I rubbed the knots out of the back of my neck a few times. “We were talking about you. We were talking about the pool player, Rocky, and I was telling the fellas that you’re pretty good at getting information out of people.”
Angie’s emerald green eyes hit the floor. “Welp. About that.” She made a cheesy face, showing all her teeth like she knew a secret we didn’t. “You got yourself a Devil Rider right there. I had some of my sources check him out and follow him. He was hanging out with another guy named Snake. They were having breakfast together. I got a couple of pics if you want to confirm. If he ain’t a Devil Rider, then he’s in bed with them, that’s for damn sure.”
Smoke set his beer down as his jaw dropped, and Coyote almost choked and had to wipe his mouth.
Surprise didn’t register on my face because I knew when I looked at the guy that he was full of shit. “Told you. What I say?” I gloated. My redemption at the hands of Angie was directed at Smoke who’d second-guessed me.
“Shit’s crazy, he’s got balls of steel coming here to play. We gotta get Bones and Hawk in on this. He’s going to be here real soon,” Smoke replied.
“Are you looking for me?” Bones walked over from the stairs with a pensive look on his face; he must have been up in the office working.
“We have ourselves a traitor on enemy lines,” I explained to him.
Angie lifted out the incriminating photos from the brown satchel over her shoulder and handed them to Bones.
He took them slowly, then shifted through the photos, one by one. “What do these photos have to do with anything? I see Snake here, but who’s the other guy?”
“That’s Rocky, the guy that signed up to play pool. He seems to be a Devil Rider,” I dropped the bombshell.
Bones looked up sharply as his jaw locked up. “Let him play, he’s about to get burnt. Let’s keep him around and see what we can fish out about him. Feed him bullshit and send him downstream. If the Devils wanna play, then let’s rock ‘n’ roll,” he replied with a low growl.
“This is going to be a real treat. I cannot wait,” I added with terseness in my voice. “I gotta go set up, so I’m sure I’m about to see him in a minute anyway.”
“Stick to it and see what you can find out. Angie, keep digging. Good work. You mind if I keep these photos?” Bones asked her.
“Sure can, I have a copy. Let me sniff around a little. By the time we’re finished with him, we’ll have his life secrets.” Angie winked at the crew as we waved and walked over near the pool tables.
“How have you been this week?” I asked her. She seemed like she was in high spirits, and I could only hope some of that energy would rub off on me.
“Pretty good, I’ve been doing background interviews on the crew here, so I feel like things are working pretty well. I have some preliminary notes. I wanted to see if you’re free, so I can clarify a few things.” She smiled, temptingly.
I dragged my eyes to her face. “Sure, Teresa is coming to take Sarah tomorrow so if you want to come over then we can go over things. How does that sound?” I asked.
“Pretty good,” she replied.
An imposing force walking in the door distracted me.
Rocky had entered Wheelz and came straight over to me wearing a cheesy grin. “Hey, how’s it going? I’m down, I have to face the champ again,” he greeted me. His smile was chipper, eyes blackhearted and cold.
“You gotta get through the rounds first,” I responded. Now that I knew who he was, I cut him a half-hearted smile.
He belly-laughed and wrote his name down on the sheet.
Other players started to flow in around him as I pulled my pool cue off the rack.
Angie was sizing him up and making her own assessments. “You know what, I might put my hat in the ring tonight and play,” she mused. She bit her lip and narrowed her eyes at Rocky.
“Oh yeah? You play?” Rocky asked her as his eyes roamed over her body with his dark smile.
Sleazebag.
Angie greeted his gaze with contempt and a telling frown. “Yep. Sure do.” She swiftly moved over to pick up a pool stick.
I did feel grateful she was at the table, so I had another ally on board.
“Hmm, interesting. You guys are doing pretty well financially, got any other endeavors the club is involved in?” Rocky probed, not subtly.
To any other person I might have provided a straight answer, but given what I knew, I didn’t. “Like what?” I replied as I shifted the powdery pink chalk over the end of my pool stick.