Chapter 9

Ellie

I grabbed at Mordechai without looking, taking him by the forearm. His thick, strong forearm. He then pulled away from me, only to put that arm around my body and hold me against him. Even one armed, I knew he could kick ass.

“No need to get defensive,” Fred told me, lifting a hand. “I’m not here to fight.”

“It would end embarrassingly for you if you were,” Mordechai said. “I would hate to kill you in public. What would they say about your family if I did?”

The man chuckled.

“I appreciate your enthusiasm,” the man said. “I’d like to speak with Eleanor for a bit if you don’t mind.”

Before Mordechai could answer for me, I took a seat. He hurried to sit next to me, and I became deeply aware of the gun he had at his side and his willingness to use it. This would be the real test for him, waiting and deciding what to do. What would be the smartest thing and least dangerous.

“You’ve been meeting with my kid,” Fred said. “Tell me why a girl who has never so much as spoken to a single member of my family, started having lunch with my tired, busy daughter? I worry about your intentions.”

I kept a smile on my face, because letting them see you sweat never helped anyone. I waved the waitress over, who had our bottle of wine. She poured three glasses and I didn’t even touch mine. Fred took a big drink, clearly not worried.

“I know your family has been on the outskirts,” I said. “And I know that Jordan’s probably not getting out much with a little boy to watch. I thought it would be nice to get to know her. Let her know she had a friend close by.”

The man eyed me, knowing better. “Things like that don’t happen out of nowhere. This guard of yours is new, huh?”

I turned my head to Mordechai, keeping the smile on my face as I put my hand on his shoulder. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being safe and having fun.”

“Your father doesn’t mind?”

“I’m under control. I think that’s what he cares about.”

The man nodded and I took my glass of wine. One sip, letting me have a little courage to carry on with. If Fred knew about my meetings with Jordan, my father quite possibly know as well. Though if he knew before I left, I would have never escaped the house.

Keeping up my aura of power, I slipped my hand into Mordechai’s pocket. He lifted an eyebrow at me and I smirked as I got his phone out. No password, and he didn’t make any move to stop me. Either this didn’t worry him, or he played along. He would have had a password though.

This isn’t his real phone. Interesting.

No texts from my father. Nothing saying to come home. In fact, he had zero texts at all.

I handed the phone back.

“How’s Jordan?” I asked. “Is she okay?”

“She’s annoyed with me,” the man laughed. “Didn’t like that I stepped in. But I’m making sure she’s safe, so I think she’ll get over it.”

“I wouldn’t get over it if my father pulled what you pulled.”

He smiled at me again, toothy and unworried. The old man didn’t fear me, no matter where I came from. Every word out of his mouth sounded like he spoke to a toddler. I couldn’t be seen as strong, smart, or scary.

Blood on my boots. Blood. Food. Food. It was food.

“Word on the street is your old man is afraid,” Fred stated. “I can see that’s the truth, thanks to your friend here.”

The waitress showed up most unwanted. I didn’t want to eat but I made myself order something. I went with something small, while Mordechai had the balls to just not eat. Fred ordered salad, steak, fries, and a glass of whiskey. I didn’t know how to control my inner rage at his casualness, but it set my teeth on edge.

“Nothing wrong with being cautious,” I said.

“Heard one of your boys got killed,” Fred chuckled. “Left right on your doorstep.”

“Yeah,” I said, missing his amusement. “I knew Harrison for a long time. He was a good guy.”

“Good guys don’t exist in our business, kid. You know that.”

“My father is a good guy.”

Fred laughed at that, and so did Mordechai. He didn’t even stop when I shot him a look. He had no mercy on me.

“I want to know why you’re here,” I said. “Did you really think Jordan was in danger? If you did, then I think you would have called my father instead of me.”

“Is that so? I would rather go right to the source.”

He didn’t call Dad. That meant I would probably live when I got home. “For what?”

“I want you to be honest with me on why you started talking to my daughter. I know you weren’t doing it out of the kindness of your heart.”

