“Okay, I think we know who to start with now,” D said as he closed the last of the books we had just finished combing through. It was the same name on every entry that tied to a fake job application like my father’s.
“Seems so,” Simon said with a dark scowl. “The question is whether he is the top or just a bottom feeder.”
“That’s what we are going to have to figure out. If we take him out and there is someone above him, we tip their hand and shoot ourselves in the foot.”
“More like in the back,” Simon added.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked.
“Good question, Janessa. We have to come up with a way to flush out the guilty parties. We’ll have to do a little bit of recon. At least we now know where to start,” D told me.
“I think you should just let me have a few hours with the bastard. I’ll get you all the information you want from the little shyte.”
“Believe me, Simon, I’d love to get my hands on the little bastard too, but I just can’t afford to risk him not talking. I have a hard time believing he’s the top of the food chain. He’s always been a follower.”
“Aye. He followed the wrong mate this time though.”
“That he did.”
“Do you think he’s the one who took out Ringo and Jack Knife?”
“That’s my guess. Ringo, Jack Knife, your father and all of the others they loaned money to, but the question is why he would have been told to do that. Perhaps Jack Knife was getting too close and Ringo was just too much of a loose cannon, but the ones who were loaned money would have posed no threat that I can see. From their perspective, they asked the club for a loan, got one, and then paid it back. Business concluded.”
“Unless one of them somehow figured out that the money wasn’t going back into the club.”
D and Simon looked at me as if it had never occurred to them that someone from the outside might have been able to breach their brotherhood and find out information that revealed something even they hadn’t been aware of. It was obviously an unsettling idea for them, but it didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
“I guess anything is possible at this point. Let’s go home and we’ll finish sorting all of this out in the morning.”
“Sounds good to me. I’m completely knackered and bloody cross-eyed from looking at those books,” Simon added.
The three of us parted ways, D taking me back to his house where I had been staying since it had become obvious that something wasn’t right, and I might be in danger in my own house. Tucked into bed, I cradled my head in his arm and stroked my fingers idly across his chest. I could tell he was still very tense.
“Put me back out on the floor, D.”
“No.”
“It’s the smart thing to do. Tell me who to talk to and let me be your eyes and ears.”
“It might put you in danger. You know what happened with Ringo.”
“That was different. Ringo couldn’t take no for an answer. It wasn’t about me knowing anything or asking questions, it was about being refused.”
“Do you think he is the only one here like that?”
“D, you need my help. I can find out things that you can’t. The moment you ask, people are up in arms, but I’m new, don’t know any better, they’ll think.”
“I won’t risk you, Janessa.”
“You’ll be right there. So will Simon. As long as I’m in the casino and stay within sight, I will be fine.”
“No.”
I sighed and lay my head back down on his shoulder, eventually drifting off to sleep in his arms. I awoke early the next morning to find him up, standing at the window and looking out.
“What are you doing up?”
“I couldn’t sleep. I’m just eaten up with all of this happening right under my nose and not even having realized it.”
I watched as his hand drifted to the tattoo of the dollar sign on his chest and rubbed it with two fingers. It wasn’t the first time I had seen him do it, and I suddenly realized that perhaps that tattoo wasn’t as trite as I had once thought. Perhaps there was a much more significant meaning behind it than I had considered, but I wouldn’t ask. It was something he would tell me if he felt I needed to know.
“How could you have known?”
“Usually, when something like this goes down in an organization, there are signs or slip ups. You see things going oddly, or they ask someone they shouldn’t to join up and that person rats on them.”
“That makes sense. It sounds like perhaps it is something that was developed by a small group that hasn’t reached out to others yet.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. So, I need to watch and see who clusters with our little friend who we’ll be keeping an eye on.”
“Makes sense.”
“I’m going to put you back out on the floor, but you’ll not be serving tables. You’ll just be out there as my girl. No one will touch you.”
“Are you sure that is such a good idea to affiliate me with you so closely?”
“I don’t care if it is a good idea or not. It’s the only way I’m willing to let you mingle among people. If they know you are off limits but trusted by me, you’ll be safer asking questions.”
“I guess it will have to do.”
“It will.”