Sin (The Waite Family) (27 page)

“No, he can’t.
Cooperider’s mother
is
convinced that you’ll go after her baby boy again and she wants you behind bars.” The mayor laughed.
“Not that it’ll stop you once you find the prick
,
but it was nice of her to think you were so stupid you couldn’t reach beyond this.”

Carl had a sudden thought. This conversation was being recorded.
First of all
,
the mayor never called him this early and secondly…why was he using names?
“What about you getting
the judge
to look the other way like you did before? You remember when we needed that building inspector put on another project
?
You didn’t seem to have any issues with the judge back then.
”

There was a long pause. Carl sat up in his chair and waited.
He knew he was right by the mayor’s next statement.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re referring to.
I have to go. I’ve got…there’s someone at the door.” The line went dead.

Carl sat back.
Fuck.
The mayor had to go.
There was no way to get around it.
He pulled out his book and looked up a number
t
hen started to dial it.
Before he got three numbers in he closed his phone
.
He couldn’t take the chance.
Standing up
,
he went to the door and then out to the garage. He wasn’t sure what to
think
when he noticed a van pull away from the curb just as he left his drive.
Carl decided that it was time to disappear.
When he stopped at a light he reached over into his glove compartment and pulled out the large envelope.
Dumping it on the seat beside him, he dug through it as he drove until he came up with the cell phone.
Flipping it on, he waited and thought.

Shipley was his best bet now. Not only had the man kept him informed, but had taken
care of a problem he’d not even known he had until then.
When the phone signaled it was on he dialed the first number programmed in it.

“It’s me. Be ready. I’ll be there in ten,”
he said
as soon as the call was answered. There was no gre
eting, just a bell sounding.

“Yes, sir.” And the line went dead
.

Carl smiled as he pressed the second number in the phone.
“I need it all. Now. How soon?”
The same type of greeting
,
but a different tone
this time
. There was a pause before anyone responded, but he was expecting this.
This person had a great deal more to accomplish.

“Five hours.
The
usual
?
” the voice asked.

“Plus a ten. I need it sooner.”
He really didn’t, but he liked it when things were on his time frame and not someone else’s.
He liked that people bowed down before him and scrambled to do what he wanted.

“Three and a one.” The line went dead.
Laughing, Carl threw the phone in the back seat and thought about what he’d gotten with less than two minutes on the phone.

The
first call had been about his plane
and identification to go with a trip
. Not the one they knew about
,
but the one he had in a little port called Zanesville Air
in Zanesville, Ohio
.
He’d put it there several years ago and had only recently been having the pilot on standby.
The ID was expensive, but he’d be a new man in a few hours.
Complete with birth certificate, drivers license
,
and even a few credit cards.
The second call was for his cash.

The person at the other end had a list of things to sell as
Carl
needed them.
But Carl needed it all gone. A man who was in as much trouble as he was wouldn’t be returning. So selling it all off was the only route to go.
The greedy bastard at the other end was going to charge him another one percent to sell it all in the time he’d given him, but Carl was still going to be a very wealthy man.
The extra ten he’d asked for was ten grand in immediate cash, clean and in small bills. This money would get him to his next stop.

~~~

Sin was running when her phone went off. She didn’t stop
,
but did slow enough to look at the caller ID before deciding to answer.
She smiled when she heard her brother talking to wh
o
Sin assumed was his wife.

“…said it was going to be another hour. I don’t have an hour
.
I want to know now.”

“You’d think that a man who was a doctor would have a bit more patience than you seem to have.
Why
is that
,
I wonder?
”
She moved the headphones from her music to her phone so she could finish her run and talk.
“Couldn’t you just wait the hour and then call and get the information you want?”

“No,” he laughed.
“Because then I wouldn’t have it before I had to go to work. I like to have all my eggs in a basket before I make plans.”

Sin snorted as she crossed the street.
“You just like having your own way, admit it.”
She
slowed when she noticed a light on in Mrs. Carson’s house.
“Alyssa should learn to tell you no more often. I’ll have to give her a few lessons on that.”

Mrs. Carson came out of the house just as Sin was about to go to the other side of the street. She wasn’t afraid of the neighbor
. H
e’d been in jail last she’d heard and wasn’t going to be getting out anytime soon.
He’d wanted Mrs. Carson to sign over her Social Security check and was pissed when she wouldn’t do it.
Some people didn’t deserve to live.

“My wife does not need lessons on telling me no.
But…I need a favor from you.
Not big and if you say no, I’ll understand completely.
I’m only letting you live in my house for free, letting you use the car
,
and even
giving
you the space you needed even though you broke—
”

“What the fuck do you want, Cain?
And I offered to pay you rent and to even
purchase the stupid thing from you. As for the car, I haven’t used it.” She grinned when she thought of pissing him off. “Who the hell would want to be caught dead in a nineteen
-
sixty
-
nine mustang when the new ones are so much cooler?”

He sputtered for a few minutes. She was glad that she’d muted her phone and he couldn’t hear her laughing. Some days with Cain and his car it was like reeling him in hook
,
line
,
and sinker.

“I’ll have you know that some people, men
,
would give their left nut for that car.
Have you even gone out and looked at it
?
It’s in prime condition.
It even has the original leather seat and the radio works.” He sputtered again. “You should be horse whipped for thinking…Alyssa
,
I didn’t say I was going to…
It is not just a car. Damn it
,
Sin, see what you started.”

She
unmuted
the phone and let him hear her laughter.
“I know
,
Cain, I was kidding.
Is Alyssa pissed at you?”

“She thinks I should bend you over my knee and beat your ass is what she thinks.
Hang on.”

He put her on hold and then suddenly Alyssa was there.
“Hello
,
Sin.
What my stupid macho husband called for was to see if you’d watch Connor for us tonight.
I have this dinner thing and it should only be about…”

Sin stopped listening and leaned down to catch her breath.
She could hear her
talking
,
even make out a few of the sounds, but nothing past the pounding of her heart in her head.
She was almost in the
house
so she sat down on the step and put her head between her knees.
Payton was suddenly there and she looked up at him.

“She wants me to watch Connor,” she said as she shoved the phone at him and took off inside the house.
Payton followed her in.

“Yes, she needed to go to the bathroom.”
Payton was looking at her as he held the phone to his ear. “Sure, let me have her call you back. I don’t know what she has plans for
,
but…why don’t I have her call you bac
k?
All right then, sure.”

Payton didn’t say anything as she stood there. She could feel the tears
,
but refused to brush them away.

“You going to watch him?
Sounds like fun.”
She could only stare at him.
“How old is the little guy anyway?”

“I guess he’s almost one.
And I can’t watch him…I don’t know shit about kids and it…it hurts to think about him…”
She backed up when he stepped toward her. “I’ll call her back and tell her I can’t do it.”

“Is he walking?” He took another step toward her.
“You don’t talk much about your family. Come to think about it
,
the only ones I’ve met
are
your brother Cain and Jasmine in passing. Why is that?”

“Quinn is Cain’s twin
;
she has a set of triplets. She’s married to Drew Miller.
Jazzie lives in the big house, Gracie designs clothes
—
stop moving toward me
,
damn it,” she snapped.

His grin pissed her off.
“Why?
I want to touch you. I love touching you.
Tell me about the babies
. A
re they cute?”

She forgot how to
breathe
when he touched his lips to her neck.
“I don’t…please stop, Payton.
I can’t think when you do that.
I’ve never seen the babies.
I’m…I asked them to stay away.
They were driving me crazy with their constant questions every day.”