Page 90 of Necessary Evil

Chapter 20

Evil was in the boardroom with his friends again. This time there wasn’t any pizza, but no one was trying to beat the shit out of anyone else either. The only one missing was Ryder. She was on I-80 and heading back to New York. Not only was there no way Bobby could have made it to California and back in the time frame if he drove alone, but it was equally impossible to do it with a partner. Evil still thought Ryder might have tried to make it work if she hadn’t gotten a phone call from one of her street contacts saying that one of Bobby’s other girlfriends had been located. It had taken some convincing, but Ryder had arranged for the woman to come in and talk to them. Sentinel was hoping he could persuade the woman to talk to Jenny; maybe Jenny would rescind the alibi she had given Bobby once she found out Bobby was cheating on her.

“This is Marla,” Sentinel said, escorting a curvy chick with purple hair and tattooed arm sleeves. She was dressed in a tank top that showed off her belly ring and tight shorts that dipped low enough in the back to show off her neon-green whale tale.

Marla looked at the three of them around the table and stripped off her top. As she climbed on the table, Sentinel quickly closed the boardroom door.

“Are you guys going to fuck me all at once or take turns?”

Evil was going to kill Ryder.

Holy shit, Sentinel was actually considering it. He glanced at Warden who shrugged, “Why not?” Fuckers.

Sentinel reached for her, but Evil interrupted. “Actually, before we begin, I just had a few questions about your boyfriend.”

“I don’t have a boyfriend.” She eyeballed Sentinel. “Yet.”

She sat up on the table and posed. Evil maintained eye contact with her, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Sentinel move in closer. Evil sighed. Like I need this shit today.

“Bobby Bradford,” Sentinel said. “Do you know him?”

“Yeah. He’s a jerk.”

“Why is that, sweet thing?”

Evil rolled his eyes so hard he almost got whiplash. Luckily, Marla wasn’t watching Evil. She had eyes only for Sentinel.

“He likes to get physical, and not in a fun way.”

Marla couldn’t have known nothing else would put the brakes on Sentinel like that. Evil saw his hands clench into fists and then forcibly relax.

“Why did he hit you?”

Marla smirked. “Because he likes it.”

Sentinel caressed her cheek, and she leaned into it. Evil exchanged a glance with Warden. Why were they even here? Warden approached her from the other side.

“Is that the only reason?” Warden trailed his hand up the girl’s back.

That was it. Evil was leaving. He wondered if Lucy could get out of work early. As he got up from the table, Marla said, “He got mad at me for snooping. I found some pills and a fake passport.”

Evil sank back down in his chair. “What kind of pills?”

Marla turned and began crawling down the long table toward him. He shot a look at Sentinel, who grinned but grabbed her ankle and slid her back down to him. She giggled and rolled over on her back.

“Pain pills. After he knocked me around, he gave me some. Told me there would be more if I kept my mouth shut about them and forgot what I saw.”

“Do you remember the name on the fake passport?” Evil asked.

“Yeah, it was totally stupid. It was Richard Barker. Like Dick Barker. Arf arf.” Marla laughed.

“Were you at his motel room?” Sentinel asked, taking off her heels. Personally, Evil would have left them on. He pictured Lucy in the same position, but it was ruined by the presence of his two friends. He would never share her. She was his and his alone.

Marla shook her head, which fanned her purple hair out over the table. “No, he’s got an apartment in Bay Shore that we went to.”

“What’s the address?” Warden asked, stroking up her leg.

She told them. Evil scribbled it down on a pad and next to it wrote down Richard Barker’s name. “Do you know that he was seeing other women?”

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