God, it drove him nuts. At times, it was on the tip of his tongue. And why would she change it? She probably didn’t even remember using her daughter’s name in front of him. He’d only been at her house for one or two minutes. “Pineview ain’t that big,” he pointed out.
“So? Maybe she doesn’t live in town. Maybe she lives out here, in the mountains. These cabins are so spread out we couldn’t find ’em all even if we wanted to.”
“She has to go into town sometime.”
“Who says? Maybe she lives like a freakin’ hermit.”
Tired of the complaints, Ink began to fondle the trigger of his gun. It would be so easy to blow L.J.’s brains out…?. “She has kids. That means they gotta go to school.”
“Not during the summer.”
“They have to get groceries, dumb shit.”
L.J. shot to his feet. “Stop calling me that! I’m tired of it, you hear? I’ll leave your sorry ass to limp around this place on your own if you don’t keep your mouth shut!”
Ink nearly raised the gun. L.J. needed to learn some respect, needed to see how a real Crew member behaved. The Glock he held was all they’d been able to bum off their brothers on such short notice, so it wouldn’t be hard. L.J. didn’t even have a weapon.
But Ink wasn’t about to sabotage his own success, not after getting this far. Once he had what he wanted, he’d cap L.J. Then he’d steal a car, sneak over the Canadian border and get lost in a whole other country. Until then, he had to have someone who could go into town and ask about Laurel, someone who didn’t stand out the way he did. Who else could he trust?
“Calm down before you ruin everything.” Picking up a Playboy from the coffee table, he stared down at the blonde bombshell on the cover. According to the issue date, it was a recent purchase, which meant the guys who were staying here must’ve brought it with them. “We’ve got a nice place to stay, plenty to eat and drink. We even have some naked girls to enjoy.” He tossed the magazine at L.J. “We keep our cool, we can have ourselves a party, once we whack the guys who rented this cabin.”
L.J. let the magazine fall to the couch. He had such a sullen look that Ink wondered if L.J. was contemplating the odds of overpowering him. Ink was fifteen years his senior and couldn’t stand straight anymore but L.J. didn’t have as much experience, or enough nerve to kill a man. The way L.J. had puked up his breakfast after Ink beat the crap out of that Realtor convinced Ink that half the shit L.J. claimed to have done wasn’t true. Ink thought he could beat L.J. despite his handicap, and was eager to do it—but he had other plans for the time being, so he adopted a more conciliatory tone. “What do you say?”
At last the kid sat back down. “If you know where Laurel’s brother is, why don’t we just go there, shoot him and be done with it?”
“Because I don’t know where he is. That’s what she’s going to tell me in order to save her kids.”
“You just said she’s met you before. That means she’ll realize that nothing can save her kids.”
“Then something in her house will give it away. Virgil and his sister were always close. She’ll have his phone number, letters, emails from him, some way to find him.”
L.J. pulled a piece of gum from his pocket and shoved it into his mouth. “What about the other guy?”
“Who?”
“What’d you call him—Pretty Boy? We’re going after him, too, right?”
Just the mention of Pretty Boy made Ink clench his jaw. “You know we are.”
“You haven’t said anything about him lately. It’s been all about the bitch.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten him. She’s first. Virgil and his wife are next. Pretty Boy’s last. The order’s important.”
Muttering something that sounded like, “You’re crazy,” L.J. turned on the TV, but Ink grabbed the remote and turned it off again.
“What are you thinking? They hear that shit, they’ll know they got company. You want to face the business end of five rifles?”
“There’re fishing poles in here.”
“That doesn’t mean they don’t do a little hunting, too.”
“Black bear’s the only thing in season. How many black bear hunters can there be?”
“Enough to have a season, right? Who told you it was bear season, anyway?”
“That guy at Walmart. I distracted him while you lifted our shoes, remember?”
He gazed around the cabin again. “So they could be hunters, like I said.”
L.J. scratched his neck. “They could also be a bunch of yuppies who wouldn’t know how to use a gun even if they had one.”
“Like I told you before, it’s safer to assume the worst.”
“Fine. We’ll assume the worst.” With a sigh, L.J. got up and helped himself to a cold beer. “So what do we do until these bear hunters come back? It’s barely noon.”
“We wait until they drag their sorry asses home. They’ll be here for dinner, if not before. With all the food they got, I’m betting they’re planning a barbecue.” A snick sounded as L.J. popped the top of his beer. “That could be five or six hours, man. I hate waiting.”
Ink whirled on him. “Could you quit complaining? I mean, you got any better ideas? Where else are we gonna stay? How else are we gonna get food?”
When he didn’t reply, Ink gestured at the Playboy. “Why don’t you go look at that magazine if you want some tits and ass? Take it into the bathroom. The way you’re actin’, two minutes should take care of your problem.”
“At least I can still get it up,” he snapped.
L.J. was guessing, but he was right. It wasn’t just his ability to have an erection that Laurel, Virgil and Pretty Boy had taken away from him. He wasn’t half the man he used to be. But they’d pay for what they’d done. They’d pay for everything. Soon.
He opened his mouth to tell L.J. the dick he was so proud of wouldn’t work very good if he shot it off when he heard a car pull up outside. “They’re early!”
L.J. checked the window while Ink got behind the couch.
“How many are there?” Ink asked, his voice barely audible.
“Four.”
“They have rifles?”
“Not unless they left ’em in the truck. They’re carrying cameras. Looks like a bunch of dads getting together for some kind of reunion.” At that point, L.J. glanced back as if he wanted to ask Ink not to go through with it. But it was too late. Ink didn’t have any choice. He had to get rid of these guys; it wasn’t like they’d walk away and keep their mouths shut just because he and L.J. asked them to.