Shots

curiosity

The Wayfarer's smelled like wood and wine. Evie loved it. The lighting was dim, warm, and the walls were paneled a rich cherry. Large lounges sprawled out on either side of the entry hall, but Evie took them straight through to a desk further down. The man behind it was polishing an antique pistol, his scruffy, gray beard obscuring his face until he look up. Instead of a greeting, he simply nodded and pulled out a notebook, setting it down on the desk in front of them. Evie pulling it closer and rifled through a few pages, taking note of the names listed. Antonio stood beside her, looking around without saying anything, waiting for her to make the first move. Again, Evie felt grateful for his ability to utilize patience and timing.

"Hey, Marty," Evie pointed at one of the names as she spoke. "I though the Williams brothers weren't in town?"

"Came back for the Raynor funeral." Marty's voice was just as rough as his appearance. "No drunken antics, so we're good there."

Evie nodded, setting the notebook back down. "Where's Cade? I need to ask him some questions."

Marty peered up at the two of them under bushy eyebrows. "In the back, cataloging. Is this about the Dalton kid?"

"That's right." Evie flashed Marty a quick smile, tapping the desk in thanks before heading around the corner and following that hallway down to the end, opening the last door on the right. Antonio followed her into the room where a young man was scribbling in a book with crates of glass bottles stacked around him. The room expanded past the shelves behind Cade, but Evie wasn't there to ask Cade about the stock.

"Hey."

Cade looked up briefly, nodded and returned to work. Evie shut the door behind Antonio and cleared her throat. "Since when are you so industrious about your work?"

"Since I figure I might not have a job very soon?" Cade still didn't look at her as he talked, choosing instead to focus on the task at hand.

"Cade, I need to ask you some questions and I need you to give me honest answers."

"Yeah? Who's your friend?"

"He's my friend." Evie stuck her hands in her pockets, shrugging. Cade copied her, right down to the unimpressed expression he pulled. "Fine, this is-" Evie wrinkled her nose at Antonio who gave her his best " you do what you want" face. Turning back to Cade, Evie fought back a smile as she finished, "This is Kingbird."

"Are you serious? What is with you and birds? And when do I get to be one?"

"So are you mocking my choice in nicknames or wishing you were cool enough to qualify?" Evie grinned.

Cade shook his head. "I don't know. Whatever. Nice to meet you, Kingbird. Go ahead, ask your questions. I don't know how much help I'm gonna be. I wasn't with Jared last night. Maybe I should've been. I might've been able to stop him."

"Or you might be dead," Evie pointed out. "The 'what-ifs' aren't important. What is important is finding out who's really calling the shots."

"Jared still runs with the Wheelhouse group. He's been bringing in the girls."

"We know that," Antonio spoke up for the first time. "What we don't know who in the Wheelhouse decided to go from drug running to calculated murder."

Cade leaned against the edge of the table, running a hand through his hair nervously. "I don't know who could authorize that."

"Give us a middle man, anybody."

"Where is Jared in all this? Did he really kill that girl?" Cade said it like he already knew the answer.