“How can I help?” she says, not missing a beat.
“You work here?” I ask, wanting to make sure.
“For now. I’m on my way to North Carolina. I’m taking the scenic route and working here and there in between for money,” she says.
“It’s not that far to North Carolina. Why not fly, or drive it straight through and get a job there?”
“Long story,” she says. I frown wondering how to respond. I reach in my jacket for the picture I keep of Mitch. “Let’s just say, I’m a little too familiar with your girlfriend’s story.”
“Shit.”
“There’s a lot of assholes in this world. So, basically, you’re here to see if your brother has been here, right?”
“Pretty much,” I respond.
“I’ve only been working a couple of weeks, but if he’s been here in that time, I would have seen him,” she says.
I fish for the picture of Mitch that I put in my wallet. It’s one I found at Callie’s trailer when I was getting her stuff. I can’t hardly stand looking at it, but I knew I needed it. I find it and hand it over to her. She looks at it and frowns. I feel my hopes die.
“You don’t know him,” I mutter.
“I didn’t say that,” she says. “I actually have seen him a couple of times. He paid for a lap dance. I’m just having trouble coming to terms with the fact that I was alone in the room with a monster.”
“That sadly, happens more times than you know.”
“Oh, for sure, but I don’t know about it, and that allows me to play dumb,” she says with a smirk. “Anyway, he does come in here. Usually, it’s a couple of hours before closing time. He’s here every night but Friday’s.”
“I wonder where he is on Friday’s,” I murmur with a frown.
“Oh, I know.”
“How could you possibly know?”
“He likes to brag,” she laughs, and I have to admit, that sounds exactly like Mitch. “He plays poker under the table at Skelly’s on Friday nights.”
“How do you know that?”
“He bragged he hit it big while I was dancing for him. I’m pretty sure he thought it would get him laid.”
“He probably did.”
“You’re wrong, you know.”
“Huh? About what?”
“He’s definitely not better eye candy than you,” she says while I’m standing up.
I throw some money down on the bar. “What’s your name?” I ask.
“Drew.”
“I tell you what, Drew, if you ever need a friend in Texas, go to Johnson’s garage in Macon, and ask for Reed Lane.”
“I just might take you up on that,” she says. I doubt she ever will, but I’ll be more than happy to help her if I can.
“Where are you headed?” she asks as I start walking away.
“It’s Friday night.”
“Be careful, Reed Lane.”
I don’t respond. Being careful is the last thing on my mind.
CHAPTER 28
Mitch
“Fucking rigged,” I growl under my breath as the door slams behind me.
Shit. I lost every fucking dime I had. It’s got to be rigged. There’s no other way to explain the fact that I won boat loads last week and then lose my ass tonight. I need money to get the hell out of Texas. I’ve been lying low, but I can’t stay here. I’m sure by now that bitch Callie has my name and face plastered everywhere. She should have been dead. She’s like a fucking cockroach and I’m tired of her getting away with fucking with my life. I should have finished choking the life out of her when I had the chance.
Without money, I’m not going to get away. They’ll catch me. Hell, I figured they would have already. I guess I have the inept police in Macon to thank for that. They don’t have the budget for a manhunt. I figure the state police will be involved by now, though. It’s my own damn fault. I went too far. I should have held back, but I just couldn’t. I’d been holding myself back for far too long. Once I let myself have some freedom, I couldn’t stop.
I’ve got a couple of options. I could steal money to get away, but I’m thinking that’s just postponing the inevitable. My days are numbered. I know it. Shit, I can feel it. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about how I want to go out.
And who I want to take with me.
I’ve managed to sneak back into Macon once after I heard on the local broadcast that Callie had been found. They said she was in critical condition and unconscious. Imagine my surprise when before I could even get to her hospital room, I saw my fucking brother standing at the nurse’s station. I should have realized that he couldn’t resist the urge to play the fucking hero. The place had been crawling with cops or I would have ended them both right then and there.