Because I had no kindness in my heart. Never had any, never would have any. “We all do things for our own reasons. No matter how kind an act might seem. It’s all for ourselves.”

“A bleak outlook.”

“It’s the truth.”

“As you see it.”

As everyone should have. “I like Jordan,” I said. “She’s sweet, clumsy, charming. I do like her, but I wanted information. Information that I think you can give me.”

“Oh?”

Our food came but I didn’t touch mine. I waited until Fred had a bite in his food before I spoke again.

“I want to know why Harrison is dead,” I stated plainly. “Jordan didn’t know for sure, but I bet you do.”

Fred had to finish swallowing. “I might. That sort of information isn’t always safe to share around. It would really have to be worth my while if I started running my mouth.”

I’d thought Mordechai would stay silent like he always did, but he leaned forward with his eyes locked on this man. “Interesting seeing someone on the lowest totem trying to bargain with someone at the very top.”

Dumbass! Is he trying to get himself killed?

I could see anger brimming on Fred’s face, so I did some quick damage control.

I put my hand under Mordechai’s chin, trying to sound soft, like I didn’t want to start any trouble. If Fred wanted to see me as weak, I could use that to my advantage.

“Thanks for defending my honor, honey, but I have this,” I said.

Now, I had two options. Save Mordechai’s well-meaning ass and risk word getting back to my father that I might have been sleeping with my guard, or I could have let him flounder. If Fred thought I cared about Mordechai, then he would be safe. The risk of Dad finding out seemed low. Fred would have had to have the guts to talk to him, and give him news that he would have hated.

Fred watched me, mind turning as I knew it would have. You had to be calculating if you wanted to build an empire the way this man did. He had no chance of it, but a man could dream.

“What did you have in mind, Mr. Copole?” I asked. “I think you know my reach is limited.”

“But better than mine,” he said. “I know exactly what happened to your guy. I think if you can do me a favor, I can do one for you.”

A dangerous game. It would be easy for one of us to screw the other over. He knew that.

“I’m not in the business of favors,” I said. “You’d have to have something good.”

“I do. And what I want from you isn’t something you can do for me right this second. Which puts me in a position where I’ll tell you what you want to know, and I have to trust that you’ll keep up your end of the deal. I’m giving you the cards as an act of good faith.”

I didn’t buy that for a second. His hands were tied if he wanted an actual favor in exchange for information. My design, I would be lucky.

“Let’s start with what you want,” I said.

“Easy. I have a transfer set to happen down on Wallace and Hamilton in the near future.”

I stopped him. “Wallace is our terf.”

“Yeah. Which means you have the pull to get that street corner cleared out for me. Can’t use the docks for the time being, so this is our best shot. I want you to make sure no cops are near there for six full hours.”

And that was why this man would die without ever having more power than he did right then. He gave me the streets, admitted he had already planned on trying to do something on our spot, and sat there with a grin on his face.

“Disrespectful to do a trade so close to our home,” I said.

“Doesn’t have to be. I see no reason we can’t be friends.”

Ah, so that was what he was getting at. Smarter than I thought. It would have helped if he had the assistance of my father, for sure. That didn’t mean I could hand him that.

“That’s all I want,” he said. “A promise that you’ll keep it clear for me. I know that’s a lot to ask, so I’m going to go make a call while you think it over.”

Mordechai waited until Fred walked out of sight. And oh, the way he looked at me. I got chills that I couldn’t decide if I liked or not.

“What… are you thinking?” he asked me.

I took a deep breath, reaching for my glass. I thought better of it, going for water instead. “I hope he trips on his way back to the table.”

“Miss Locke…”

“Are you going to tell me I’m messing around where I shouldn’t be messing? I already know. I’ve come too far to turn around now. He can tell me what I want to know.”

“What will you do with that information? You’re going to risk a hell of a lot to know something you can’t do a thing with.”

I looked him in the eyes, sure of myself. “I knew Harrison for years. They mutilated him. That man brought me to school on my first day for seven years in a row. He was the one waiting for me with a car on graduation day. I want to know what happened.”

Mordechai’s jaw set.

