If an example was required, Demetrius would beat the hell out of the person and leave his body to be found by others who dared challenge their territory. If information was needed, Ken would carve the person up like a Thanksgiving turkey until they spilled every secret they knew.
Unfortunately, Joel and Reuben’s special needs didn’t do anything to help the company. Joel had a taste for very young boys, but was smart enough to hunt far from his own backyard. Reuben liked young girls, but he wasn’t as discriminating – or as careful – as Joel. Ken thought they’d dealt with Reuben’s carelessness years ago, but apparently their intervention hadn’t taken.
‘At least tell me that the girl’s eighteen,’ Ken muttered.
‘Barely, but yeah, she is. The supplier brought his wife and daughter to New York City last year to visit colleges while he did business with us. We met with him in his hotel suite and the daughter came in at one point. She was in the suite with us for maybe three minutes, just long enough to say hello and get more cash from her father. I don’t know how Reuben managed it, but the daughter apparently had a fling with him later that night.’ Demetrius rolled his eyes as he shook his head. ‘Then believed herself to be “in love”.’
‘God save me,’ Ken muttered. ‘How did Miriam find out?’
‘She found a note in Reuben’s pocket from the girl – on hotel stationery. Miriam managed to persuade someone at the hotel to alert her when the girl checked in again, which happened last week. Then she hired a PI to get pictures of Reuben and the girl together at the hotel.’
Ken ground his teeth. Reuben, you fucking idiot. ‘Did the PI get pictures?’
‘Oh yeah.’ Demetrius winced. ‘Reuben has tattoos in places I never wanted to see. But that’s not the worst part. It was a hotel near the airport, the same one where Reuben’s car was found.’
Ken leveled him an annoyed look. ‘You knew Reuben went to that hotel this morning?’
‘Hell, no.’ Demetrius looked offended. ‘I would have told you when you called. I didn’t put it together until Burton told us where Reuben’s car showed up in his tracking program. I didn’t want to tell everyone else about the girl, or that Miriam knew about her. We might have to deal with Miriam, and that’s not going to be an easy thing for any of us.’
‘Shit. I want to kill that sonofabitch Reuben.’
‘Stand in line behind Miriam. I’d say you’d be wise not to get in her way right now.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me last night?’
‘I should have. I wanted to talk to Reuben first. Get his side of things. I was worried when you said he’d gone missing, but I didn’t want to raise the alarm until I had all the information. Before I got you all riled up, I wanted to make sure he wasn’t puking his guts up like Jackson. I didn’t put it together until Burton told us that he’d tracked Reuben’s car.’
Ken’s frown deepened. ‘What is Jackson’s connection to all this?’
Demetrius sighed. ‘Miriam’s PI told her that Jackson was the lookout while Reuben was fucking all comers. Miriam may have gotten to both of them.’
‘Oh for God’s sake.’ Ken rubbed his eyes. ‘You mean the fact that Jackson passed out on the floor of his office was Miriam’s doing?’
‘Given that Decker found Jackson passed out in the middle of his shift makes me think that he consumed something just before he left home or when he first got here. It’s possible that Miriam drugged them both, especially since she was always sending in cookies and snacks for the guys in Reuben’s group. I’ll check the security video, see if it shows him eating or drinking.’
‘I already checked,’ Ken said. ‘I wanted to verify what Decker told me. Jackson drank nothing but coffee, but he mixed in his own creamer. He had it in a little silver bottle that he kept in the break-room fridge. Looked like a hip flask, so I can see why Decker thought he might be under the influence.’
‘I’ll have it analyzed.’
‘So where is Jackson? If he’s not home, then where is he?’
Demetrius shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Miriam might have poisoned him, but she isn’t strong enough to physically remove him from his home.’
‘She could have had a gun. If Jackson was as sick as Decker said, then he wouldn’t have been able to fight back.’
‘Maybe,’ Demetrius said. ‘Or Reuben might have stopped by Jackson’s house on his way to the airport to pick him up, just to make sure his wife didn’t get her hands on him. Miriam was really pissed off. I think she actually would kill them both if she caught them, especially if Jackson was too weak to fight back. I can check with the neighbors again, see if anyone saw either Reuben’s or Miriam’s car in Jackson’s driveway this morning after the cab dropped him off.’
‘Hopefully she hasn’t killed either of them. Or both,’ Ken said grimly. ‘But if she hasn’t, and if Reuben’s got Jackson because he knows his wife is on to him, he might run.’
‘They might have already left the country,’ Demetrius said with a scowl.
Ken sighed. ‘Sean and Burton are looking for him. If anyone can find Reuben, it’s Sean. Okay, damage control time. What was in the photos that Miriam got from her PI?’
‘Just fucking. But very creative fucking. Reuben is far more limber than I would have expected.’
Ken grimaced. ‘Not a picture I want in my head. What else could the PI have?’
‘Nothing,’ Demetrius said decisively.
Ken sat up straighter. ‘You paid him a visit?’
‘I sure as hell did. Right after Miriam left my house last night.’
‘Is he dead?’
A single nod. ‘And disposed of. I have his camera, all of his photo files and his backups. I’ve got his laptop so that Sean can see if he uploaded the photos anywhere.’
‘Smart.’
‘I thought so,’ Demetrius said mildly.
‘What about Miriam?’
Demetrius hesitated. ‘I don’t think she knows anything else. We’ll keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t have any meetings of her own. If we need to take her out, we will, but we should wait if we can. It would be too suspicious if she disappeared too close to the PI.’
‘This is why I wanted all of us to be single,’ Ken growled. ‘Damn wives fuck it all up.’
‘I know, I know.’
Both Demetrius and Joel were long divorced, and Ken had been dumb enough to marry – twice. He’d had to deal with his own mess when Sean’s mother got too curious. Since then he’d played it smart. He liked a woman warming his bed from time to time, but had never let anyone else too close. But Reuben had been married before he’d joined them, and he’d always insisted Miriam had no clue what they really sold. Reuben had been a cop, after all. For him to join forces with drug and sex kingpins was not an option she’d ever even entertained.
‘We should have forced Reuben to divorce her before we let him in.’ Ken glared at Demetrius. ‘Like I told you we should.’
Demetrius’s eyes narrowed. ‘Are you really going to play “I told you so”?’
Ken considered it, but knew it wouldn’t help the current situation. ‘What do you know about Burton?’
‘Not much more than you do. He was trained by Reuben back in Tennessee. Was his partner for a year when they were Vice. He testified at Reuben’s hearing, said he had not taken bribes or stolen coke from the stashes they seized. Then got axed about six months after Reuben did. He’s extremely loyal to Reuben, but I think he was a little worried too. Otherwise he would have come and told you that he’d tracked Reuben’s car as soon as he found out, instead of trying to find his boss first.’
‘I can’t believe Reuben’s been tracking our cars,’ Ken muttered.
‘If it was the way Burton said it was, with all the password protection and layers of security, then I guess I can’t be too mad about it. You did hire him to keep us safe, after all.’
‘I should have hired someone to make sure he kept his pants zipped.’
‘True that. Have you heard from Alice?’
Ken’s brows shot up. ‘About what?’