Chapter 14
Someone’s Gotta Pay
Buford
Gregory Buford’s gut hurt. He wanted to blame it on the fucker who took his shiny rock, but if he was honest with himself, it was probably his old ulcer playing up.
Goddamit.
Still, this shit with the magician wasn’t helping, and if nothing else, watching the bastard squirm would give him some measure of satisfaction. Might not be as effective as Pepto Bismol, but it would certainly make him feel pretty damn good.
“Bring me Colt, and this time don’t fuck it up,” he snarled at the asswipe he paid too fucking much for not doing enough.
“Sure thing, Boss,” Vinnie Lombardo replied. He’d already had his ass handed to him for screwing things up the last time; he knew he wouldn’t get a second chance. “What about the girl?” he asked. They’d been scoping the joint since the day they’d tossed the place, and it would have been impossible to miss the dame with the flaming red hair. Nice piece of ass too, though he doubted the boss would care. The man only got a boner for blondes.
“What girl?” Buford asked, raising an eyebrow. “You never mentioned a girl.”
Vinnie shifted uncomfortably. Maybe he should have shared this detail. Truth be told, Vinnie hadn’t scored high in the brains department. His specialty was busting kneecaps and looking mean. Matt Parker had always been the man who managed Mr. Buford’s security team, but after the diamond went missing, Parker had somehow disappeared.
Vinnie knew what that meant. They all did. It was the reason they toed the line. There was no room for mistakes when working for Gregory Buford. Vinnie had no doubt Parker had learned that the hard way – he’d been the man in charge the night that magician fucker had got his hands on Buford’s gem. Vinnie figured it had been his head on the block after that. Not that it seemed fair, considering that Colt had practically swiped the damn stone out from under Buford’s very own nose. Though Vinnie would never say that out loud because he might just find out Parker’s whereabouts first-hand.
“I asked you a question,” Buford snarled, yanking Vinnie from his musings, and he snapped to attention quickly.
“There was a girl at the house, boss,” he said meekly, praying this oversight wasn’t enough to get him ‘disappeared’ too. “She arrived the night we rolled the place, then left the next morning.”
“And you never thought to mention this?” Buford said in a soft tone that Vinnie somehow found more terrifying than the snarl.
“I...ah...well, boss... You only said to watch the place. To let you know if he came back...” Vinnie scrambled around for a response. Buford’s toad-like eyes were running over his face as if weighing him up.
Buford eyed the mountain of a man standing in front of him and silently counted to ten. He’d learned years before that when it came to finding good help, you had to keep your expectations low. It was foolish to hope for brains and brawn in one package. But it didn’t stop the swirling sense of frustration at having to figure out every damn thing for himself. In any event, this little detail could be useful. He’d already tried luring the fucking magician via that agent, Cory ‘whatever-the-hell-his-name-was’ with more promises of another sweet gig. But the agent had eventually assured him the guy wasn’t interested in doing any more shows.
Probably because he’s planning to live off what he stole from me,Buford thought darkly. The only thing the damn agent had been good for was dishing out Colt’s home address.Who would’ve guessed he was living a quiet ole life in some big-assed house in the ‘burbs?
Problem was, the fucker was too high-profile for Buford to simply charge in and kick the shit out of him. Even though he’d sent his guys around before, it wasn’t specifically with the instruction to take him out – that had been a little improvisation on their part. They’d hoped that a small show of force might get Colt to hand over the diamond, but the bastard had proved to be too damn slippery.
This fucking mess had to be handled with care. Even mobsters had profiles to maintain...and Buford had worked hard to veil himself behind a thin veneer of respectability. He knew he pinged a lot of radars, but on the surface, he was simply a businessman. Sure, a little digging might reveal what those ‘businesses’ were. But till now, he’d kept the heat off his tail and could move freely in public. He wasn’t ready to give that up without a fight.
Damnit,he thought, as he weighed up his options. he wanted his fucking diamond back.
“Find out who the girl is,” he said to the goon. “And when you find her, bring her to me. I’ll soon have a way to have that fucker singing about where he hid my stone.”
Vinnie gave a nod and turned to leave the room. Buford felt a swirl of satisfaction. This might be a fun little escapade after all.
