Page 61 of Smooth Sailing

Hugger looked into the house.

The men were in the kitchen.

Diana and Nicole were sitting in the living room, gabbing.

Suzette had disappeared.

“How did those two gals hook up?” Pete asked Larry.

Larry assumed an unhappy expression when he explained, “Diana did some amateur sleuthing, pulled some cons with hospital staff and the officer guarding the door to Suzette’s room, and got in there with her. Not sure how she talked her around. Not even sure why she did, though Di’s got problems with her father and some history that makes it make a kind of sense.”

Hugger’s neck got tight.

History that makes it make a kind of sense.

“It’s been worrying me and Nic since it went down,” Larry kept at it. “Di isn’t like this. She likes her work. She’s got good friends. She goes out and has fun. But she’s been almost freakishly responsible since the day I met her when she was twelve.”

This didn’t surprise Hugger at all.

Larry kept talking.

“She jumped into this, and after I got over my shock she did, it took everything I had not to strong-arm her right out. But Di’s got no support from her family. Her mother’s a flake and doesn’t live close. Her grandmother is a nice woman, but she doesn’t have much of a backbone. We got years in with taking Di’s back because there wasn’t anyone else to do it with any strength behind it. Suffice it to say, we didn’t like this situation, but the way things are for her, we didn’t fight her on it.”

“I get you,” Pete muttered.

“Why are you asking after Suzette?” Larry questioned.

Pete drew in a breath, like he was stalling for time to figure out how to say what he had to say. He let it out and said it.

“Lived some years, man. And I think there’s more happenin’ here than the lowdown and dirty shit that was done to that woman,” he replied, which made Hugger’s neck get tighter.

So he asked curtly, “Like what?”

Big Petey shook his head. “Like I don’t know, unless we can get that girl to talk. And I don’t see that happenin’ anytime soon.”

“Me either,” Larry mumbled.

“Appreciate you showin’ your feeling for Diana and Suzette,” Pete said to Larry. “And I get your concern. Our Club’s got some worries about Babic. We got no beef with the man, no dealings with him at all, so we’re tryin’ to figure out why he’s messin’ with some of our women. Nothin’ as bad as what he did to Suzette, but he’s playin’ with their heads and diggin’ into our business, and we just don’t get why. We’re here to find out. In the meantime, since we got the manpower, thought we’d put it in front of those girls. They’re safe with us. That’s a promise. You give me your contact info, I’ll be glad to keep you informed. Was a dad once, I get what you need.”

Larry’s head jerked at Pete’s last words, and he asked suspiciously, “Was a dad once?”

“My baby girl died of cancer a while ago,” Pete told him.

Larry winced then said quietly, “Still a dad, my friend.”

“Yeah,” Pete muttered, and Hugger’s eyes narrowed on the man.

He knew about Pete’s girl. Everyone did.

He just really didn’t like how Pete described what he felt he’d become after her loss.

Larry was studying him closely too, but he stopped to peer over his shoulder inside, clearly feeling his wife’s attention on him, because it was.

He turned back to Hugger and Pete. “Best get inside. We good?”

Big Petey nodded.

Larry went inside.

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