Getting undressed for my shower, I shook my head with a smile as the memories of my father swam around in my head. He was always my inspiration. “Firm, but fair” was the best way to describe him. He would always be there to offer a hand, or simply smile and offer advice when needed. But if you ever fucked him over, you lived to regret it. There was no two ways about it.
As I stood under the shower and let the warm water massage my back, I thought about what my father said and how much his words inspired me to seek my revenge for what Tyler had done. I knew he would approve of what I was doing. No one fucks over a Scozzari. Nobody. Tyler would have had everything if she had let me in…if she hadn’t screwed me over.
Walking out of the shower, I dried myself as I went to into my room to find some clothes. As I was looking, my phone started ringing.
“Yes,” I answered abruptly.
“Dean, it’s Jimmy.”
Taking a seat on my bed, I smiled. “Jimmy, what have you got for me?”
He hesitated a moment, making me panic slightly that something was wrong with Tyler.
“She left the apartment a few minutes before nine and walked to St. Francis Hospital on Dexter Street. She’s back home now.”
I was confused. I couldn’t think of a reason she would be missing work and going there. Tyler never missed work, and I knew for a fact she hasn’t been in all week.
“What the fuck is she doing at the hospital?”
Jimmy hesitated again and sighed. “I don’t know.”
“What the fuck, Jimmy? What do you mean you don’t fucking know?”
Again he hesitated and I wanted to crawl through the phone and rip his throat out. “Hospitals freak me out.”
I laughed. “You are fucking kidding me, right?”
“I’m not kidding. I can’t go into a hospital.”
I shook my head in frustration. “Jimmy, you’re six foot five, weigh probably two hundred and thirty pounds. You’re the sickest fuck I know, who tortures people as a hobby, but you’re afraid of a fucking hospital?” I couldn’t believe my fucking ears!
“I’m not afraid,” he snapped. “They freak me out.”
I rolled my eyes. “And there’s a difference?”
“Yes, there’s a fucking difference. They have sick people in there with germs and shit.”
Grabbing my towel, I yanked it off me and went in search of some boxers. “Listen, Jimmy. I’m paying you well to follow Tyler around for a bit. I need to know exactly where she is going and who she is visiting. If she goes back to that hospital again, I don’t care how much you think you’ll catch the black fucking plague, you follow her in there and find out what the fuck she’s doing. You. Got. That?”
Jimmy sighed resolutely. “Yes.”
“Good. Now, is there anything else you like to tell me about that freaks you out? How about clowns, Jimmy? Do they freak you out? A dentist, perhaps?”
I heard Jimmy growl. “Fuck off!”
I laughed hard and ended the call. Silly, scared little fuck. The man’s a giant, yet he’s scared of a building? Jeez.
As I got dressed, I thought about what Tyler could possibly be doing in the hospital. Was she sick? When I went to her last night, she had been crying. Had she found out something bad at the hospital? Fucking numpty, Jimmy! If he’d just followed her in there, I would have known by now. I couldn’t fucking do it because it would risk me getting caught, especially now that she saw me that night at the mansion.
Thinking about this set me up in a bad mood all day. I found myself on edge and snappy, wondering what the hell was wrong with her. She looked healthy enough, but that didn’t necessarily mean shit in the grand scheme of things. Whatever was wrong, I had to find out. If Jimmy couldn’t fucking do it, I’d have to get someone else. I may need to fucking hire someone just so I didn’t use anybody that I knew. I didn’t like the fact I wasn’t in control here. I knew everything there was to know about Tyler but, somehow, I had missed this. Whatever reason she had taken a week off of work for must have been important. Tyler was many things, but a slacker wasn’t one of them.
So, throughout the day, I went to work, made calls, worked out, and generally let off steam. By evening, I was a little more relaxed, but it didn’t stop the nagging feeling in my gut. I hated it because someone could easily misconstrue this as worry. I didn’t worry about Tyler because she meant nothing to me.
“Dean, it looks like Carmichael is parking outside.”
Good, that meant he could come say what he had to say, then I could get back to my penthouse. I didn’t like staying here too long. It was a house filled with ill-repute and free-loaders. Fucking scum of the earth.