“Got my cage parked in the woods.” The cat saddles up to me looking smug like he knew and showed me this on purpose. I scoop him up and scratch behind his ears. “That bastard could have been in the house with us, could’ve taken us both out so why didn’t he?”
Truth scratches his beard. “My guess is he wants to toy with both of you. You pissed him off, man. Who knows what goes through that sick mind of his.”
“I gotta call Prez and see what move he wants us to make. If we report this or handle it on our own.” Tread steps off to call Prez.
“Who do you think she is?” I look to Truth.
“Judging by her tits and lack of stretchmarks. I’d say single woman. No kids. Looking for a good time and bit off more than she asked for.” He walks around in a wide berth. Tramp stamp on her lower back. Tribal butterfly. Looks like JT’s work.” He moves off to make a call.
I take the cat back to the house and lock him in the bathroom by the kitchen with food and water along with his litter box so he can’t get out again. Patience is gonna freak the fuck out. There’s a dead woman hanging in her barn who had to have been placed there sometime late last night or early this morning while we were fuckin’.
I go back out by the barn to see what the plan is.
“Prez and Striker are on the way. No cops. Kurt’s coming to handle his crew. JT thinks he has an idea on the victim. Stripper who came into his tattoo shop a few months back named Summer or some shit like that. He’s looking in his files. This is a threat against you and your woman, making it a threat against us, man. The bastard is going down.”
“What do I tell Patience?”
“Don’t tell her shit. Last thing we need is her getting hysterical. That’s what Choke wants. He feeds off control and fear. Loves the power it brings him. If we ignore him, he’s gonna get pissed. And when motherfuckers get mad, they get stupid and slip up.”
Chapter 10
Patience
“You sure your mom was supposed to pick you up today?” I rub the back of Gus’s blond head. His ride is twenty minutes late. I’ve called the number on his contact sheet, but there wasn’t any answer. “How about Jag? I can call him. Maybe he can reach her, okay?”
Principal Waterstone glances our way and I know at a certain point if we can’t reach a family member it has to be called in.
“She prolly had a mi-drain and fell asleep.”
“All right, sweetie. Let’s try phoning your uncle.” I pick up the secretary’s phone off her desk in the school office. Jagger is listed as the emergency contact on the pickup form. The line rings a few times before he finally picks up.
“Hello.”
“Hi, Jag. It’s me. Patience. I’m at the school and I have your nephew here. He had a note that he was supposed to be picked up by his mom, but she’s not here, and it’s been more than twenty minutes since all the other kids have gone.”
“Fucking Marcie. Is there any way you can take Gus out to the Dairy Bar or some shit for an ice cream and I’ll meet up with you in about an hour to get him?”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just need to swing by her house and see what’s going on. She’s been depressed after her husband died and she probably took sleeping pills and forgot. Your new security system isn’t installed yet, we started on it, but I’ll go over all that with you tonight.”
“Um. Sure. Okay. If you somehow get behind should I just take him on home with me or meet you somewhere?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Right. Okay then. I’ll see you soon.” I hang up the call. “So tell me, Gus. What’s your favorite ice cream? You and me are gonna go have us a treat while we wait for you Uncle Jag to meet us. How does that sound?”
“Okay I guess.” He shrugs and the defeated expression on his face breaks my heart.
“Get your backpack and we’ll go.” He shoves off the chair and snags his Spiderman themed backpack off the floor. I look to my boss. “I’ve arranged to meet a family member to pick him up. There was a mix up with communication.”
“Okay. Looks like you got it all handled. See you tomorrow.” He fishes his keys out of his pocket to lock up the office.
I take Gus out to the teacher’s parking lot and notice a motorcycle parked off the side of the street. The guy nods at me and I wonder what’s really going on and if he’s a friend of Jag’s. “Gus, you see that guy on the motorcycle over there.” I pause while he looks.
“That’s Jag’s friend Mute. He don’t talk much.”
“Right but you do know him?”