“Lou’s last name is Romano?” Hallman laughed and led her to the security office. “I sure as hell didn’t know that. Never heard him called anything but Lou.”
“Why is he still here?”
“The guys told me he was the one who found your boy, and he volunteered to give a statement.” Hallman opened the door, and the same security guard that had put Lou in the chair still sat across from him. Lou was still cuffed. “Why in the hell didn’t you take those off, you idiot?” The guard came close to falling backward when Hallman screamed at him.
“You okay, Lou?” Muriel asked.
“Just great.” Lou rubbed his wrists and stood up. “Am I free to go?”
“Did you give a statement?” Hallman asked.
“That’s going to have to wait. I need to go to the hospital and have my hands checked out from being cuffed so tight for so long.”
Paul nodded. “I’ll cut you some slack, but I want you in my office no later than tomorrow.”
“I’ll have him there,” Muriel said.
They had started to leave when Hallman’s gruff voice stopped them. “You didn’t see anything, did you, Lou?”
“Just my friend with a bullet hole in his forehead.”
“Let’s say I believe you for now,” Hallman said slowly. “Don’t go doing anything crazy, okay?”
“Crazy isn’t our style,” Muriel said as she wrapped her hand around Lou’s bicep to keep him quiet.
“I’ll see you around, then.” Paul stuck his hand out and offered it to Muriel first, then Lou.
“Let me know if you find anything that points to who did this,” Muriel said. “Cain’s putting up a ten-thousand-dollar reward for information. That should help with the investigation.”
“I’ll pass that along, and you remember to do the same. If you find something, phone me.”
Muriel just stared at him before smiling. “I’m sure you’ll be my first call.”
“You’re full of shit, Muriel, but I like you anyway.”
She bowed her head slightly and just as quickly quit smiling. The cops had their job to do, and they had theirs. Whoever had killed Rick would face endless court dates or only one quick date with death. It depended on who won the footrace—Hallman or them.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“You know what this might mean, don’t you?” Cain asked Remi. She was staring at the spot where Rick had been standing just that morning. After asking Merrick earlier she knew he was twenty-six years old. At that age she’d never thought about death much, until it became such a frequent visitor.
“The start of a war? If it is, it’d be nice to know who we’re fighting.”
“We’re fighting the future, Remi, and for once I don’t know if we can win this fight no matter how hard we go at it.” Cain exhaled and shook her head to force herself to look away.
“You want to give up before we even start?”
“I’m tired, that’s all. I’ve changed because I wanted peace. I wanted to enjoy my family and my wife without some asshole constantly taking shots at me.”
Remi placed her mug in the sink and leaned against the counter. “I can’t see you retired and knitting booties somewhere.”
“But I can see her feeding cows somewhere for about a week,” Ross said, interrupting them. “After that, all your energy would drive you mad.”
“Are you wondering deep down if perhaps Carol was right? Your daughter could’ve picked safer,” Cain said.
“My daughter picked with her heart. Your life isn’t always perfect, but unlike what that guy Kyle told me, the fight seems to always come to you without you looking for it. This would be the time to get up, brush yourself off, and kick the shit out of someone.”
“You know...” Cain did something she’d never done to Ross. She walked over and hugged him. “You asked me once if you were anything like my father.” She’d never been this close to him, and while he wasn’t a large man, he felt strong and solid. “If he’d been here, that’s exactly what he would’ve said.” The kitchen door opened and Lou walked in, his shirt still stained with Rick’s blood. “You look like a man who could use a drink,” she told him.
“Later on I’d love one, but right now I want to talk to you.”
Lou followed her out to the yard and stood in the center, well away from the trees. “Any idea who did this?” she asked.
“I dropped him off and went to pick up our stuff.” He coughed and had to stop, and Cain suspected it had nothing to do with the weather.
“We can do this later,” Cain offered when he pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes.
“It was a fucking bag,” he yelled. “We could’ve sent anyone in there…I could’ve gone.”
“You know what-ifs don’t accomplish anything. What we need now is to honor Rick’s life by taking care of his family and finding the bastards who did this before the cops do.”
“While I was sitting in that fucking room with my hands on my ass, I tried to remember anything that would get us closer to the shooter. I saw this group of guys leaving when I went in to check on Rick. I could swear one of them was wearing Rick’s clothes, and when I found him he was in his underwear. His shoes and cell phone were shoved in the can.”
“Did you get a look at their faces?”
“They were staring at those ads the airport puts up so I didn’t think anything of it then, but later I thought that was weird.”
“No faces, okay, anything else?”
“It was their hair that gives me an idea where we need to start looking.”
Cain glanced at Lou’s face and saw that his eyes had watered. “What about it?”
“Black, thick, slicked back, and one of them had a ponytail.”
“Tall or short?” Cain asked the questions the police were probably trying to squeeze out of whoever was within a ninety-mile radius of the airport.
“Short sticks in my head. They remind me of those guys we saw always hanging close to Juan and his uncle.”
“Rick was with us the night we went to the Steak Knife, wasn’t he?” Cain felt like someone had given her a shot of adrenaline.
“I had him tag along so he’d get used to being around you guys. If we eventually put him with Hannah, I wanted him to get used to the family’s routine.”
“Good work, Lou. You’re right. We know where to look first.” She put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed briefly. “If I’m right, Rick was at the wrong place at the wrong time for all the right reasons. It sounds like these guys panicked, so I’m sure Rick never saw it coming when they got him in the bathroom.”
“What about his family?”
“I’ll take care of that myself. Rick was loyal and needs to be repaid, if not to him then to his mother.”
“Take Mook with you,” Lou said. “He’s another good kid, and she’s his great-aunt. I’m sure it’ll make her feel better to have some family around.”
Cain nodded and led him back inside. “Clean up and I’ll call you if we’re going out, but don’t worry. That won’t be for awhile yet.”
“Don’t start without me.”
“More importantly, I don’t plan to finish without you.”
*
From the sunroom, Emma watched Cain and Lou talk, and she could tell Lou’s face was wet with tears. She was trying not to give in to her own grief again, since it wouldn’t help Cain take care of things. When Cain had told her about Rick, she’d cried for the loss but had selfishly given thanks it hadn’t been Cain or one of her children. If she burned in hell for that, then so be it.
“This doesn’t happen often, does it?” Dallas asked her.
“Not really, but it doesn’t make it any easier when it does. Could you excuse me for a minute?” She stood next to the window until Cain noticed her. She knew that once Cain started to strike back, they wouldn’t have much time alone.