‘That he was a dumb-assed punk who played lookout for some dangerous men but turned them in when they robbed a store and killed the owner. He ran away with his guitar, his insides intact, and his head attached. And not a lot more. You met him when he came in to audition for the band shortly before you opened the club.’ JD’s smile was kind. ‘And you got him a new ID so that the thugs he’d turned on couldn’t find him, and gave him a new start.’
Mowry was staring at JD open-mouthed. Gwyn was staring at Thorne, her eyes soft. He’d never told her and he’d assumed she’d be angry to learn the truth so many years later, but he saw no anger. Only approval.
And because he wanted to drown in that approval but didn’t have the time, Thorne forced himself to turn back to JD, studying him skeptically. ‘How did you dig all that up?’
‘I’m a detective,’ JD said very slowly. ‘My job is detecting. I find stuff out about people. It’s what I do.’
Ming coughed to cover a laugh. ‘Sorry,’ he said when Thorne glared.
‘Yeah, yeah, I get that you’re all super-cop, but how?’
JD shrugged. ‘I got suspicious when Mowry just showed up in the system. Next time you build a new ID, give the person a backstory, for God’s sake. I started digging, asking questions here and there. It took me a while,’ he admitted. ‘It’s a good ID. If you’re worried that the cops are going to start investigating you, that’s unlikely. And if I get wind that they are, I’ll discourage it.’
‘Why?’ Mowry asked, clearly not buying JD’s helpfulness.
‘Because Lucy loves you like a brother. You’ve been good to her. And if that’s not a good enough reason, I’ll rent you a U-Haul truck and you can run.’
‘They will investigate, though,’ Ming insisted. ‘The money is gone.’
Gwyn was feverishly tapping on her phone, accessing the bank account. ‘Fuck,’ she hissed. ‘It really is gone, but as of today, not over the last couple of weeks.’
Ming looked over her shoulder at her phone. ‘Huh. The ledgers give the same balance, but show the money being withdrawn over time.’
Gwyn shook her head. ‘I looked at the ledgers on Tuesday morning – last time was three a.m. I spent hours combing through the books to see if there was anything that would catch the cops’ attention. There wasn’t. And the petty cash account was intact. So was the bank account.’
‘You’re saying somebody changed the ledgers between Tuesday morning and now?’ Mowry asked. ‘Who would do that? And how? And why?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying,’ Gwyn said grimly. ‘And I can prove it. I printed out the last year’s worth of ledgers. As for who . . . Tavilla is trying to bring Thorne down. I don’t know who could actually have made the changes, though. Somebody who had access to our server and who understands the accounting software. I don’t know exactly how they’d have done it. But that’s what happened.’
JD was nodding. ‘Do you still have the printouts?’
‘I do.’
‘Good. Because the state’s attorney may try to get a warrant for your books. We can’t stop that, but we can show them that the existing books are doctored. That puts the rest of the evidence in question.’
Mowry shuddered in relief. ‘I might not have to move.’
Ming clapped him on the back, causing him to nearly faceplant into his food. ‘I still want what’s in the box you were filling for me.’
Mowry straightened his back, wincing slightly. ‘Fuck off, Clive.’
Ming took the jibe good-naturedly. ‘I’ll give you that one as a freebie because you’re damn giddy right now. But call me that again and we shall have words, Sheldon.’
‘Boys,’ Gwyn warned. She closed her bank app. ‘The ledgers can be verified, but the money is still gone. We have to be able to show it was stolen for the bank to replace it. If it looks like we withdrew it, we can’t file a claim.’
‘We’ll worry about that later,’ Thorne said. ‘We can still make payroll.’
Gwyn looked close to tears. ‘How? We’ve got so many people depending on us.’
‘I can cover payroll,’ Thorne said softly. ‘Don’t worry.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m not going to let you clean out your savings for our company’s payroll.’
He brought her hand to his lips. ‘We’ll discuss it later,’ he said firmly, then looked at Ming and Mowry, who were watching them avidly. ‘What?’
