“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Jared’s words dropped like heavy stones in a still pond as Macy and Ghost both looked back at him. They had just turned toward the exit doors as Candace and Starla disappeared in the direction of Brian’s room.
“Me?” Ghost asked, seeing Jared was staring him straight in the eye.
“Yeah.”
Macy gave Jared an uncertain glance, one elegant eyebrow raised. “I’ll go wait in the car,” she said to her boyfriend. Then she looked up at him and murmured what sounded like “Be nice.” He smirked at her before she turned to go. Both men watched her until she disappeared through the doors, then Ghost went on alert. Jared could see it in the way his entire body tensed, the way he crossed his heavily inked arms, going on guard.
“So. What could you possibly have to say to me?”
Jared barely refrained from telling him to settle down before he popped a vein, but that might have gotten things off to a sour start. “Tell me what you know about this Max guy.”
Surprise briefly registered on Ghost’s face, but he covered it quickly. Starla must have only told the police her suspicions and no one else. “Starla’s Max? He’s an unbalanced head-fucked asshole. That’s what I know.”
“Starla’s convinced he attacked Brian.”
“It’s not beyond the realm of possibility. But Brian has no shortage of enemies, and I never really considered Max one of them. Hell, you can look at Candace’s family alone and find any number of people who would love for Brian to be out of her life.”
But Ghost didn’t know what Jared knew, and that was only Starla’s secret to tell. He didn’t want to betray her trust in any way, but the thought of this prick striking out at others within her circle… “Enough to try to kill him? Would Candace’s family deprive a new mother—someone they supposedly love—of the father of her child? Seems excessive.”
Ghost shrugged. “I don’t know, man, I’m just saying. They hate him enough to try to ruin him. Enough to completely trash his business a couple of years back. We had her brother to thank for that. Now Brian nearly gets whacked in the parking lot? Smells rotten to me.”
“Yeah, maybe.” A little too rotten. Though it would be nice to know Starla didn’t need this guilt she was carrying around. Still, he was reluctant to believe it. “It seems too angry. Too malicious to be something like that.”
“It might seem that way, but whoever it was, the dickhole was too chickenshit to stick around and finish the job. If Max wanted someone dead, fucker’d probably be dead. That dude’s crazy.”
“Maybe something happened and he got scared.”
“Brian’s right hook happened. His knuckles are cut and bruised. He got a good hit in before he went down.”
Good for Brian. “Do you know where Max lives? It’d be interesting to see if he has a busted lip or a black eye.”
“I don’t know where he lives.” He gave Jared a long stare with dark, suspicious eyes. “What, you looking to do some detective work? Why the fuck would you bother?”
“If it’s Max and he’s targeting people close to Starla…be careful, all right? Make sure Macy’s careful too.”
Just like that, those suspicious eyes went cold. “Ah, so it all comes clear,” Ghost said. “Macy’s covered, don’t you worry.”
“I’m not trying to start trouble with you.”
“See that you don’t.”
“But you shouldn’t have trouble with me being concerned for a friend. I’ve known Macy since we were kids.”
“You think I don’t realize that?”
“All of you should be on your guard. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Duly noted.”
Jared supposed it was a start. At least he’d planted the seed. But seconds ticked by and Ghost wasn’t going anywhere. He shoved his hands into his jeans pockets, staring at the door through which Candace and Starla had left. “That’s my best friend lying in there,” he said at last. “My brother. Someone tried to kill him, and I want to know why.”
“I don’t blame you.”
“And you’re right. If Starla feels that strongly about this, it’s worth looking into. Any leads are better than none. Shouldn’t be too hard to find Max.”
“Unless he’s on the run.”
“That would tell the story too, wouldn’t it? He’s always around somewhere. He’s like fungus, he flourishes where it’s dark and dirty. If he can’t be found at any of the usual locations, then something’s up with him.”
“Think we could check out any of those locations?”