The man’s face paled. “Um. Hi.”
“Sorry for almost running into you. Totally my fault.”
I laughed and slid my hands into my pockets, creating that air of innocence most men loved. “I remember you.”
White didn’t begin to describe the color of his face. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. You dropped off some clothes for the drive.”
A forceful exhale erupted. “Oh, right.” He snapped his fingers and chuckled nervously. “I thought I recognized you but couldn’t remember where.”
“Sorry for not remembering your name.” My smile remained firmly in place. “Listen, I wondered if you could help me out.”
I tipped my head to the side and gave him a forlorn look.
God, I hated acting like the damsel in distress.
But it worked.
The man’s shoulders lowered. “Help with what?”
“That whole deal with the power outage. It’s kind of weird, right?”
A shrug. “I mean, I guess.”
“Everyone is saying the Steel Vipers did it.” I leaned toward him, pitching my voice low like I was about to share some deep conspiracy.
“It’s so weird, though, because I saw all of them in town that day.” I knew better than to share where they’d really been. “Someone had to have tampered with the generating station. Who would know how to do that?”
“No idea.” He shut down faster than a campfire doused with a firehose.
I knew people didn’t like to talk about the Vipers openly, but even the ones willing to help out for their charities refused to take a stand against the rumors.
He cleared his throat. “I can’t say anything.”
A quick, darting look from side to side, then he leaned in close. “But I’ve seen a lot of people coming and going from the old abandoned warehouses on Eighth Street.”
He gave me a look, eyebrows up and expression guileless. “Know what I mean?”
“Yeah.” I barely breathed the word. Abandoned warehouses with lots of activity. Not suspicious at all.
“Any other places that I might want to visit?” He wouldn’t talk about the Vipers, but he didn’t seem to mind sharing other tidbits that might help me out.
“The Dip.” He jerked his chin toward the opposite side of the street.
I’d heard of the bar before, and not in a good way.
Brawls, beatings, and a host of other infractions put them firmly on the local PD’s shit list.
But if I wanted to find out the truth, I had to be willing to go all in.
How much worse could this be than the things I’d done already?
“Thanks.” I turned and headed straight to the bar.
My heart drummed hard enough to rattle my ribs, but I kept going.
Despite looking old and rundown on the outside, the inside glowed with fresh paint.
