about him. That leaves Henry and Lancroft. This could be payback for chasing him out of that club or just something to distract us from coming after him again. I don’t give a shit what happened, this can’t go unanswered.”
Chapter 23
Rico tore up Hanley Road as if he was trying to break the sound barrier. “It was only a matter of time before those gutless fucking Nymar came for payback after getting their asses chased from this town.” He parked with one front tire on the curb and jumped out with his Sig Sauer in hand.
“Put that away!” Paige said.
Bits of glass and cigarette butts stuck to the concrete, announcing the Skinners’ steps with a muffled crunch. The humid Missouri air hung around the bar, making the Keyhole seem even more isolated from the world of the living.
Rico’s eyes were fixed upon the front of the bar and he made it all the way to the entrance without noticing the place was closed. “Or it could be those motherfucking Mud People,” he snarled while holstering the .45 so he could pull at the door. “They found him once and they must have found him again. It’s not like Ned tried to shake up his routine or anything. He must come here three times a week. I told him not to be so goddamn predictable, but did he listen? Fucking cops probably wrote this place off without even bothering to look for anything.”
Paige tipped her head back and put a drop into each eye from the bottle she’d taken from Ned’s. “Before you get too worked up, let’s see what we can find in here.”
There wasn’t much to see from the parking lot. Most of the windows were covered by shades yellowed from age and overexposure to daylight, but a few were uncovered. Looking in at the bar through one of them, Rico didn’t see anything but shabby furniture and old arcade cabinets.
“Ned was here,” she said as she studied the waves of Skinner scent drifting within the bar. “From what I can see, there were no Nymar.”
“Can you be sure about that?”
“No.”
“Then keep lookin’.”
After letting the drops soak in, Paige picked up even more of the Skinner scent within the place. “I think there may have been another Skinner in there with him.”
“What makes you say that?”
She looked at the scent left behind by herself and Rico and compared it to the traces inside. “Because Ned doesn’t move around enough to lay down that much scent. Even if he did laps inside of that place, his scent would have had to dissipate by now, right?”
“You’re the one with the funky vision,” Rico grumbled.
Compared to the fresher scents they had left, the trails drifting inside the bar were like wisps of stubborn cigar smoke. The longer she stared through the window, the more wisps she picked up. “Looks like it’s concentrated at the bar. There’s so much. My gut’s telling me there’s too much in there to have been left by just one of us. Did anyone else come here?”
“Any other Skinners? Not that I know of.” Rico’s expression took on a cold, steely edge. “Hasta be Lancroft. That old fuck got to Ned.”
Paige’s phone rang. When she answered, Cole immediately told her, “It’s him.”
“You saw the body?”
“I saw a picture of it. I met with Detective Shin. She had a picture on her laptop, and yeah,” he repeated with a sigh, “it’s Ned all right.”
“Are you alone?”
“Nope,” Cole replied in a forced conversational tone.
“What do the cops know about how he was killed?”
“The bar was robbed. They found the owner with a broken neck and Ned’s throat was cut. There wasn’t much by way of security at that place, so they’re going with the robbery.”
“Then meet us at The Emerald. You remember the address?”
“I got it.”
“Good. Any problems, give me a call.” She snapped the phone shut and turned on her heels so she could walk up the sidewalk to Rico. The big man got some amused looks from passersby, thanks to his deathly stare and patchwork leather jacket, but he wasn’t concerned with any of that. He clenched a cigarette between his teeth and expelled smoke as if trying to spit it into the world’s face.
“You wanna hear something stupid?” he asked.
“I’ve spent enough time with Cole to make me immune to stupid.”
Rico’s eyebrows flicked up as one choppy laugh pushed the rest of the smoke out of his throat. “Damn! And here I thought you liked the guy.”
She lowered her head and stuffed her hands into her pockets while walking away.
“I knew it,” Rico grumbled as he fell into step beside her. “So have you two…?”
“I thought you had something stupid to tell me.”
He watched her for another second, took the cigarette from his mouth and said, “I actually thought Ned was safe. Not like I didn’t think anything would ever happen to him, but just that so much shit already has. He was the only one to walk out of Miami after all those other Skinners got ripped to shit. We thought we lost him in the Everglades while he was off chasing Lizard Men.”
“Squamatosapiens,” Paige corrected. “The proper term is Squamatosapiens.”
“Right. Then he loses an eye and comes here to watch over an empty city. The old buzzard could handle himself, but he also did a damn good job of laying low. He dealt with the troublemakers and kept everything in line. I mean, I really thought he was safe.”
“You’re right. That is stupid.”
By the time Cole arrived at The Emerald, the new coat of foul-smelling varnish on his weapon had dried and a citation from the St. Louis Police Department was in the glove compartment. Daniels’s SUV was already in the parking lot, and Rico and Paige were leaning against it. “With all the shit going on around here,” Cole fumed after climbing out of the Cav, “the cops at that station bust me for not being roadworthy! What the hell does that even mean?”
“It probably means we should get those windows replaced,” Paige said.
“We should replace the whole car.”
“Do you know how long it takes to get all the secret compartments in the trunk, doors, and glove compartment just right?”
The Emerald wasn’t a purple A-frame, but according to the green neon sign out front, it did have Amateur Night every Wednesday. The sun was still a few notches above the horizon, giving the large one-story building a washed-out quality. A few other cars were in the lot, clustered directly in front of the entrance and Motley Crue’s “Girls, Girls, Girls” was just loud enough to make it through the walls.
Rico walked around to the back of the SUV with his phone pressed against his ear. “Yeah, it’s me. We’re here. Are you ready for us?” While he listened to the response, he pulled the rear hatch open to expose Daniels to the light. Although the Nymar wasn’t about to burst into flames, he didn’t seem happy about the interruption as he fidgeted with several boxes of supplies.
“Well how much longer?” Rico growled into his phone. “Fine, we’ll be right in…What? Why not? It’s hot out here!” He sighed, gritted his teeth and flipped the phone shut with almost enough force to crush it. “We’re waiting out here until the girls are ready for us. Shouldn’t be too long.”
“Screw that,” Paige snapped as she headed for the main entrance.
Rico grabbed her arm and absorbed the hooking punch to his shoulder that followed. “Tristan’s coming out here to talk to us, Paige. If you can’t be civil, then keep your damn mouth shut for a change. I put too much hard work into this for you to trash it now.”
“What’s your hard work consisted of?” she asked. “Lap dances with one girl compared to two?”
“There was lap dancing involved, but not how you think. Do you know why all of these purple A-frame strip
