Shine (Kentucky Outlaw Book 1) (22 page)

Brady unlocked the door and Julie stepped into the small room.
 
Traxler sat in a chair with his hands chained to the table in front of him.
 
His lips formed a thin smile rested on his lips, but there was nothing jovial about his eyes, which shot into Julie. It took all she had to not shudder at the sight of him.
 
She sat on the opposite site of the table and tried her best to give him a hard stare.

“Hello there, Miss Prescott.
 
How’s the car?
 
I know a guy that can fix that back window.
 
He works cheap and the quality is top notch.”

“What do you want, Traxler?” Julie said.
 
She wasn’t going to be drawn into his games.

“I just wanted to talk to the intrepid reporter that’s working so hard to solve the Nick Butler murder.”

“The murder’s been solved.
 
The gun that killed Nick and Kenny Salo was found in your bar with your prints on it.
 
Just confess so we can all go home.”

“Where you been hiding?” Traxler asked, the sick grin still on his face.
 
“Me and Cutler been out looking for you.
 
Where you run off to?”
 
His eyes ran up and down her, honing in on her chest and making her feel violated.
 
“I seen that shirt on Ethan Dalton.
 
I didn’t know you two were close enough to start raiding each other’s closets.”

Julie had put on one of Ethan’s flannel shirts as the day got colder and when he mentioned it she instinctively pulled it closer around her.
 
“Pretty common shirt,” she said.

“Not for someone who’s spent her whole life shopping at Saks.
 
You ever been to Manhattan?
 
I have, and you know what?
 
I loved it.
 
You’d think some old country boy like me would hate it, but I had a great time.
 
Lots to do there.”

“You won’t get another chance when you’re rotting in prison.
 
Tell me why I’m here or I’m walking out,” said Julie, the anger rising in her voice.

“I like it when you’re all riled up like that, so full of life.
 
Usually rich folks just can’t be bothered to deal with messy things, like anger.
 
You could’ve lived your entire life up on that hill.
 
Why’d you come down?”

Julie smacked her hand on the table, the sound echoing loudly through the room and finally causing Traxler to drop the psychotic grin on his face.
 
She stood up and went to the door.
 
When her hand was on the knob he called out to her, “I didn’t kill Nick Butler.”

Julie stopped and turned back to Traxler.
 
“Bullshit,” she said.
 
“Your prints are on the gun, which was found in your bar.”

“Yeah, that’s what someone wanted the cops to find.”

Julie still had her hand on the knob as she faced Traxler.
 
“Really?
 
You’re going with the patsy story?
 
So that wasn’t you chasing me down the road yesterday, shooting out my back window?”

The smile returned to his face.
 
“I wouldn’t know anything about that, but we do have a mutual friend and I think he’s worth looking into.”

Their eyes met, and Julie knew he had finished toying with her.
 
He was finally getting around to why he called her there.
 
“Is that right?
 
You and I have friends in common?”

“He seems to know you, that’s for sure.
 
He got real agitated when I mentioned your name.”

Julie leaned back against the door and folded her arms across her chest.
 
“Who is this person?”

That sick smile returned to his face again.
 
“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll find you.
 
He always hits his mark, but if you’re really looking for him he hangs out with Irvine Fontaine.”
 
Traxler turned away from her and stared straight at the wall.
 

Julie said, “Am I supposed to know who that is?”

Traxler kept his eyes forward and said nothing.
 
Julie turned and walked out of the room.
 
Brady and her father were coming out of the room on the other side of the two-way mirror.

“What the hell was that all about?” said Walter.

“He’s a sick asshole.
 
He’s just playing games with us.”

“Son of a bitch.
 
I’ll teach him to waste my time,” yelled Brady and went off to bark orders at his men.
 

Walter stepped in close to Julie and said, “Austin is driving you back to the house, and then you and I are going to have serious talk about your role in this family.”

He walked off before Julie could respond.
 
Austin walked her outside and headed for his patrol car, but Julie made her way towards the Mustang.
 

“Don’t pull this shit, Julie.
 
Get in the car so I can take you home.”

She turned to her brother.
 
He was angrier with her than he’d ever been. In that moment, he reminded her of their father, the rage lying just under the surface.
 
He had been around her whole life.
 
He was her protector when she was younger, even her role model, but she wasn’t a little girl anymore, and she wasn’t taking orders from anybody.

“I’m leaving in the car I arrived in, Austin, and I’m not going back to the house.
 
I’m not sure I’ll ever go back there again.”

“If you walk away I’m the one who has to deal with the fallout when I show up at the house without you.”

“You could just tell him no.”
 
She got into the Mustang and watched Austin get smaller in the rearview mirror as she drove away.

Traxler had been good, she gave him that.
 
He’d told her where to go without actually saying anything the cops could use.
 
He told her to head to the corner of Irvine Avenue and Fontaine Street, but the real question was why?
 
After trying to kill her, what was his point?

She drove quickly to the corner, doing her best to see if she was being followed.
 
As she neared Fontaine and Irvine, she saw a limestone building.
 
Julie drove slowly past and finally saw where Traxler had been leading her.
 
A banner above the main entrance read, “Mark Alexander Campaign Headquarters.”

After parking on a side street where she could keep an eye on the building, she watched for any kind of movement inside and saw none.
 
While we watched, she kept asking herself the same question.
 
Why?

Why did Traxler tell her to come here?
 
Was he leading her into danger? And if not, then what would he get out of her coming here?
 
