He jerks out of my grasp and glares. Before he says anything, he brushes himself off and slicks back his greasy hair. “Why’d you come to me? I don’t want no part of this.”
“You keep to yourself, you deal to all using members of the Vice family, and I’ve never had issues with you before. I’m not looking to put Jeremy out of business. I’m looking to get something back from him, and he’ll never suspect you pointed me in the right direction. Everything works out, right?”
Ward finishes his cigarette and snuffs it out under his boot. “What’s in it for me? Or is your threat my only incentive?”
“Not his threat,” Miles says. “It’s mine.”
He steps around me and slams Ward up against the wall of the bar. Unlike Miles, who has the cut of muscle to show for all his exercise, Ward is more a lithe guy with long limbs and scrawny legs. He reaches for something tucked into the belt of his pants, right on the small of his back, but Miles beats him to the punch and grabs Ward’s .22 handgun. When Ward goes to take it, Miles decks him across the face, the genuine crack of knuckles on skin echoing throughout the alley.
“Hey,” I bark. “Calm down!”
I don’t go to intervene. Either Miles will listen or he won’t. No need for me to get roughed up on Ward’s behalf.
“Whoa, whoa!” Ward pleads. “Stop!”
“Are you going to talk?” Miles growls, his teeth practically clenched shut. He eases up a bit but keeps Ward pinned to the wall.
“You’re lookin’ for trouble if you ask around like this.”
Miles cocks a fist. Ward flinches.
“All right,” Ward says, his hands up. “Jeremy keeps stuff in lots of places, but I assume you want the bodies, right? He keeps his bodies in an old ambulance dispatch station before shippin’ them out of town. The dispatch station’s set up for keepin’ people alive before a long trip, ya see?”
“Where, specifically?” I ask. The ambulance dispatch center rings a bell. And then I remember. It was on Shelby’s list of locations. That’s a good sign—there’s a good chance Ward is telling the truth.
“On School Street and Oakwood Ridge,” Ward replies. “It’s next to an old retirement home. Both of them are closed, okay? Whole damn neighborhood is abandoned.”
Miles goes to release him, but I stop him with a wave of my hand.
“What else?” I ask. “You’re not telling us something.”
Ward lets out a long exhale. “The place was abandoned. Jeremy uses it for storage. And his weird games. Guy’s a kook.”
Ah. The place will be swarming with hired guns. That could be a problem, but then again, we have surprise on our side. People underestimate what surprise can do for them.
I motion for Miles to let the guy go. He does so, and Ward jumps away.
“Can I get my gun back?” he asks.
Miles pockets the weapon. Smart kid. We don’t want to risk Ward getting weird and shooting us in the back.
“What’s Jeremy’s number?” I ask as I walk up to him.
Ward cocks an eyebrow. “You’re gonna call him?”
“Perhaps.”
Ward pulls out his cell phone and begins flipping through his contacts list.
I snort. “You don’t know it by heart?”
“Of course not. Who remembers phone numbers anymore, am I right? What’s the fuckin’ point?”
I grab Ward’s phone and throw it to the cement, shattering the screen. For a moment he stands still, frozen with his mouth hanging open. I stomp on the device, turn on my heel, and head back for the car.
“What the fuck was that for?” he shouts after me.
I can’t have him calling Jeremy to warn him. And if he can’t remember the number, the only way he’ll warn the man is personally driving up to him. This is my last guarantee, basically, to remain incognito. It’s not 100 percent foolproof, but anything is better than nothing. At least Ward doesn’t know what we’re looking for. Jeremy would never suspect I was looking to save two little girls.
As we walk to the car, I spot Miles rotating his arm.
“Got a little physical back there,” I say.
“Yeah,” he mutters.
“You’re worried. You’ve been on the edge of losing it since you got home.”
“I’ve been on the edge of losing it since Jayden called to tell me what happened.”
Now it makes sense. His odd behavior goes back to his bizarre need to mother his siblings. I guess I can’t fault him for that trait. I knew about it going into this arrangement.
We both get into the car, and I feel the need to say something to him.
“Careful,” I say. “You don’t want to lose your head. It invites accidents.”
Miles starts the car. “You’re right.”
“I never thought I’d have to give you advice like that. A year ago you’d be flailing about, asking for my help.”
“Well, I’ve taken everything you’ve said to heart.” He turns and stares at me, his dark eyes filled with a sort of energy I can’t muster at the moment. “I want to be more like you, Pierce. You’re… confident. And you know how to handle yourself.”
Heh. It’s a good thing he can’t read minds. Self-doubt is like a fire—it’ll consume you if you stand in it too long—and I burned myself earlier tonight. Of course, none of my problems are resolved; I’ve just tabled them until I have all these emergencies taken care of. I still need to deal with reality.
“Plus,” Miles adds as he pulls away from Copper Town. “Don’t you prefer men who are assertive? I mean, I know you liked me before, but you always seem to stare at men who are, well, forceful and gruff.”
“You’re doing this for me?”
“No, I just thought it was a nice benefit.”
“Good. That’s how it should be.”
RETIREMENT HOMES give me the creeps. Not haunted houses, not dark alleys. Retirement homes. I don’t know why—I’ve never been beaten in one and left for dead—but I’ve avoided them all
