“So, you pity me.”
Mason laughed. Laughed loud and hard. “Look, I think you’re kind of a dumbshit for thinking you couldn’t tell me. I think that being forced into the Navy was a Godsend. But pitying you for having a shit father? Hell no. You nailed the bastard. I pity him. I pity this town right now because you’re going to grind it into dust. But pity you? Hell no.”
Drake felt almost as good as when he’d been in Karen’s arms.
...Karen.
Now she was something he wanted to share with his best friend. She was amazing
“Mason, there’s this woman.”
Mason gave him a considering look. “You’ve never once said that to me. Have you finally fallen like the rest of us?”
“You guys were pathetic. Those women lead you around by your-”
“If you value your life, I’d shut your mouth.”
“Okay, I’m pathetic too.”
“There you go.” Mason smiled. “So, this happened in five days?”
“It happened in five minutes.”
“Sounds about right.”
“Okay enough of this feely shit,” Drake said with a mock shudder. “I need to fill you in. Let’s go inside.”
As soon as they entered the house, the aroma of coffee hit them.
“Shit, one of the women is up.”
Mason didn’t say anything, he just followed Drake into the study. There he found Darius, Aiden, Evie, and coffee.
“You’re supposed to be in bed,” he growled at his sister.
“You told us that nothing was going to go on tonight. If you’re going to be a lying asshole, it’s fine, but I’m roaming the halls in the middle of the night. Suck it up, big guy, I made coffee.”
“I think I figured out which one is like you,” Darius said.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Evie demanded. “I’m nothing like that Neanderthal.” She turned to Mason and smiled. “Are you his boss?”
Mason nodded.
Evie got up and poured a cup of coffee. “How do you like it?”
“Black’s fine,” Mason answered as he reached for it. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Eva. Let’s get started.”
Drake rubbed his temple. “And why the hell do you think you’re running the show?”
“Because I got some of the low-down on Huey tonight. You’re going after him, right?”
“Hold it right there. Just hold it. Darius and Mason just got here. Let’s get them up to speed before you try to run the show, can we do that? Can we, Evie Lavender?”
Drake held his breath, hoping he wouldn’t have to gag her.
“Makes sense. I’m just going to sit here like a little old church mouse until it’s my turn to speak.”
“How much do you know? Did Clint fill the two of you in?” Drake asked Mason and Darius.
“Clint talked to me, and I gave Dare the SitRep. But it would be highly beneficial if we heard it from your POV.”
Drake nodded.
Evie raised her hand. Drake took a deep breath. “Yes? Ms. Avery, you have a question?”
“What does SitRep mean?”
“It stands for Situation Report.”
“Thank you,” she said sweetly.
Oh, this could be a long night.
“As I was saying,” Drake continued. “Meth is being trafficked throughout Jasper Creek, and probably being cooked all over this area. The sheriff’s department is turning a blind eye because the sheriff is getting kick-backs. We know that not everyone in the sheriff’s department is in on it because somebody wrote an anonymous letter reporting this, but it went nowhere.”
Mason and Darius nodded.
“There has been an increase in meth and heroin overdoses, which have been reported to the sheriff’s office and the local DEA offices. We know the DEA office is crooked because nothing happened to those reports. Clint took care of it. He’s arranged for another office’s personnel to come in, if not tomorrow, then the next day.” Drake saw that his friends were still tracking.
“My dad just got out of prison. He’s been basically running the drug trade through his cousin, Huey Avery.” Drake’s voice got harder as he talked about his family members. “There are some weird things that I haven’t been able to pinpoint. Dad has a fixation on my youngest sister, Piper. He’s been after her, even ransacked my oldest sister’s house looking for her, which makes no sense whatsoever, since he’s basically back to run this drug trade.”
“Is he running labs? Heroin from down south?” Darius asked.
“Both. And he’s using labor that just got out of prison. Best that I can tell he’s been funneling men to Huey for the last few years, but now that he got out, he’s got more. And he’s bringing in a group of skinheads from Kentucky. Their compound is closing up. Clint is supposed to get more specifics on numbers and timelines for us, but we probably have a week or two.” That last part still made Drake absolutely sick.