I’d found something, and yet…
I hadn’t completed the job. The slide into numbness and misery that had been threatening for weeks had taken hold, and the moment I’d told Mila what I’d discovered, I’d hide away. I didn’t want to let my friend down, but I was struggling.
I needed to break into pieces in private.
At the top of the steps, the bouncer made way, his eyes twinkling with the smile I guessed was underneath his skull-print bandanna. Though there was no way Kane could be back by now, as a one-line text during the afternoon had told me he was still on his mission, I looked for him in the shadows.
He wasn’t here, and neither was Mila on first glance. Only a few patrons here and there, as the club had just opened. A group on the VIP suite’s dance floor, a lone man in a black-and-silver booth with the club’s skull logo in hot pink.
But there was a familiar face behind the bar. I forced a smile for the now-pink-haired bartender who leaned forward on her elbows.
Molly grinned big. “You!”
She’d helped me unlock Dixie’s tablet, while Kane, stalking me, had taken out her unpleasant customer. So much had changed since then, and not just her cute hair colour.
I perched on a bar stool and tried to remember how to be the bright and fun version of myself she’d met. “I wondered when I’d see you.”
“This time without a customer for you to scare off for me. What’s your poison?”
Molly spread her hands out to showcase her bar. Her appearance was skeleton crew to the core, with jet-black roots to her bold pink hair. Tonight, she had on a pair of black shorts with a tied-off skeleton crew t-shirt, her stomach and thighs bared. She had no problem flaunting her curves, no apparent worry over the fact her belly wasn’t flat. When she turned to grab me a cocktail menu, I spotted a tattoo up her spine.
Molly was badass.
From the menu, I chose a mocktail, wanting a clear head for my chat with Mila. And so I didn’t risk my emotions overwhelming me too soon. One sniff of alcohol and I’d break down.
“Make that two.”
The woman herself landed on a seat at my side, Convict alongside her. He kissed her hard, muttered something, then left her with me.
“Mila, this is Molly.” I made the introduction.
Mila stuck her hand across the bar to shake. “Nice to meet you. Does Lovelyn’s drink have alcohol in it?”
Molly chirped, “No, but your version can do?”
“I’ll love you forever. I need it after the day I’ve had.”
Molly snickered and turned away to make our drinks. Though I had so much to share, I gave Mila the floor first.
“How did the intimidation racket go?”
“Cathartic, scary, you name it. We made it around fourteen houses. I can’t even tell you how exhausted I am. Cassie and Riordan needed a minute, so they’ll be down later, but let’s see if I can get my thoughts in order.”
My friend took a steadying breath.
“To each of my relatives’ faces, I asked them how long they’d known that Marchant Haulage had a darker side to its business practices. All denied any knowledge, but with one couple in their seventies, the woman burst into tears and fled. Her husband yelled at us then kicked us out.”
“Let me guess, they were among the six from the orange list?”
The ones I deeply suspected were in on the Marchant secret.
Mila nodded. “Yep. The wife is a cousin to my grandfather, and they operated an industrial estate. What’s the odds they allowed the business to use it to hide people? The Kingsleys made a fuss about their post office being above reproach. The Marchant-Smythes were most telling. They’re the ones who’ve complained loudest about the company not paying out their monthly stipend. They barely reacted to my accusation beyond a token denial. Both dead-eyed me. That’s weird, isn’t it? Theydidn’t question where that information had come from. No shock or surprise.”
“Very telling.”
Both of us paused when Molly set down our drinks, a waitress grabbing her attention immediately after so we gained privacy once more.
Mila took a long sip. “Exactly. Then it’s got to be true. I just don’t have the evidence.”
