Page 12 of Frisco

“The older one? I wasn’t aware she was there.”

“Neither were we. I’m not sure if Gloves knows or if he was keeping her away from us, but she’s here. She’s not married either. Working in a grocery store.”

“Really?”

“Of all of them, she’s the one I’d worry about. The dad gave us a pass. The mom’ll be under our thumb, and the other sister, she’s been cozying up to Roadie.”

“Cozying up?”

“Yeah. He’s having fun, but she wants more. I’ve seen the look before.”

“He’s not interested in an old lady?”

“No.”

He grunted. “Right.”

Sometimes that happens—girls who want more than a fun-time, want the old lady status, and don’t take to a guy’s no. An old lady was the equivalent to a wife in our world.

But she was local, and we’d be heading out, so she shouldn’t be a problem.

“This older sister. What’s she like?”

My gut tightened.

The Kali from high school wasn’t the Kali in that grocery store. That girl was long gone.

I needed to not give a fuck.

“She’s smart.”

He cursed. “You laid the terms out to her?”

“I did. Her favor is for us to leave her brother alone.”

Another low curse from him. “Yeah. She’s smart.” He cleared his throat. “What’s her situation? Why’s she back in Indiana if she had a good life in New York?”

“I asked Roadie to hit up the sister about her, and there doesn’t seem to be a relationship between them. The mom too. Ruby got cagey when I brought her up earlier.”

“That’s really not good.”

I sighed. “I’ll make some calls. I don’t want to approach Gloves about her. That could backfire. I do know she’s down on her luck and not biting at getting a handout. That should tell us something.”

“You knew her back in the day?”

My gut tightened again.

I ignored it, again.

“She was pretty back then. Ran with a small group, loyal to each other. I’ll look them up, see if she’s kept in contact with them. Already told you she was smart. Gloves worshiped her back then, and the feeling was mutual. She’s got a different dad; he’s an attorney.”

“What kind of attorney?”

“Had our computer guys do a search. Attorney in Chicago.”

“You think we should move on the dad? Could take his firm on retainer.”

“I don’t think so. We approach her dad, she hears about it, and that could backfire too.”

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