Frustration flowed through my veins. “Are you kidding me right now? Georgie over there forced us into the limo, and Sykes is saying that he’s going to steal my business.”
“Legally,” Sykes reminded me in a singsong voice.
I about rolled my eyes and punched him at the same time. But instead I directed my words back to Rufus. “Given all of that, yes, I have a few questions.”
“Ask on,” Sykes said. “I’ll answer whatever I can.”
Georgie tapped his watch. “Five minutes, Boss.”
Sykes nodded but said nothing, and I wondered what happened in five minutes. Did the world explode? It better not; I had this crap to sort out about Sadie first.
“Okay,” I said, smoothing my hands down my thighs. Suddenly I was very, very sweaty. The limo, though big, felt cramped, and of course I was nervous—too nervous. “My first question is, what was Sadie doing with all the money that she borrowed from y’all?”
“Our policy is not to ask what the loans are for. She came to us needing money, and we gave it. She made some payments, like I said, but the sum she owed was much more.”
I nibbled my bottom lip. “She wouldn’t have happened to pay by credit card, would she?”
It seemed ridiculous, that Sadie would pay a debt by credit card, but so did the entire idea of a wizard mafia. That made even less sense than the former.
The corners of Sykes’s eyes tightened and I explained. “I found several payments to a place named Frank’s. As far as I know, we’ve never bought supplies from there before.”
Sykes exhaled a line of smoke. “That’s us. We accept all forms of payment—cash, credit and debit.”
I hiked a brow. “Seems to me in your line of business that you wouldn’t want a paper trail.”
He steepled his fingers. “Let’s just say that in my line of business, as you call it, we have ways of moving money.”
So they were the mafia.
“One minute, Boss,” Georgie said.
“We have to wrap this up.” Sykes studied me. I felt like an eel crawled over my flesh, it was so creepy. “Do you have any more questions?”
It was risky, but I had to ask, so I leaned forward and narrowed my eyes. “It seems to me awfully coincidental that Sadie died after she was late with her payment.”
“Twenty grand to be exact,” Sykes said.
I felt Rufus’s fingers brush my shoulder. The electric jolt that rushed through me made my muscles tighten. He was trying to stop me from spilling my next words, but I had to know.
“Well, don’tyouthinkit’s strange that she wound up dead?”
Sykes smiled at me, but no warmth touched his eyes. “You want me to say that we had heroffed,is that it?”
“I didn’t think you’d admit it outright,” I muttered.
“Thirty seconds,” Georgie said.
I exploded. “Okay, what’s with all the time calling? What happens in thirty seconds?”
Sykes tapped on the partition, and the limo slowed to a stop. “What happens, my dear, is that it’s break time. Georgie and I have worked for two hours, and every two hours we get a twenty-minute break.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “What are you, union or something?”
He pulled the handle, and the door flung open. “Of course we’re union. You don’t think I’d spend my day collecting money from delinquent payers without being protected in some way, do you? Before we unionized, we had to work all hours of the night without breaks. Sometimes I didn’t even eat dinner. I’d be expected to rough someone up on an empty stomach. None of that anymore.”
“Time’s up,” Georgie said.
Sykes offered his hand to me, and dumb and numb from his strange explanation, I took it. “Clementine, it’s been wonderful meeting you. You have one week to bring me a sum of twenty thousand dollars. If you’re unable, I’m afraid I’ll have to take your company.”
