The Hunting Grounds (A Villain’s Story FBI Mystery Series Book 2) by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mary Stone Publishing
Published: 2023-08-30T16:00:00+00:00

20

An hour later, Justice peered through his binoculars into the open bay of the Tumbleweed Auto Shop, identified by Lester as the home base of the Syndicate. From what Justice could tell, the scumbag wasn’t lying.

Six mechanics were at work, and every one of them either looked like they were in a biker gang or were auditioning for the part. The shop was a tableau of leather vests with ripped-off sleeves, tattoos, and tight jeans. Half of them sported the gang insignia—a skeleton with a wide smile, a red bandanna, and an ace of spades in one hand.

Like a carnival barker inviting you directly into Hell.

Justice dug the whole vibe. He was a man who enjoyed a good cliché, almost as much as he enjoyed a person who knew exactly who they were and displayed that truth to the world and never apologized for it.

Sometimes he wished he could tell the entire world who he was.

“What have we got here?” Justice tightened the focus of the lenses. A man was lying on his back under a truck, holding a heavy car part steady with one hand as the other worked to screw it into place. “Looks like a new transmission. Tsk. That’ll hurt the ole moneybags.”

“You are such a fucking joke.” The ghost sitting next to him in the passenger seat scoffed and folded his puffy, pinkish-gray arms across his chest. Justice tried to ignore Darrel Daulton, the worthless frat boy he’d strangled to death for murdering his friend. But ghosts were pretty hard to tune out. “Why’re you sitting here pretending like you’re just a cop staking out a joint?”

“That’s what I am, dickweed.” Justice rolled his shoulders, trying to shake Darrel’s stupidity.

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Darrel cocked his head. Justice tried not to stare at the eyeball hanging ever so slightly out of one of the ghost’s eye sockets. “You may hoodwink Henry, and that too-trusting boss of yours as well, but I know what you’re really like. I’ve seen it firsthand. Remember?”

“Damn right I remember.”

“We both know how this is going to end.”

“No, we don’t.” Though Justice wasn’t too sure he meant it. The anger he felt toward the Syndicate for poisoning Regina with Pinecones was starting to boil. It took quite a bit of effort for him not to walk right in there with his Colt 1911 blazing.

But that wasn’t his style.

Or was it?

“Yes, we do…” Darrel sang. His neck cracked like dry wood as he cocked his puffy head and smiled, revealing black gums. “You’re looking for whoever killed Karl so you can take him out.”

“I’m not.”

“Just like me.”

“No.”

“Just like my dad.”

“No!” Justice lunged at Darrel and wrapped his hands around his throat. But this time, when he squeezed, Darrel’s heart didn’t beat faster, and his breath didn’t seize. This time, when Justice locked his fingers around Darrel’s neck, his hands met nothing but air.

The ghost was laughing. Justice leaned back in his seat and tried to ignore the feeling of futility.

“You can’t kill me, Tiny Tim.

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