Anderson looked at me with a shit eating grin and that was all I could take. I brought my right fist back and threw a punch right into the car, slamming against Anderson’s jaw. He groaned and fell over to the passenger seat.
I thought for a second I knocked him clean out but then he put his left hand out the window, waving his hand at me.
“That’s for going to her fucking aunt’s house,” I growled. “What the fuck were you trying to prove?”
Anderson pulled himself back up and rubbed his jaw. “Okay. Yeah. Maybe I deserved that one.”
“Just one?”
He stretched his jaw. “The thing you need to realize here, Kingston, is that everyone you touch and talk to becomes part of my game.”
“Your game?”
Anderson looked at me. “This is all a game. What you do. What I do. It’s all a big fucking game. You dragged Lindsey into this. I had no choice but to keep tabs on her. Funny how you leave and she stops coming home. That got my curiosity going. So I had to dig deeper. To find her aunt. The very pretty Jane. And I did. She was so welcoming, too. Then I saw Lindsey there. So it started to make sense. The loving, devoted outlaw sent his woman to her aunt’s house, just in case… of what?”
“You know what we’re up against,” I said. “The other crews out there that want to take us down. Simple as that.”
“A week away,” Anderson said. He took his fingers off his jaw. “I wonder what was happening up there?”
“I’m slowly being let in,” I said, starting to paint the canvas of lies. “The guys are feeling me out, gauging my trust level.”
“I need something.”
“There’s a deal with product,” I lied. “That’s all they would say. Product. We met with three guys up there a few times, discussing the location of the deal.”
Anderson’s eyes lit up. “So you’re really doing this. Going down this path.”
I grabbed the door and leaned forward. “Let me explain something, Anderson. This is about survival. I am not going to be a fucking animal in a cage. I’m not going to wait day after fucking day to get the call that it’s time to die. So take the shock off your face and do your job. Make sure I stay out and stay alive.”
“I can’t guarantee you’ll stay alive out here,” Anderson said. “But the more you give me, the more I can help you. Tell me more, Kingston.”
Anderson gripped the steering wheel tight. He stared straight ahead and let me spew everything I could manage to come up with. That included a story of three men in suits who specifically only talked to Knox and Slam. That Uncle Jakey was not present for those meetings, as he opted to stay in town. That I saw handshakes, some cash exchange hands, and that the only thing I knew about the product was that it was going to be delivered at a set time and place, which wasn’t determined yet.
“Why is that?” Anderson asked.
“My guess is financial issues,” I said. “Seems like Uncle Jakey is scrambling to get cash. Probably trying to shake everyone down he could get to.”
“Typical,” Anderson muttered. He then shook his head and reached for the passenger floor. He opened his bag and took out a folder. “I wanted to talk about this.”
“What’s that?”
He flipped it open and there was a picture of that prick I tuned up who had hit Linds. Nelson.
“This gentleman claims he was roughed up outside a bar for no reason,” Anderson said. “Yet my information tells me that perhaps he and Lindsey were engaged in a deeply romantic relationship.”
I gritted my teeth and swallowed a big lump down my throat.
“I don’t know a thing about it,” I said.
Anderson laughed. “Of course you don’t. Why would you? You’re just an upstanding outlaw, trying to keep his head above water.”
“Exactly,” I said.
Anderson tossed the page aside and there was a picture of Lindsey. It was a mugshot of her.
“What the hell is that?” I asked.
“Oh, your little girlfriend had a bar fight a few years back. Did one night in jail to sleep off the excess booze in her system. But this is important to me because I can keep an eye on everything.”
“Stay away from her, Anderson,” I said. “I’m not lying. I’ve committed murder and I’m not afraid to do it again. I protect what I love, even if it costs me my life.”
Anderson looked at me. “Sorry to burst your bubble, Kingston, but chances are you did not commit murder. Attempted murder, yes. But murder? Nah.”
“Where’s the proof?” I asked.
Anderson shut the folder and tossed it aside. “Hey, tell you what. Next time you see Uncle Jakey, why don’t you ask him about your brother.”
“What?”
“Just…” Anderson put the car in drive. “I’m trying to help you here. Let you see the bigger picture of life. Let you understand what you don’t know. We can both agree that your brother was a piece of fucking shit, Kingston. Maybe a man that deserved a bullet to the head. But not in the nature it happened. And especially not with the way it changed the course of your life.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” I asked.
“When you give me a time and a place… and a name for this product… I’ll tell you more.”