“I don’t want any trouble,” said the shaky voice through the door.
“Too bad,” Vic snarled. “You should’ve thought about that before you got involved with Timothy Nicholson.” We both heard the sharp intake of breath and knew that we had him. Vic looked over at me and nodded. “Open this motherfucking door right now and tell us what you know and I won’t beat the shit out of you.”
Self-perseverance normally always won out and Ray Adams wasn’t any different. Ray closed the door long enough to unhook the chain then opened the door to us. He gestured for us to come in, but we both declined. My God, I would need to scrub for days just to get the stench off of me and I hadn’t even entered the house.
“How do you know Timothy?” I asked Adams, not willing to waste any time.
“We’re cousins,” he replied.
He began to shake all over; I wasn’t sure if it was from the drugs or fear. I pinned him with a dark look and let him know he was going to have to do better if he didn’t want to be roughed up.
“Timothy came to me after he got out of prison and told me he had a good paying job and needed my help. He promised to give me a big cut.” Adams sniffed and wiped his bleary eyes before he said, “I should’ve said no, but I needed the job and the money so I agreed.” He wavered on his feet a little bit and I was afraid he might fall into me. “I knew better than to trust Timothy and his crazy side of the family.” I figured he was familiar with the feud between the Nicholsons and the Hestons.
“And?” Vic asked impatiently. He had moved a step back so I knew the smell was getting to him too.
“Timothy got me the job at the alarm company and…”
“Wait, Timothy got you the job at the alarm company? You didn’t already work there?” I asked.
“That’s what I just said.” Adams rolled his eyes like we were the dumbest fucks he’d ever met.
Vic and I exchanged a knowing look because the stoner had given us our biggest lead yet without knowing it. Still, we let him go on with his story. He told us that he had worked there for about two months before Timothy pressed him into service – his exact words, as if he’d gone on a mission. His job was simple: lie when asked about the alarm and camera issue at Mitch’s residence. Ray told his supervisor that the alarm had gone off as indicated in their system and that he had spoken with Mr. Heston and all was fine.
“What about jerk-it boy, David Herron? Was he in on it?” Vic asked, referring to the dude who spent his shift beating off to porn.
“Nah,” Ray replied. “At first, I worried I wouldn’t be able to pull off what Timothy asked me to do, but it didn’t take me long to realize that Dave had a real problem.” Adams coughed and wheezed like his lungs were about to give up at any point. “He should get some help.”
I bit back an ironic reply and asked the one question that still needed to be answered before Mitch would be completely free. “Do you know who hired Timothy for this job?” I didn’t hold out much hope that Ray knew a damn thing, but I had to ask.
“Some rich guy he was fucking before he went to prison,” Ray replied. “He never told me his name. Timothy stupidly thought the guy was his prince charming and was going to take him away from all his struggles. I guess Timothy learned the hard way.” Ray shrugged and I could tell he was losing interest in the conversation and would rather go back to getting high.
“One last thing,” I said menacingly to get him to stay focused. “What’s the name of the supervisor who hired you in at the security company?”
I took a step forward to let him know I meant serious fucking business when it looked like he wasn’t going to answer me. “Austin Keener,” he replied, fearfully backing into his shack. “Please don’t tell anyone that I told you.”
“I better not find out that you’re withholding info, Adams, or I’ll be back here and I won’t be so nice next time. Am I clear?” I asked.
“Y-yes,” he stuttered.
“Then we understand each other well.” I pivoted and walked away from that stinking pile of shit as fast as I could.
“Who do you think Timothy is screwing?” Vic asked me, as we were driving back to Mitch’s house. I knew by then he’d be home with his backup security detail and wondering where in the hell I’d gone.
“I don’t know, but we’re getting closer. We have a new name to investigate at least. There’s no fucking way Austin Keener took one look at Ray Adams and thought he’d be a good employee. He’s either in on it or Timothy has something on him. And now we know that Timothy had a rich boyfriend backing him. We just need to find him.” I pressed my foot on the accelerator, eager to be home and have my eyes on Mitch again.
