Page 93 of Thug

He bit the end off the donut. “Well,” he said. “You never eat donuts before the meeting. So, something’s bothering you. That, and you told me to be here an hour early. What’s up?”

“Just need a one-on-one with you and Brisco.”

“What’d we do?”

I licked my fingers “Nothing.”

He took another bite. “Hear about Brisco’s cats?”

Acting disinterested, I nodded.

“See the pic?” he asked.

“Of what?”

He studied the two-inch long piece of pastry that remained. “Ransom note?”

Using what we’d purchased at the CVS, Gray pasted mismatched letters cut from a newspaper onto a sheet of paper. The note was left in the entry hall in an envelope. Her demands left little to the imagination.

50,o00 UsD oR tHE

CAts diE

We’LL bE iN TOucH

“No,” I said flatly. “I haven’t.”

“Brisco texted a picture of it to everyone. Like we’d recognize the method used or something.” He laughed. “Looked like something from the Lindbergh Kidnapping. Bunch of fucked up letters cut out of a newspaper and pasted on a sheet of paper.” He stood and reached for another donut. “Looks like he pissed someone off, for sure. Probably some chick.”

“Sounds like it.”

“Gray told me at lunch she’s thinking about hiring a bartender,” he said.

I nodded. “Cook, too.”

“Be good for her,” he said. “Girl works like a slave. Can’t deny her ambition.”

“She’s dedicated, that’s for sure.”

Brisco poked his big bald head into my office. “Any way I can dip out of the meeting?”

“Nope.”

“God damn, Boss.” He rubbed his head with both hands. “I’m a fucking mess.”

He looked like warmed over death. He deserved every minute of it. I shook my head adamantly, denying his request to leave early. He could wallow in it a little more, as far as I was concerned.

“Mandatory meeting if there ever was one,” I said.

He stepped inside. “What’s the ‘come early’ text about?”

I nodded toward the door. “Close the door, would ya?”

Clearly irritated by my request, he pushed the door closed. “Anything else?”

“Have a seat.”

He stomped to the chair beside Panzer and all but fell into it. He put his head in his hands and gazed at the floor between his boots.