Page 109 of Savannah Royals
It starts out as just another Tuesday. Breakfast, classes, lunch with Mellie, off to Ray’s for the afternoon. When I let myself in through the back door, I call out a greeting but don’t get a response. I assume Ray is on the floor, so I head to my desk to deposit my things. Once I do, though, I notice a familiar satchel on the corner of my desk.
“Paul?” I call.
“Back here, Kat,” he says from the storage room. “I’ll be out in a sec.”
“Okay.” I go about setting up my things, bending over my desk, getting out my tools. I’m laying out my soldering equipment when it happens.
“Hey, Kitty-Kat,” Paul says. He must have snuck up behind me, and his unexpected squeeze to my shoulder catches me off guard.
“Oh my god!” I cry, startled. I jump and accidentally knock his bag to the floor, scattering its contents. “Paul, you gave me a fright.”
I bend over to help clean up the mess. He’s very quick to sweep everything back in the bag, but not before I’ve seen something.
Something I know I wasn’t supposed to.
“What’s that?” My eyes burn with accusation. I yank the satchel from him and rip out the bag of powder.
“Kat…” He says my name like it’s a warning, and I explode.
“What the hell is this?” I demand. “I told Matthew we don’t move drugs. Are you making a liar out of me? Is this something we do now?”
“Kat,” he tries again, but I take him out at the knees.
“We don’t move drugs, Paul. That’salwaysbeen our deal. We don’t mess with this shit.” I shake the tiny bag at him, madder than a wet hen. “We’ve never supported this part of the black market. It’s twisted and it’s dark and it ruins lives. So tell me—why do you have this? I’d think very carefully before answering if I were you.”
“Come on, Kat. Don’t be so damn naive. If I don’t move ’em, someone else will.” His eyes are hard. “And we can’t have that. It’s my bayou. I control it all.”
“Not this,” I hiss. “We don’t control this. How long has it been going on?”
Paul is silent.
I nod, biting my cheek. “That long, huh?” I throw the bag at his feet. “All the extra cash that’s been coming in from Ray—it’s been forthis? All year?”
“Yes,” he finally answers.
“Who else knows?”
“Why does it matter?”
“I want to know if Abe knows.”
“Oh, you mean boy toy number two? Or is he number three now? It’s hard for me to keep them straight. Maybe you should ask him yourself.”
“I will. And you’re going to stop doing this. It cannot continue. This is so dangerous, Paul. So incredibly dangerous. Thefts and heists are one thing, this is a different beast entirely. One we can’t control.”
“Unfortunately, Kat, you’re not my girl anymore. You don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do.”
“I’m just trying to look out for you. This won’t lead to anything good.” I can’t believe how short his memory has proven to be. Mine is as indelible as ever. My mother…face down in the Catacombs…
“You’re overreacting, doll.”
“I don’t think I am. You know who else was moving drugs?” I ask. “The Magpies. I saw it in their storeroom. The night you got shot.”
“They were,” he confirms.
I bite my cheek again as pieces fall into place. I’m so angry I could reach out and choke him. “I imagine you didn’t like that, them encroaching on your turf?”
“No. I didn’t like it at all. And I didn’t like the guns either. They were getting very dangerous. And they hurt you. And Abe. And Farley. They deserved what happened.”
