Page 69 of Jagger
“You got it, Prez,” Lincoln responded immediately. He was a good kid and would make a good brother. I was sure he would be patched in soon.
I wandered into the Chapel and took a seat, and Rome dropped down into the chair beside me a moment later.
“You doing good, man?” Rome asked.
“Hanging in there. I just want this shit to be over and done with,” I said, the frustration clear in my voice. “What time do you have to be at the shop?”
“I’m not going in today. I rescheduled two appointments and told Pic he’ll have to cover the rest.”
I snickered at that. “I’ll be he loved that.”
“Ask me if I give a flyin’ fuck?” Rome retorted bitterly. “I’m just about over his shit, man. I don’t know what the hell’s up with him, but he’s going off the rails, big time. I caught him fucking a stripper in the back room a couple of weeks ago, while his client waited in the lobby for a good twenty minutes. Guy was pissed, too. They were loud, so it was pretty damned obvious why Pic was ‘running late’. I had to offer the client a huge discount to keep him from walking out. And I swear to fuck, I think I found coke residue in the goddamned bathroom the other day. Pic claimed it must have been from one of the clients, but he was wired and acting squirrely as fuck.”
“Fuck, Rome, if he’s inking people after takin’ a hit, that’s just askin’ for trouble.”
My twin shook his head in disgust. “I know. We could lose our license, get fuckin’ sued, raided, who the fuck knows.”
“Have you told King?”
“Not yet. He knows that Pic’s been majorly slacking lately, but it’s been going on for a lot longer than he knows,” he admitted reluctantly. “I’ve been covering his ass for more than a year now.”
“Rome, I know he was your mentor and all, but you can’t – “
“I know, man, I know,” he interrupted me. “At first, it was just little stuff – takin’ time off at the last minute, missing an appointment here or there. Then he started screwing up the scheduling and fucking up the inventory – I had to take over doing both. I mean, how the hell are we supposed to ink clients when he forgets to order black ink?”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked incredulously.
“Nope, wish I was,” he said harshly. “It’s stressing me the fuck out. He started stepping out on Lola around the same time, and I covered his ass with her, too. Hated doin’ it. She’s a good woman and deserves better than the piece of shit he’s turnin’ into, that’s for sure. I thought it was just a phase, and he’d work it out of his system and get back on track. That ain’t happening, though, and the coke was the last straw for me. I’m gonna tell King once we’re done with this shit with that Laskey fucker.”
“Damn. Pic’s lucky that Lola’s family doesn’t know about this. I’d hate to get on the wrong side of La Famiglia Rossi.”
Rome snorted and nodded. “You and me both, brother. He’s lucky he hasn’t endedup sleepin’ with the fishes.”
“You been watchingThe Godfatheragain?” I teased. We were interrupted by the arrival of King, Lucky, Trick, and Bull, who carried his laptop in with him.
“All right, Cowboy can’t make it this morning, but let’s get down to business,” King said as they all settled in around the table. “Bull, what have you learned?”
“Not much, aside from the credit card hit at the motel. That card’s maxed out now, so that may be why he only stayed the one night and checked out this morning. No activity on their bank account, and they don’t have any other credit cards. Unless he’s got cash, which is doubtful, he’s going to have to sleep in his truck, go back home tonight, or hit up a friend or that cousin of his.”
“So, we need to make the rounds again tonight to see if we can track him down. Any idea if he’s got work lined up for today?” King asked.
“He’s stiffed his cousin on the last job they did together, so I doubt he’d be working with him,” I told him.
“I’ve got a list of the apartment complexes he’s done a bunch of painting for, according to the 1099’s he filed with his tax return last year. We can check those out, see if his truck is there.”
“Please tell me you didn’t hack the IRS, Bull?” King’s eyebrow was twitching, a sure sign that he was getting ready to blow a gasket.
Bull snorted. “Of course not.” King relaxed for a second, then Bull continued, “I could have, but I decided not to risk it.” King rolled his eyes and sighed. Bull was a fucking beast when it came to computers, and I had no doubt that he could hack the IRS if he really wanted to. “I hacked his bank account and tracked the names on the checks he deposited. Hacked his email, too. The tax place he used emailed him a copy of his completed tax return.”
I spoke up then. “Prez, I’d like to ride out when we’re done here and keep looking. He’s gotta spend the day somewhere, so we can check those apartments out. I want to check out that motel first though, to see if the desk clerk knows anything helpful.”
Rome and Lucky volunteered to ride with me, and King gave us the OK to head out.
“I’ll contact the rest of the brothers and give them assignments for tonight’s patrol. Be careful out there, and watch your backs, boys.”
“Always do, Prez,” Rome said, and I nodded my agreement.
We headed back down the hall toward the main club room, and Rome told me he was going to check in with Abby before we left. Lucky said he was going to run up to his room to grab his phone.
