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“The fact remains that they’re going to come at us harder on this Lee issue.”
I looked down, avoiding what was probably an angry stare from Waylon. In essence, my mouthing off to Devlinhadinitiated a battle between our families. Even though Earl had seemed to understand my explanation clearly at the time, he now had a case of amnesia. Not surprising.
Dad went around the table, asking for any tidbit any of us knew, but it didn’t amount to hamster shit.
When he got to Mom, she put her glass down. “Maybe Priscilla is optimistic because she knows something we don’t.”
“It seems like she does, but I asked her flat out,” Dad responded. “All she said was that she knew it in her bones. Now, that doesn’t cut it, and we need to keep her out of this for her own good. If she really does know something and is keeping it from the family, that’s bad.”
“Keep her out of what, exactly?” I asked.
“We’ve all heard the gossip mill,” Dad said. “Lee’s in Alaska, he went to New York, he had a breakdown and is in a mental hospital in New Jersey.”
Case broke the silence that followed by pointing out the big one Dad had left off his list. “Or he’s dead.”
“Or that,” Dad agreed as he looked Waylon’s way.
“I didn’t do anything to him,” Waylon protested. “Those bullet casings and blood were planted.”
Mom put a hand on his arm. “We all know that.”
Dad nodded. “That’s exactly the point. The Pollocks think he’s dead, and they already took a run at pinning it on Waylon. I know Earl Pollock, and he won’t stop at that. There’s no telling how he’s coming after us next and we—”
Case raised a hand and interrupted. “But Earl’s the one who told everybody Lee was probably in Alaska.”
Dad shot that one down. “That’s a typical Pollock smokescreen. He wanted us complacent before he attacked.” His stern gaze ran around the table. “And, he will be after us again. It doesn’t matter to him if Lee really ran off. We have fucking targets on our backs. All of us.”
If we’d been at her dinner table, Mom would have complained about Dad’s language. But here, she nodded along.
“So we have to be on guard,” I said, bored with this conversation already. “That’s nothing new.”
Dad shook his head. “That’s not the point of this.” He waved his finger around the group. “We need to take the offensive and figure out what happened to that boy. It’s the only way to avoid another…” He looked at Case. “Incident.”
We all understood the implication. Dad thought Earl would win the next round and send one of us to prison the way he had my brother.
“But we’re not the cops,” Case said.
Dad nodded. “True, but as a group we have twenty times the brain power they do. We know everybody in town, and with only a few exceptions, we’re on better terms with them than the Pollocks. Somebody around here has to know something that’ll help us figure it out. Earl is too focused on pinning it on us to look around, so we need to find the right person and unravel this first.”
Heads bobbed around the table.
Dad pointed his finger between Case and Waylon. “And you two need to either not tell your girls, or make sure they don’t blab this to Priscilla.
“I think Jordan needs to be included,” Case offered. “Because we may need to get some records from law enforcement.” His girlfriend, Jordan, had been a Richmond police detective and was now a deputy sheriff in town. Her contacts would open doors.
Waylon nodded. “Anna too. She worked for Lee at the distillery, and I’m sure somebody there knows more than they realize.” Anna had been Lee’s assistant at the distillery when he disappeared.
Dad sat back. “Same ground rules apply. Neither of them can tell Pris.”
Waylon turned to me. “And not your new fuckbuddy either.”
I saw red. “She’s not—”
Dad cut me off with an angry finger before I could finish. “Waylon, enough of that. Boone is your brother, and you’ll treat him and his girlfriend with respect.”
Waylon backed down with a nod. “Of course. I was just—”
“Being disrespectful to your brother,” Dad finished for him.
