about Bill and Carly,” I tell him bluntly. “I think it would be best if we talked in person, don’t you?”

“That’s fine. I have an open slot at eleven, does that work for you?”

“That works great, I’ll see you in a few.” I click the end button and shoot Anthony a reserved smile. “He was cool as a cucumber yesterday, I want to see if that has changed. There is something going on at the office. It sounded like he was shredding documents or something.”

“His files from Firefly Media were dropped off yesterday,” Becky, informs us with raised eyebrows. “Today he has the office to himself, so it would be a good day to do some shredding.”

I think about the fact that he made absolutely no effort to conceal the fact that he was shredding documents. I’m starting to believe that Tommy is one of those guys who takes pleasure in flaunting the fact that he is getting away with something. That’s why I want to meet with him in person to see if he will slip up and tell us something we can use. Or at least I can pick up some cues from changes in his general demeanor.

“All right, Crusher and Gator just got off a helicopter at LaGuardia.” Anthony says with a broad smile. “I’m going to have Crusher join us for the visit with Tommy. You won’t believe the size of this fuckin’ dude.” He holds up a picture of him on his phone.

“Holy shit! He looks like the Incredible Hulk minus the green skin,” Mandy blurts out.

“You nailed it!” Anthony laughs and turns his phone to show the others. “He’s just that scary when he gets mad too. No one wants to mess with him.”

“I definitely want Tommy to meet him,” I tell him, smiling at the thought of it. “Is it okay if I introduce you guys as our personal bodyguards?”

“That’s what we are here for,” Anthony says, heading toward the door. “Might as well let him know that you two are well protected.” When we reach the common area, Romeo and Jules are waiting for further instructions. “Crusher and Gator are already on their way to Addison Media,” Anthony tells them. “Gator will replace Bolt up at the hospital shortly and after we are done meeting with Tommy Fowler, Crusher will come back here to replace the two of you. All three of you can crash here if you want or there are plenty of extra bedrooms.”

“Yeah, Vanessa’s parents are in South Africa so you can use any of the bedrooms except for the master. Vanessa is using that one,” I tell them. “Make yourselves at home. If you get hungry just call down to the café or grille and order whatever you want. Everything is good and just tell them you are in the penthouse. I’ll leave a tab open for you.”

“You’ll probably regret that statement!” Romeo laughs and shoots Anthony a look.

“Hey, you keep us safe and you can eat as much as you want,” I assure him. “The prices are actually pretty reasonable around here, considering it’s New York City.”

“Alright. I’m ready for a pizza,” Romeo says with a chuckle. “Those breakfast sandwiches didn’t make much of a dent.”

“Go for it,” Anthony shoots back. “Just make sure you stay alert until Crusher gets here.”

“Sharp as a tack,” he replies, instantly crossing his arms and pulling his guns from their holsters. “Still the quickest draw east of the Mississippi.”

“Yeah, you are.” Anthony closes his eyes and shakes his head, laughing to himself. “We’re out of here. Mandy and Trey are with me, so you keep everyone else here. No one leaves for now,” he instructs firmly.

“You got it boss. No one in or out,” he replies with a salute.

It’s obvious these guys have been together a long time. They have a relaxed attitude toward each other, but at the same time it’s clear that everyone knows their roles and gets the job done with great efficiency. I can’t wait to see them in action.

Mandy

While Trey stops at the café to give them his credit card number, I get a chance to talk to Anthony for a few minutes. I’m fascinated by what they do and am eager to learn as much about them as possible over the next few days.

“How do you guys find your missions?” I ask first, anxious to know if everything just comes to them through word of mouth.

“The missions just keep finding us. We haven’t had a quiet week in years,” he says, “Why?”

“People like Tommy are the reason I went to law school,” I tell him. “Working at the SEC isn’t very exciting though, its ninety percent paper pushing.” I can’t help thinking there has to be a way for me to do something similar, but with a little excitement mixed in. “Maybe I could become a private investigator.”

“You could, but that takes a lot of time if you want to be licensed in this city.” Anthony smirks. “We could use someone who would keep us from operating too far beyond the gray area and organize things for us.”

“In other words, I would have to brush up on the privacy and trespass laws?” I ask, figuring that’s where they most likely run into issues. The covert nature of their team opens them up to those types of problems.

“Yeah, Crusher and Romeo were charged with felony trespass last year for breaking into a home where a drug dealer had been holding a woman hostage,” he begins to explain. “Since he had moved the victim to one of his warehouses, he actually pressed charges against my boys and they didn’t have a leg to stand on.”

“It was a felony because they were armed?” I speculate.

“Exactly. They both have conceal and carry permits, but if you enter someone else’s property while armed…” He pauses. “Well, you know it’s not good.”

“So you had to call in a favor or two to get them off?” I ask, giving him a grin.

“Yeah, I used up quite a bit of capital getting them off,” he scoffs. “We had a dirty cop working for the other side, so it was a real mess. We eventually got the hostage back, but no one ever did any time.”

“That sucks!” I exclaim, thinking about how that would’ve felt from the hostage’s point of view. “So he got away with kidnapping her?”

“Yeah, and we couldn’t do a damn thing about it. He hadn’t directly participated in the crime, so some flunky will spend a few years behind bars while he continues to wreak havoc on society,” he says with a steely look in his eyes. “But we got our client’s daughter back and that was the mission we were hired to do.”

“Wouldn’t it be great to just be able to shoot those dirty fuckers and eliminate them?” I blurt out, not really realizing how many people were within earshot.

“Easy there tiger!” He laughs and puts an arm around me, pulling me into his side. “I kinda like how feisty you are.”

“What is she up to now?” Trey asks, coming up along side us.

“Oh, she was just talking about how nice it would be if we could just blow away the criminals,” Anthony tells him with a chuckle.

I close my eyes and shake my head, feeling the warmth spreading across my cheeks. “I wasn’t really serious, it’s just so frustrating when people continue to get away with shit.”

“But I think it’s okay to have a process that we go through to make sure someone is actually guilty first,” Trey says with a serious look on his face. “Otherwise, you have someone saying, I thought he was guilty. It’s hard to take back murdering someone.”

“I agree,” I tell them both. “Now let’s go, legally, kick Tommy’s ass.”

“I told you she was feisty,” Trey tells Anthony while we both climb into the back of the SUV. “I think that’s what attracted me most.”

“Yeah, right. You were attracted the moment you laid eyes on me,” I reply with a stern glare. “And it had nothing to do with how feisty I was.”

Trey just shakes his head instead of replying. He slips his arm around me and leans in giving me a quick kiss. I love to see that glimmer in his eyes. I’m glad he appreciates my sense of humor. Most people aren’t quite sure how to take it when I give them shit.