Jellyfish

14. The Plan

He never kept me waiting very long, but he was also never one to use the front door. Zig's voice sent chills down my spine causing me to almost tip my chair in surprise. "March," He steadied me with a joyful chuckle before sliding into the chair beside me. "It's been way too long."

He'd chosen a pizza place, somewhere he had no business knowing about considering I'd never told him where we lived. It didn't surprise me that he'd found out, of course, that's what Zig did, but it surprised me that he'd come all this way for something as simple as this. Perhaps it was to avoid a paper trail, perhaps to keep his mark off the net. Somehow, though, I didn't think either of those things were correct. I found myself thinking that maybe Zig was there just for me.

"Just gonna stare forever?" he asked when I said nothing for a minute. "Cuz I don't really mind, but I think we have business to get down to."

"Right," I cleared my throat, remembering that there was an actual reason for Zig to be in front of me. "Did you find a lot on him?"

Sliding a clipped file my way, Zig leaned back in his chair and explained, "Found lots of fun stuff. Cain Antonelli, actually named Richard Cain Antonelli, graduated in 2014 with a degree in marketing and opened a business with best friend Isaac Moon."

"He partially owns the business?"

Zig hummed in response. "Indeed, he does, but they're a few thousand dollars indebted to a man named Lee Dimman. He helped kick start their business back in the day and because of his charges and interest, Ricard has yet to be able to get their company out of debt. Funny thing, their debt is what causes all their workers to be paid so little and they are not happy. The workers went on strike for the first time in 2016, led by one Tobias Max who was terminated shortly after their successful pay raise. Even so, there was a second strike a year later when wages once again dropped to try and pay back their crippling debt." Zig said it all like it was some hilarious story. He didn't stop there though, that wasn't even the punch line.

"Of course, his job isn't his only problem. The Antonellis are way beyond wealthy and seem to have a superiority complex. In 2012, Richard's brother was arrested for a fight he'd started in Iowa. The victim, who's name was undisclosed, said the fight started over him attacking her job and calling her slurs. Kid got bailed out pretty quick but was arrested again later on for destruction of property trying to get back at her. He allegedly painted the word filthy across her car and slashed the tires. This temper is something he inherited from mommy dearest, I included a pic of her mugshot if you're interested."

Absorbing the new information quickly, I was quite interested and dug into the file. It wasn't hard to find the blown-up photograph of a young woman, probably in her late twenties at the time, holding up her sign. Despite the fact that this was a mugshot, Mrs. Antonelli had not a hair out of place and was smiling happily into the camera. Had I not known any better, I would've thought this woman was out taking headshots, not getting arrested for apparently the fifth time. Zig's long fingers came into view settling over the woman's face and I looked up to meet his grin. "You see that June? That's the face of a woman who knows the law can't touch her. Isn't it amazing what money can do to people?"

Yes, it was certainly something. I'm sure my mother would look just about the same if the police ever dared to take her in. It was actually a little scary how alike our families seemed to be. Of course, I came out trying to be different. Cain just followed in their footsteps.

"So he's got money, family arrests, and debts he can't pay back," I mulled over the facts. "I can work with that."

"I know it's not usually my place, but can I make a suggestion?" Zig asked, not making eye contact, but scanning the room as if worried about being overheard. When I nodded my consent, he reached across the table again and flipped the file to a picture of a very attractive young man. "Start here. Start with Tobias Max. He seems to hate both Richard and Isaac with a burning passion and if there's any dirt not in that file, he may know it."