Page 73 of Cash

“Still on that, huh?” Jules ran his tongue over his top lip. “What exactly do you wanna know?”

“How do you know it’s Finchie? I mean, why exactly would he want to steal from you guys?”

“’Cause he’s a little bitch.” Junior snorted.

“Look, the Finches used to work with the Italians up in Strassen Springs to move their shit, right? But then Boss Cold took over.”

“Roderick Legrand,” Brick confirmed.

“Yup. And the Finches weren’t real happy about it ’cause they’re fuckin’ bigots. They had their panties all twisted up that they were now dealin’ with a gay man. Fuckers. But they had no other choice for a distributor, so business continued and they shut their mouths. Everything was cool until Finchie started stepping up in the family business.

“He came up to Strassen to negotiate new terms with Cold a few months ago, made some cute ass remarks about Cold’s husband, and Finchie’s old man had to beg Cold not to kill him.”

“The old man, Finch III.” Brick frowned. “The guy Trixie said was murdered, right?”

“I dunno what a Trixie is, but yeah, sure. Old man ended up cutting little Finchie out of the special family business.”

“Not just the family business,” Brick said quickly. “Trixie, my friend, if she’s right, then he got cut out of everything. He was written out of the will.”

“Hello, motherfuckin’ motive!” Junior sneered. “That’s it.”

“Huh?” Brick didn’t understand.

“Think about it,” Junior said. “Kid ain’t gettin’ a piece of the family trade, so he decides to take a crack at his old man and get some of that family moolah. But oops, there ain’t a dime to be found there either. So, what does he do? Uses what he knows about our business and goes after Boss Cold’s ledgers. After Cold refuses to pay the ransom to get ’em back, that little fucker is runnin’ all over Raleigh tryin’ to sell them to the highest bidder.”

“What exactly are these ledgers?” Brick asked cautiously. “Why are they so important? Or is this one of those need to know things?”

“Just trust us, baby boy.” Jules patted Brick’s thigh. “What’s inside those ledgers is worth killin’ over.”

“Okay, but Finchie has some sort of alibi. That’s what Trixie said.”

“Money can buy alibis, baby boy.”

“Well, it sounds like all you need to do is find Finchie then, right?” Brick grabbed his phone. “That’s the only way to know for sure.”

“There is one other fuckin’ thing,” Jules said. “Nobody was supposed to know I was comin’ down here. Everything was done hush hush, but Finchie knew I was here.” He nudged Brick’s leg with his own. “You remember those assholes breakin’ into your place?”

“Uh, yeah. Both times. It was just great.”

“It’s how they knew I was there that’s worrying me.”

“Maybe somebody saw you, recognized you, and just so happened to know the Finch family or something.” Brick typed away on his phone. “Don’t forget that Finchie’s dad is literally across the street, and…” He paused, bringing up Finch III’s obituary from the Brown-Wynne Funeral Home website. “His funeral is tomorrow.”

“What?” Jules sat straight up.

“If you’re looking for Finchie, his dad’s funeral might be a good start.” Brick beamed, showing Jules his phone screen. “See? They’re having two visitations today, and the funeral is tomorrow. To be sure, Finchie is gonna show up to pay his respects, right?”

“It’s certainly worth investigating,” Erasmus said, his eyes brighter now with excitement.

“It could also be how they knew Jules was here,” Brick suggested. “Finchie and his family could have been literally right across the street making funeral arrangements and spotted you.”

“Damn, Jules.” Junior grinned. “You did bag yourself a smart lil’ fuckin’ cookie, huh?”

“Sure did.” Jules threw his arm around Brick’s shoulders and kissed his hair. He leaned in close, whispering in his ear, “Good boy.”

Brick shuddered. “Uh, so, yeah. Just go crash the visitations or whatever. There you go. Problem solved.”

Junior looked to Erasmus. “Whatcha think, Raz? Take turns scopin’ out the services, mingle a bit, see if he pops up?”

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