The World in Reverse Page 5

  Sorry to leave so early, baby. I’ve got a lead. Once I’m done, I’ll be home, he typed.

  It’s Sunday, Nicky. He could actually hear her tone in his head.

  I know. I’ll be home soon. I promise.

  We’re going to church without you. More tone.

  Say a prayer for me. I love you guys.

  There was a pause before Ivy responded.

  I love you, too. She responded back with a smiley face. But you have dinner duty tonight at seven. So unless hell freezes over you had better be here.

  Nothing will stop me, Nicola typed back. Have a good day.

  He smiled and put his cell phone back in his pocket. Just one more example of why he loved his life more. There were no names to remember, no quick escapes. She’ll be there when he got home, waiting for him just like every night for the last six years.

  Exactly ten minutes later, Johnson had seen Sam off in her red Mini-Cooper and had loaded into Nicola’s truck. Sliding into his seat and slipping on his shades, he groaned. “Shit, I’ve got a fucking hangover.”

  Nicola started the truck and smirked. “So, you’re a lightweight, huh?”

  “No, I’m a fucking alcoholic,” Johnson said, reaching into his pocket of his hoodie to pull out a flask. “Want some?”

  Nicola nodded no.

  “Fine.” Johnson took a sip of the strong drink and slipped it back inside. Letting out a growl, he blew out a breath making his lips flap. “Okay, so we’re headed to Eads to see the Fly Boys, right?”

  Nicola turned onto the expressway and adjusted his rearview mirror. “Yep. The medical examiner said that each of the children had one thing in common. They all had the Molotov cocktail in their system.” He looked over at Johnson. “And you know who produces that pill.”

  “The fucking Fly Boys,” Johnson said, raising a brow. “Yeah, I get that part. I got that last night. What I don’t get is why we are just going to knock on the front door and ask Twist and Cane, of all people, to help us out. Call me crazy, but I’ve never known drug dealers to be helpful in a police investigation.”

  “Well, I’m not so sure that Cane will be helpful. He doesn’t have any children and by all accounts of the word is a fucking redneck, but Twist might just help us out.”

  “Why?”

  “Call it a hunch,” Nicola said with a shrug.

  “How about I just call it a fucking mistake,” Johnson said, resting back in his chair. “Wake me when we get there.”

  5

  At the large imposing gates of a sprawling horse farm on a few miles into Eads, TN, Nicola pulled up and looked into the camera focused on the driver’s side of his vehicle. Taking off his shades, he flashed his badge and stuck his head out of the window.

  “I’m here to talk to Twist. I need a favor,” Nicola screamed at the camera. He knew there was no need to give a name. Twist knew him well and would either see him or would not.

  Nicola’s voice rattled Johnson awake. He sat up in the seat and yawned.

  A female voice came over the buzzer after a few moments. “Wait there. Someone will be out,” she said in a dry, flat tone.

  Nicola sat back in his seat and looked at Johnson. “Are you up, sleeping beauty?”

  “Yep, just in time to get my ass shot off,” Johnson answered, checking his weapon.

  “We’re going in for a discussion, not to clean house,” Nicola reminded.

  “Hey, you have a right to trust who you want to trust. Me. I don’t trust anyone.”

  Nicola turned up his lip at a thought, but kept quiet.

  A few minutes later, a white golf cart pulled up to the gate as it opened with two women in pink polo shirts and khaki shorts. They greeted Nicola and Johnson with bright smiles, although Nicola was sure that they were anything but cordial if ordered.

  The driver of the golf cart, a taller blonde with sparking blue eyes and a funny twisted mouth, walked over to Nicola’s side of the truck and looked inside. The closer that she got, the more worn that she looked. He could see the worry lines in her face that she tried to hide by an overuse of makeup. Instantly, the thought of a Monet, beautiful from a far, but a mess up close.

  “Morning, sir,” she said, eyeing Nicola then Johnson.

  “Good morning,” Nicola said, tapping his fingers on the car door. “So, is Twist going to see us or not?” He chose to skip the theatrics.

