Page 7 of Rhythm Of Redemption

Lou dropped to her knees beside Dani. “You can’t just … what are you doing?”

“Saving your daughter’s life with any luck.”

Chapter four

Matti shut the door behind him and sat down opposite his boss. Logan, in no mood for small talk or pleasantries after what had happened to the girl last night, got straight down to business. “Well?”

Dani’s breathing had stabilised within minutes of him administering the EpiPen. Afterwards, he’d offered to drive them both to the A&E just to be sure she was okay and there were no nasty side effects, but then an ambulance had shown up and Lou had opted to go in that. Anyone could see how terrified she’d been and no one could blame her for wanting to make sure her daughter was in the best hands possible.

“Well, what?” Matti shrugged.

“Don’t be a smartarse.” Logan shot him a warning look. “I’m not in the mood.” Almost as soon as the ambulance had left, the police arrived asking all sorts of questions about underage drinking and drug taking at the club. He’d tried to convince them it had been an isolated incident, and if it had been drugs related, then they hadn’t got them at his club. But they all knew it was impossible to stop every single scum bag dealer from peddling their sordid wares, no matter how hard they tried. Just like it was impossible to stop his clientele from taking whatever they wanted beforehand, either. The police had insisted on checking everyone’s IDs anyway, as a precaution since the girl had been underage.

By the time they’d finally locked up at five a.m., Rachel, or Rochelle, or whatever the hell her name was, had disappeared. He wished that was the worst of it, but the phone call he’d received that morning from the local mayor, who was on a mission to clean up the town’s image, told him that last night’s incident had provided him with more ammunition for his battle to have places like Manik, shut down. Unfortunately, unlike in the UK, Mayor wasn’t just a ceremonial title here. These guys carried some real clout in the local community, and it was important to keep on their good side.

He chugged down what remained of the double espresso he’d picked up on his way in, crushing the cardboard cup before tossing it in the bin. “Did you manage to find out how she got in here and who gave her the drugs?” Despite her mother’s denials, he wasn’t convinced Dani’s collapse hadn’t been drug-related. She wouldn’t be the first kid to lie to their parents, would she?

Matti leaned forward in his seat, his forearms resting on his thigh. He let out a long sigh before meeting his boss’s steely-eyed stare. “I’ve spoken to my guys and the bar staff and they all said they didn’t know anything about the drugs.”

“And?” He waited for Matti to continue. “For fuck’s sake,” Logan demanded when he didn’t answer. “Have you checked the security cameras? Who let her in?”

“It was … Johnny.”

Logan flopped back against the chair, rubbing his tired eyes with the heels of his hands. “I thought you’d got rid of him.”

“I did, but we were short-staffed a couple of weeks back, and I asked him to cover. He swears he thought she was old enough.”

“What do you mean, he thought she was old enough? Did he check her fucking ID?”

“She came in with another girl who dropped a name and ...… “

“So he just let her waltz in here without checking.”

“Come on boss, you know what it’s like. It’s hard to tell how old they are when they’re plastered in makeup and got their tits hanging out.”

Matti had a point. It was easy for young girls to make themselves look older than they were with makeup and clothes. That’s why it was so important to check their IDs. He hadn’t spent a fortune on training his staff on how to spot a fake one for nothing. And if in doubt, they were supposed to turn them away.

“I assume you’ve fired him—again.”

“It’s a little difficult, with us being short, but he knows he’s on his last chance.”

“Find someone else. He’s done.”

“But—”

“But nothing,” Logan spat. “I could lose my licence over this, and all because your buddy thought it was okay to let in a couple of kids because they have a mutual acquaintance. The guy’s a liability, and I don’t want him working here. Understood?”

Matti nodded, a muscle twitching at the side of his jaw.

“What about that DJ?” In all the commotion, he’d forgotten about him. “I haven’t seen him here before. Is he new?”

“Yeah, he came in a couple of weeks ago, and I agreed to give him a trial.”

“What do we know about him?”

Matti shrugged. “He said he’d done a couple of sets at Amnesia and one of the other clubs across town, so I called them up and his story checked out.”

“Does he do drugs?”

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