Page 59 of Rest In Pink

“Yeah. His buddy was ex-Special Forces. Specialty eighteen-charlie. Demolitions expert. I bet he taught Mickey a thing or two to upgrade his game. Prison is graduate school for a lot of these degenerates.”

We’d worked with Green Berets on some of our deployments and their engineers, aka demo men, loved playing with explosives and were damn good at it.

“How did Mickey get early release?”

“Good question,” Rain said. “I called a friend who works in the prison system. He said that Mickey Pitts became the enforcer in the penitentiary.”

“I’m not following. Enforcer for who?”

“For the guards. He took down whoever threatened the guards or tried to start a riot. There’s usually a couple of guys like him in every prison. They get the best cells and protection from the guards and they do what the guards would like to, but is against the law. Word is Mickey killed a couple of prisoners over the years that the guards were scared of. Certainly mangled quite a few. Guards and prisoners alike were afraid of Mickey.”

From the mugshot, it was obvious some of those had mangled back. The stats said he was five-foot-eight and two hundred and ten pounds. A full-length picture showed a fireplug of a man. Well-muscled. There were no visible tattoos but there were scars.

“My friend told me he suspects the guards and one of the wardens thought Mickey was too good at it. That one day he’d turn on them. Plus, there’re rumors that a bunch of money in terms of bribes was involved, although how Mickey did that from prison is a mystery. So, they went before the parole board and testified that Mickey was a model prisoner who should be released.”

“Great. And no one knows where he is now.”

“I’d say he’s close to Burney,” Rain said. “After all, you saw him.”

“Why would he want to kill Thacker?”

“That’s a good question. Where do you want to go next, Detective Cooper?”

I thought about it. “You check the factory and museum, Inspector Still. I’ll talk to Mickey’s son.”

Rain got off the stool. “Sounds like a plan. But I need food first.”

“Have you been to the Red Box yet?”

“Red Box?”

“The local eatery,” I said. “Really good chow."

I hustled to be first out the door because Rangers lead the way.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

At ten, I took Peri to her swim lesson. When we got inside the club, Faye was at the glass door to the pool.

“I need to talk to you,” she said intensely.

“No, you don’t.” I guided Peri into the door that let out to the pool, blocking Faye with my shoulder. Peri looked up, frightened, and I said, “I’m coming with you. I’ll be right by the pool,” and she nodded and went through.

I turned back to Faye.

“I don’t know if you give a damn about Peri,” I said, and she drew back, her face contorting, “but she lost her daddy three months ago, her mama is far away, she’s sad and scared and you’re making it worse. If you care about her at all, stay away.”

“Of course I care about her,” Faye said, and she sounded truthful for once. “But—”

“No buts,” I said. “Just leave her be. Margot will be back in July. You can see her again then.”

“You don’t understand,” she began, but I turned and went out the door and shut it behind me, leaving Faye looking tragic behind the glass.

The entire pool area was walled in, so the only way Faye could get to her was to come through that door. I pulled up a plastic chair to watch both Peri and the door.

Crystal, for all she looked like a cupcake, was a damn good instructor. She had them warm up, gave them drills, and then turned them all loose to work at their varying abilities, watching every kid, calling out praise and instruction, and never taking her eyes off the pool, which was a good thing. Some of those kids were little.

Curious, I went over to stand beside her. “What are the age ranges here?”

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