“What?”
I was already distracted, thinking about shit I’ve not got time for and not paying any attention to what has been put in front of me. Business has to be taken care of even with all the shit on my mind.
This is not what I wanted to hear when I set Talon the task. He closes the door shutting out the rest of the noise from the others who are at the clubhouse.
“Yeah, you heard me right. And Singer knows. He called me wanting to know if we had anything to do with it, cheeky fucker.”
Talon drops into his chair opposite me and taps his fingers against the surface of the table. A sure sign he’s concerned. Not about telling me this, or even about Singer. We can work all of that out but something else is up.
“What happened to him?” I ask, a knot forming in my lower stomach.
“The police don’t know shit. A forest ranger found him in the Susquehanna River in the middle of nowhere. Slit throat. Had the shit beaten out of him first.”
“Fuck. Did Singer ask questions?” I set the papers down and put my elbows on the table.
“Of course he did. He wants to know if something went wrong on the run.”
“We were only ever protection, he knows that.”
“Which is what I told him. Marshall made him a lot of money, so he’s pissed.”
“Can you smooth it over? I don’t want this to jeopardize our shipment next week. It’s all been agreed and signed off. It’s too late to make any changes to the manifest or docking plan. Is he going to fuck us up?”
“No, it would be bad for business. He’s already committed to receiving it through the green lane, he’ll be fucked too if red flags are raised swapping cargo ships around. But he wants to know what we know.” Talon stops tapping. “We know something, Prez.” He gives me a pointed look.
“And it won’t be leaving this room,” I warn him with a hard stare of my own.
Talon is the only person I told about the Veil Line after the fiasco with Handlebar and his revelation on the day of the run. I’m not compromising them, no matter what happened to Marshall.
There is also the small matter of Cassie being involved, she asked me to find the asshole and he’s turned up dead. I’m not bringing that to her door. This deal with Singer is going to be the one that gets King out of my ass. I’m not letting it go to shit now.
“That might not be why he’s dead. You get in this life, dangerous shit happens,” I say, hoping I’m right, and this is nothing to do with the Veil Line.
“Hell of a coincidence,” Talon leans back watching me closely.
“It’s more likely to be something to do with his business, not what we moved.” Even behind closed doors, where no one can hear us, I don’t want to talk about Marshall’s sister.
Talon is suggesting whoever Marshall got his sister away from went after him. I’m not sure I believe it, but I can’t ignore it. And not if it’s something that could put Cassie or anyone else in any danger. I don’teven know if it was the Veil Line themselves, reacting because Marshall compromised them when we found we were transporting his sister.
It makes sense that they have someone watching the movements of the women, to see if there is anyone following her, or they’re at risk. What happened with us dragging her out of the van and holding her at gunpoint would have been bad, it could have made them pull out.
A horrible thought hits me. What if that did happen and his sister is dead too, they just haven’t found her yet? No. It can’t be that.
That seems less likely from a group rescuing women. The secrecy surrounding it means there is some serious money behind them, expertise that has kept them in the shadows for well over twenty years. It isn’t out of the realms of possibilities that they got rid of Marshall.
I cast the thought aside quickly. If they were responsible, Marshall’s body never would have been found. So who the fuck killed him?
“Find out what you can. Just you,” I add.
Talon understands me. He might not like it, but he doesn’t argue. That’s why he is a good VP. He made his opinion known but he still agrees with me and will do as I asked.
“Keep me posted.”
Talon leaves and I lean against the table. The last thing I want to do is go running to King to find out what the fuck he is doing getting Cassie to look into this. There is one other person who can help.
“Fuck,” I snarl and get up, walking to the bureau where I left my phone.
I fucking hate having to make this call. Regardless of my feelings, he feels the same way about Cassie. I ought to back off where she is concerned. I don’t know her, and I don’t want to get caught up in some twisted fucking triangle with a guy who pisses me off.
