Page 178 of Ready to Cash Out

“Big mistake.”

“Yeah, I see that now!” Jupiter snorted. “When we came back, he was gone.”

“Yes, I was,” Juicy said proudly.

“What happened to your head, Juicy?” Jupiter glanced over Trev and Juicy both, his brow wrinkling in concern. “What the hell? Are you guys okay?”

“So, Juicy stole a car and then wrecked it a tiny bit.”

Cold scowled. “We’ll take care of that.” He narrowed his eyes at Juicy. “You. No more driving.”

“Oh, all right.” Juicy nodded. “I have been trying to cut back. Goes right to my hips.”

Cold sighed, a sound of deep and long suffering. “To the business at hand.” His icy gaze snapped back to Emil and Sal. “As I said, we have much to discuss.”

“I’ve got fuckin’ nothin’ to say to you,” Sal spat.

“Oh, but I think you do.” Cold smiled. “Unless you want your father to spend his golden years rotting away in prison.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Cold tucked his gun away under his jacket. “You will cease any and all operations involving former special agent Champignon or I’ll see to it that your father goes to prison.”

“For fucking what?” Emil spat. “You ain’t got nothin’ on our old man.”

Sal’s grim expression indicated that he wasn’t so sure.

“There is potentially going to be a grisly discovery very soon at a little park in Perry City,” Cold said. “Three bodies might be found. The three men that Federico Luchesi killed and whose bodies were buried there.”

“So?” Emil scoffed. “Feddy killed those fuckers, but?—”

“Ugo was with him,” Trev realized out loud. “He liked to put in the final shot.”

Cold raised his brow in faint surprise, but he nodded. “Yes. Ballistics will confirm that at least one of the bullets in each victim matches a weapon owned by Ugo Luchesi. He was tried but not convicted in several other cases over the years and there are multiple ballistic reports on his personal arsenal.”

“Bullshit!” Emil shouted. “That’s a load of fuckin’ crap!”

“Why else has your family been interfering with the park renovations? You know the bodies are there and that if they’re exhumed your father could be implicated in those deaths. It’s why the family first tried to buy out the land after that flood. You knew what they might find, but ah, you had the same problem as the rest of us. You didn’t know where they were buried.”

“Fuck you,” Sal said calmly. “No bodies, no fuckin’ case. You’ve got nothin’. I don’t care how much fuckin’ pull you have. No one’s gonna go diggin’ up the park on a body hunt.”

“Well, then it’s a shame because?—”

“I know where the bodies are buried!” Trev blurted out. “Juicy told me. The two trees, three trees, whatever. Those are the body locations. He used to walk his dog by them to make sure no one was messing with them and it became part of his routine.”

“Yes.” Cold’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Mr. Cusack is the one who brought the bodies to Perry City from Strassen Springs to dispose of them.”

“I did?” Juicy blinked. “Huh. Maybe I did.”

“No one is gonna believe that crazy old bat,” Emil snapped.

“They don’t have to believe him,” Cold said calmly. “Three dead bodies will be quite convincing on their own. And oh, they will be discovered because the mayor of Strassen Springs has signed a deal to sponsor building a fountain in Perry City’s park, just as their mayor has agreed to build one here.” He smiled. “I promise you, they will find at least one of the bodies because I have the honor of picking the location for the fountain’s installation.”

“The meeting with the mayor,” Trev said carefully. “That’s why you were so set on making it. That’s what it was about.” He scowled. “The mayor knew, didn’t he? That something was going to happen?”

“He knew there was the potential for a little surprise, yes,” Cold replied. “But I assure you that we will meet again very soon to finalize all those pesky details.”

Sal’s grimace deepened. “What the fuck do you want?”

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