I called Benjy and had him come down to the Veils that evening before business picked up.

“Did you find out where her ex-boyfriend is, Lou?” he asked as soon as he walked through the door.

“I’m still working on it, kid. I’m close, just not quite there yet. But in the meantime, I had an idea: I think you should be around her when she’s not working here. Protecting her in case he shows up, you know?”

His eyes lit up like a pinball machine. “Oh – yeah. That’s a real good idea, Lou. Yeah, I think that’s a great idea.”

Yeah. I’ll bet you do.

“Jack’s gonna have a little talk with her, set her up at the Ridgeway in a motel room so her ex can’t find her. I want you with her in the same room makin’ sure she’s okay. You good with that?”

He about peed himself, he was so over the moon about it. “Yeah – sure, Lou, sure!”

“I also need you to listen in on her for me. She won’t tell me about this ex-boyfriend of hers because she knows I’d send you after him to kick his ass.”

“I would – I’d kick his ass so hard!” Benjy swore.

The only way you could kick his ass, kid, is ‘cause he don’t exist.

“I know – which is why she’s trying to protect him. She’s a little mixed up in the head about this guy. She knows he’s bad news, but… I think she still has some feelings for him. She might even try to call him again.”

The one nice thing about dealing with a dimwit is you can tell exactly what they’re thinking. Their emotions just play right over their face like a movie on a screen – and Benjy was showing me a full-on double feature of jealousy.

Perfect.

“I need you to listen in and tell me if she calls him and what she says, so I can try to track this fucker down.”

“Okay, Lou, okay,” he agreed, his face still scrunched up like a furious toddler’s.

“Great. Now, there’s one last thing we gotta talk about man to man. You know she has a coke problem, right?”

His face fell a little, and his voice turned defensive. “Lots of guys in the Midnight Riders do it, Lou – ”

I threw up my hands like it was a stickup. “Hey man, I’m not judgin’. I’ve been known to do a little toot now and again. I just want to make sure you’re cool with it, that’s all.”

He hemmed and hawed. “I mean, I wish she didn’t… but… you know… she’s a stripper. It’s a tough job…”

More like it’s tough to be a cokehead without any coke, which is why she strips in the first place, dumbass.

I didn’t tell him that, though. Instead, I laid the bullshit on reeeaal thick. “You hit the nail on the head, my man. Lots of stress. And she’s a hot chick – hot chicks like to party. No big deal.”

“Yeah, no big deal,” he said, though he didn’t sound entirely convinced.

“In fact, when you got somebody who’s addicted like that, it can be real dangerous if they get off the sauce too quick, you know?”

He looked confused. “Sauce?”

Jesus. “Cocaine, Benjy. If she goes off cocaine too fast, she could die.”

“Oh.” Now he looked worried. “Really?”

“Really. Which is why I need you to give her these.”

I pulled a couple of tiny baggies filled with white powder out of my jacket and slid them across the desk.

Peanut had gotten ‘em for me a couple hours earlier. Supposedly only stepped on once or twice with baking soda, so it was fairly premium shit for Richards.

Benjy stared at the baggies. “You… you think that’s a good idea, Lou?”

“I think it’s a very good idea, Benjy. This is basically like medicine for her. You don’t want her to die, do you?”

“No – no, I don’t!”

“Don’t tell Jack about it, then, because he and I don’t see exactly eye-to-eye on this… but I’m more worried about Venus’s health than he is.”

“Ali,” Benjy said.

“What?”

“Her name is Ali.”

“…right. Oh, and don’t tell her I gave these to you, either. Tell her it came from one of the other girls. Who likes to do blow with Ve– uh, Ali?”

“Jasmine, sometimes. And Cherry and – ”

“Tell her you stole it offa Jasmine. You saw it and you took it out of her bag.”

“But I didn’t!”

“I know you didn’t – just tell her that.”

He looked butt-hurt again. “I don’t like lyin’, Lou.”

“You didn’t mind lyin’ to her the other night when you crossed your fingers and then came and told me, did you?” I said accusingly.

He dropped his eyes to the floor, guilty as hell. “I was worried about her.”

“Well, I’m worried about her now. If it makes you feel better, just cross your fingers when you tell her where you got it. Okay?”

“Okay,” he said, relieved. “Even if I pinky swear?”

“Even if you pinky swear.”

Jesus Christ. Here I was talking to a halfwit about pinky swears and crossing fingers.

The things I had to do these days to keep the MC out of jail.

“Anyway, you go ahead and take those… go on.”

He reluctantly took the two bags and put them in his jacket.

“Good boy.” I smiled. “Let me know when she needs more medicine. I’ll get her whatever she needs.”

I’d get that bitch whatever she wanted, as long as I found out the truth about the DEA. It was annoying to have to go to these lengths, yeah… but that was business in the age of Jack Pollari.

Fuck it. It wouldn’t be too long before I’d put her in the ground.