Page 98 of Force At Third

“The what?” I shake my head. “There wasn’t?—”

“There was. Lawson has some connections. He also has ten percent coming because he’s the one who got it pushed through as soon as Janice was in custody. She’s on parole, too. Her real last name is Sutter, which is why we missed it. Threats of lawsuits made by the right people, and the State of California is paying up and will be shit-canning members of their parole board.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred and fifty for Center and fifty for Janice.”

“How much did she swindle out of Cora’s college fund?”

“Seventy-five, and fifty from her old man’s house sale.”

“I don’t give a shit about her old man. He pissed away her college fund on a piece of ass.” I start punching numbers into the computer. “We’ve paid out five K for surveillance and information, and Lawson’s cut. After taxes and expenses for security systems at Wags, CeCe’s, and the one we need to install at Roman’s, I say we give Chloe the money her mother intended for Cora’s education?”

“Agree with all that.”

“We should still have over fifty in hand.”

“Which would give Cora’s old man?—”

“No.”

“Man made a shit choice after he lost his wife.”

“Had Danny and Chloe not been on top of it, that shit choice would have cost him his daughter, too. Fuck him.”

“Meet me in the middle, York.”

“He can have ten, but so can Chloe and CeCe; that’s more than in the middle.”

“They won’t take a cent.”

“We could buy Aggie ponies.” I smile. “Let Danny and Chloe decide what the old man gets.”

“You know she’s gonna hand it over to him because …?” He waits for me to fill in the blank.

“He and his wife loved Cora and ultimately saved Chloe and CeCe.”

“Ding, ding, ding.”

I flip him off.

“Tomorrow, we have to meet with Jersey PD. Do you want them to come here, or should we meet them in Trenton?”

“Up to you.”

“If it’s up to me, I’m never leaving this place.”

We both look around.

“The money these guys make is fucking mind-blowing.”

“The lack of security even more so,” I add.

“Everything is on order, and it’s on your future husband’s black card.” He pushes back his chair and stands. “You need to get some sleep. Three days, and I’m guessing we’re heading back to Texas.”

“Anything in the works there?” I ask, closing my laptop as I stand.

“Couple installs, if we want. Easy ten G’s in a week.”

---