Mahalia was there to hold my hand. We huddled over a small cocktail table as the men conferred in their chapel. Because both Prospects—Deloy was nominally a Prospect even if he couldn’t shoot a pistol worth a hill of beans—were currently hostages, I had to serve myself. I made a stiff gin and tonic. I hardly ever drank hard liquor. But if there was a time that called for it, it was now.
“Levon will find a way out,” said Mahalia. “He’s a rough and tough guy. He’s not gonna let some fat-ass in a bowtie get one up on him.”
“We should have had a sniper stationed near the school,” I moaned. I’d been going over and over it in my head. The second Pratt came out of the school, the sniper—probably Sledgehammer, who had been in the armed forces—could have taken him out from a safe distance. “Are we trying to do this without murdering anyone? He murdered Deloy’s friend, Mahalia, and God knows how many other boys! They said there’s one other unidentified body in the mine, right?”
Mahalia sighed. “I suppose we’re trying to go for a minimum of bloodshed, yes. It wouldn’t really assist Maximus’ run for mayor if he was convicted of murder.”
“Convicted,” I said pointedly, “not suspected. And Mahalia, you’ve seen how many supporters Maximus has. Those people loathe Ladell Pratt. If we can convince everyone that he murdered Kenyon Stout, not only will he not be mayor, he’ll not be a free man.”
“Yes, lots of people hate the mayor. That council has been re-electing itself for decades. But can we really prove Pratt killed Kenyon?”
“Dingo’s got all the metadata that proves he took the videos of Kenyon and all those other boys. It’s only a hop, skip, and a jump to figuring out who the other body is.”
“Still doesn’t prove Pratt killed them.”
“Look, who’s the nurse? I am. I should have compassion and all that sissy nonsense.”
“Well, it’s your old man being held prisoner by the creepy pedo. I don’t blame you for being a little…bloodthirsty.”
The chapel door burst open then as though a bomb had exploded on the other side. Gideon strode out first, making a beeline straight for the bar. As Prez, it was rarely, if ever, his duty to inform his Old Lady of the goings-on and decisions of the club. A patch holder couldn’t be seen as weak, that he somehow had to answer to a woman. It was Maximus, maybe as the candidate we’d be voting for, who sat at our table.
He sank his fingers in Lazarus’ thick black fur. The giant beast sat between us, his tongue lolling. He seemed completely unconcerned that his master was imprisoned.
“Listen,” said Maximus in his deep sportscaster’s voice, “Gideon and Deloy are at the Avalanche Elementary School.”
“I know,” I said irritably. “I was there when Dingo figured it out.”
Maximus nodded in agreement. “Yes. And Dingo put a GPS tracker into his cut pocket.”
Mahalia burst out laughing. “Leave it up to Dingo!”
I was fuming mad, maybe because someone had gotten a leg up on me. I banged my fist against the table. “So! What is anyone going to do about this completely unacceptable situation? Every minute we sit here like immature morons, my old man and Deloy are being tortured by that twisted fundy!”
Maximus held out a calming hand. “I know, I know. We—” He looked to Gideon, who was corralling all the men by the side door that led to the parking lot. He stood, pointing at us. “Got to go. You women. I know you’re dying to come, and I don’t discount your stake in this affair. But believe me, you’d be doing your men a disservice if you tagged along.”
“We won’t,” Mahalia said with assurance.
I wasn’t so sure, but we managed to stay quiet until the men had all stomped out. We locked gazes when the Harley motors roared to life. They idled only briefly before the pipes roared off down Crosstown Street.
I was the first to speak. “So. You know where the elementary school is.”
“Yes. I used to bring Dingo food and clothing there.”
It was as though we read each other’s minds. We both knew we were going to disregard Maximus’ warning. There was no way I was going to sit there lamely while the men did all the work. Besides, if someone was hurt, I was a registered nurse.
All at once, we both jumped up. So did Lazarus, and I grabbed his leash as we ran.
Again without discussing it, we piled into Mahalia’s truck. I wasn’t about to text Dingo or anything stupid like that. We would easily find five Harleys parked in a school lot. In fact, we must’ve driven so fast we soon caught up with their “tail gunner,” the last guy in the pack, Gideon. I didn’t have to tell Mahalia to slow down so we wouldn’t be detected. We slowed way below the speed limit.
She said, “They’re probably going real slow so as not to give the pigs anything to nail them for.”
I hadn’t thought of that. I wondered if Atticus Rosenkohl knew what the mayor was up to at the school. I was surprised I hadn’t seen any cop cars on the way, waiting to nab anyone who tried to find Pratt.
I asked, “Would it make sense to park around this hill? Past that, it’s all flat.”