Page 66 of Stone Coast

“Is his club a front for laundering money?” I asked.

“Lady, I don’t know Raymond’s business. I don’t ask.”

I stood up and backed away.

“Happy?” Mr. X asked.

I gave him a suspicious look. I was happy to have the information, but this scenario created a bit of a problem. “What happens to him now?”

“That’s up to you.” Mr. X handed me a pair of nitrile gloves.

I gave him a curious look.

“You’ll want to put those on.”

I did.

Then he handed me a stainless 9mm.

“Oh, hell no!” Carter protested. “I told you what you wanted.”

“You killed a man, or have you forgotten?” X said.

“If it wasn’t me, it would have been somebody else. I was just doing a job.”

“The gun is untraceable,” Mr. X said to me. “We can dispose of the body. No one will miss a lowlife like him.”

“Plenty of people gonna miss my ass. I got kids. You ain’t gonna make them grow up without a daddy!?”

“You’ve done a good job of abandoning them already. It won’t make much difference.” Then X said to me, “We can let him go. He hasn’t seen any of our faces.”

“I ain’t seen none of ya’ll,” Carter said. “I don’t know nobody’s name. I ain’t gonna say shit to no one. As far as I’m concerned, this night never happened.”

Carter would say anything to save his ass.

The night Grayson was killed flashed through my mind. The blood, his last gurgling breaths, the tangy scent of gunpowder… I was back there for a moment, reliving the experience.

Emotion swelled within.

I aimed the pistol at the scumbag’s head and wrapped my finger around the trigger. My heart thumped, and rage bulged my veins.

“Please, lady. Don’t kill me,” Carter said, his eyes filling. “I promise, I ain’t never going to hurt nobody again.”

32

Was this justice?

Carter was a bad man. He’d no doubt killed before, and Grayson wouldn’t be his last, despite his heartfelt vow.

Part of me wanted to squeeze the trigger. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d killed someone. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Not like this. Not in cold blood.

I lowered the pistol, flicked the safety on, and handed the weapon back to Mr. X.

“Are you sure?”

I hesitated a moment before nodding.

Carter breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, lady. You did the right thing.”