Page 84 of Edge

“I watched her from a distance the first day. The next day, I planned on having breakfast at the diner to get more information, but the two old guys fucked that up.”

“You fucked that up yourself, buddy,” Buck said. “I would’ve thought not drawing attention to yourself would’ve been lesson number one in PI school.”

“I didn’t fucking see you!”

“All you had to do was apologize or say, ‘Excuse me’ but you wanted to fuck around and find out.”

“Fuck you, old man!”

Carbon slapped Gary across the face. “We respect our elders around here.”

“We’re not that old,” Walter said under his breath, causing Byte and me to laugh.

“Apologize so we can continue,” Carbon said.

Gary huffed, but did what he was told. “Sorry.”

Buck covered his heart with his hand. “Your sincerity touches me.”

“Let’s get back on track,” Phoenix said. “What happened after you left the diner that morning?”

“I told Carl where he could find Evie,” he said simply. “He paid me and that was that.”

“If that was that, we wouldn’t be here. What happened next?”

“The president of the Mad Dogs contacted me and told me Carl was missing. He wanted me to find out what happened to him. I traced Carl’s car to two areas in Cedar Valley. One area was an apartment complex, and the other was somewhere in the vicinity of the diner.”

“What apartment complex?” Carbon asked.

“The one where the missing waitress lived.”

I tried not to gasp when he mentioned Marcy. Obviously, we knew Muzzle killed Marcy, but I don’t think any of us realized anyone else knew there was a connection between Muzzle and Marcy.

“I gave Hound the information I had, and he said they would be in Cedar Valley the next day. I met up with them at an abandoned warehouse. They paid me and said they didn’t need anything else from me. I asked why, and Hound told me they’d seen the Blackwings at the diner and he didn’t think Evie was worth the trouble.” Gary paused and swallowed. “Can I have some water or something?”

Carbon produced a bottle of water and opened it before handing it to him. I found Carbon’s hospitality to be quite comical, considering the situation.

“They came to Cedar Valley to get Evie?” Phoenix asked.

“That’s what Hound said. It wasn’t my job to question what he did.”

“Then what?”

“They went on their way, and I went on mine. A few days later, I got a call from Carl’s son, Ken. He wanted all the information I’d collected for his dad. For a small fee, I gave it to him. I thought that was the end of it until Hound called and told me about the shooting. He wanted me to keep an eye on things and let him know where y’all went when you left the hospital. You guys must have snuck out of there in the middle of the night or something because y’all were there one day and gone the next. Hound was pissed when I told him, and he told me to find you. So, I started looking, but y’all were nowhere to be found. I checked Irene’s house, the diner, the clubhouse, and anywhere else I could think of. Yesterday, Hound said he wanted to draw you out and told me to burn down the diner. And that’s it. I swear. There’s nothing else to tell.”

As I sat there trying to absorb his words, I was incredibly grateful for the extra precautions Phoenix insisted we take when leaving the hospital. Leaving at night kept him from knowing about our departure, and taking the back roads kept him from tapping into traffic cameras to find us.

When Phoenix’s phone rang, he looked at the screen and uttered a curse under his breath before he stepped away to answer the call. He returned moments later, and his demeanor had completely changed. “That was Flint. They’re on the move. They’ve been headed north on the highway for thirty minutes. I think it’s safe to assume they’re headed our way.”

“What’s the plan, Prez?” I asked. I knew he had one. Knowing Phoenix, he probably had at least three.

“You and Byte are going to sit this one out. I know you don’t want to, and I get it. This involves your girl, but it also involvesmy brothers. We came close to losing the two of you once, and we’re not doing it again so soon.”

“There’s no shame in staying behind and protecting the families,” Byte added.

“I’m happy to do whatever you need me to do,” I said honestly. Yes, I wanted to be a part of the action, but I also knew I wasn’t at my best, which could inadvertently put others in danger.

“We’ll move everyone to the bunker under the main office building. You, Byte, and Ranger will be on guard duty. I’ll assign some others to help once we get the details figured out.”

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