Page 31 of Tony

“Jesus, my men are as bad as you women,” he exclaimed.

“Humph,” she grumped, then heard him chuckling. “Oh, you’re just being mean.”

“Just joking with you. I told everyone this morning that we were together, and they were all real happy.” He could almost hear her grin through the phone and his heart felt lighter than it had in a long time.

“Well, besides turning into a jokester, did you have a reason to call?” she asked.

“Besides just wanting to hear your voice? Actually, I thought you could come to my place for dinner after work.”

“I’d love to,” she effused.

Giving her the address, he saw where another call was coming in. “Sorry to rush but it looks like Shane is trying to get ahold of me.” With a quick goodbye, he switched calls.

“Shane? What’s up?” he asked.

“I hear congratulations are in order,” Shane said.

“How quickly did the news hit the Richmond Police?” he asked his detective friend.

“About as long as it took my wife to find out from Lily, and BJ’s wife.”

“Well, thanks, man. Surely you called for some other reason than to bust my chops?” he asked.

“You got time for Matt and I to have a conference with you and some of your men?” Shane asked.

Serious now, Tony said, “Always got time for you all. Come on over and I’ll gather everyone.”

* * *

Matt Dixon and Shane Douglass, detectives with the Richmond Police department and close friends with Tony and his group, sat around the conference table discussing their latest investigations.

“We’re working on a case of money laundering and have centered our investigation on Quentin Salazar. His name keeps cropping up but once again, like so many we try to investigate, they bury their illegal businesses so deep, our resources can’t reach them.”

Shane added, “He has also been mentioned with some sex clubs along the riverfront, but again nothing concrete. We’ve got a feeling that his hand is in much more, but we were wondering if Lily and BJ could do some digging for us. And…”

His pause had the others looking up. “We were wondering if perhaps, your team could put a few security cameras around his office. Unofficially, of course,” he said with a grin.

Tony said, “Got no problem with that, but nothing we get will be admissible in court.”

“We’re just looking for others in league with him, anything that gives us an idea where to look and what we’re looking for.”

Nodding, Tony agreed. “All right.”

The meeting continued as the group broke off into two teams. Matt went with Lily and BJ to talk about what they needed from their computer searches. Shane stayed with the others to discuss what cameras would be needed and where they could place them to get the most intel.

“He’s got an office in the same block of buildings that one of the clubs is in. He’s not been seen going into the club, but we know he’s just being a sneaky bastard.”

“We’ll get BJ to look at the floor plan of that old building and see what connections we can find,” Tony added.

“One other thing,” Shane interjected. “Talk on the street is that this club will start servicing men who are looking for children, especially teens or pre-teen virgins. We’ve got no proof yet, but that’s what one informer said.”

“Shit,” Jobe bit out, shaking his head.

“We want these guys and we want them shut down.”

Standing, Tony shook Shane’s hand. “Whatever you need from us…you got.”

* * *

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