I turned to Faron. “How much will we owe your friends?”
“That’s one of the problems. They don’t get out of bed for less than ten-k. Dollars, that is.”
I had enough left over from my father’s trust fund to take care of matters. “I’ll pay it. I can pay it — but I want them doing their best. Not just because it’s a lot of money, but because I need Fancypants to come home to me.”
“I’d be happy to chip in a couple thousand,” Bree said.
“I can put in about three thousand,” Bran said.
“I can’t add much at this point, not until my funds are out of the trust. But I can give you a couple thousand after my affairs are settled and the entire situation with the Pack is done,” Faron said. “So we can swing it all together without breaking the bank.”
“I don’t expect any of you —”
Bree interrupted me. “Don’t even start. Fancypants is our friend even though he’s your dragonette. We’re not about to let them torture him.” She turned to Faron. “When can you talk to your friends?”
“We can go there tonight,” he said. “Let’s finish our dinner and I’ll call ahead and let them know we’re coming.” Catching the worry on my face, he added, “don’t be concerned. They will do a good job, and Daisy will never be the wiser. And maybe we’ll be able to save those two women in the process — along with the cats that they stole.”
Thinking about it that way, I nodded. “Thank you also much. I’m so afraid for his life — and now I’m afraid for the others as well. I hope to hell this isn’t a big company, though. I don’t want to have to take on massive organization.”
“It probably isn’t,” Faron said. “A lot of these operations are small potatoes, but they sell their goods to bigger fish in the business. Who knows, we may be able to even get a name out of them for the cops. Anyway, I’ll make that phone call and then we’ll finish our food and — if they’re willing — we can go over and talk to them.”
Feeling a spark of hope, I finished my fish and chips and hot cocoa. While I wasn’t sure about Faron’s thugs, if they were half as good as he said, maybe… Just maybe… We had a fighting chance.
CHAPTER SIX
Faron called them and then, after agreeing to a midnight rendezvous, we finished dinner and headed home until it was time to meet them.
There was a small area of Starlight Hollow that was known as the Grimwold. While there weren’t any slums in the town, there were areas that were better left unvisited. While we didn’t usually have anything as serious as boat pirates or smugglers, there was a faction townsfolk that you just didn’t want to mess with. And most of them lived down in the Grimwold.
Close to the water line on the south side of town, the neighborhood gave off a peculiar aura. My alarms sounded the moment we came within five hundred feet. It started at Edgewater Avenue and ended up at Wharf Street.
“I don’t like it here,” I said, glancing at Faron.
“Not many people do. There’s a reason the houses look uninhabited. Nobody wants anybody snooping around inside so they make them unappealing.”
I caught my breath. “I’m having a flashback,” I said.
Faron pulled over to the side, parking by what looks like an old antique shop that had closed up several months ago. “What kind? Are you all right?”
I shrugged. “All right, but the night Rian and I headed home, we were walking because we were too tipsy to drive, and we were in an area like this.” I shuddered. “Do we have any vampires in town?”
“I doubt it. I’ve been in and out of here numerous times, late at night. Don’t worry, Bran and I will take care of you and Bree. For that matter, my guess is that Bree can take care of herself. We’ll all go together.” He waited, not pushing.
At that moment, Bree and Bran pulled up behind us. Bran ran up to Faron’s window.
“Is everything okay?” He asked.
Faron nodded. “We were just waiting for you guys to catch up. In fact, I suggest that you get in the back of my car and we all go together for this one. Your truck should be all right here.”
Looking skeptical, Bran motioned for Bree to join us. After Bran locked up the truck, they slipped into the backseat and fastened their seatbelts. Faron eased back onto the street and we headed into the Grimwold district.
“It’s hard to believe this neighborhood belongs in Starlight Hollow,” Bree said. She craned her neck, staring out the window.
She wasn’t wrong. The houses in the Grimwold district looked old — not just in age, but in condition. They were beyond weathered, falling apart, and here and there one of the bigger lots would serve as a junkyard for old cars, piled on the front lawn. Even though it was winter, the lots were overgrown beneath the snow, a tangle of brush and vegetation that encroached from the surrounding woods.
“I can’t understand why the city council doesn’t do something about this,” Bran said.
“What can they do? If they try to enforce rules on cleanup, a lot of these people can’t afford it. And frankly, there are several old hootenanny families here — you know the type. Their forebears ran underground stills and speakeasies, and — if I remember right — at least three federal agents lost their lives trying to bring down the bootleggers.” Faron kept his eyes on the road, but shook his head. “Bran, do you remember Claude van Aucht?”
