Page 9 of The Raven

Dead Man Walking

The Criminal

Red mist clouded my vision as I paced the warehouse floor, my head churning.

Whoever the fuck was messing with us was a dead man walking.

The sentiment was echoed by Butch, who was intently focused on his task of sharpening his knives, and Pyro, who was flicking his lighter and staring absently at the flame.

Boogie was dead.

And now, so was Ziggy.

I wanted blood.

A sharp beeping rang throughout the warehouse, the telltale sign that someone was coming in. A second later, the huge iron door slid open, and Buck stormed in, his face as white as a sheet.

“We’ve got a problem,” the prick said.

My temper snapped.

Before I could comprehend what I was doing, Buck was pressed against the wall with my hand wrapped around his throat, squeezing to prevent him from breathing.

“You bet we’ve got a fucking problem,” I sneered in his face. “Did I, or did I not give you an order to stay with Ziggy?”

Buck was a big fucker, bigger than me. He could have easily yanked my hand from his throat and shoved me away. But he didn’t. What I lacked in size, I made up for in sheer brutality, and even though Buck was one of my boys, he would have been at the receiving end of my fists if he disrespected me.

It was bad enough he’d disobeyed me in the first place.

“Grim, I’m sorry,” he wheezed, his face turning a deep shade of purple.

I slammed him against the wall. “Sorry? Sorry doesn’t fucking excuse it. Zig is dead because you were too busy getting your cock sucked by a whore!” I bellowed, my voice echoing around the derelict warehouse we’d claimed for ourselves years ago.

Buck opened his mouth and then promptly closed it, thinking twice about back-chatting. He couldn’t deny it. I knew everything that went on in my town. I knew before his pants were even down that he’d left Ziggy to make the deal alone.

Against my orders.

“I…fucked up, Grim. But I know who killed Zig. Boogie too, probably,” he choked.

Behind me, Butch stopped sharpening his knives, and the flicking of Pyro’s lighter ceased, their attention falling to Buck.

“Who?” I said, releasing my grip and taking a step back.

Buck inhaled a deep breath before scrubbing a hand down his face. He looked like he’d aged by ten years in the few hours since I’d last seen him. “I know this is going to sound crazy, but-” he paused, grimacing before he continued. “I think Raven Blackwood killed them.”

I glared back at the moron in absolute disbelief. Buck was the joker of the gang, the one always making stupid comments to get a reaction, but no one was laughing at what he’d said.

“Did you get into Ziggy’s stash before he croaked it, or did the whore suck your brains out through your pencil dick?” Butch said, annoyance in his tone. “Raven is dead. We killed her, remember?” he added, waving his knife in front of Buck’s face.

“I told you it would sound crazy-”

“You are fucking crazy,” Pyro interrupted.

“But I know what I saw,” Buck protested, a desperation in his voice that I’d never heard from him.

“And what, exactly, did you see?” I growled, my voice deadly as my patience dwindled.

“Cops were all over the alley where Zig was meant to meet Barry, so I took the long way back here. I saw that Detective who’s always trying to lock us up, Ridges or-”

“Roberts,” I corrected him. The cop’s name was top of my shit list.

“Yeah, that’s the one. I caught him disappearing into an alley, and I thought I’d have a word with him, see if I could beat some answers out of him about who killed Boogie, but he was talking to a woman. Raven.”

“Big fucking deal,” Butch hissed. “He was talking to a woman; it could have been anyone.” Dismissing Buck’s ridiculous theory, he returned to his seat to continue sharpening his knives.

“It was Raven. I damn near shit myself when I saw her,” Buck said, glaring at Butch before returning his gaze to me. “I swear to you, Grim. It was her.”

I chewed his words over in my mind. There was no way Raven survived what we had done to her. Plus, my father and Raven’s mom might have disowned me, but I knew damn well they had a funeral for her. My dear stepsister was dead and buried, of that I was sure.

“It wasn’t Raven,” I started, snarling when Buck opened his mouth to argue.

“Raven is dead. But I wouldn’t put it past Roberts to have a hand in Boogie and Zig’s deaths.

That fucker will do anything to get rid of us, and he’s made it clear time and time again that he won’t rest until we pay for what we did to the little cunt. ”

Buck’s shoulders slumped in defeat as a menacing grin crossed Pyro’s lips. “Think we should pay the detective a little visit?”

I patted my hip, checking my blade was tucked in its sheath where I always kept it. “Yeah, that’s exactly what we are going to do.”