Page 24 of Hard Heart

“Maybe we do, and we also know you’re lying.”

“‘Lying’ is such a strong word. I work for the Justice Project, and Mr. Sykes wrote to us requesting representation. We’re here doing some preliminary research, and if we don’t come back, our colleagues will start looking for us pretty damn quickly.”

The two men glanced at each other, and the shorter one shrugged.

“We don’t know anything about that,” the taller brute said.

“Well, do you have a hotline to Sykes in prison?” I asked, and perhaps a touch of snark crept into my voice.

“Yeah.”

What?

“I’m sorry?”

“Don’t just apologise, lady. Get the fuck out of here.”

“No, no, no. What do you mean, you have a hotline to Sykes in prison? Is he part of your gang?”

The guy laughed, his whole body shaking. It made him seem almost human. “Levi ain’t in no MC.”

“Then how do you know him?”

“He’s an acquaintance.”

“Look, if we’re going to play twenty questions, this will take much longer than either of us wants.”

“You got a smart mouth for a troublemaker.”

“Excuse me? I’m the troublemaker? Which of us rode up in a tizzy and began throwing his weight around?”

The big guy looked down at his stomach. “Are you calling me fat?”

For fuck’s sake. “It’s a figure of speech,” I snapped, and Heidi began giggling. Not helping.

“I wrote to Levi in prison almost a month ago explaining the situation, and as of today, he hasn’t had the decency to respond. If you really do have a way to contact him, would you mind asking him to reply? Ignoring people is rude.”

“You wrote him offering to be his lawyer?”

“Yes, exactly.”

I mean, if I passed the bar exam, and if I could convince Raelene his case had merit, maybe there was a slim chance I’d work with him.

“Then that’s your problem. The assholes who run the place ain’t gonna pass that letter over because they don’t want Levi gettin’ out. He makes them too much money.”

I shook my head, trying to clear it. Had the weed made my brain short-circuit? Was that why nothing made sense?

“And how, pray tell, is Levi Sykes making money for the prison staff?”

“Go look up Lake Sterling on the internet. They ain’t giving up their cash cow.”

“What’s Lake Sterling?”

“Levi is.”

I was still asleep. It was the only explanation. I was asleep, and this was one of those lucid dreams that seemed incredibly real until I woke up. I was being bullshitted by a bunch of bikers, and there wasn’t enough willow bark tea in the world to make my head stop pounding.

“Fine. Whatever. Could you just tell Levi that Serafina Hennessy wants to speak with him? Or don’t bother. I’m literally beyond caring at this stage.”