Page 93 of Things We Hide from the Light

“And you never saw a vintage Porsche at the shop?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Nah. He stuck with newFast and Furiousshit.”

“Did Duncan ever take you to meet his father?” I asked.

“Anthony?” She screwed her face up in derision. “Me ’n Dunc were more at the fuck-in-an-alley than meet-the-parents stage before he screwed me over.”

“But he talked about him,” I prodded.

“Shit yeah, he talked about him. The guy was obsessed with gettin’ Daddy’s approval. At least, up until Dunc fucked up that hit.”

My body tensed at the way she so casually mentioned Nash’s shooting. I did my best to keep my expression blank, but on the inside, my heart was thundering against my sternum.

Some people didn’t understand that their actions had consequences. Others simply didn’t care.

“You know, I didn’t even know he was gonna try to take out that Morgan guy. I woulda talked him out of it,” Tina said, lighting a cigarette.

“Why?”

“Well, for one thing, them cop pants looked mighty fine on that man’s ass.”

Tina Witt might have been a horrible human being, but she was not wrong on that particular point.

“For another, he was a decent guy. And not just to look at. He never once treated me like his piece-of-shit brother and everyone else did. Even when he arrested me that one time, he put my head in the car real gentle like.” Her hard-lined face had gone dreamy.

“He’s a good guy. Good-looking too,” I prompted.

“You ain’t wrong there. Given how much I avoid cops in general, you know the guy’s gotta be hot if I don’t run in the opposite direction at the grocery store even with chipped turkeyI ain’t paid for stuffed in my bra. Bet he’s got a huge dick too,” she said wistfully.

Great. Now I was thinking about Nash and his incredible morning erections and how I might never get to experience one again. “Back to Duncan,” I said desperately.

Tina waved a dismissive hand. “Oh, he just had a medium-sized one. Didn’t really know how to use it. He was kind of a poker instead of a thruster, if you know what I mean.”

I did not. My face must have said as much because Tina stood and began a lewd thrusting demonstration with the cigarette dangling from her mouth.

“Do you think Anthony Hugo would help hide his son?” I asked, interrupting the show.

Tina snorted and sat back down. “Are you shittin’ me? After as bad as Dunc fucked up?”

“Parents forgive all kinds of mistakes,” I pointed out. Case in point, Tina’s own parents.

Tina shook her head. “Not Anthony Hugo. Dunc came home all pissed off and freaked out. Told me he tried to take out a cop and it didn’t go as planned. I was layin’ into him good when two of Anthony’s goons showed up to bring Dunc in for a ‘chat.’ And I was there when he dragged his ass home beat to hell and bloody.”

“What happened during that chat?”

“Oh, you know. Screaming. Humiliation. Threats. Anthony was pissed off that Dunc had brought ‘unwanted attention’ to their business. Dunc said his dad called him names, roughed him up. Which was a real slap in the face, pun intended. Word is Anthony hasn’t gotten his hands dirty roughing up anybody in a long time. He’s got guys for that. But he made an exception for Dunc.”

“How did Duncan feel about that?”

She looked at me like I was stupid. “He felt it moved their relationship into a healthier place. How the hell do you think he felt about it?”

“So you don’t think there’s any way that Duncan’s dad would have helped him go to ground?” I pressed.

“I’d be surprised if the old man isn’t hunting for him to take him out before the cops find him,” she said.

This was news. I filed it away. “Really?”

“I mean, Dunc was an idiot. Way too impulsive. But his dad is downright scary. After Anthony came down on him all high and mighty about how he’d ruined his plans and endangered the family business, I knew what was gonna happen next. The old man would send someone out to clean up the mess. And by ‘clean up the mess,’ I mean he woulda put a couple of bullets in Dunc’s head. Probably mine too.”