Page 87 of Strip Search

“Yeah, Zeke’s been trying to patch into the Rivs forever. He thought having Dee be an escort for them would get him in. But then she decided she liked working at a brothel instead. Don’t get me wrong, she still freelances—which is why Leonidas came by last night. Zeke would have done anything Leonidas said to become a full member of the Rivs. I watched the footage. You can see Zeke coming in with the gas cans in the confusion when the cops took you away. And it shows him torching your car as he left the building after closing time.

“That son of a bitch,” I said.

Movement caught my eye and I saw Grier shambling down the sidewalk toward us. He was in his homeless person disguise. No one even blinked at him.

“Why are you telling me this? I thought you and Leonidas had a deal.”

“We did. I sold his drugs and he’d leave my baby sister alone.”

“Did you tell him about Jackie?”

Ginny looked away. “Yeah. I didn’t think he’d go psycho.”

“Are you willing to tell the police what you know? It’s the only way to keep him away from your sister for good.”

She shook her head. “He’ll come after her if I take the witness stand. You don’t need me. You’ve got the evidence. Zeke will turn over on Leonidas.”

“Not if he wants to be a loyal gang member,” I said. “He’ll go to jail first.”

“Oh, Miles.” Ginny reached up and rubbed my cheek affectionately. “Not everyone is like you. There’s a reason Zeke has been only a pledge of the Rivs for most of his life. He’s a weasel.” She stood up on her tiptoes and tried to kiss me on the lips. I turned my head just in time and she got my cheek. “We could have been good together. You would have protected my sister.”

“You should have come to me.”

“You should have come tome, but you were never interested. I hope Jackie appreciates what she’s got.” With a sigh, Ginny walked away.

Jackie was safe in New York and that was all that mattered. That’s what her sister Lisa had said when I hauled ass to Carson City yesterday. I was caught between being relieved and being gutted. She was the one person I needed to speak to. If I couldn’t hold her in my arms, I just wanted to hear her voice.

I would have called her, but my phone was dead, and the cord was ash under my feet. It was on my list to get another one, but I had to figure out where the hell I was going to live in the meantime.

Grier came up to me next. “I’m sorry about the club and for the bullshit arrest Saturday night. We’re looking into why you couldn’t get bonded out right away. I’m not the type of guy that says, ‘Heads will roll,’ but it’s someone’s ass, that’s for damn sure. All I can say is Leonidas didn’t torch your place. He was in Pahrump.”

I was pissed, but I knew there was only so much Grier could have done. Shielding my actions from the security camerasthat were still operational on this street, I passed him the CD. “Dalton’s missing security tape. My waiter Zeke did it on Leonidas’s orders.”

I told him what Ginny had told me and he sped away to act on the new information. Hopefully, he’d get a warrant out on both Leonidas and Zeke. With my wire conversation and this new evidence, I had a feeling that the Rivs were going to lose a lot of power.

“You’ve got nothing to worry about. The assault charges against you will be dropped and Leonidas and his boys won’t be around to bother you once the district attorney gets ahold of them.”

I hadn’t been concerned about the assault charges. I had a good lawyer. As for Leonidas and the Rivs, well I guess that depended on how good their lawyer was.

“Go get ‘em,” I said and turned away to look at the ruins of my bar again. When Grier had left the area, I closed my eyes. “I did it,” I said, wondering if Uncle Johnny was listening.

Sitting down on a pile of rubble, I poked through the twisted metal hoping to find something that had survived. I wasn’t sure how long I sat there, but it was getting dark. I needed to get my head out of my ass and get a hotel room for the night. My back popped as I stretched. A car skidded to a stop and I immediately tensed for a fight. If they had a gun, I was toast, but if they only had knives, I was looking forward to getting out some aggression.

“Miles,” Jackie said, coming around the car and running over to me.

I met her halfway and hauled her up and out of the wreckage. “Are you out of your mind? I told you it wasn’t safe here. Get in the car.”

Once we were driving away from Dalton’s, I didn’t know whether to yell at her or kiss her.

“Don’t you yell at me about safe,” she said. “You didn’t tell me that you were a target too.”

“Arrogance,” I said. Grabbing her hand, I put it up to my mouth. “I’m glad you didn’t go home.”

“Actually, I did. And then Darcy told me what happened, and I came back.”

“Your jet lag must have jet lag,” I said.

“I’m running on energy drinks and sugar. We’re going to have our week together, even if we have to leave the state to do it.”

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