“You have?”
“Remember when I worked at that florist last year?”
“Vaguely. You weren’t there long…”
She shot me the bird at the reminder of her inability to hold a job for longer than six months—by this point, it was a pandemic of unemployability.
“I had to arrange this gift bag once. On the front, it said ‘Dead To Me,’ and I wrote that name on a gift card too. It had a message, but I don’t remember what it said. It was too long ago. Anyway, I had to tiea bunch of balloons around the handles, curl the ribbons and pack this weird doll that the client provided inside it.”
“The name could be a coincidence,” I interjected.
“How many people use that moniker, Kitty?”
Neev poured the fourth dose of sugar into her coffee. “It’s not the kindest gift bag idea in the world, is it? What happened to ‘Congratulations’ or ‘Happy Birthday?’ ‘Dead To Me’ is pretty hardcore. Maybe it’s like a boo basket. For people who’ve pissed you off.”
I shook my head. “Neev, your brain is a cauldron for dangerous activity.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No, I don’t, and I don’t want to either. Anyway, apparently Star Sullivan knew Stan was traveling to Cancún?—”
“How did that lead to Dead To Me’s murder?”
“I don’t know. Something to do with the Albanian Mob and her killing one of their leaders.”
In consternation, they both gaped at me.
I spread my hands wide. “I’ve told you everything I know now. We’re as in the loop as Stan wants us to be.”
Unease settled among us.
As my ‘intel’ had provided us with zero comfort, Neev being Neev yelled, “Stan, can we switch rooms so we can watch the TV and you can eat all the food, please?”
A so-called gas explosion lit up the beautiful tourist hotspot of Cancún last night.
Allegedly.
My sources state that this was no gas explosion, but a targeted ‘campaign’ between one criminal faction in the city and the newly transported Albanians, whose brutal brothers are spreading across the North American continent faster than Lyme disease.
(See last week’s blog post as I deep dive intowhois paying for their ‘expansion.’)
The question is…whoprecisely was the target?
The initial blast took place in a hotel in the center of the city. TheMar Blancois no more, and neither are the buildings standing on either side of it. According to state news, the hotel was the singular site of an explosion, but locals claim multiple blasts detonated in various locations around the city.
While emergency services struggle to deal with the aftermath of such an event, detailed numbers of casualties and deaths trickle in.
One namehasbeen confirmed, however. Far-right leader of the opposition party and aspiring presidential candidate, Raul F. Cabral Flores. You may have heard his name recently,as he’s been seen cozying up with President Devere in the lead-up to the next election.
A man of his status wouldn’t be seen dead in theMar Blanco…or would he?
Was his death purely accidental? Washea target? Were there more?
Watch this space. I know I will.
THIRTY-THREE
STAN
