Page 27 of Property of Woods

“Yeah.Sure.Whatever.”He’s another member of the I Hate Faye Fanclub.

Maybe I should start handing out membership cards and sell t-shirts.

“What crawled up your ass, man?Did Madz kick you out of her bed?”I give him another chance to come clean with me.

“That’s not a thing anymore.”

“Since when?”

He shrugs.“Since before the rally.Why don’t you go see your wife at B& S, drop the money off at the office for when Low is back, and I’ll take the supply drop to the kitchen?”

“All right.”I take the money bags from him and give him the keys to the cargo van.“It’s loaded up at the warehouse.Take Cash and Shaggy with you.”

“You expecting trouble?”

“Never can be too careful.Church later.Catfish, you’re with me, man.”

Back in my truck, I stuff extra five-, ten-, and twenty-dollar bills into the money bags to wash some of our money.The key is staying under radar.Keeping consistent.Not drawing attention to ourselves with extravagant purchases.We live within our means and give back to the town.Just your friendly neighborhood drug dealers, except we don’t sell in Devil’s Creek.

People around here know who we are and what we do.They look the other way because we’re the devil they know.They don’t fuck with us.They know better, but that doesn’t mean that from time to time some dumb motherfucker doesn’t try some stupid shit.

And when they do, we make them wish they’d never attempted to fuck with the KOAMC.

Last guy to try it took five across the eyes from my brother and his brass knuckles.The charge got Dirty five years.He’s been in for three.I’m about due to visit him.He should have a shot at parole coming up.If he can keep his ass out of trouble and stop getting into petty fights.We pay a pretty fucking penny for his protection and have a couple of guards who do us some favors for the right price.

“You been to see my brother lately?”I ask Catfish.The two of them used to be thick as thieves but then Dirty fucked this bitch he was into and shit was never the same between them after that.

“Not in a while.Why do you ask?”

“He usually calls on Sundays.Didn’t get a call this week.”I move to the next stall of the carwash, dumping the coins from the sprayer into the designated money bag.

“You know Dirty, man.Fucker probably got in a fight and put in the damn hole.”He shakes his head and changes out the bags for the garbage cans.“Fuck.”

“What?”

“We’ve got a problem.There’s a finger in this one.”

“Shit.Don’t touch anything else.Let’s check the cameras.”We don’t have them in every stall, but we can see who comes in and out of the lot.We’re used to seeing used condoms and dirty panties but I don’t think we’ve ever had body parts in our trash before.I know it isn’t any of my guys.They wouldn’t be that fucking stupid.

I unlock the maintenance shed and roll back through the footage of the past week or so, looking for anything suspicious.Perfect fucking timing that the day after I bring a chick on the run from the cartel home with me, that a goddamned finger shows up in the garbage of one of our businesses.Could be a coincidence but I don’t believe in them.

“What are you thinking?”Catfish questions.

“I’m not sure.”I scrub a palm over my face.“Did it look male or female?”

“Hell, I dunno.I saw fucking finger with maggots squiggling around on it.”

At least that tells me it can’t be related to Jessika.“Call it in and wait for Fletcher to show.If he gives you a hard time, call me.”

“What do I say when I call?”

“Call the non-emergency line and tell them you saw a fucking finger in the garbage.”

“Where are you gonna be?”

I grin and clamp him on the shoulder.“I’m going to see my ol’ lady.Have fun playing detective with Fletcher.”I chuckle and he flips me the bird.“Maybe he’ll let you turn on the sirens.”

“Fuck you.”

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