Page 22 of Chill’s Chance

“I don’t know about the day of the attack, but Slade mentioned seeing a cop hanging outside his school. Watching him. The day of his mother’s murder, he said two men came to the door and one of them claimed to be a police officer.” I explain.

“I need to talk to him.” Sterling presses.

“Can you come to the clubhouse?” Puma asks. “I don’t want to put the boy in danger by taking him to the precinct, just in case. Besides, I think Elina and Mal being there will make it easier for him.”

Sterling agrees, and we decide on a time as he steps away from us. I turn to my bike, but Hunter grabs my arm. “Ten o’clock, black SUV.” He says. I glance over to see a furious Agent Gates slamming out of her car and stalking over to Sterling.

“Puma. Sterling.” I say. He and Wildcard stop walking to glance over at the arguing law enforcement agents. She’s waving her hands around like she’s trying to take flight while Sterling warily watches her. We can’t hear anything. I’m tempted to walk over. Puma jerks his head at one officer, who breaks off to make his way over to us. I glance at his name tag and see Sterling.

“Officer.” Puma greets him as he joins us. He pulls out his notebook and pen and pretends to take notes. “What’s going on?”

“She’s some agent from the DEA and she’s pissed. She’s accusing Uncle Rafe of interfering with a DEA investigation.” He says and I realize he’s the beat cop Puma helped rescue when Alisa’s obsessive stalker broke into the clubhouse a few nights ago. I guess the cop feels like he owes Puma. It’s the only reason I can think of why he’s updating us.

“I didn’t know the DEA was investigating us.” Puma lies.

“That’s what he said.” The officer says and Wildcard snorts. I just shake my head at his juvenile reaction. “She told him she has a warrant to search the casino. Detective Sterling told her we already searched and found nothing of note.”

When Sterling and the agent make their way over to us, the beat cop blends back into the gaggle of cops.

“Puma, this is Agent Gates with the DEA. She has a warrant to search the casino.” Sterling says.

“This isn’t a fucking social call.” Gates barks.

“You should really cut down on the caffeine.” Hunter suggests.

“What?” she snaps at him.

“I was at Starbuck earlier today. I think I saw you there. You were sitting behind me with some guy.” Hunter says and I see Gates whoosh out a breath. “I heard snippets of your conversation while I was dictating notes into my phone.”

Sterling looks at Hunter like he’s speaking another language, before turning to Puma. “She seems to think you’re moving drugs through the casino. She has a warrant and wants to search your delivery vans.”

“Does she now?” Puma says, giving Gates a bored look. “I guess it won’t do us any good to assure that there are no drugs in our vans. If I think someone is dealing drugs on my property, I call the cops. Just ask the Detective here. We saw those men selling out of their car and immediately called the police. I don’t allow drugs inside my casino.”

Agent Gates glares at Puma before turning back to Sterling. “You said you found drugs in a car in the parking lot. What did you find?”

“A kilo of cocaine.” Sterling says, still searching between her and Puma for a clue on what he’s missing.

She growls. “I’m still executing my warrant.” She says.

Puma nods. “That’s fine. Wildcard, call our lawyer and tell him what’s going on here. Update him on everything.” He turns to Gates. “Be my guest.” Then turns to Sterling, holding his hand out to Hunter. “Detective, we think the guys you arrested had someone on the inside. Housekeeping found this box in a guest’s room. It looks like white powder at the bottom. Thought maybe you could pull fingerprints off of it. If the powder turns out to be cocaine.”

Sterling takes the box from Hunter. He’s frowning, but I ignore him and concentrate on Agent Gates. She’s looking at the box as if it’s a rattler ready to strike. When I catch her eye, I smirk. She returns my smirk with a glare.

“I can take that.” She offers, extending her hand to Sterling.

“That won’t be necessary. This likely has more to do with my case than yours.” He says, getting the attention of one of the nearby officers. He drops the box into an evidence bag and gives instruction for it to be treated as a priority.

Grant bites her lip as she watches the bag disappear from view. I study her, knowing the thoughts flying through her head. She’s wondering if her fingerprints are on it, or those of her agent. Hunter seemed confident that there would be prints because neither wore gloves while handling the package. When she moves to follow the officer, Sterling stops her.

“I thought you wanted to search the casino.” He reminds her. “I’ll be happy to lend my officers to help you search. You seem to be short-handed for such a big job. Did you have a specific place in mind to start? You said something about the delivery vans.”

Grant glares at Sterling before turning on her heel, striding to her car. She nudges her car through the crowd before speeding out of the parking lot.

“What was that all about?” Sterling asks, looking at Puma.

“I’m not sure, but I think you may find her fingerprints on that box, maybe along with those of the agent she ordered to plant it in one of my vans.” Puma responds.

“What the fuck! Are you sure about this? Do you have any proof?” Sterling asks.

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