Bounty (Page 94)

“And what are they giving them?”

“She’s always tricked out. She takes a ride, it’s sliding into the back seat of a shiny town car with a driver. Nice clothes. Hair done. Heels. Jewelry.”

“She’s from money, Decker,” Deke reminded him.

“She’s clean, Deke,” Decker returned. “Not a single witness says she looks strung out or acts in any way like a junkie or a good time girl. No parties. No callers. In early, not out on the town, stumbling home loaded or high. Quiet. Nice to folks in the halls, not in their business, clearly not wanting them in hers, but she isn’t being an uppity bitch. She leaves at all, it’s during the day, comes home early evening.”

“Not sure how to take what you’re sayin’, Deck.”

“What I’m saying is that it might be that Bianca Constantine got herself a sugar daddy who’s into her at least in one healthy way. She was going down that rabbit hole, he pulled her out, cleaned her up and is keeping her. Apartment is rented under a corporation that’s a shell we haven’t been able to trace yet, but it’s moneyed. Again, I’ve seen pictures of this girl and she’s not hard to look at. She caught the right eye, I could see this happening.”

“And this eye she caught, they’re down with hiring that kind of thing to take care of a problem for her?” he asked.

“No. The way she greeted the guy who entered her apartment last night, this eye she caught is the kind of guy who knows how to execute a hit,” Deck replied.

Deke blew out a hissed breath.

Jussy got closer.

Decker kept going.

“From all reports, these from your girl, Bianca’s parents, Thurston…Justice and Bianca are tight. Seriously tight. Known each other years, best of friends. She heard her sister getting strangled on her voicemail, the man she might ask to pay her debt she wouldn’t ask to pay her debt. She’d ask him to make the man who hurt her friend pay. And he’s so into her, he did it.”

“That’s a lot of speculation, Decker,” Deke told him.

“Her cupboards were bare, brother. Not a dime to her name. Credit card debt up to her ass. Her house foreclosed on six months ago. Car repo’ed. Not many of her friends have nice things to say about her because she screwed them over a variety of ways or she owes them money, some of that big money. No one has seen her for months but the last ones who did say, if she wasn’t shitfaced or high, she was strung out. And now I’m standing in an apartment with clothes and furniture left behind she could hock easy for a fix or a payoff. Someone is keeping her. And that someone has means. Man who showed last night, witness who saw her open the door to him, that friendly he noted, man said she greeted him in a way you’d greet a lover. Took his hand, pulled him in. No one else seen coming or going. Man’s dead ten feet away from me, Deke, is not dead for a payoff. He’s dead for payback. And from what we got, he was done right in front of Bianca Constantine.”

“You think it’s too hot to try to find her?” Deke asked. “For you,” he went on to explain and his voice went low. “Emme.”

“Gonna ask around. Emmanuelle told me Krys and Bubba’s good news, I wanna be home with my woman who’s gonna be giving me that same good news in a few months. I’ll report all this to Chace but told the cops that there’s an investigation pending that I’d been hired to look into that involves Caswell so they’re gonna give him a call too. And I know some folks out here who might know this tall, sharp-dressed black man. Won’t go in hard or send one of my boys in until we know more about him and what Constantine got herself caught up in. But I’m just givin’ it today. Gonna get back to my wife tomorrow. Leave a few boys behind to keep digging but do it careful. I’ll let you know we find it’s too hot or gut feeling tells us to back off.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Deke replied.

“Right. I’ll let you go. But at least the good news is solid good. Your girl, she’s safe from this asshole, and no matter how it’s happening or who’s behind it, it looks like her girl is getting her shit together, at least with the partying and dope. Company she’s keeping, that’s the question mark.”

“Yeah,” Deke muttered.

“Yeah,” Decker said. “Later.”

“Later, Deck. And thanks, brother.” Deke disconnected and again focused on Jussy.

He didn’t even lower his phone before she asked, “What?”

He looked into her brown eyes, knowing this was Jussy, his gypsy princess. She’d take it in, deal with it and move on.

“Okay, baby, good news,” he started. “Brendon Caswell is no longer a threat and won’t be because his dead body was found this morning in an apartment in LA.”

“Holy crap,” she whispered, those brown eyes getting huge.

“Now for the weird news,” he warned her.

“Oh shit.” She was still whispering.

“He was found in Bianca’s apartment.”

She closed her eyes.

“Look at me, gypsy,” he ordered, shoving his phone in his pocket and lifting his hand to wrap it around the back of her neck under her hair.

She opened her eyes.

“Folks saw her, Jussy. Said she looks good, clean, healthy. Say she’s at home at night, not out partying. Say she doesn’t have folks coming by. She’s nice to people when she sees them in the halls. Decker says the apartment building isn’t the greatest, but her place was clean, good furniture.”