“Is that any way to greet me?”
“Boss doesn’t have any jobs right now, and it seems his employees like to use my services for their personal benefit.”
“You make a lot of money from it,” Chains said, reminding him of the extortionate fee he charged. He knew for a fact Maurice didn’t charge Boss half as much.
“A guy’s got to make a living somehow.”
He rolled his eyes. “I want you to find out everything you can about a Lori Dean. Looks young, twentyish.” He told him the name of the diner where she worked.
“Fine.”
Mauri
ce hung up without even saying goodbye. Pocketing his cell phone, Chains watched Lori as she moved from table to table. Her wide hips had a natural sway, mesmerizing him.
She came back with a large pot of coffee. “Coffee?” she asked.
“Who gave you the shiner?”
Lori poured him some coffee and tutted. “You know that’s rude to ask a lady.”
“Yeah, well I think it’s rude for a guy to hit a woman.” He saw her tense up, and he hated that he made her nervous. It wasn’t his intention.
She kept a good distance from him. Clearly, her instincts were entirely correct. He wasn’t a good guy, had never been a good guy, and never would be a good guy.
“I ordered you the cheeseburger with ordinary fries. I hope that’s okay.” She handed him back his coffee.
“You don’t have to be nervous.”
“It’s not exactly normal for a guy to be so interested in my bruise.”
“Very true, but I’m not a normal guy. I never promised I was.” He offered her a smile, hoping he looked harmless. Hard to do when he’d killed people without blinking.
“Right. Enjoy your coffee.”
He watched her every move, and he admired her nice, round ass as she walked away. Ten minutes later she came back with his plate of food, and she left him to eat.
Maurice got back to him, along with a bill twice as much as he was expecting. Chains paid him by instant transfer, and opened up the file on his cell phone.
It always amazed him what Maurice could do with a name and a couple of clues. There wasn’t anything anyone could hide from the hacker.
Lori Dean, twenty-five years old, came from a big family, and by big, he was talking one of ten siblings.
She was poor, dirt poor, and Maurice had also included a warning. The neighborhood where she lived had a known pimp who liked to beat the shit out of the women.
Just seeing that warning made Chains angry.
He knew how she’d gotten the bruise, and it had just sealed Lori’s fate.
****
Lori stared at her reflection, and slowly ran her finger underneath her eye, wincing as she did. It hurt being hit, and, checking to make sure the door was locked, she slowly opened her very tight uniform. She’d asked several times for a larger size, but her boss wouldn’t budge. He told her men liked to see tits on display.
If she could get a job elsewhere she’d have been gone already, but in this day and age, she couldn’t be picky about where she worked. At least she didn’t have to screw anyone.
Bruises covered her ribcage, and it hurt for her to take a deep breath. Her ribs weren’t broken, but she was in so much pain.
This was what happened when you told Carlton Riggs “no”. She wasn’t an idiot. Carlton Riggs was a pimp, drug dealer, small arms dealer, asshole, bastard, and just everything that was bad in the world.