Page 84 of Rest In Pink

Rain continued. “Senator Alex Wilcox had a dark rep. Everyone knew he was dirty, but no one could prove it.”

“What about the current senator? His widow, Amy?”

“That’s why this case has political vibes,” Rain said. “Amy Wilcox is supposedly a straight arrow. But if she has skeletons in the closet, they’re starting to rattle. And she was married to Wilcox, so she probably knows whatever dirt he was up to. I think that might have something do with OCI being interested.”

“Then Mickey getting rid of Thacker helped her,” I said.

Rain shot me a look. “That’s pretty deep water, Vince.”

“It would explain why the Staties are interested. And they might not be on our side.”

“You are one fucking paranoid son of a bitch,” Rain said. “But yeah, we need to watch our backs.”

“Always. You know what occurred to me last night? I saw Mickey the first time when I had Thacker pulled over when he came to town. Seems like a huge coincidence. I wonder if Mickey followed Thacker here from Cincy?”

“Why?”

“I bet he was either with him in Cincy or watching him. After all, Thacker was with Skye, who is a Blue, and Mickey seems to have a thing for the Blues.”

“You think Skye and Mickey set Thacker up?”

“That’s a stretch,” I said. “I just think it’s odd. We’ll have to ask Skye. Of course the rumor in town is that Skye isn’t actually Cleve’s daughter.”

“What?”

“It’s Burney and it’s a rumor,” I said. After all Liz had recently discovered she was her uncle Day’s daughter. Thus, Uncle Dad. “But back to the case. What are our priorities? I say finding Mickey Pitts is number one before he kills someone else. Do we know where the Iron Wolves hole up?”

“Ah, I did get one very interesting piece of information from OCI,” Rain said. “Someone burned down the Iron Wolves clubhouse in Cincinnati two months ago.”

“Lead with the headline,” I said as I absorbed this. “Why would Mickey do that?”

“I’d say he’s not on the best terms with his former comrades,” Rain said.

I thought about Pete OneTree showing up with two wingmen. Maybe it hadn’t been a probe of Burney. Maybe he was hunting for Mickey Pitts.

Great. A gang war in Burney.

“Do you want to drive,” I asked, “or take separate vehicles, or come with me and eat a doughnut?”

“Where?”

I pointed up Factory Road at the hill. “To talk to Faye Blue. Mother of Skye Blue. Sister of Mickey Pitts. Lover of the current head of the Cincinnati Iron Wolves, Pete LoneTree.”

Rain chose doughnuts, so I drove the Gladiator while she chowed down in the passenger seat. But not before using a small towel from her bag to cover her outfit to protect herself from jelly splatter. We drove past the double-guardrail that Will and I had put in at the hairpin turn.

I’d asked Will about the turn. Whether the locals had a special name for it, like Deadman’s Curve, considering it was extremely dangerous and he’d shrugged and said, “We call it the hairpin turn,” which pretty much summarized a lot of Burney. Not extravagant even with nicknames.

I drove up to Margot’s front door, the house Faye had taken over while her daughter-in-law went to rehab. We got out, Rain carefully folding the small towel. She stumbled slightly on the running board and I was reminded about her missing leg. She handled it so well, I often forgot about it. I’m sure she never did.

“Odds on Pete OneTree being here?” I asked her as we got to the front door.

“With our luck?”

“Pretty good then.” I rang the doorbell while Rain pounded on the door with the edge of her badge, leaving some marks in the paint. “Really?” I asked.

She showed me the badge. “I had it reinforced. Works really well. You should try it now that you’ve got the gold one.”

The door opened a crack and Faye peered out, which signaled to me that perhaps our luck was indeed good this fine day.

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