Upon their arrival, an attentive nurse got a wheelchair for Shanice and took her up to Tyson’s room while Jack went and bought coffee. He felt it was probably best she saw him first. He didn’t want to intrude any more than he had. As he stood in a line waiting to place an order, he felt a tug on his jacket.
Behind him was Carla. “You’re Jack, right?”
He nodded.
“I’m glad you came. Tyson was asking for you. What happened to you last night?”
“Uh — something cropped up.”
She nodded and her chin dropped. “Tyson fought in your place.”
Jack’s jaw went slack. “That’s why he’s here?”
She frowned. “No. No, he won his fights. All three of them. Hell, you should have seen him. He laid down one hell of a beating on those guys. Impressed the hell out of me. He also made some good money.”
“Then what happened?”
“Tyson might have made money but Pope lost far more. It seems he bet a considerable amount on Tyson losing. I heard from a friend of a friend that Pope had some guys jump him.”
“Pope ordered it?”
She nodded.
“Why didn’t you warn Tyson?”
“It was too late. He didn’t take me out with him. Him and me… well, things haven’t worked out. But I love him.” Her chin dropped. “I really do.”
“Because he won and made money?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I know he thinks that’s all I’m there for but it’s not true.”
“Then maybe you should get off the fence and stop flirting with other men.”
She looked ashamed but nodded. “Anyway, I just wanted you to know.”
“You’re not sticking around?”
She thumbed towards the main exit. “I’ll swing by later. I have a shift I’m late for. Let him know I dropped by.”
Jack nodded and watched her leave. Pope’s reaction to losing didn’t surprise him. He’d seen Gafino do far worse to those who cost him money. He pushed the thought of retribution from his mind and collected the coffees. Once he made it up to the second floor he went along to room 202 and peered in through the window. Shanice was beside the bed holding her boy’s hand. Tyson had tubes up his nose, and one attached to his arm. His face was severely swollen, both eyes sealed shut. A large bandage wrapped around his head, and a cast was on his leg. Jack knocked twice before entering.
Shanice looked over and Jack gave a strained smile as he placed her coffee on the bedside table. He blew out his cheeks as he looked at Tyson.
“Has he said anything?”
She shook her head.
“Do you know who’s responsible for this?” Shanice asked.
As much as he wanted to say he knew, Shanice would have wanted to involve the police. They would have come sniffing around asking questions and there was no telling if someone had seen him coming out of Garcia’s place or the church. He was working on borrowed time.
“No. Like you said, he’s been around a lot of rough people. It’s hard to know for sure.”
He wasn’t just going to lie. Of course it could backfire on him too if Carla opened her mouth later. The fact was they were dealing with hearsay. Jack believed Carla because he’d seen that kind of behavior coming from Roy Gafino but that alone was not enough. He would have to dig deeper. Get a confession out of those involved. In the meantime he wanted to do right by them. With Tyson injured, bills piling up and Shanice needing assistance, they needed money, a lot of it and soon.
He wished he had more to go on regarding Dana but he didn’t.
He was torn between leaving and staying to help Tyson and Shanice.
Arkansas would have to wait.
Feeling uncomfortable staying in the room, and seeing Tyson wasn’t awake to talk, Jack placed a hand on Shanice’s shoulder. He reassured her that whatever the medical expenses were he would cover it.
“You don’t need to do that.”
“No I don’t. But I want to.”
Her brow furrowed and she lowered her chin. “I feel ashamed.”
“For what?”
“For judging you.”
“We all do it, Shanice. You had your reasons,” he said looking at Tyson. “Take care of him. I’ll check back later.”
“Where are you going?”
“To make a few arrangements for my departure.”
Pope’s gym was buzzing with activity when Jack entered. It was even more packed than before. Someone had cranked up the heat or the air conditioning unit had died, as Jack hadn’t been in there a few minutes when he began to sweat. Several people who’d attended the underground fights recognized him and waved as if they knew him.
The attendant behind the desk tried to tell him that he couldn’t go back into the office area without first making an appointment but Jack just ignored him and pressed on. Unlike the Pig’s Ear there was no one standing outside his office to make sure no one could get at Pope. That revealed a lot about the operation. It was amateur, sloppy and so was having his guys beat on a man because he lost money.
Jack let himself into the office to the surprise of Pope who was sitting at the head of a long mahogany conference table joined by six other businessmen. Spike, Pope’s right-hand man who’d been sitting in a chair near the door, stood up and went to place his hand on Jack. In days gone by Jack might have grabbed it and broken a few fingers before he could touch him but under these circumstances he needed Pope to trust him. He couldn’t let on that he knew anything about Pope’s involvement in Tyson’s beating.
Spike tried to shove him back out but Jack stood his ground, fixing his feet firmly to the floor in a way that made Spike feel as if he was pushing up against a boulder.
“I’m here to speak with Pope.”
Pope raised a hand. “Spike, let him be. We were actually just talking about you,” he said motioning to the businessmen. “Please.
