“Well now, you’re going to tell me exactly how you got this information and who said it. And if I don’t believe you...” I looked over to Dave coming into the office space to stand guard at the door. “You don’t get to leave. Don’t forget what I’m doing for your family.”

––––––––

“Give me the status of Wilder.”

Reaper sat in typical fashion with some demon mask on today. He adjusted his over the ear headphones as he took a swig from the bottle of rum he brought in with him.

He burped. “Ah, the troublemaker. I followed that girl around and she’s been a real headache. Her daddy is sending her out to collect intel to use for blackmail. On whom? Don’t ask me.”

I rubbed the back of my head, hoping to stir up some thoughts. “Her family takes people out. Collecting intel, are you sure?”

“About as sure as I am that I have a huge dick.”

Gross.

“Anyone else drop dead in the last few days? Casualties have been stacking up and we are close to all the answers on how to handle it and make our moves. The Dictator just got back from Eastern Europe making some agreements and acquiring some deals for Montgomery Group; he’s expecting some answers from us.”

Fallon has been pretending things have been normal with her roommate missing. Well, as normal as she could be with beefed up security going to classes like nothing is wrong. Going to the obligatory parties and gatherings and minding her p’s and q’s while observing—learning.

Our job was planning and doing our best to prevent any event that would stop her from her takeover as CEO. Things were running smoothly with strategic efforts from a couple of families running counter plans to the split off group.

The insider’s circle had a large fissure down the middle. We knew the goal was to implement new leadership, kicking us out of the top.

Crabs in buckets.

“No one of importance to spook the news crews. Out in New York there has been an uptick, and here in Willow Bay, we have the initial group of college kids that got nixed. That Wilder girl was responsible for that kid bouncing on concrete and the staged suicide last week.”

I needed another drink. Fallon had been living with the enemy this whole time while others were concerned about her ex-boyfriend.

A thought occurred to me. “What about that guy Wilder was seeing earlier in the semester? That drug dealer?”

“No idea.”

Nothing had been said when her boyfriend was suddenly dead. I made a mental note to investigate it later. We had more pressing matters than a missing frenemy.

“Follow her and get some of the guys to look into her dead man. Something is fishy there.”