Downfall(55)

On my way out of the building, I stopped by Carmen’s across the hall and Erica’s a few flights down so I could ask them to keep me updated if Lester showed up. Both women noticed he was missing and were worried about the older man. He might never come inside the building, but the homeless man was still considered a neighbor; he was as much a part of the Skylark as the broken elevator and the bad smells in the stairwell. For those of us who didn’t step over the man like he was trash, he was part of our everyday lives… he was family. I still thought the timing around his sudden disappearance was too coincidental. There were two people Channing Vincent would have to go through to get to Orley… me and Lester. With us out of the way, snatching Noble away from her mother would be infinitely easier.

Erica asked a million questions about what was going on, and Riley chimed in that she wanted to make sure Noble was okay. I promised to have both of the Vincent ladies check in as soon as it was totally safe. Erica easily read between the lines and assured me she would let me know if anything seemed off in the neighborhood while I was gone.

I was in the drive-thru of a popular fast food joint, knowing Noble couldn’t say no to chicken nuggets, when my phone rang. Seeing the Boss’s info on the display, I touched the screen on the dash to connect the call, figuring he was calling to see if I was at the garage.

“What’s up, Boss?” I crept forward as the minivan in front of me started to move slowly.

“Hey.” His unmistakable baritone growl immediately made me sit up straighter, and my wandering attention sharpened to focus on his every word. “Where are you right now?”

I blinked as the car in front of me moved again. “At a drive-thru. Had to grab something to feed my girls.” Whoa. I claimed them just like that to the person I looked up to the most in the world, and it didn’t even freak me out… well… only a little.

“Need to tell you something serious, kid. Get somewhere you can talk for a minute.”

The Boss sighed and I could practically see him running his hands over his face or rubbing that star tattoo near his eye. He only did those things when he was stressed out or thinking really hard about something. All hopes he was calling just to check in flew out the window. I told him to wait a minute when it was my turn to pay, then found a place to park in the lot so he could tell me why he called.

“Okay. I’m ready. Hit me.” I took a deep breath and braced myself for what was inevitably bound to be bad news.

“You know my old lady used to live in your building, right?” He asked the question quietly, which immediately sent all my instincts on high alert. I grunted an affirmation and stared unseeingly out the window. “While she lived there, there was a homeless dude who kept his eye on her. He got roughed up a few times trying to keep her safe when her brother got her into some trouble. After she moved into my house, I tried to set him up in the apartment at the garage to say thanks, but he never wanted to take me up on the offer.”

“Lester. His name is Lester, and he’s been missing the last few days, which is why I wanted the girls in the apartment. Something doesn’t feel right about him suddenly disappearing.”

The Boss sighed again and I heard the sound of ice rattling around in a glass. The man wasn’t much of a drinker, so the news had to be worse than bad. A sinking feeling took my guts all the way down to my toes.

“My brother called me a couple hours ago to head down to the coroner’s office to identify a body. He had one of my old lady’s business cards on him. The cops are calling it an accidental overdose. It looked like he got ahold of some bad stuff.” The Boss sounded pissed.

I sucked in a breath and felt my lungs contract painfully. “More than likely, someone gave him a hotshot.” There wasn’t a scenario I could think of where Lester would turn down a hit. It would take very little effort to get him to shoot up something that was laced with a bad cocktail of drugs.

“That’s what I told my brother. Lester came back from Vietnam an addict. He was a junkie, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew his limits. The cops won’t budge, but after you asked if you could stash your girls at my place, I got a bad feeling all of this might be connected.” The ice rattled again and he swore. “Plus, my brother said he broke up that private fight you took on the other night. Got a call things were getting out of hand. He told me you looked like you were in over your head. Seems like someone wanted you and Lester out of the way.”

I swore back at him and dropped my forehead to rest on the steering wheel. The thump didn’t do a thing to distract me from the pain twisting around my heart. Hearing that Lester was gone felt like losing a favorite uncle. The guy was a mess, but he was always there to remind me to do the right thing when I got sidetracked. There were times when it felt like Lester was the only person checking in on me while I took care of everyone else.

Something wet hit my leg. I blinked in surprise when I realized I was crying a silent, steady stream of tears. They were landing on my track pants, making a small damp circle. I couldn’t remember the last time I was moved to tears. Probably the last time I was with my mother on a really bad day and she couldn’t remember who I was. Those days inevitably led to a tear or two, but I had no clue that losing Lester would affect me in the same way.

“I’ll fill you in. I think all of this has moved beyond something I can handle on my own. I know how to fight with fists and the occasional weapon, but I have no clue how to fight back against money and privilege.” I’d never had either of those things. “I might be in over my head and I can’t risk drowning.” Not with Orley counting on me, and not with Noble in the middle of the playing field.