Page 78 of Mile High Baby

“They’re with whoever pays me. You and Henry might not get along, but to me, your money is the same color of green.”

George laughed. "You have no scruples about who your client is."

“Finally, you understand. So, what do you want from me, George? Is it just finding the niece because you’ve got Henry by dick here? I can’t imagine that this is why I’m here.”

George’s laugh this time was louder as he stood. “I always liked you, Sterling. No-nonsense and effective. You helped me a lot when I was in a scrape.”

Not really. He thought I took care of another thorn in his side, but in fact, we helped that guy get a new identity. He’d gone from being a Wall Street-type who found out too much about Pitney to a small business owner in Nowheresville, Kansas.

“You paid well,” I said.

“How much for you to deal with Banion?”

Bile churned in my belly. He was asking me to kill Henry. Thank fuck I was wired up and we had a team in a van recording all this. Surely, the D.A. could use it. “What do you mean by deal?”

Pitney looked at me with a you-know-what-I-mean expression.

I shrugged. “I don’t read minds. You want a scandal? A government investigation into his business? What?”

Pitney’s eyes narrowed, and I imagined he wondered if I was wired. “I should think that whatever happened to poor Snyder would work.”

Snyder was the poor sap now living in Kansas under another name. But Pitney believed he was dead. We weren’t murderers, although we weren’t saints, as the name suggested either. There was a time in which we “dealt” with people, but normally, they were murderers or genocidal leaders. People the government wanted to get rid of but didn’t want it linking back to them.

I nodded. “He’s dead.”

“Right.” Pitney opened the drawer of his desk.

I surreptitiously checked my watch, wondering if I needed to waste more time.

“How much?” Pitney pawed through an envelope of cash. I considered asking for a check, but he was smart. He didn’t leave a paper trail.

“What about the niece?” I asked.

“I don’t care about them.”

“So that was just a ruse to get me here?”

“I wanted to know how loyal you were to Banion. Not at all, as it turns out.”

Sometimes, I hated this game. “What about his daughter?”

“When Banion is dealt with, she can go home.” He glanced toward the door. “She’s a beauty. Voluptuous.” He waggled his brows.

My fists clenched, ready to punch the image of her body out of his head. “Surely, you don’t have to take something like that. I imagine you have women draping all over you.” I hoped to hell the compliment would take his sight off Victoria.

“Too right. How about one hundred thousand now, and another two when it’s done?”

I shook my head and held up my hand showing five fingers.

He arched a brow. “Five hundred thousand? Two hundred now—”

I held up three fingers.

He stared at me but then acquiesced. “Fine. Three now, two later.” He stood and walked to the door, sending a surge of panic through me. Instead of opening the door, he moved a set of books on the shelf aside to open his safe.

He tossed several stacks of bound bills on his desk. “Will you need a bag?”

“Yep.”