Page 87 of The Woman in the Hollow
“Moody as fuck for someone who got his life force squeezed out last night,” Dom said with a smirk.
“Fucking mystery why no woman wants to lock you down with a charming mouth like that.”
Dom ignored the jab.
“Big Ed’s place was cleaned out.”
My head snapped up.
“Cleaned out?”
“Just the curtains on the walls and a half-full trash can left.”
“Did he move and we just didn’t know?”
“Same question I asked myself. So I dragged the super out of bed. Big, angry guy. From what he knows, the apartment was still supposed to be occupied. Rent’s paid up. Even had a request to get the spare bathroom shower drain snaked.”
“Huh. Does it look like it was professionally cleaned out?”
“I dunno. It’s possible. It felt more careful than that. Why would a pro clean out furniture? Ain’t like there’s gonna be evidence on the coffee table or in the lamps.”
“True,” I agreed. “So, we’re assuming he moved. But he didn’t say shit about moving. Again, possible. But unlikely. Ed was a talker.”
“Yeah. I got word out to have everyone ask their crews if they heard anything about him moving up in the world. He’d have bragged about that. If he didn’t, figure we can assume he did this shit silently for a reason.”
“Fuck,” I sighed. “Sounds shitty, but I was hoping he was killed to make a point, not because he was involved in some shady plot against us.”
“Yeah. Think we were all hoping that. So, we need to figure out where he moved. And what his moves have been lately. Who was he working with recently, what jobs did he do, that kind of shit.”
“Heading to work on that after this,” he agreed, scraping his plate.
“Where’s my ma?”
“She’s over at Massimo’s house. Valley’s gonna head there after work too. Trying to consolidate the guards even more, since this shit ain’t looking good.”
“Good idea.”
“You need more guards here.”
“Yeah. I was trying to leave more at the garden center, but I’ll ask one of the capos with a bigger crew to loan me some over there so my guys can be here.”
Dom nodded at that, going over to the coffee machine to pour himself the biggest cup I had in the cabinet.
“I’ll keep you updated. You staying here to have a fuckfest today?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing today,” I lied. “Think I need to look over shit at the garden center, though. Might head there later tonight.”
“Sounds good. I’ll meet you there.”
We said our goodbyes, and I stood there watching the door, wondering if maybe I should change the fucking code.
It was right then that Hazel came drifting in, her hand self-consciously touching her hair.
“I thought I heard voices,” she admitted.
It was then I noticed her other hand down at her side. My gun hung there.
“It was Dom,” I told her, moving over toward her to gently take the gun she was clearly uncomfortable holding, placing it down on the counter, then pressing a quick kiss to her forehead.
