CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“Mr. Sheffler? Joe Sheffler?” asked Kari. The man turned, leering at her, looking her up and down. He started to step forward, and he felt a grip so severe on his shoulder that he thought he might be having a heart attack.

“You might want to think very carefully about your next move,” said Miller. “You see, that’s my wife, and I don’t like when other men touch my wife.”

Sheffler turned and was surprised when he actually looked up at a man. He was big, but this guy was bigger in every way. He was taller, wider, and the look on his face said, ‘I will kill you.’ He took that seriously.

“Sorry. I meant nothing by it. I’m Joe Sheffler.”

“Good. I’m Kari Robicheaux, and you’ve met my husband. We’d like to speak with you about that hit you made on Butch Cavet.”

He started to turn to leave the coffee shop, and Miller stepped in front of him, Jean and Antoine right behind him.

“Damn. Y’all triplets?”

“Nope,” said Jean.

“I’m not supposed to talk to anyone about it,” he said, shaking his head.

“Did your lawyer tell you that?” asked Kari.

“Lawyer? Fuck no.”

“Then I’m going to guess Glenda Pinken told you to keep your mouth shut after she paid you to make that hit on him.” Kari raised a brow, waiting for his response.

He looked at his coffee and nodded toward a sofa and some chairs. Miller watched him carefully, making sure he didn’t attempt to escape. Between him and his brothers, they would stop him, but this bastard would give a few good hits. He damn sure didn’t want to shoot him.

“How much did she pay you?” asked Kari.

“Seventy-five thousand.”

“Seventy-five thousand to knock a man out of a job,” said Antoine in disbelief, shaking his head.

“She wanted him dead,” said Joe. “She wanted me to hit him so hard in the head that he wouldn’t get up. I couldn’t do it. It was an illegal hit. My head was down, and I went straight for his head, but I couldn’t ensure that the impact would kill him.”

“Couldn’t ensure the impact would kill him,” repeated Jean with disdain. “You fucking asshole. It could have killed you!”

“I know,” said Joe, waving a hand to get Jean to lower his voice. “I’m well aware. She was pissed and only paid me half the money.”

“I should take you out back and beat the fuck out of you,” said Miller. Joe scoffed, giving him a knowing smirk.

“If you think you can, old man.”

“Okay, that’s enough. Listen to me. You might be some tough football player, but you have no idea who and what these men are,” said Kari. “My husband would eat you alive and spit out the bones, hiding them where they’d never be found. Do not fuck with us!”

He swallowed, staring at the beautiful woman, shocked by the language she was using. He tried to relax against the sofa, but Antoine leaned forward on his elbows, inches from his face.

“Why the fuck did she want him dead?”

“Same reason she wanted Hardesty and Rossi dead. They’ve got injuries and diagnosed lung disease from the asbestos.” He stared at them like they were stupid as he spilled the tea to them. “I mean, you know about all that, right?”

“Yes, we knew about all that. Rossi killed himself,” said Kari. “Trevon was there when it happened.”

“He might have pulled the trigger on himself, but believe me, she was the one pulling the strings in the background. Look, not all the owners are like her, but she’s the fucking worst. She made sure that every contract ensured that she didn’t have to pay out a dime if they left due to injuries related to anything, and I do mean anything.”

“That’s not legal,” said Kari.

“Tell that to her,” he scoffed. “Look, all I did was make a hit on Butch. It’s football. It’s what we do.”

“No. You intentionally made a hit on a man for money to his head. The same man and head that had received multiple concussions, and you were paid to actually make the hit so severe you would kill him. That’s assault with intent to do harm and payment with intent to kill.”

“No one will believe you,” he smirked. Jean smiled at him, holding up his phone to show that he’d been recording the entire conversation.

“Wanna bet?”

“Hey! Hey, you can’t fucking do that!”

“Wanna bet?” laughed Antoine, repeating his brother’s words.

“What do you want?”

“Simple. I want you to help us nail Glenda Pinken. I want that woman behind bars, charged with murder and a myriad of other crimes.”

“And just how the hell am I supposed to help you do that? I’m not even on her team, and believe me, I have no intention of moving to her team.”

“We could arrange that,” said Miller. “See, I’m going to bet your owner would love to get rid of a man like you and happily give you to Glenda and her team.”

“No. No, please, don’t do that to me.”

Kari sat back, elegantly crossing her legs. She wiped her hand along her thigh, looking at her husband and brothers-in-law. She was a master at making men uncomfortable during interrogations.

“Lady, please.”

“Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to go back to Glenda, tell her you need money. Problems with a woman or something equally stupid that you might do.” He frowned at her, and Miller growled in his direction. “When she accepts, and we both know she’ll accept your help, you’re going to call me and tell me who she wants gone. Clear.”

“Clear.”

“Crystal clear?” asked Kari.

“Yes. Crystal clear.”

“When does your team play the Fire again?” asked Antoine.

“We have a game tomorrow night. If we win, we play them next weekend in the playoffs. If we lose, I wouldn’t have access to their players unless it was just as a civilian out and about.”

“You mean like in a bar or something?” asked Jean.

“Yeah, although most of us aren’t stupid enough to go to bars. We will frequent coffee shops but not bars.”

“Smart,” smirked Kari. They started to stand to leave when Kari turned back toward Sheffler. “Who else is she paying?”

“What?” he asked in a shaky voice.

“Who else?”

“Fuck, lady, why did you have to ruin my coffee this morning?” Miller slapped the back of his head, and his chin snapped downward to his chest. “Hey, that fucking hurts!”

“Really. You mean like taking a cheap shot on another, going at full speed with a shitty helmet?”

“Okay. Point taken. She pays the refs or blackmails them. She’s notorious for catching the refs with strippers, hookers, hell, anything and everything. Two of them were caught in a room with a seventeen-year-old girl and a table full of blow.”

“Who else?” Sheffler rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

“The doctors, EMTs, trainers, anyone and everyone. She pays them enough that they keep their mouths shut, and if she thinks they’ll talk anyway, she finds something to hold over them. She’s good at that.”

“And what does she have on you?” asked Kari, tilting her head to the side. Sheffler froze, unable to look up at the men around him. Jean started to slap the back of his head again, but he jumped, moving out of reach.

“Please don’t hit my head again,” he said. Jean almost felt bad for him. It obviously was painful and uncomfortable for him.

“What does she have on you?”

“It was a party my second or third year in the league. I was drunk, so were the other guys. When I woke up the next morning, I had two naked guys next to me and a bunch of used condoms on the floor.”

“So, you’re gay?” said Kari.

“I’m bi-sexual. I like men and women,” he whispered.

“And she knows and will announce it to the world unless you do her bidding.”

“Yes.” Kari stood, tucking her purse under her arm.

“Call her and then call us. If we can get the footage from that party, I give you my word that I’ll burn it. All of it.”

“You’d do that?” he asked in surprise. The three men looked down on him, and Kari stared at the man.

“I’m not like you. I’m not in the habit of ruining men’s lives just for my own pleasure. It gives me no great joy to watch a man’s career go up in flames because of something I did. Call me or I will send these three after you.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said quietly.

Back in the SUV, Miller turned to his wife grinning at her like a Cheshire cat. He grabbed her hand, kissing the back of her fingers.

“That was the hottest fucking shit ever.”

“Ewww,” said Antoine. “Please. I don’t need to hear this.”

“Seriously, bro. Make whoopie with my sister-in-law when I’m not around.”

“Fuck all of you. I’ll damn well tell my wife exactly how I feel about her whenever I want to.” Kari laughed, reaching across the seat to give him a big kiss.

“I love my big scary husband. And, I love his brothers.”