I already know there’s no way he doesn’t remember me, but I have to play it like there’s a chance he won’t. As if I think he thinks I’m so uninteresting that he put me out of his head as soon as he walked out of the house last time.
“Yes, of course,” he says immediately, and his whole tone changes. He sounds surprised to hear from me, but definitely pleased, like he didn’t think I would call, but it’s something he’s wanted. I don’t really like that. “How are you, Ms. Simone?”
“I’m fine. You told me to call you if I had any information, so…”
I leave it up to him to fill in the blanks.
He does, but of course he fills in the wrong blanks, going off assumptions. “I did. And I’m glad you finally realized you can come to me for help. I understand you might have been afraid before, since you’re living with those four men, but if you tell me everything you know, I can protect you. You’ll be safe, and if they try anything, it will just get worse for them.”
I roll my eyes, and it definitely grates on my nerves a little. He’s so fucking excited at the prospect of me turning on the Kings, ratting them out like they’ve done something wrong. They’ve done a lot of shit, but compared to Julian and the other scum in this fucking city, they’re practically saints.
Or at least, they’re my kind of monsters.
“No, no, you’re misunderstanding me,” I tell him. “I do have information, but not about the men I’m living with. It’s about someone else.”
“Ah,” he says, and there’s a definite trace of disappointment there. “Well, I’m happy to hear whatever you’ve found out. Tell me.” There’s a rustle in the background, probably him flipping open that damn notebook so he can write down what I say.
“Not over the phone,” I say. “I’d rather talk to you in person about it.”
“Of course,” he replies immediately. “We can meet up face to face. I have time this afternoon. What time works for you?”
“I have time today. Let’s meet at three.
“Excellent.”
He gives me a location, which I recognize as being a public park.
I get why he chose it. We’ll be out in the open, but there will be plenty of little places in the park to have a private meeting. I wonder how many informants he’s met there, and how many of them were pressured into giving information away.
But in this situation, I have the upper hand, so I agree to it and end the call.
The guys are all in the living room with me, and I glance up at them. Gage and Priest look attentive, like they were paying attention to my side of the conversation to try to see if there was any information to be gathered. But that’s just how they are.
Ash is draped over the couch, flipping and spinning a pen between his fingers, and Knox has his arms folded, leaning against the wall. It’s still pretty clear that even after yesterday, he’s not thrilled about me meeting with Carter.
But it’s not like we have a choice, if we want this to work.
“So we’re ready to go, right?” I ask them. “We have everything you need me to give to Carter?”
Gage nods. “We’re ready. What we want to tell him should be enough to get him interested.”
“Then I guess I should get ready to meet him.”
“You’re not going alone,” Priest says immediately.
“I was just about to say that,” Knox chimes in. “I don’t trust that fucker.”
I give him a look because we both know why he doesn’t trust Carter, but I’m not going to argue about it. “I didn’t tell him I was bringing anyone,” I remind them.
“And you don’t have to,” Gage says. “You’ll meet with him alone, but we’ll be there as back up. We’ll keep our distance, but we’ll be there if you need us.”
I nod because I don’t mind that. I know it’s not because they don’t trust me, but because at this phase of the game, things are close to coming to a head. The only people we can really trust are each other. They’re just having my back, the way I would have theirs if they had to do something like this.
Gage smiles at me, and it’s a mark of how far we’ve all come together that that’s the end of it. There was definitely a time when I would have argued and told Gage to go fuck himself if he thought I couldn’t do this. But now the notion of having him there, having all of them there, makes me feel more secure in what we’re doing.
Carter and I arranged to meet at a local park. At this time of day, it’s not packed with people, so there’s privacy at the little bench we chose to meet up at, but it’s not suspicious for people to be sitting there or milling around nearby.
Carter’s already there when I arrive, leaning back with his sunglasses on and one arm along the back of the bench. Nothing about him screams FBI agent, but I can immediately see that he doesn’t quite blend in.
He looks up, sees me and smiles, pushing his sunglasses up onto his head. I sit down next to him, and he gives me an expectant look.
“The information I have is about Julian Maduro,” I tell him.
“I see.”
“You know him?”
“I know of him, of course. He’s been involved in some of the things going on in the city lately. He was at the church.”
I nod. “Well, he’s not all he seems, I can tell you that.”
“Few people are.” He gives me a long look that I choose to ignore.
I start to lay out some of the information we have on Julian’s business. A little info about where to look for money that Julian has hidden in offshore accounts, the fact that some of his ‘business associates’ have their fingers in shady dealings as well. I don’t give him too much, and I hold back some of the info that me and the guys know. Just enough for him to see my tip as valid and make it something he’ll want to look into.
I can tell I struck the right balance, because Carter looks very interested. He writes down what I told him, asking questions to clarify anything he needs more on.
Some of it I lie about, saying I don’t know, and on some topics, I give him a little more information just to keep it interesting.
When he has all of it down, he looks up at me with assessing eyes. It’s like he’s trying to see through me to the heart of the matter, and it’s a good thing I know how to play this game because my expression doesn’t change.
“What’s your game, River?” he asks me. “Why are you telling me all this?”
It’s a good question, all things considered. No one gives away information for free in this town. But I’m not going to tell him. It’s none of his business for one thing. He’s just a link in this chain. Another piece of the plan that will take Julian down once and for all. Plus, I don’t trust him.
So I just shake my head, keeping my cards close to the vest. “You wouldn’t understand.”
“You might be surprised what I would understand,” he says, and his voice is a little softer. I can’t tell if it’s real or an act, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.
“That’s all I’ve got for you,” I tell him.