She pondered over those questions, but she knew she wouldn’t find the answer sitting in Ethan’s car.
 
Quietly closing the door behind her, Julie walked across the empty street.
 
The door to the building was locked, as were all the windows.
 
It was dark inside and she was tired of chasing empty leads and being jerked around, she smashed open a back window with a brick found in the alley out back.

No alarm sounded, and so she carefully climbed through the window and stood in a room full of file cabinets.
 
They weren’t locked so she looked through a couple, but saw nothing of interest.
 
Outside the file room was a much larger area full of desks.
 
It was obviously a busy space during the day, papers were stacked on every desk along with memos, printed emails, and budget reports. There was nothing out of the ordinary for a man running for reelection of the state senate.
 

She searched two more rooms and was just about to give up.
 
Traxler had just been playing games with her. He may have even known she’d break in, trying to get her arrested so that he could cast suspicion on her if she decided to report him for attacking her.
 
Then, in the third room, she found what she needed.
 
This room was the same size as the others, but there was no furniture inside. Instead, it was just full of signs and banners with Alexander’s name on them, but rather than stating his run for senate, they advertised his bid for governor.
   

“Shocking, isn’t it?”

She turned quickly.
 
Essing was standing behind her in the doorway, large enough to block the entire entrance.
 
After-hours, he traded his impeccably tailored suit for dark jeans and an untucked button-down.

“Why don’t you come with me?” he said.
 
When she didn’t move he grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room.
 
Back in the main room, Essing forced her into a seat.
 
He leaned back against a desk and crossed his arms.
 
“As I was saying, it’s shocking to think Mr. Alexander is ready for a run at the governor's office, but there you have it.
 
All his aids tell him he’s too young, to wait five years, maybe even ten, but the people I work for want him in office now.”

He spoke to her calmly, as if they were casual acquaintances catching up at the bar after work, but even though he wasn’t moving she could feel the danger of his presence like a coiled snake, ready to strike at any moment.

Essing picked up a memo off the desk and glanced at it while speaking to her.
 
“We don’t want anyone to know just yet though.
 
Not really sure why, but that’s what my bosses said.”
 
He continued reading the note, arching an eyebrow in surprise, but put it down and turned his attention back to her.
 
“What brings you here, Miss Prescott?”

“If Alexander isn’t your boss then who is?” she said.
 
Essing said nothing, just waited for an answer to his question so Julie said, “I heard a rumor Alexander was running for governor so I decided to check it out.”

“I doubt that.
 
Unless you usually confirm rumors by breaking windows and entering offices in the middle of the night.”

“You don’t even want to know what I’d do to get a quote.
 
Who’re your bosses?”

Essing’s smile didn’t reach his cold eyes. “You set off the alarm coming in here.
 
I thought it was kids, but since Avon Traxler was arrested earlier today and you showed up tonight, I’m thinking there’s a connection.”

“I didn’t realize assistants to hot shot politicos kept tabs on scumbags like Traxler.”

“We’re past games, don’t you think?
 
Don’t pretend you don’t know Traxler works for us.”

Something clicked in Julie’s head, something crazy that had to be the reason for all of this.
 
“You knew my father was running for governor, and with the Butler’s backing he has a real chance, so you had Kenny Salo kill Nick.”

“Not quite.
 
We paid Avon Traxler to kill Nick, and he farmed it out to Salo.
 
He’s not as dumb as we thought.
 
He knew killing someone like Nick Butler would bring a lot of heat, so he had Salo do it, then gave a police report that he had seen a car matching Kenny’s driving away from the scene of the crime.”

“What if Kenny told the police that Traxler had paid him?”

“He was willing to take the risk.
 
There was no evidence linking Traxler to Nick.
 
Salo could say whatever he wanted, and even though the cops might take a good look at Traxler, they wouldn’t be able to pin anything on him.”

“But Kenny started falling apart.
 
He claimed that he was a Kentucky gangster, but he couldn’t handle knowing he had actually killed someone,” said Julie, thinking of Kenny standing drunkenly outside the Butlers’ house.
 
“So you killed him, too.”

“Traxler really did that one,” said Essing.

“That’s how his prints got on the gun.
 
You called in the anonymous tip.
 
You knew where Nick had actually been killed because you were there.
 
You had to make sure it was done.”
 
Her eyes swept from the floor to Essing.
 
“Why did you have to kill him?” she said fiercely.

“I didn’t want to, if that makes you feel better, murder is messy.
 
I wanted to pay him off.
 
That would have been the better way to go, especially since the Butlers are broke, but we couldn’t pay him enough to make him back off.
 
What would a hundred thousand dollars do for a family like them?
 
They needed someone in the governor’s seat, someone who knew all the right information to get them back on top.
 
Nick wanted millions, so we had to get rid of him.”

Julie took a deep breath before saying, “And since you’re telling me all this, you’re going to kill me too.”

Essing nodded.

“So Traxler goes to jail for killing Nick, my father is too racked with grief to run for office, and Alexander goes on to win the Governor’s Mansion.”

“That’s right.”

“Do you think the Daltons are going to stand for that?
 
Ethan won’t rest until he finds my killer, and when he does you’ll pray to Jesus that you were somebody else.”

“The Daltons?
 
They’re low level bootlegger thugs.
 
Do you even know who I am?
 
You keep asking who my bosses are so I’ll tell you.
 
I’m not some asshole’s political aide, I work for the Dixie Mafia and we have little kids scarier than the Daltons.
 
Traxler’s the one with the grudge against the Daltons anyway, so who gives a shit?