  “What is this about?” she asked, eyes intense.

  Nicola smacked his lips and huffed. “Like I said, I need a favor,” he said, refusing to elaborate, especially to someone’s hired hand.

  Sensing Nicola’s aggravation, the woman turned away from Nicola and spoke into her earpiece. After a few seconds and a few replies from the other end of the transmission, she turned back around and walked back up to Nicola’s truck. “Follow me,” she said shortly.

  Nicola gave her a condescending salute. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, winking at Johnson. “This bitch…” Nicola said under his breath before he could catch himself. He hated want-to-be bad guys. She was all of 135 lbs. Unless she was more lethal than him with that weapon, she could never be a threat to him at 258 lbs. of mature muscle. And the mere suggestion by her attitude that she thought she was a bad ass, only pissed him off.

  “Are those his bodyguards?” Johnson asked amused by the interaction between Nicola and the woman.

  “Yeah, didn’t you see the gun under the back of her shirt?”

  “Yeah, but I was more impressed with the double D’s in the front,” Johnson laughed.

  “While you’re watching her tits, she’s going to try to attempt to blow your ass off,” Nicola joked.

  “I’m always up for a good blowing,” Johnson said with a chuckle.

  Following the golf cart into the gate, they drove slowly down the gravel driveway to the main house where they parked in front of the circular drive, and then followed the women inside.

  “Nice place,” Johnson said, looking around the marble entryway. His voice echoed throughout the elaborate but hollow hallways.

  “You haven’t been out here before?” Nicola asked. He had quite a few times.

  “No. You?”

  “Couple times,” Nicola answered, but did not elaborate.

  “Sometimes, it makes me wonder…” Johnson said under his breath.

  “Wonder what?” Nicola asked.

  “Why we choose to stay on the right side of the law, when all the damn money is obviously on the wrong side.”

  Nicola chuckled. “But the health benefits suck.” He avoided telling Johnson that he was born into wealth. It might unbalance the already shaky relationship.

  Johnson smirked. “Life expectancy is about 30 in the drug world, so you’re living on borrowed time in their world.”

  “I’m not even 40 yet,” Nicola frowned. “Do I look it?”

  “No. Of course not,” Johnson lied.

  The two women stopped and turned around. The same woman who had done all the talking before spoke again. “Twist and Cane will be right out. They’ve asked that you all make yourself comfortable in the living room.” She pointed at the sofa. “Can I get you something to drink while you wait?” Her demeanor had changed since the gate. Evidently, she had found out who Nicola Agosto was.

  “No,” Nicola answered, walking to the sofa. He avoided the thank you, part of his manners. Fuck her. There was no way he was going to be polite to criminals unless they were giving him something he really wanted. He sat down and rested back, checking his cell phone.

  “A coke will be fine,” Johnson answered the woman, raising his brow suggestively, “for now. I’ll let you know what else comes to mind.”

  She gave a lingering smile at Johnson and turned around, disappearing into the house.

  Johnson turned to Nicola and smacked his lips. “I’d hit it,” he said in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “I’m sure that you would,” Nicola said, rolling his eyes. “She’s a criminal, you know.”

  “I don’t do criminal back
ground checks on my booty calls, dude. I’m not around long enough for it to matter,” he said, sitting down.

  “Didn’t anyone ever tell you that if you lay down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas?”

  Johnson paused and raised his brow. “Yeah. That’s why I never lay down without a little protection. OFF seems to do the trick.”

  Nicola gave up. The boy was hopeless.

  The duo wasn’t made to wait long. Within in minutes, a dapper man in perfectly pressed khaki pants and an apple greet polo rounded the corner with a bright smile on his face. He was slender and tall, blonde with bright brown eyes and clean shave.

  “Twist,” Nicola said, nodding his head. “Good to see you.”

  “Shit, I don’t know yet, man.” He walked up to Nicola as Nicola stood and shook his hand. “Every time I see your ass, I end up in the clink.”

  “Not today, man,” Nicola said with a grin.

