The door to the warehouse is shoved open but once I walk through, it’s propped close again. The empty building has a thick layer of dust covering the ground and also floating in the air. I cough, twice, my allergies already annoyed as fuck I’m here. They aren’t the only parts.
“Take a seat,” the driver says, pointing to a lone chair sitting in the middle of the warehouse.
That’s weird, but what’s weirder is the old-style television set someone placed on one of those rolling carts they used in schools twenty years ago. It’s just like six grade health class when they made us watch all the sex ed videos with the lights on.
“Your boss is a TV?” I ask because now I’m thoroughly confused.
“Shut up and sit down,” he says.
I hold back the smartass retort about not moving.
Once my butt is in the chair and I’ve laid my hands in my lap, my body goes tight waiting for a gun to be placed against the back of my head to take me out execution style. Instead the TV turns on and the staticky screen is filled with an image.
It’s not one I expect. The camera pulls back like they’re filming the guy for an address from the president’s oval office. The man on the screen is no president. He’s skinny with slicked-back hair and a face that would almost be cute if I wasn’t stuck in a warehouse and he was apparently the boss. He’s behind a large mahogany desk, which makes me think he’s overcompensating for something as he sits drumming his fingers on the table. There’s nothing presidential about him.
“There you are, Miss Summerton.”
“Hi,” I whisper. “Can he hear me?”
The guy in the television screen rolls his eyes. “Yes, I can hear you, dear.”
I nod but then I’m not sure if he can see me either so I say, “Okay.”
“My name is Antonio and I run a few operations on the west side of the country. It’s come to my attention that you and your friends stumbled upon a shipment of merchandise, which wasn’t intended for you. Rather than leave and go about your day like a reasonable person, you entered the storage unit, looked through my boxes, and then put them in your car and drove away.”
“How do you know that?”
He drums his fingers a few more times, not happy I’m asking questions, so I decide to shut up from here on out. “Every good storage facility has cameras, my dear.”
“So far she hasn’t talked, boss.” The big guy who was driving the car steps forward while talking. He’s obviously the leader of this dastardly trio.
The guy behind the desk rolls his eyes. “I assumed so since no one called and told me where the drugs were, you moron! That’s why we have Josie here to answer questions.”
“I don’t know where they are,” I say truthfully.
“That’s a problem. Because, you see, I need them. With certain acquaintances out of the business,” he says the words way too happily, making me think he had something to do with them gettingout of the business. “I’ve had to expand operations rather quickly, and your friend Ridge has hired someone to spy on me. Now I don’t think they picked up any useful information, but it’s a weird coincidence my men tracked them right back to Pelican Bay where a few women stole so many pounds of products. Isn’t that odd?” he asks.
I nod. “It is, but I swear it was just an accident. I don’t know what happened.”
“You understand why it’s hard for me to believe you?” he says, almost sincerely.
And the problem is I see how it could be a problem. Were Hannah and Lukis spying on him? Is that why they booked it to Pelican Bay as Hannah said?
“I don’t want to die, so I promise if I knew I would tell you.” Drugs aren’t worth my life.
“Where did you take it after you drove away?”
I swallow and hesitate. I may not know where the drugs are now, but I remember where we took them. I won’t lead them to Anessa’s bakery.
“Listen, I’m 99 percent sure they’re not still there.”
“But why don’t you tell me where you went and let us figure out where they are.”
I shake my head. “No.” I won’t do it to Anessa.
“You seem to be confused. I have intel that says Lukis and his whore, Hannah, were in Pelican Bay. They talked to Ridge Jefferson. The problem is I don’t know how you found the drugs before my guys got there. Did they call ahead and have a drop point?”
“No,” I say truthfully, my brain trying to work around all his accusations. Lukis and Hannah knew there were drugs in the storage unit?