“Why do you have a dummy phone?” I asked.

His stare turned blank. I didn’t think I had ever caught him off guard before. I almost impressed myself. “I don’t.”

“Password,” I whispered.

That blankness lingered, so I changed the subject. “I can get what he wants done. It wouldn’t even be hard to do it without Dad knowing. He doesn’t watch Wallace. It also wouldn’t be terrible to be friendly with someone who’s scrappy out of desperation. It means he’s watching everything. If there’s danger headed our way, it would be in his best interest to tell us.”

“Unless he can use it to usurp you.”

“As if.”

“You never know.”

“This is a chess game. I have no choice but to play. For this, he wants something small in exchange for something also small. I don’t see much harm in it.”

“Ellie,” Mordechai said. “Let this go.” Not an order so much as a plea.

“Why? What does it matter?”

I’d already made my choice, so nothing he told me would have changed that.

Fred sat back down, still with a wide smile on his face. “What do you think, sweetheart?”

Without missing a beat, I said, “I can do what you want. I have no way of proving I’ll do it other than time.”

“I know that. I’m going to put my trust in you. And hey, if you fall through, I’ll just have to put your dog in a fucking barrel of acid,” he laughed, hard. I did not laugh. I didn’t laugh at all.

“Tell me what I want to fucking know,” I said.

The laughing ended before he took a sip of wine. “It would seem that Harrison was spying for a Mr. Jonathan Lewis. But Jordan might have already told you that.”

“She did,” I lied, “so you better have something good for me.”

“I do. There was an incident with the Lewis organization, as there have been many in the past. Your father had Harrison and at least one other man spying in house for months. They found out about come coke coming in on a ship. Enough that it would have put four million dollars in Lewis’ pocket. He had big plans. He was going to expand. He had his eyes on some buildings near the coast. Your guys fucked that all up. The cops showed up, seized all the product, arrested everyone but the three guys they killed.”

How… the hell did I miss that? “I see,” I said. “Is that all?”

“It’s not all. Your dad keeps doing this. The going theory is that he’s had men with Lewis for years and years and the man is fed up. He’s pissed off and he wants it to end. You didn’t ask about the guy who didn’t come home. Aaron Skylar. You knew him?”

“I knew of him.” I knew that he had been high up there with my dad. I knew that he hadn’t turned up, but no one at home had mentioned it. Not that I would have heard.

“You won’t find his body. I heard they had their attack dog take care of that one.”

“Attack dog?”

Fred shrugged. “They have someone there I hear never leaves a trace behind. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that Lewis did this right under your father’s nose. Now, if it were me, I wouldn’t stop at two. Not for years of humiliation. Something to keep in mind.”

And that seemed to be the end of it there. The meal finished and I realized I had barely touched mine. When I glanced over at Mordechai, he looked stiff as a statue. I might have thought he’d died if not for the look in his eyes. So focused. So thoughtful.

I twisted the keys in my hand on the way back to the car, thinking about what I had been told. I’d been so distracted that I’d only said thank you once to the manager when he’d come by to tell us that the meal would be on the house. I would have to have a nice bottle of something sent to his house.

Sitting in my car, I couldn’t manage to muster the energy to turn it on. My father had texted me asking where I’d slipped off to. I’d lied, telling him I went shopping for a new dress. I sent him a picture that I’d had on my phone for a while, letting it act as my alibi. I didn’t feel any better for having gotten away with it.

Finally, I turned the car on. I still didn’t go anywhere. I thought I would have felt better for having the information I’d wanted. Instead, I could only think about the food stain on my boots.

I tapped on the steering wheel, counting out a four-four beat until I could settle. I could not settle.

“I shouldn’t drive,” I said. “I had wine.” Two sips, but I could use that. He didn’t need to know I was afraid.

We switched seats in silence. The click of my seatbelt sounded off three full times before I let go of it and took a breath. I couldn’t let myself breath until I had done it.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” Mordechai said, putting the car in drive.

“What?” I turned my head to him, out of breath.

 “You should have left well enough alone.” And he drove off.