Page 39 of The Gambler

“We did find some stuff boss but it’s mostly like they were watching her every move. There’re ledgers and shit…I mean.” Garrett looked over at Jenna when he sad it but she was busy meddling in his shit. “Sorry boss, uh, they have extensive records on everything this woman did for the last two years. They know her routines, almost down to the last detail.

“Let me see that.” He looked over the sheets of paper and wondered why anyone would do the same shit every week like clockwork? Didn’t people know to change shit up for just this reason? They even knew what she had for breakfast for fuck sake. He could only shake his head.

“Come on card girl, I need to win some of my money back you little thief.” Gramps was done with his bitching on the phone. Jenna grinned at his teasing and started to hop off Andros’ leg. She turned her face up and puckered her lips for a kiss.

He pecked her once and hoped that was enough. He wasn’t too keen on an audience, and who knows what the fuck she would get up to. She seemed happy enough with her smooch and ran off to fleece gramps again the jackass.

“Okay guys we have to figure this thing out, we’ve only got a couple more days before the hit. I need to know what the hell this lady is into and who all she pissed off. No actually I need to know if she’s friend or foe.”

“Well, the info does say that she’s working on that expose`.”

“Yeah I know what it says but I don’t trust shit, especially where Jenna’s concerned.”

They went back to digging and he turned his attention to other matters. He still had to find her father and he wasn’t sure what to do about the sister in law and his ex assistant, but that would have to wait for now. He had business of his own that he hadn’t touched in a couple days.

Gramps for all that he’d griped about staying didn’t seem in any rush to leave now that the coast was relatively clear. That’s the thing about a complete hit, you didn’t leave anyone behind who actually gave a shit about the deceased; so you could move the fuck on with your life without looking over your shoulder.

Later that afternoon, after he’d settled an argument between Jenna and gramps because the idiot was into her for twenty large and was trying to renege and she wasn’t having it, Willie came into the office to fetch him.

“Sir that thing we spoke about is finished if you and the young lady would like to have a look.” He almost didn’t know what the other man was talking about until he remembered the conservatory. “Already?”

“Yes well, since the structure was already standing it was just a matter of running the mesh under the glass. Also I imposed upon them that you wanted it done immediately sir and, well, they were only too happy to oblige. The other delivery just arrived a few moments ago.”

He bet. Willie probably dropped his name a few hundred times and for some fucked up reason people tended to think he was difficult, so they went out of their way to do his bidding. All in all it was a good deal.

“You two done squabbling?” Jenna was grinning from air to air because he’d made gramps give her an IOU, and the old man was still grouching about his losses.

“Come Jenna I’ve got a surprise for you.” She clapped her hands together before grabbing her cage with one hand and dragging gramps with the other. She had a dilemma because she wanted to hold his hand but she’d used all of hers. He put his hand through her elbow and led his two charges from the room.

She loved it. Well if the wide-eyed wonder was anything to go by she did. She looked from the hundreds of butterflies flying around the room to the two in her cage and back. He could see her fighting with the decision, but in the end she asked him to open it.

“Angel free.” He kissed her little face and did as she asked. Just then a ray of sunshine shone through brighter than it had been and he had the fanciful thought that maybe it was his sister smiling with favor on him. He’d lost his fucking mind.

She seemed pretty content to sit in the conservatory with the butterflies for the rest of the day. He’d had the place fitted out for her every comfort, and he’d put a man inside on her with the usual guards around the perimeter at all times.

But every once in a while he’d go check on her. She seemed to be engrossed on each of those visits, so he left her alone.

He got back to the business of trying to find the senator; it seems she was travelling around the country to build up support for her cause.

He couldn’t find anything incriminating on the almost sixty year old lawyer turned senator, so that should put her in the column of friendly. But she was a politician, and in his experience, they were all corrupt fucks, so he was treading carefully.

“She looks clean boss, can’t find shit on her except for some student march shit in college.”

“Uh-huh. Well I guess we’re gonna have to go to her then; but since she’s travelling all over the fucking place we’ll have to wait until she’s back at the target location.

Problem is we don’t know when the hit’s supposed to take place, day or night. Get eyes on her in the meantime, we’ll head in as soon as we know she’s there.”

“On it boss.”

He took care of some other shit that was waiting on him and then prepared to relax for at least the rest of the afternoon. It felt like he’d been going nonstop for the past three days.

So much had happened in such a short time he needed a breather, time to sit back and take it all in. His phone chimed and he smiled before he looked because he knew it was his girl.

She’d sent him a row of hearts. He took that to mean I love you, so he sent the words back to her. Her answer was a smiley face with a heart. He didn’t know where the fuck she was getting that stuff from, so he just kept writing out the words. ‘You okay baby?’ She sent him a thumbs up.

“Before I forget, what did we find out about the two sisters?”

“Oh get this boss, Petridis’ wife was taken down in the hit on Junior; apparently she was putting in overtime with the boss’ son.”