“Funny guy, huh?” The two who had him covered relaxed their stances, and the one who’d cuffed him gave him a shove in the direction of the main house. “We’ll see how funny you are.”
“I have a funny test?” Luke said, taking a few off-balance steps to regain his footing. His legs might have felt stronger with the addition of food, but that didn’t mean the muscles were inclined to obey under duress. “I don’t know, the judge can be tough. He surrounds himself with jokers, so he’s probably used to it by now.” Luke almost stumbled this time because of the shove he didn’t get. He’d expected the thug to push him again, but chances were they hadn’t followed what he’d been saying. Tough crowd. Muscle-bound, yes. Brain trust? Hardly.
He expected the shove at the top of the two-step walkdown inside the door and just jumped over the ledge. They sat him down in the office and one of them stayed with him, though the cuffs were left on.
Benny Bianchi arrived less than two minutes later. He stormed into the office and slowed down when he saw Luke sitting there. He gave him an assessing look and then, visibly guided by his nose, he turned to the pizza and beer sitting on the corner of the desk. He held out a hand, pointing to the food, and looked back at the guard.
“He was carrying that when we caught him,” the man said, giving Luke a look that clearly indicated that he thought Luke was crazy.
He was probably right.
“‘Caught me’?” Luke scoffed. “I walked in here chewing a pizza with double pepperoni and no one even noticed till I was through the gate. You idiots couldn’t catch a cold.”
“You walked back in again, huh?” Benny asked. He nodded to the man to undo his cuffs, who did so sullenly, then backed off to the doorway where he kept wary eye on the prisoner, looking for all the world like he was just hoping someone would give him an excuse.
Luke barely restrained himself from sticking his tongue out at the guy, and rubbed his wrists gratefully. “I got hungry. You people refuse to feed me. I’ve got to freakin’ fit in my tux and you guys won’t feed me. Is that a crime?”
Benny looked at Luke in a state of confusion and then to the pizza and back again. “You went out for pizza?”
“Somehow, magically, the food doesn’t get up to my room. Just dirty plates and coffee that smells like piss. Literally.”
Benny nodded slowly. He waved his hand expansively, encompassing the house, the grounds, the situation itself. “You might have pissed off a few people.” The goon at the doorway grunted his agreement, caught himself, and contented himself with merely glaring.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t have to eat,” Luke said with a shrug.
“How did you get out?”
“I heard the alarm, I ran, followed my nose.”
“And the man guarding Dani’s door?”
“What about him?”
“Why did you run all the way—the wrong way—through the house just to attack him?”
Huh. Dangerous ground here. Dani took a man out to get to me? What did she tell him? “I wanted to take Dani with me. She told me I was crazy.”
“She said she didn’t see you.” Benny’s dead eyes challenged the truth from Luke.
“She didn’t. She told me through the door she was afraid of what you would do to David. So I left on my own.” Luke shrugged. “I haven’t eaten in a while. How many days has it been since we saw the caterers? Not that that was exactly what you’d call eating.” He nodded, “Oh, and despite one memorable breakfast where I lost my appetite. You mind?” He nodded to the pizza.
Benny leaned on the desk. He looked to the guard behind Luke. “Has he been searched?”
“Frisked.” The guard shrugged.
“Search him. Every pocket. I will do you the courtesy, Mr. Milligan, of not making Jimmy, here, do a cavity check. But I only do that because I wish to spare Jimmy the indignity.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jimmy said flatly while shoving his hand into Luke’s pants pockets. He grabbed what he found there and pulled it out, turning the pocket inside out. Jimmy took the handful to the desk and opened his fist. The contents fell to the desktop. “Looks like about $18-19 dollars and some change.”
“Where’d you get money?” Benny turned back to Luke, his eyes hard.
Luke looked at Benny for a long minute and sighed. He crossed his left leg over his right and slipped off the shoe. He pulled the insole out and reached in to produce another $20, tightly folded. “I call it ‘walking around money’. No one checks that thorough unless you’re in a Mexican prison.”
Benny suppressed a smile. It was easy to see that there was a certain humor in his manner, but his eyes remained cold, lifeless. “You’re very clever for a... what accountant?”
“Financial analyst.”
“What’s the difference?”
“It pays better.”
Benny looked at him a long moment before finally shaking his head. “Escort our well-connected friend to his room, let him have his lunch. From now on, he dines with the rest of the family. Understood?”
Jimmy didn’t look any too happy about it, but nodded all the same. “Yes, sir.”
Good boy. Luke had a mental image of Jimmy as some overly persistent terrier being patted on the head. No... Chihuahua. All attitude and nothing to back it. Wow, where does Benny get these guys?
Luke put on his shoe back on. “Is dinner black-tie? I’ve a limited wardrobe, I’m afraid,” he said, tugging at his t-shirt, which was starting to get a little rank.
“No, no.” Benny looked like he was enjoying this game. That wasn’t good. “It’s come as you are... or maybe, come as you are, ready or not.” He glanced at his watch. “If you’re going to shower, Mr. Milligan, I suggest, you do so quickly.”
Luke reached over and slid the box off the desk and picked up the four remaining beers by one of the little plastic loops that had carried their mates. He could have sworn there’d been five there when they’d taken them from him. Jimmy looked a little too innocent. “Thank you.”
“Just happy you got my message, Mr. Milligan.” Benny waved him off. The look that passed between the two was the look of two pit fighters in a called truce.
You can’t always see all angles. Sometimes you lose the play. But that’s okay. Winning the game was what mattered.
He tried to remember that as he was escorted back up to his room. But that look Benny had given him as he’d left stayed with him.
That was the most frightening bastard he’d ever met in his life.
He was in way over his head.
CHAPTER ELEVEN