  Twist looked over at Johnson still sitting and tilted his head curiously. “Johnson?” He looked back over at Nicola. “Did someone die?”

  “Yeah,” Nicola said, rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s what I’m here to talk to you about.”

  Twist smacked on his Double mint gum, blowing and popping a bumble simultaneously and shook his head. He was processing something in the back of his mind but refused to speak on it. “Yeah, alright. Why don’t you guys come on back? The boys and I are playing Madden. We can talk in there. It’s only room I know for sure in this house that isn’t bugged.”

  “Madden. You got the new one?” Johnson asked, standing up.

  “Come on, man,” Twist said in a deep southern drawl. “This is Twist you’re talking to. I’ve got the one that hasn’t come out yet.”

  Nicola shook his head. The young guys, no matter their profession, were always in the same shit. Girls and games. He stayed away from both - one out of necessity, the other out of sheer dislike. He had grown up in a time where boys went outside and played football, swam and surfed on their downtime. They didn’t sit around together playing video games and watching porn. But that was a discussion for another day. For now, he would simply grin and bear it.

  All three men walked casually through the elaborate halls of the mansion to a media room in the back of the house that opened up to the pool area. Five men with guns in their holsters sat strategically around the room watching while three others monitored the women out swimming in the pool and working on their tan.

  It looked like Twist and Cane were having a private party.

  Johnson took a seat on the couch beside Cane, who moved over a little and tapped his friend to pass him another controller.

  “What’s up, Johnson,” Cane said, picking up his beer. “What the fuck brings you out here?” He passed Johnson a controller and raised his beer.

  Cane was a heavy-set, tall man with an awkward body, who had only put on the extra pounds since his new found success in the drug industry. A country boy who still wore John Deere hats, Ole Miss T-shirts and dipped religiously, no one would ever have imagined that the man was a scientific genius and one of the biggest drug dealers in the southeastern hemisphere. He had jolly locks of auburn hair on his large head that matched his jolly cheeks and deep set green eyes that were only brought out by the red freckles that dusted his face. But as innocent as he looked, he was that much more treacherous. Cane had been a hunter since he was nine and loved a good weapon. Good with a shotgun, he often disciplined his men with buckshot and the various tools that he kept in his barn.

  Johnson was all too familiar with Cane. He had hauled him in on several occasions regarding dead drug dealers, but he could never make anything stick. Cane always had an alibi and always had a lawyer. So after a few idle threats, Johnson would be forced to cut him loose. Still, their relationship had not made them sour on each other.

  Both men respected that it was all business.

  “I’m just here with Agosto,” Johnson said, looking back at his partner who was talking in the corner to Twist. He’d let Nicola ask for the favors of these guys. He had no intention of doing so. What he could not take by force, he didn’t want.

  “Want a drink?” Twist asked Nicola as they walked over to the stocked bar alone.

  One of the bodyguards who was sitting on a barstool towards the end of the bar quickly got up and moved when he saw Nicola’s pensive stare lock on him. Everyone knew Agosto. Mean as a rattlesnake and hard as nails. No one wanted to get in his crosshairs accidentally.

  Nicola turned his attention back to Twist after the man had moved out of his sight. “You’re lady guard out there already asked me. I’m good,” Nicola said, looking back at Johnson. “But I think Johnson wanted a coke.”

  “Make it a beer,” Johnson answered quickly, letting Twist know that he was still in ear shot and could monitor both situations while playing the video game.

  “Sure thing,” Twist said, opening the refrigerator. He pulled out a beer and passed it to one of his bodyguards. “Take this over to Johnson.”

  “With the cap still on,” Nicola added.

  Twist took his hand off the cap of the beer and smiled. “Don’t trust me?”

  Nicola grinned. “You’re a dealer. I think you know the answer to that.”

  “Scared I’m going to slip you a Mickey?” Twist chuckled.

  “Well, you are a pill dealer.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Twist said, winking his eye at Nicola.

  The bodyguard quickly took Johnson a beer, with the cap still on, and then took a seat by the door.

  Nicola sat down at the bar and heaved. “I need a favor, Twist.”

