If I were, he’d have followed me.
Stopped me.
But he didn’t, and I drive away.
15
Shadow
Four weeks later…
I roll into the parking lot of the Shady Lane Motel. The last time I was here was the afternoon after Violet left. Malcolm didn’t have the money he owed the club ready, and I may have taken out my frustration on Malcolm’s face. To be fair, I would have done that either way. He had extra days to pull the cash together, and in the end, he had it. He just didn’t want to pay it back.
They never do.
I yank open the door after parking my bike in the completely empty lot. Business ain’t booming, but unless my beating last month meant nothing to Malcolm, he’ll have what I’m here to collect.
But Malcolm ain’t the one at the counter when I walk through the door. An older woman, maybe in her mid-fifties, with hair dyed an obnoxious shade of purple-red and a cigarette between her lips, waves at me with five long, painted fingernails.
“Hey there, hon,” she says, plucking the cigarette from her mouth and setting it in an ashtray right there on the counter. “You looking for a place to stay?”
She’s looking me over like I’m an afternoon snack. Normally, a woman’s appreciation would have me turning on the charm. Not today. Not here. Definitely not now.
“I’m looking for Malcolm,” I say curtly. “He around?”
She shakes her head. “I’m filling in. I’m his cousin Dana. You wanna leave a message?”
I lean my elbows on the counter. “He’s expecting me, Dana. I’ll wait.”
She leans her elbows on the counter so our faces are so close, I can smell the stench of cigarettes on her breath. “Baby, must have been some kind of mistake. Malcolm ain’t here.”
I turn away, cursing under my breath. This is the one time it would be damn convenient to give my clients my number. I want to call him. I want him to know I’m after him. He got extra time out of us and half the normal rate of interest last month. And he still tried to default on his debt.
“Call him,” I say quietly. I turn to face Dana. “Call your cousin and put him on speaker.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and gives me a smirk. “Baby, you’re hot, but you can’t waltz in here, snap your tattooed little fingers, and have everybody around here asking how high to jump.”
I’m across the lobby in the blink of an eye. “Dana, I’m not the kind of man you want to fuck with. Not today. Not any day. Have you seen your cousin’s face? Does he still have a black eye and a busted lip?”
She suddenly grows serious, as if she’s doing the math in her head. Yeah, bitch. I’m the one who rearranged your cousin’s face.
“Get him on the phone now.” I wait, glaring at her while she fumbles her cell phone in her hand. A thin line of smoke rises from the burning cigarette beside her.
Malcolm must answer on the first ring. “It’s me,” Dana says, glaring at me. “There’s some guy with a real shit attitude here to see you. He says you’re expecting him.”
I curl my hands into fists, my blood boiling over. I have had to be hard on women in the past, but I try to make a policy of not doing business with anyone I am not willing to work with—no matter what the job requires.
Malcolm says something I can’t hear, and I slam my fist on the counter. “Put him on goddamn speaker,” I tell her.
She does as I ask, though, and drops her phone on the counter.
“Tell him I’m sick, literally shitting up my guts, Dana. I’m not fucking around. I’m?—”
I pick up her phone and talk right into the speaker. “Listen up, you fucking maggot,” I tell him. “I’m the one not fucking around. I don’t care if you have to wear an adult diaper or come to this shitbag motel with a load of your own crap in your pants. If you’re not here tomorrow with what you owe me and double interest, I won’t be alone. And you won’t need to worry about shitting yourself when I’m done with you. There are worse things waiting for you if you don’t show your face, Malcolm.”
“Turn off the cameras,” I tell her.
She doesn’t move, but I hear Malcolm through the speakerphone. “Do it, Dana.”
