Deke blew out a breath. “Think she was in on it?”
Jesus. If she was... “Dunno. But gonna find out.”
“Let me take it,” he insisted.
“Got a job to finish first.”
“Then I’m headin’ back to Williamsport tonight and gonna hunt that fucker down so I can hop on this motherfucker.”
“Shoulda been doin’ that in the first place, you asshole,” Judge growled at his cousin.
“Wasn’t in a rush.”
“You had three fuckin’ days left, Deke.”
“Yeah, three days. Plenty of time.”
Judge shot him a look.
Deke shrugged and shot him a smile back. “Got motivation now.”
“The money should’ve been motivation before.”
“Fuckin’ Dad died of the goddamn cancer, Judge.”
Judge sucked air in through his nose and held it. “Was there, Deke.”
“Yeah, and you know how bad it was.”
Something he’d never forget. The cancer rotted his uncle from the inside out. It hit them all hard.
Even in the couple of years Judge lived with Deke’s parents, his Uncle Walter ended up being a better father than Ox ever was. In fact, Walter practiced tough love and never once hesitated to knock some sense into Judge or Deacon.
Ox would get pissed because 5-0 brought Judge home, not because of breaking curfew. In contrast, Walt thanked the pigs for bringing him home, waited until they left and then taught Judge a lesson about breaking curfew. At sixteen, Judge had fought back once.
Once was all it took.
Judge never fought back again.
But it was those two years under Walt’s roof that taught Judge a bit of respect and showed him a good reason to keep his ass out of jail.
He had Walt to thank for all of that. Because Judge had no doubt if it wasn’t for Walt and his methods, he’d have ended up in and out of the joint just like Sig, the Fury’s VP.
Walt also wasn’t having any of Judge dragging his only son into trouble. Or teaching him bad habits.
So, any bad habits Deke had were strictly his own, nothing learned from Judge.
Judge wasn’t the only kid in that household who got his ass whooped hard for doing shit he wasn’t supposed to do. Though, it worked since Deke never landed behind bars, either.
Basically, by learning how to avoid Walt catching them taught them both not to be caught by the pigs. So, yeah, while at the time, those lessons sucked, he now really appreciated Walt’s strict ways.
And so did Deke.
His cousin was now heading toward the door. “Headin’ back to Williamsport. Take care of Justice ‘til I get back, yeah?”
Judge raised an eyebrow. “When have you ever had to ask?”
“Never. But strikin’ out with blondie has had you distracted.”
Judge couldn’t deny that. “Cassidy,” he said under his breath.
“Yeah, Cassidy. Whatever. Doesn’t fuckin’ matter what her name is now. Now you know she’s off fuckin’ limits. Got a ball and chain who will soon be behind bars again.”
“If we catch him,” Judge grumbled.
“We’ll get him if he puts one fuckin’ foot in the Grove,” Deke said with too much confidence.
“Right.”
“Though, once he starts his sentence, the wifey might need a bit of comfortin’.” Deke wiggled his eyebrows. “You got some pretty fuckin’ big shoulders for her to cry on, cuz. All you gotta do is whisper somethin’ sweet in her ear, pat her on the fuckin’ back and maybe she’ll let you stick your baby carrot cock in her snatch.”
“Deke.”
“Yeah?” he asked with a grin.
“Get the fuck outta here before I club you with my baby carrot of a cock.”
Deke laughed and squatted down, patting his thigh. “Jussie, come say goodbye to your daddy.”
Justice ran over to him, tail wagging. Deke planted a big kiss on his blocky head and got to his feet. “Be back soon.”
“Sooner than later, Deke.”
“Yeah.” He disappeared from the office with a flick of two fingers.
Judge turned back to the computer and after reading through the documents more thoroughly, he opened Cassidy Lange’s picture again.
Cassidy.
He wondered how involved the woman had been with her husband’s crime. He wondered if she had more kids than just Daisy.
He also wondered why she’d skipped town and landed in Manning Grove. She never gave him her name, so she could be using a false one. Maybe it was just as he suspected, and she was in town to set up a place for hubby to hide. Or this was just a place to meet up before heading elsewhere.
Hell, a man like that with what he did, was facing up to twenty-five years. That was before he skipped bond.
Men like that were afraid of doing time.
Men like that were afraid of losing all their shit.
Men like that usually lost their wives and children.
So, men like Dennis Lange might have figured skipping out would be for the best.
Only problem was with men like that, they weren’t really smart enough to do it well.
He’d probably want to head out of the country to hide. If he didn’t have any connections, doing that wasn’t easy. But Pennsylvania wasn’t far enough away from New York to hide successfully, even if he changed his hair color and his name.
Nope. He was way too close to home.
So, maybe she was just in town temporarily. To try to have a normal holiday with her kid. Or kids.
Before they all went on the run.
Hell, maybe hubby was waiting on her somewhere else.
Or maybe Dennis Lange would show up for Christmas with the family.
And if he did, Justice Bail Bonds was going to get a nice fat deposit into their bank account after they caught his ass and handed him over.
Deke was right. Once hubby went down for twenty-five years, was Cassidy going to stick by his side and be the loyal wife? Or would she be looking to move on?
Dennis Lange might wear a suit, not have any tattoos, even drive some fancy fucking car. But if he did what he was charged with? He was scum through and through.
Looks could be deceiving.
Chapter Four
Judge sat in his Expedition two houses down from 52 Fourth Avenue. It was late. It was dark. And he couldn’t get Cassidy Lange out of his mind.
He was supposed to be there keeping an eye out for Dennis Lange, not his wife. But he’d never been so goddamn fixated on a woman in his fucking life.
And, of fucking course, she had to be married.
To a white-collar criminal.
And had at least one kid with him.
That sucked donkey dick.
Judge took in the Christmas lights strung around the windows and porch. In one front window of the small two-story home, he also noticed a decorated tree lit up.
The silver Honda CRV with New York plates was parked out front on the street because a couple of other vehicles were parked in front of the detached two-car garage. Probably belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas, the couple who could be harboring a fugitive.
If not now, maybe soon.
Because how long could hubby stay away from his wife and kid? Especially during the holidays. Unless the man was just that self-centered and didn’t give a flying fuck about them. Maybe he did his crime, got caught and then left her dealing with the mess left behind.