  “So they say that you said,” Twist said with gleaming eyes. “Now, how in the hell can I help you?”

  Nicola moved in closer to the bar, fists balled up tight. He lowered his voice and looked Twist in the eyes. “You’ve heard about the Baby Boys Case?”

  Twist leaned in too. “Who hasn’t?”

  “Well, we got the Tox report back and the one thing all these kids had in common was that they had the Molly in their system.” Nicola sat back up and loosened his fists.

  Twist stood back up and looked around the room. Running his tongue around the ridge of his mouth, he thought intently on something else before he spoke. “So what does that have to do with us?” he finally asked.

  “Aww, shit, Twist. What do you think? Now, we both have kids. You and me. Would you want what happened to those kids to happen to yours? Cause I sure as hell couldn’t sleep at night thinking that I had something…anything to do with his. Someone is using your signature synthetic drug to rape, torture and kill elementary school kids,” Nicola said with a growl in his voice. “Now, I know that you’re a son-of-a bitch, but I don’t think you’d have anything to do with this.” He only prayed that the man had a little conscience left, otherwise, he might as well be pissing in the wind.

  Nicola could look in Twist eyes and tell that he didn’t know anything about it, but the trick was getting him to help him despite their obvious conflict.

  “Let’s say that it was my Molly that helped kill all those kids - and I’m definitely not saying that it was…,” Twist said in an even lower voice. “What the fuck do you want me to do about it?” His brow rose. He waited for a legitimate answer.

  “I could come in here with a warrant, throwing folks around on pure accusation - and it’d be bad for business. Even some dealers might distance themselves from you on just principle-or you could help me by finding out which one of your guys is selling to a guy that fits the profile I’m looking for.”

  “So you guys do have a description on this guy?” Twist asked. That was news.

  “No,” Nicola huffed in frustration. “The FBI lent us one of their profilers. We have an idea based upon the kills of what the guy at least executing some of the kids must behave like, maybe even look like.”

  “I’ve seen that on one of those cop shows. A profiler. Yeah. Okay. Then what?” Twist asked intrigued. He had n
ever spoken with a cop about an investigation that didn’t concern him directly. It was refreshing in a way to not be the target of an investigation.

  “All I want is your dealer to point me in the right direction so that I can stop this guy, these guys…” Nicola didn’t think that he was asking a lot considering.

  “So now there is more than one?” Now he was confused.

  “That’s why I’m here. I think it’s all connected to a ring, but I can’t be sure until I get one successful lead.” Nicola let Twist fill in the blanks.

  “And you won’t go after my guy?”

  “I purposefully did not leak the contents of the children’s tox reports to the media so that I could come to you. You’re the only one in the fucking region selling Molly. You won’t let anyone else into the market. All roads lead to you. So, I figure, you should be the one to help.” Nicola’s eyes became greedy. He had explained too much. He wanted answers now.

  “In exchange for what?” Twist continued. “Shit, I’ve got my own problem at the moment. I’ve got Rick Amherst trying to take over my entire operation. “There was an urgency in his voice that didn’t quite fit the normally cool Twist.

  “A get out of jail free card,” Nicola said with coolness in his brown eyes.

  Twist turned his lips up. “My lawyers cost me $750 an hour. I’ve got a get-out-of-jail-free card on any day.” He popped another bubble with his gum at the tip of his tongue and looked at Nicola to sweeten the deal.

  “I’ve got an inside tip on a shipment coming in, Twist. It’s good Intel. Now, you know that I never turn my back….ever, but I will this time. Even though I’ve got a hard on for this case with regarding you, I’ll not only let the shipment come in but I’ll turn my back on the pickup crew and the drop off. Now, I know you get shipments in weekly and I’ve recently learned where about 70 percent come in. I know that you can’t afford to change everything right now. I know you can’t afford to re-staff and you sure as hell can’t afford to change your MO. So, work with me and I’ll work with you. Trust me when I say, my Intel is good and I would have enough to lock you up on it, but at the moment these kids are more important than your drugs.”