CHAPTER 27
FURY
“This is my brother, Ryder,” I said, introducing him to Bodhi. “Ryder, this is Mr. Green.”
“Call me Bodhi,” he said, shaking Ryder’s hand.
“Nice to meet you, Bodhi,” Ryder said.
“Fury tells me you’re here to install the cameras.”
“That’s correct. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours.”
“Thanks,” Bodhi said. “I have a few meetings this afternoon. So take whatever time you need. Fury, I’d like to have you look over the footage each day, and report back to me if you see anything.”
“Will do,” I said.
“I’ll get started and leave you two alone,” Ryder said, nodding at us and walking out of Bodhi’s office. I turned to Bodhi and tried to smile.
“Anything else I can do for you today, sir?”
“I’d like you to head over to Will’s estate and check it out, if you haven’t already.”
“I can do that,” I nodded. “You said he had a break-in there as well?”
“Yes, apparently so.”
“Alright. Anything else?”
“Not right now, I’ll let you know. I’m still waiting for my attorneys in New York to get back to me. This thing is taking way too long. And time is money, you know?”
“Certainly.”
“I’m tempted to just call the entire project off. If I change the agreements I have with the businesses in town here, I might be able to make up the difference.”
“What agreements are those?”
“Kick-backs, to put it bluntly. Each business pays me a percentage of their earnings each month.”
I didn’t say anything, but that sounded a hell of a lot like extortion to me. I merely nodded, my belief in Green’s corruption growing. From what I could tell, none of these individual business owners were getting wealthy from this small-town’s patronage, and Green wanted to squeeze them even tighter to make up for his bad business dealings. What a fucking guy.
“And they all pay?”
“They do.”
“Has anyone ever pushed back about it?” I wondered aloud.
“A few. But they learn how big a mistake that is pretty quickly.”
“How so?”
“Because I make sure nobody frequents their place of business. Kind of hard to push back against the status-quo if nobody is giving you their money.”
I nodded slowly, taking it all in.
“Do you think anyone here in town might be disgruntled enough to be breaking into your office and home? Any beefs with anyone here?”
“Not that I know of, but I’m sure I’ve made a few enemies along the way. Things are pretty smooth here, though, nobody’s come up against me in years.”
“Sometimes people hold grudges for a long time.”
“I suppose.”
“You said that you think the people from New York might be breaking in to dig up dirt. Is there any dirt to dig up?”
His laughter boomed through the room.
“Not too much. But doesn’t everyone have a little dirt hiding away?”
“Not everyone. What’s yours?”
He paused before answering, staring me down for a minute, or sizing me up, I’m not sure which.
“Well, digging up dirt on me isn’t your job, Fury. Just find out who’s breaking in and let me know. I can deal with them myself.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it. With those cameras in place, it should be pretty easy.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“In the meantime, I’ll head over to Will’s place. Is he expecting me?”
“I’ll call him and let him know. His wife should be home.”
“Thank you, sir,” I said, standing to walk out.
“Fury?”
I turned back, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes?”
“I’m glad you’re here. You’re young and strong and smart. I always wanted a son, but I ended up with a useless daughter. You’re the kind of guy I’d want my son to grow up to be.”
“That’s quite a compliment, sir, thank you.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“See you soon, sir,” I said, walking back outside to where Ryder was busy at work.
“How’s it going?”
“Shouldn’t take too long. I put these up at the clubhouse a few years ago. Really simple job.”
“Good.”
“Ain’t it funny, though?”
“What?” I asked.
“How Green can seem like such a nice, stand-up guy. It was real difficult for me not to punch his perfect teeth out of his head, knowing what I know.”
“Welcome to my world, brother.”
“Keep cool. We’ll get there.”
“I gotta trust that fact. Otherwise, he’d be dead by now. Ain’t no excuse for hurting a child. I met her last night, actually. Super sweet girl. Such sad eyes, though.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, shaking his head. “We’re going to need a lot of restraint for this one.”
“So far, so good.”
“Yeah, brother, I guess. Keep your chin up. Everything will work out.”
“Any news from Riot?”
“Right now, he’s trying to untangle the blood lines in this town. Seems like everyone’s somehow related to everyone else.”
“Lot of loyalty to this fucker.”
“Yeah.”
“Well, hopefully we can shine some light on the true state of affairs before it gets worse. I’m headed over to Will’s house right now. Let me know when you’re done here, and I’ll meet you at Green’s house to finish the job.”
“Will do, brother.”
I jumped on my bike and headed across town, ignoring all the looks that I was still receiving every time I showed my face on the streets. For such a curious lot, not a one of these people seemed to question why poor little Molly was in a fucking cast and constantly being injured.
“Just a bunch of fucking sheep,” I muttered, as I wound my way up Will’s driveway. “Following Green right off the cliff.”