“They said he kidnapped her and fuck knows what else, I don’t know,” he said. “But here’s the thing…” Fish hunched his shoulders and lowered his volume, like they were discussing salacious gossip. “Score sits in jail for a year and a half or something while they build the case. He’s sentenced to death, sits on death row a couple of years, Beeks gets it down to life without parole ‘cause, you know, I guess there’s no proof he really kidnapped her or something. Beeks has connections, you know? So, Score does another three years just living the life, you know?”
Shyla didn’t really, but she nodded anyway. Life in prison wasn’t something she needed a run down on to understand it wasn’t a barrel of laughs.
But Fish didn’t elaborate. Shyla prompted him on. “So…” He glanced her way. “How did he get out?” She gasped and straightened. “He’s not on the run, is he?”
“Man, you’ve gotta open a newspaper once in a while. So, he’s been in prison for like six and a half years until, boom, who walks into the police station with a story to tell?” One glance, then another, Shyla just raised her brows in expectation. “Siobhan Kelly! The woman he’s supposed to have killed. She wasn’t dead at all!”
“Oh my God!” Just trying to wrap her head around the idea was almost impossible. With wide eyes, she stared out at the road ahead. “Oh my God! But who was the woman in the fire?”
He shrugged. “They never bothered to do DNA, because the dental records matched. I mean, who thinks that the murder victim isn’t the murder victim, you know? They had a body, a witness, a suspect… They did the DNA after Siobhan showed up. Turned out she was some co-ed who’d OD’d and been buried the week before, same build as Siobhan. They screwed with her teeth, but yeah, total accidental death.”
“But wait,” Shyla said, turning to him again. “That’s no accident.”
The co-ed’s death might have been accidental, but setting Score up hadn’t been. Someone had to match the dental records and support Siobhan who must have been in hiding.
Shaking his head, Fish looked so proud of himself. He might think she’d been living under a rock, but he was definitely pleased to be telling the story. “It’s all intrigue, right? That’s what Beeks says… turns out Biz paid Siobhan to fuck off to some place south of the border. He set the whole thing up. Siobhan was pissed Score wasn’t putting a ring on her finger, and wanted the whole gangsta life, you know? Biz just wanted his brother out the way, so their dad couldn’t, you know, decide he liked him better or something… So, Score went to prison for a crime he never committed, not even that he didn’t commit, but that never even happened. The media was all over it. They awarded Score like a record figure in compensation or something. I don’t know, he doesn’t talk to me about money…” Closing his mouth, Fish puffed out his cheeks before parting his lips to let the breath out. “He doesn’t really talk to anyone… ‘cept maybe Beeks.”
“What about his family? His dad? His brothers?”
Fish caught a glimpse at her, but shook his head. “He cut all ties. He didn’t hear hardly nothing from his dad while he was in prison. Think Razer kept in touch. Doran, Score’s youngest brother, only went to see him a few times in the later years. That’s all Beeks said… Don’t think Score likes to talk about it.”
“He must be okay talking about it if he told you.”
Fish snickered. “He doesn’t tell me shit. I knew ‘cause everyone knows. Death row, man, that’s no fucking joke… He had a rep before he went inside, now he’s not only mean and dangerous, but he’s bitter too, got something to prove… I know all this stuff ‘cause it was all over the news, and Beeks told me some when he set me up to work for Score… But I don’t push Score on nothing. No one does.”
“Have you been working for him long?”
Checking the junction at a stop sign, Fish was a careful driver and she appreciated that he took the time to obey the rules even though the streets were quiet. “A week,” he said. “He’s opening a club, we’re getting the place ready. It’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a big deal.”
“I can imagine.”
At least she had a better idea who she was working for, though she didn’t know what to make of the whole mess. If Shyla had been told that her employer spent time on death row without knowing the surrounding story, she might have been reluctant to work for him. But after learning the truth, her heart broke for him.
If this Siobhan had been upset in their relationship, she could’ve ended it. Instead, she’d conspired with Score’s own brother, another person who was supposed to care for him, and ruined his life.
Death row must have been terrifying. Prison in general was probably terrifying. Score had lost six or seven years just wasting away for something he didn’t do.
She must have been thinking about it for a while. By the time Shyla snapped out of her reflection, they were approaching Score’s building.
“I have to check out this other club tonight,” Fish said. “Score wants me to get the skinny on the competition… Want to come with?”
“A… a nightclub?” Her mouth opened as she shook her head. “I… I’ve never been to a nightclub.”
While trying to determine if it was a good idea, they pulled up to the valet. Fish got out to give the guy his keys. Her things were in the back, she assumed they’d have to unload them. But Fish’s question had left her two steps behind. Shyla was still trying to decide whether or
