Page 42 of Used

“Schager doesn’t tell Laurelyn I’m the one she’s gonna be collecting evidence against. He makes her think it’ll be someone lower in C Crue. I guess he figures once she sees me she’ll either still go forward, or if she doesn’t, he’ll just catch what he catches off the wire until she bails. The room was volatile. Full of enemies. Things could’ve slipped out. “

“Yeah, but to send an innocent girl in there alone with no real backup? Dressed like she was?” He shakes his head and whistles speculatively. “If you hadn’t taken her, Enzo Palermo would have. She was dressed as bait. And you know how a Palermo would’ve reacted if he’d found a wire on her later. If there was no team watching close… so fucking risky.”

“You know there was no team. You and ‘Vil came in hot, knocking down Enzo’s guys, guns drawn when you came down the stairs. You think an FBI team wouldn’t have come crashing down like an avalanche if they had an agent or an informant in that basement?”

“Sounds like Schager’s gone rogue.”

Pointing an index finger, I nod.

“What else?”

“That’s it.” That most definitely isnotit, but I’ve said enough already.

“Trick, come on. I was around when you knew Laurelyn Reilly. Anvil and I had just graduated, and the three of us were together all the time. I don’t think you said her name even once. You definitely never called her your girlfriend.”

“I’m sure I didn’t.”

“The only thing of note was that you took her to a dance. That was off for you. But then I heard she blew up at you. And you got with another girl right after she stormed out. From then on, I never heard of you talking to or about Laurelyn Reilly again.”

“Right.”

C glares at me impatiently.

“But I have a list of people that I look out for. She did something, months after the homecoming dance bullshit, and she made my list. So a couple of times, I’ve done things for her without her knowing.”

“Give me an example.”

“Her little sister shoots H. Until we got it cleaned up, the supply in Coins was all tainted with Fentanyl. You know what happens then.”

“Yeah, we all know all about that.”

“So I told the dealers in Coins not to supply her. I spread the word around Boston too, in the areas her friends go to get product. The message was if Monet Reilly accidentally overdoses on H, the dealer dies too. People started asking if she was my girlfriend, and I didn’t want them to start treating her like she was, so I said she’s the little sister of my ex, which is exactly how I think of her.”

“What did Laurelyn Reilly, who you never talk to, do to make the Trick Secret Santa list?”

“None of your fucking business.”

C laughs.

“Who else is on the secret list?”

“You can be on the list, C. You need me to arrange for you to get a bogus college scholarship? What school? How about Columbia? I know exactly who to call to cook the books to make it legit.”

Grinning, C says, “Full scholarship to Columbia? That’s not cheap.”

“Neither am I.”

C’s bark of laughter echoes off the walls. After a beat, he says, “And this good little girl has no idea she’s got a gangster sugar daddy pulling strings?”

“Of course not.”

The grin on C’s face fades. “Trick, do not kill Milt Schager. Remember the plan. Except in self-defense, you don’t pull your gun again until the investigation’s shut down and things cool off. And even then, don’t put him in your crosshairs. Killing a fed never turns out well.”

“He tried to humiliate her today. After he set her up as a C Crue target, all while she thought he was her fucking boyfriend.”

“Trick—”

“I heard you, C. Did you hear me?”