Page 172 of Five Mountain Daddies

I can’t stop thinking about it. I need more, I absolutely have to have more, and I want it rightnow.

But I have to be patient. There’s still something dark inside of her, a sorrow that’s driving her forward. I could see it in her back at that casino, right after Kristi left. I wanted to kiss her then, tell her it would all be okay, but I don’t know if it really willbe.

Truth is, we may never find the asshole that did this to Atticus. I feel like this town has too many fucking secrets, and I’m just trying to scratch at the surface. It’s a goddamn losing battle, but I know I can’t giveup.

My captain gave me a week. I need to use this time wisely. And that means I need moreinformation.

I head inside and spot Mitch sitting at the end of the bar again. I join him and he wordlessly nods atme.

I order a beer. “How’s it going?” I askhim.

He sighs. “Had a hell of a shitshow earlier. So this is much needed.” He grins and raises hisglass.

“Whathappened?”

“You know, the usual domestic bullshit.” He sips hisdrink.

I know he wants me to ask. “Tell me aboutit.”

“Well, it was a normal call, came over the radio. My partner and I were the closest, so we respond and head over. It’s in the trailer park, you know the one over on Rose, near the Giantsupermarket.”

I nod. “I know the one. A little bitnicer.”

“That’s what I thought too.” He rolls his eyes. “So we show up, and there’s this woman, drunk as can be, right? Yelling her fucking head off about something her boyfriend did, and there’s this guy, kinda standing off to theside.”

“Theboyfriend?”

He nods. “Right you are. He’s a scrawny dude, totally sober. So we roll up, and my partner goes to calm the lady, and I go to talk to the boyfriend. You know what he says tome?”

I shake my head. I’ve heard stories like this a million times, but it’s still probably the best part of being a cop. “What’d hesay?”

“He said, ‘Officer, I’m glad you’re here. My girl’s tits are out and she won’t put them away.’” He leans back in his chair, cracking up. “The whole time, she’s fucking topless! Tits flopping in thewind!”

I can’t help but grin at that. “So whathappened?”

“We calmed her down, got a top on her. Apparently the boyfriend asked her to put a shirt on while she was outside and that set her off. Anyway, that shit took an hour and a half, but man, that wasfunny.”

I grin at him and we clink glasses. He launches into another story about another crazy local asshole, and I’m only half listening. I’ve heard all these stories and worse back in thecity.

After about an hour of swapping stories, Mitch is looking a little drunk. He’s on beer number three and showing no sign of stopping, which is fine by me, I’m not judgmental. But I do need to know what I came here to find out, so I can’t wait anymore, in case he gets toowasted.

“Listen, Mitch,” I say to him, just after finishing one of my own good stories, the one about the priest and the rotten fish in his car. “I wanted to ask yousomething.”

“What’s up?” he asks, wiping his eyes from laughing sohard.

“I’ve been hanging around town now, and something’s bugging me. You all talk about that gang, the Niners, but you guys never say much about them. What’s the dealthere?”

He sighs a little. “Who fucking knows, man. Whenever we make an arrest, ten guys step in to replace thecockroach.”

“But what are they even doing here?” I ask him. “I mean, Mason is prettysmall.”

“That’s what we were wondering. Turns out, there’s a ton of addicts in Mason and the surrounding counties. The forest reserve down south is huge, and apparently they camp out there in little mobile methlabs.”

“No shit?” I askhim.

“Sure,” he says. “We try and stamp them out, but you know how big that placeis.”

He’s not kidding. The nature reserve is absolutely massive, the biggest in thestate.

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