Reaching over, I placed my hand over Lucy’s and gave it a squeeze. “Doing alright, doll?”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “I know this is for the best, but it kills me that he’s going to get away with this.”
I was with her there. But her safety was the most important thing to me. “Hopefully, the police will do their fucking job, and he’ll get what’s coming to him.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” I gave her hand another squeeze.
Lucy bent forward and dug her cell out of her purse. Her hands were trembling as she swiped the screen to open it.
“Sure you don’t want me to do it?” My tone was practically pleading. Somehow, Hack and Lucy had convinced me to let Lucy call the son of a bitch and set up the meet. I didn’t want her having anything to do with him, not even a phone call. It was bad enough she would have to be in the same room with him. But it would be more effective if he was confronted by the witness who could potentially take him down.
“I can handle it.” Her tone was determined, and after taking a deep breath, she punched in the number Hack recited. Then she put it on speaker so the ringing filled the silence in the cab.
“Who the hell is this and how did you get this number?” the asshole snarled by way of greeting. Hack had procured the number for a phone that had only received calls from a few numbers. From the guy’s records, we knew he had one cell that was his main tool of communication, but it looked as though he went through temporary phones frequently as well. The burners usually only received calls from two or three numbers, and they were never the same from phone to phone. We were confident that they were used strictly for cheating. It seemed more likely he would answer that one for the exact reason he had. To find out how someone had gotten the number.
“How I got it isn’t important,” Lucy stated. She sounded strong and confident, impressing me even more than she already had in the short time I’d known her. “Who I am is a different story.”
“Why would I fucking care who you are, bitch?” he snapped.
I nearly grabbed the phone and told him he was a dead man for talking to my woman like that, but a look from Lucy had me channeling my rage into my grip on the steering wheel. I wouldn’t have been surprised if it ended up with permanent grooves from my fingers.
“This is Lucy Skye. The woman who could land your ass in jail for murder.”
The idiot laughed maniacally, making me grind my teeth in a monumental effort to stay calm.
“The nosy little cock-tease who lived next to Shannon?” He snorted with derision.
The more he spoke, the deeper this fucking asshole was digging the grave I was gonna bury him in. My vision was turning red from the force of my anger, so I pulled into the next parking lot I saw and put the truck in park.
“I can place you in her apartment less than thirty minutes before her time of death, asshole,” Lucy snapped, and one corner of my mouth kicked up at her mettle. Damn, I loved her. It was a shitty time to come to that realization, but it was true. “And I’ve got a witness who is willing to come forward about you beating the crap out of your last girlfriend.”
He snorted again, though it seemed a little less snarky that time. “No way would that bitch said anything.”
A barely detectable, muffled sound came from behind me, and I glanced in the rearview mirror to see Hack pressing a fist over his mouth, his eyes burning with barely leashed fury. It was an interesting turn of events, but the timing was shit, so I filed it away for later.
“She signed an agreement, and you will too, if you know what’s good for you.”
“Maybe I’m willing to do that,” Lucy responded patiently, though the twisted expression on her face made it clear that she was disgusted with the pathetic little shit. “I want to meet with you and talk about it. Otherwise, I go to the cops with everything I know, which is a hell of a lot more than you think, and Paisley comes with me.”
“You can’t touch me.” His tone was sounding less and less confident.
“You sure about that? All I’m asking for is to meet with you. You want to risk it just because you’re a cocky butthead?” This time I full-on smiled. She was fucking adorable.
“Fine. I’ll text a time and place to this number that is convenient for me. Bring the other bitch with you, but you two come alone.”
Lucy opened her mouth to reply, and I knew her first instinct was to be honest, so I quickly touched her arm, and when she glanced at me, I nodded. “Okay,” she agreed.