Page 78 of Chasing Justice
“If someone finds that body, so help me...”
“No, it’ll be fine.”
Carson stared at his son and then went back to contemplating which guns he would like to have with him. What gave him the best advantage against Lana? He had a nice selection that had increased from his earnings. His favorites were the assault rifles with the illegal thirty-round magazine. He also loved his Mossberg shotguns. His favorite handguns were the Sig Sauers, Glocks, and Berettas. He finally settled on the Sig P320.
Carson went over to the ammo supply. “See, the thing is,” he said, “I think you’ve half-assed everything you’ve been doing lately, like not burying Bobbi.”
Cody leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms.
“If you want to be a part of this business,” Carson continued, “even take it over someday, then I need you to step up and show me that. Lying to me is not a way of doing that. Tell me how you disposed of Bobbi since you didn’t bury her like I asked.”
Cody looked away and then back at his father. “I hid the body and figured wild animals would take care of it. No one will know.”
“Thanks for finally telling me the truth. We both know that at some point, despite your theory, someone will discover a bone or find the skull and that is when this will lead back to us.”
“Then maybe you should start cleaning up your own messes, Dad.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Cody stepped forward, and Carson saw anger cross his face. Good. The kid was finally growing a pair. “That means that when you shoot your pig girlfriend, then you should take care of it. Or have some other guy take care of it rather than let your son be the one who serves time. It means that you should have started your own business and never relied on Lana to help us out, and you should start treating Jenna and myself like the adults we are.”
“Then stop lying to me like a little kid and start manning up.”
“Fine,” Cody said. “Now let’s figure out how to get this Russian out of the way. I’ll send some of the guys to where I left Bobbi. They can take care of it. I want to be a part of this business and be treated as an equal.”
“Okay,” Carson said. “Then I have a couple more questions. And I need the truth.”
“Fine.” Cody unfolded his arms. “What do you need to know?”
“There’s some money missing that was meant to go to the Russians. About eighty thousand. They’re not happy, and rightfully so. While I don’t like them and I plan on them leaving the business soon, we owe them that money.”
“I don’t know anything about it. How and when did that happen?”
Carson grabbed a toothpick and started rolling it around in his mouth. This time he believed Cody. His son was easy to read. “Back with a delivery. We were supposed to give her a percentage of our cut. Lana had increased that percentage and wanted some money back.”
“That’s bullshit,” Cody said. “I didn’t know she increased the percentage.”
“I know, I know.” Carson held up his hands. “It’s one of the reasons I don’t want to do business with her anymore. She’s not honest. She doesn’t deserve to be in business with someone like us. But it doesn’t change the fact that we owed her the money. So I pulled some from our stash and sent it with one of our shipments a couple weeks ago. Someone had replaced the inner cash with twenties, so the outside had hundred-dollar bills and looked valid. Lana wants her money, and I don’t blame her. What do you know about this?”
Cody shrugged and said, “Nothing. Which one of our guys made that delivery?”
“I’ve already looked into that and I don’t think it was one of the delivery guys. I think it’s someone close to us.”
“You think I did that?”
Carson stepped up and cupped the back of Cody’s head. “I don’t think so, but I had to be sure. You see now why it’s so important to tell me the truth? I’d hate to think my own son was betraying me.”
“I love you, Dad. I would never betray you.”
“I’m glad to hear that, because there’s something else I need to know.”
“What? I’ll tell you anything.”
“Good,” Carson said. “Are you still using some of the product?”
Cody looked away, and Carson tightened his grip around Cody’s head. “Look at me.”
Cody’s eyes flickered back and then he stared at his boots.