Mowry’s grin was quick and sharp. ‘About time. Way to go, Thorne.’
Ming’s grin was slower to spread, but nearly split his face. ‘Ditto, boss.’
Thorne had to bite back his own grin, because Gwyn was sputtering. ‘What else?’ he asked before she could get a word in.
Mowry put his phone on the table and spun it around so that Thorne and Gwyn could see it. ‘This came in right before you got here,’ he said. ‘It’s from my contact in the Circus Freaks.’
It was a text. ‘“Our bosses need to talk”,’ Thorne read. He’d been expecting some kind of summons ever since the Freaks’ dealers had turned up dead, stuffed with Sheidalin matchbooks. ‘Where and when?’
‘No!’ Gwyn exploded. ‘Absolutely not.’
‘You can’t talk to the head of the Freaks, Thorne,’ JD protested. ‘Not right now.’
Thorne shrugged. ‘I think it’s better to talk to him than to start some kind of war over non-existent turf. I don’t think he believes we were behind the death of his boys. If he did, he’d have done something already, like burning the club down, or my house, or Mowry’s apartment building. He likes fire,’ he added when JD stared at him.
‘That’s true,’ Mowry said. ‘They wouldn’t have waited more than a day to retaliate.’
‘How did they know we were on our way here?’ Gwyn asked suspiciously. ‘It seems too much of a coincidence that they messaged you right before we arrived.’
‘They’re probably watching us,’ Thorne said. ‘Another reason to believe that they don’t think we’re involved. They want us to know they’re watching and that they haven’t killed us yet. Tell your contact I’ll be happy to meet with his boss.’
‘I don’t like it,’ JD grumbled. ‘It’s not safe.’
‘I think it would be less safe if he turned them down,’ Mowry said.
‘Agreed.’ Thorne glanced at Gwyn.
She nodded grudgingly. ‘I’m going with you.’ She held up a finger to cut off his interruption. ‘And if you say it’s not safe for me, then it’s not safe for you.’
He narrowed his eyes at her, considering the risk. She was right, unfortunately. ‘Fine. What else?’ he asked his employees.
‘Just Laura,’ Ming said. ‘She quit.’
Thorne stilled. ‘What do you mean?’
‘She quit,’ Ming repeated. ‘I called her this morning and asked if she could come for this meeting, and she told me then. Said she was going home to her folks. I told her she should wait until everything died down, that if she still wanted to quit, we’d give her a reference. She was determined, though.’
‘Where are her parents?’ Gwyn asked.
‘In Virginia.’ He shrugged. ‘I reminded her that she couldn’t leave the state. She got pissy and said she wasn’t going to skip bail. I couldn’t blame her for wanting to go home. She was in holding longer than we were and she was not happy about it. At least her mom was able to watch the baby all night.’
‘We’ll go talk to her,’ Gwyn said. ‘If she really wants to quit, we won’t stand in her way, of course, but she needs to know we’ll see this drug charge through with her. Either Jamie or Frederick will continue to represent her.’
Ming looked uncomfortable. ‘She said she’d be getting her own lawyer, that she didn’t trust you all not to railroad her.’
Gwyn bit her lip. ‘Guys, did Laura have access to the server?’
Mowry shook his head. ‘No. Well, yes, but only to the inventory database.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re suggesting she took the money?’
‘She’s not here,’ Thorne said. ‘And she’s putting distance between us. We have to at least consider it. We’ll ask Alec to trace the changes to the accounting software and the bank withdrawal. In the meantime, we’ll go see her.’ He stood up, pulling Gwyn to her feet. ‘Mowry, call your contact to see if he really texted that or if we’re being spoofed. Once it’s verified, call me. I want to hear voices from here on out.’ He squeezed the manager’s shoulder. ‘And seriously, if something changes and you do need to run, do what you have to do. But call me afterward. I’ll help you.’
Mowry nodded. ‘Thanks, boss. Will do.’
Twenty-two
Baltimore, Maryland,