“Quick thinking, Kid.” Bill commended me. The others in the room just looked at us questioningly, so he addressed the others. “He just bought us a few days to come up with a new plan.”
“What new plan!?” Grandpa asked, “We have to call the police!”
“With what!?” I asked angrily, “You heard the man. Logan gave them everything I had on them, and now they’ll just use that as a fucking instruction manual on to avoid prosecution. It’s not like I found a spreadsheet titled ‘Proceeds from illegal gambling’. All we had was circumstantial evidence and paper trails that
“But Logan is in danger!” Claire protested, “You saw him, they already hurt him! The police has to do something!”
“They just let him go, Mrs. Brown.” Bill attempted to calm her down, as I opened the video file from their network drive and showed him how Logan had entered the room already reeling. “Even if we go to the police now, they’d file a report about an alleged assault, but we can’t prove anything since they didn’t do it on camera. They also didn’t outright threaten any of you or admit to anything. All the man said was that Logan owed him money, and he’ll want his parents involved.”
“But there has to be something we can do?” Aaron inquired, proving his inability to handle the situation yet again.
I knew what I could do. I had thought about it when I realized just how much money they were handling. But I really didn’t want to. Even now, knowing they were coming to get revenge on me for taking down three of their people, and what they were planning to do with the others, I still wasn’t especially eager. But I couldn’t think of anything else, and I didn’t have the time to come up with something new. I turned to Bill.
“You think they’ll be safe for a few days if they actually go to the grandparents’ house like my message claimed?” I asked. He looked at me, and seemed to realize I had an idea before thinking about my question for a moment.
“Probably. Those guys aren’t big. As far as I know, he only has that one guy who’s with him right now and the three that came for Logan ... who are now out of commision, courtesy to you. Maybe your family should go to a hotel for the first two days or so, just to make sure those guys actually intend to restructure their operation first.”
“And why should only ‘his family’ go to a hotel? Why does that sound like neither of you is including
“Because we’re not. I will ... stay here. And make the story about Granny’s new hip believable while thinking of what to do next.” I claimed, unwilling to let them know what I was actually going to do, since I really didn’t need the discussion right then.
“Fine.” Claire announced after a moment. “But we need to get a hold of Logan and make sure he’s Okay.”
“Sure. Now go pack your shit and get moving. Use the money we had planned to give them and pay for the rooms and anything else you’ll need in cash. After that you can call the backstabber.” I told them in a rough tone as I turned to get a cigarette outside.
I didn’t suggest the cash because I thought that the bookie and his acquaintances were capable of tracking credit cards. I just remembered that Golden Boy had most likely blown away their liquid savings, and I did not want them to come back early because they ran out of money.
I was utterly exhausted. I didn’t think Logan had ever planned to sell out his girls just so they would pay off his debt for him. He lied to that man about that part. But he didn’t lie when he was talking about me. He had painted a target on my back to get himself out of his shit. Scared or not, after running away and getting me stabbed, that was the second time he was perfectly fine with me suffering if it would get him off the hook. And the only concern any of my family members voiced was about seeing Logan with a bloody nose.
“You sure you’ll be Okay?” I suddenly heard Aunt Danielle’s voice from behind me. She and Uncle John were about to leave.
“Hm.” I replied noncommittally, my mind focused on my mental checklist for tonight.
“Don’t do anything reckless, please.” she added quietly.
“Why would I?” I answered, as I moved back inside and upstairs to my room.
I still wanted to immediately delete the videos from their devices, but I couldn’t afford to agitate them before tonight, and it looked like Bill’s assumption would still prove correct. They were planning to get the girls and therefore wouldn’t distribute the videos carelessly. Instead, I went through the saved videos from their surveillance system, looking for a video that showed the owner clearing out the safe.
