Page 56 of Luck of the Devil

“You really want me to be noble,” he said in disgust. “It would help the narrative you’re trying to build in order to justify working with me.”

Maybe he had a point, but this wasn’t one of those times. “That has nothing to do with the fact that you killed him to protect someone you loved. I’ve seen it before. I know what it looks like.”

He was quiet, the only sound was the creaking of leather as he wrung the steering wheel as if he were strangling it.

“Did they arrest you?”

“No.”

“Did they know you did it?”

He laughed. “No. They thought it was an accident. We told them he fell in a drunken stupor and hit his head. Nobody questioned it. Everyone knew he was a drunk and a mean one at that. Good riddance to bad rubbish.” He turned to look at me again, his face devoid of any emotion. “You plannin’ to turn me in?”

“Sounds to me like justice was served. Besides,” I said flippantly. “I’m sure you have some kind of immunity deal with the feds.”

He didn’t confirm or deny my statement. Instead, he looked lost in memories.

“Are you close to your mother?”

“She’s long dead.”

“Any cousins? Aunts or uncles?”

“Nope. My brother’s the only one left.”

“After you started working for Simmons, and especially after you became one of the Twelve, it must have been hard to form attachments to people. Anyone you were close to could be used against you.”

Releasing a sigh, he said, “Like I said, little did I know.”

“But you must have been close to someone. You told me you betrayed someone back in Fenton County. It was someone you cared about.”

He was quiet for a long moment, and I didn’t think he was going to answer when he practically whispered, “His name is Jed.” He hesitated as though unsure he should continue, then said, “We grew up in the same poor neighborhood, if you could call where we lived a neighborhood. We went through some dark times.” He paused, wearing a haunted look. “When I came back to Fenton County after workin’ for Simmons for several years, I hired Jed to work for me. He became my right-hand man. He took care of my business, and I took care of him financially.”

“And you betrayed him?” My stomach twisted, but this time it had nothing to do with my withdrawal. Maybe I couldn’t trust him after all.

“Not how you’re thinkin’,” he said, sounding exhausted. “I made sure he was out of reach when the whole deal with the Hardshaw Group went down. I didn’t want Hardshaw messin’ with him, and I wasn’t about to hand him to the feds on a silver platter either. I made damn sure they wouldn’t try to charge him with anything.”

Malcolm had made a deal with the Feds to help deliver the international crime ring to them, but something had gone wrong.

He sighed. “It didn’t stop them from threatening to renege on their offer after I didn’t follow their guidelines for the Hardshaw bust to the T.” He paused again, his jaw setting as a dark look crossed over his face. “But they soon realized it was in their best interest to see our original agreement through.”

What did Malcolm have that the feds wanted so badly?

Or maybe the question was what did Malcolm have on them?

“You protected Jed,” I said. “So how did you betray him?”

“He would have followed me to the ends of the earth, but he finally had a chance at a real life with someone who could make him happy. Give him the kind of future I knew he wanted. So, I cut him loose.”

“What does that mean? You fired him?”

“Let’s just say I saw an opportunity to help him leave.”

“He doesn’t know about your deal with the feds?”

“Nope. At least not then.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?”