Attest (Centrifuge Duet Book 2)(17)
“I’m going to be out of town until Sunday night.”
“That’s good,” I answer with deliberate absentness. Intent on ignoring her, I grab a newspaper off the pile she’s dumped in the middle of the table. Unfolding it, my mouth falls open when I see Amber and Jax staring back at me from the front page. The picture is from the opening last night. The headline screams that Centrifuge is a con.
B walks behind me. She leans over my shoulder, her breasts pressing against my back, her hair falling over my shoulder and brushing the side of my face. “He’s a glorious specimen. Pity I have to ruin his life to make him follow through with his promises to me.”
She lays a kiss on my cheek and pats my closest shoulder. My body stiffens, and it gives her time to head for the front door before I realise that she’s leaving. Always one to need the last word, she yells her final comments as she goes. “As I said, I’m going to be out of town until the end of the weekend. When I return, I expect to see news of the tragic death of Judge McManus and his wife plastered all over the papers.”
I push my chair away from the table with a screech and stalk after her. Grabbing her upper arm, I force B to stop and look at me.
“What the fuck? You can’t just drop that shit on my head and then leave.”
Silent disapproval at my language covers her face. She shakes her arm free and readjusts her oversized handbag on her shoulder. In my head, I’m picturing my temper snapping and me taking hold of her by the arms, so I can literally shake some sense into her. I’m contemplating giving into the urge when she deigns to offer an explanation.
“The conditions of your parole were quite clear. I don’t know what else you want from me.” A stray lock of hair is pushed behind her ear and she sinks her teeth into her bottom lip. “I’m needed elsewhere to ensure that my end of the bargain is upheld. You are needed here. It’s your job to dispatch the Judge and his wife before I return.”
B opens her handbag and pulls free a file. She passes it to me. “This contains everything that you need to pull this off without leaving a trace. It’s the best advice I can offer. The rest is on you.”
I take the folder out of her hand and flip through it. The photographs and documents are familiar. This is either the same file she gave me in prison or a copy. There’s nothing new inside.
“I’d say thank you, but I’d be lying.” My tone is petulant. My frustration close to boiling over. I’ve already been through this folder. It contains a whole heap of information that tells a whole heap of nothing.
“Honestly, you need to harden the hell up. This constant whining is getting old. We all have a part to play in this, and it’d be nice if you could, at least, pretend that Amber didn’t take your balls with her when she left you to rot in prison while she got on with her life with Jax.”
B zips her bag shut with a precise hand, then offers me a wave of dismissal. I’m speechless, unable to form a coherent comeback. Not when the only thing that wants to come out my mouth is the admission that she may be right. My balls do appear to be missing. I’ve never been one to bitch and moan, yet that’s all I’ve been doing since I left jail yesterday.
Maybe Amber did take my manhood with her when she left?
My front door slams shut. The bang it makes punctuates B’s insult nicely. It also snaps me back to my senses. Tucking the file under my arm, I walk back into the kitchen and set myself up at the table next to my breakfast.
Three cups of coffee and another serve of French toast later and I have a basic plan of attack mapped out. There’s four days until B returns and my deadline for the death of the Judge and his wife expires.
It’s time to get to work.
ELEVEN
Stalking a grown man on his way to an upscale brothel was never high on my list of things to do before I die. Neither was seeing him turn from an upstanding citizen to lecherous old man before my eyes. The smarmy leer that crosses his face when he passes over the threshold is in stark contrast to the sneer of benign superiority that was present all morning as he passed judgement on the people who came through his court room.
The little bit of extra digging I’d done while I watched him in action had left me confused over the depth of his involvement. This guy is small fry as far as judges go—a District Court Judge. Yet, my case of double homicide and malicious wounding somehow wound up before him. This discrepancy got me thinking about my court appointed lawyer and why he hadn’t challenged the validity of Judge McManus’ verdict. I mean, we all know this was a stitch up, but there’s so many holes in the process that I could have driven a truck through them.
A quick phone call later and it turns out that my lawyer is nowhere to be found. My case was his one and only—a fly by night Legal Aid, defence attorney who up and retired to the Bahamas once I was sentenced.
Yeah, there’s nothing remotely suspicious in any of that.
“Can I help you, Sir?” A cooing voice that belongs to a hot redhead addresses me while she pushes a pair of luscious tits against my arm. Nice as they are, I don’t take my eyes off the Judge when he begins chatting with one of the other ladies.
The hostess with the mostess demands my attention with a slight nudge of her breasts against me. I make eye contact with her, and try to tell her with pleading eyes that I’m not here for whatever lunch time special the Judge is after. My plan was to find out what the one o’clock personal appointment in the schedule that B provided consisted of. My curiosity has been satisfied. This is not the place to fulfil the first part of my deal. The only thing being murdered here is the dignity of which ever woman is summoned to serve his crusty old ass.