Chapter 35

CHAPTER 35

S o far, this morning was a big pile of crap unless we could get a step closer to who had offed Sid. All I wanted to do was go back to bed. Preferably with Rose, but at this point, even the bed alone held an allure.

I was getting soft. Meanwhile, we had the Witches to deal with. Dora seemed to have missed the part about keeping the money and forgetting about the cocaine.

Luke stepped up. "We're not giving you the cocaine. Keep the money. How often have you done this with Sid?"

Dora shifted her eyes. "Three times."

"Fuck," Luke said. He looked at me. "This is bad."

Master of the obvious, Luke was.

Then he shifted back to Dora. "Tell the Outfit this town is off-limits to them. No more."

"We had permission to operate—" Mal began, but Dora hushed her.

"What do you mean permission?" I demanded.

"Sid said everything was okayed," Mal said, vaguely.

"Sid was an idiot," Luke said. "He didn't have that authority."

I guessed my deputy was taking over, which was fine with me. I was also impressed with how Rose had taken charge. Coral was filling a different role pretty well, what with giving the girls coffee and my fucking pastry.

"Were you also the suppliers of the pure coke?" I asked.

Dora shook her head. "We don't know where Sid got that from."

Crap. So Sid had been a cutout.

Footsteps echoed down the steps and Pike walked in. He stopped dead in his tracks as he reached the bottom and took in the scene. "Do I want to know?" he asked. He looked at me. "Geez, Reddy. We've got to stop meeting like this."

"Hey, it was Luke who got me involved in this," I protested. Sounding like child. But I was getting tired of everyone blaming everything on me. And I was sick. Did I mention that? And hungry.

Pike sighed and walked over to Coral, who was pouring him some coffee in a to-go cup. Because. Priorities.

"Are they our killers?" Pike asked.

"No," Luke and Rose said at the same time.

I gave him the summary. "Couriers to pick up the cocaine Sid had stepped on and was holding for the Outfit in Chicago. They didn't know Sid was dead. So, no."

Pike gave an even deeper sigh. "What the fuck was Sid into? Asshole."

Hermione, whom Sid had apparently been into, spoke up. "He was a very sweet man."

Pike didn't go low to comment on that as he took a sip of coffee. "Well, Marshal, what are you gonna do with them?"

"Let ‘em go," I said. We had enough problems without babysitting the Witch Sisters. "Let them keep the money they were going to pay Sid for the cocaine and give it back to the Outfit. No harm, no foul. And a warning that the town is off-limits, so we don't have more idiots showing up."

Pike shook his head. "Might want to buzz Uncle Herc and get him to make a call to the Outfit to back that up, Marshal."

Why did it always come back to getting Herc involved? "Yeah, whatever." But I went back to something Mal had let slip. "One of them did say that Sid told them he had permission to do what he was doing. You know anything about that?"

"Hell, no," Pike said. "And, before you ask, Oz wouldn't have let him do it, either." He nodded at the Witch Sisters. "Look at the crap it brings to town."

"That's mean," Hermione whined.

I shook my head. "It's possible Melissa was freelancing hits. And Sid was stepping on and moving coke. Which means it's highly possible those activities might have had something to do with their deaths. Anyone besides Oz who did enforcement work here in town?"

"No," Pike said.

"Would Herc reach in and stop it since Oz is dead?" I preferred the idea of a pro doing the killings rather than a whackjob serial killer.

For the first time, Pike looked uncertain. "I don't think so. And a pro would just kill, not pose."

Luke spoke up. "A mental case pro might. We've all met one or two nutjobs over the years."

I noticed the elder Witch Sisters were following the conversation avidly. Hermione was still lost in her mourning. They were our immediate problem, so it would be good if they were gone now.

I looked at the sisters. "Do you understand this town is off-limits?"

Dora and Mal nodded, and Hermione went back to looking damp and pathetic.

Pike looked at Rose. "Hey, Rose, how are you feeling about the new marshal?"

"I like him fine," Rose said.

"Trouble just seems to follow him everywhere," Pike noted.

I really didn't see why I was getting the blame for the Witches being in town. "We know who Sid was delivering to," I said, "but we still don't know who was supplying him. Who he was paying for the goods. The other half of the cutout."

Pike waved that away. "We'll deal with that if we have to. It's not like Sid will be answering the phone if they call about another deal."

At that, Hermione gave a little gasp, which was kind of irritating.

"You know, Pike," I said, "it looks like both Sid and Melissa were freelancing right under yours and Ozzie's noses."

"Melissa?" Pike asked, confused.

"I'll explain later," I said, having no desire to air more Rocky Start dirty laundry in front of the Witches.

"Might want to ask Herc about that, too," Pike added, taking no responsibility.

Why did it always come back to Herc?

Just great.

Then I sneezed.

"So," Rose said. "Nobody knows who killed Sid, nobody will be running coke out of Rocky Start again, and Coral's out of coffee and Franzbr?tchen . I think we're done here."

Luke nodded and called an Uber and we all went upstairs, where Rose grabbed me by the shirt and tugged me toward the door.

"Can you finish this up?" she asked Luke, and he nodded, and she looked at me. "Hot shower and back to bed. You're sick."

I was going to argue, but it sounded good. Everything I needed except?—

"And while you're in the shower, I'll get another Franzbr?tchen from Coral," she said.

"You do not deserve that woman," Luke said, and I ignored him to follow Rose up the stairs.

"We shouldn't leave Luke," I said, trying for a last semblance of manhood.

"They don't know anything; they just want to get out of town, and the only thing they had for us was a throwaway: that Sid had permission. Do you really want to spend more time with them?"

I frowned at her as I followed her to the door. "When did you get all focused and commanding?"

"When you got sick and refused to lie down," she said. "Also, I had a talk with Betty Baumgarten yesterday. I think I need to change my life."

"How?" I said, thinking about Rowan Masters.

She opened the door and met my eyes as I came up beside her. "I need goals. You might be one of them. For now, get back in my bed."

"Yes, ma'am," I said and followed her back to Oddities.