Page 21 of Hart of Darkness
“Aw, my brother is blushing.”
I flipped him off. “She’s a crime reporter for theBoston Eagle,and she’s working on a story. She believes that the Black Knights have a stronghold on sex trafficking.”
The light in his eyes snuffed out in a matter of seconds. He gave the guard a cursory glance before he leaned over the scratched table. “That gang is badass motherfuckers that you don’t want to get involved with. I mean, they wouldn’t think twice about ripping your insides out if you even breathe in their direction.”
The word gang held fear for most of the general population, but not anyone who had been in one, or so I’d thought. Denim was visibly shaken at the mere mention of the gang’s name.
“Did you have a run-in with them?” I couldn’t help but ask. Normally, he wasn’t fearful of much, at least he hadn’t been when we were causing all kinds of trouble as kids.
“I would love to get my hands on one of them and tear off his head, but I suggest you stay away from them. You’ve got things in your life where you want them. So don’t go poking the bear.”
I slapped a hand over my heart. “You care.” I seriously was touched. As brothers, we’d grown apart after I left for the merchant marines. “I’m trying to help Maggie out. She believes the dude who gave her that scar on her neck is with the Black Knights.”
He shook his head, his expression still cautionary. “Revenge will get her killed, and maybe you too.”
“I only want to find Grace or find out what happened to her, and Maggie might be able to help me. Aside from that, think for a minute if Grace ended up in a sex-trafficking ring and was sold to some fat fuck.”
He winced as he clenched his fist. “Are you saying the Black Knights could be responsible for Grace’s disappearance?”
I shrugged. “Not at all.” I prayed not. I didn’t know much about what the Black Knights were into or if what Maggie believed about them held any truth. “Look, you told me the last time I was here that the Black Knights ruled E block. So can you put feelers out and find out what the gang is up to and who runs the show?”
His lips formed a thin line. “I’m not in E block, but for Grace, I’ll see what I can dig up.”
He loved our sister as much as me. I knew Duke did too, though Duke had a funny way of showing it.
“You blame yourself for Grace taking off, don’t you?” Denim asked. “I do too, brother. I do too. I’m really sorry that I didn’t pay more attention before I got busted.”
All of us had had our own way of dealing with our father. Duke had never been home, and when he was, he’d hidden in his room in the basement. Denim and I had hidden in the treehouse in the backyard. As drunk as our old man had gotten, he couldn’t climb up the ladder without falling, and he’d tried several times.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. That was the first time I’d heard Denim apologize. “I do blame myself.”
“Bro, I need to get out of here. I may look like I’m happy-go-lucky, but this place is killing me inside.” He pounded his chest with his fist. “I want to help you find Grace. More importantly, I want to find the fucker who set me up.”
It was possible that someone had set up Denim to take the fall. If so, the million-dollar question was who? The other elephant in the room was why? He had to have royally pissed off someone who had the skill and smarts to do that. “The cops found the gun used to kill that gang member in your backpack.”
“It wasn’t mine,” he said despondently.
I blew out a breath. “Denim, look. I’ll talk to Kelton. He does work for a law firm that has lawyers who can take a look at your case.”
He opened his mouth.
I held up my hand. “I’m not promising anything. Now, how long will it take you to do some detective work?”
“Bro,” Denim said. “Maybe you should check with Duke. Our brother knows the streets and has connections. He might have more insight about the Black Knights.”
“I plan to when I know I won’t send him through a wall. Of all people, he should’ve been turning over every stone to find Grace. Lord knows he’s had the men to do it.” Why Duke wouldn’t put his money and resources into searching for his sister still befuddled me.
The guard cleared his throat. “Time’s up.”
Denim sneered. “Give me a second, please.”
The squat, bald man didn’t move from the door.
“Duke did look for Grace. He even beat the shit out of our old man to see what he did to send Grace over the edge. Which, as you know, was his drunken ass and verbal abuse.”
That might have been true, but Duke had led me to believe that he didn’t care about Grace anymore, nor had he shown any signs of remorse or sadness.
Denim pushed back his chair. “Give me until Friday to see what I can find out.”
Friday was three days away. “Why that long?”
“My block and E block are in the yard together on Thursday.” Worry flashed in his eyes.
I got the feeling that what he was about to do was dangerous, but he was a big, tough boy who could handle himself.
In the meantime, I needed to talk to Nadine, call Kelton, talk to Manny over at the men’s shelter to see how Norton was doing, and see if Maggie had had any luck finding something useful in her files.
