Holder starts to direct his guys to the big bedroom on the left of the hallway, and Fletcher shows Dante to the spare room on the right.
"Baby Blue? What do you want me to tell my folks about why they need to bird-sit, and why Cole needs their plane to fly to Florida for a long weekend?"
"Have y’all not learned anything from me yet?” We all turn to look at Fletch. “We’re going to see the big mouse.”
Chapter Sixteen: Cole
Morning came early with the arrival of Ahmya and two of her security men. The Nakamura Yakuza syndicate was officially in the building with the shrieking burglar alarm sound Donut was mimicking, letting us know strangers were in Clint's home.
Bedroom doors slammed open, and feet rushed down from upstairs, guns drawn around Ahmya and her crew.
"Weapons down y'all. This is not a dick measuring contest. I appreciate the protection, but Ahmya is a friend, not a foe." Blue instructs Dante, Augustine, and Bastien as me, and the other guys had already holstered our weapons.
"Dick measuring contest," Fletch cackles, "No need for that, we all know Cole would win that shit six ways from Sunday." Ayida throws him a playful wink.
I smirk, I mean, he ain't wrong.
"Sorry," Ahmya holds her hands up limply in sarcastic surrender, as a grin stretches across her face. "I did text before coming over." All our eyes cut to Fletcher, who looked slightly guilty for apparently sleeping through the messages.
"Ahhh, more of your 'torture' victims, Strawberry Shortcake?" Ahmya teases Blue looking at Augustine and Bastien's rough state.
"Nah, this is Augustine and Bastien. Two of Holder's guys caught a bat and a knife courtesy of two of Dante's traitorous men."
"You're looking much better, fuckboy." Ahmya says, looking Dante up and down like a predator sizing up its prey. I guess sometime in the early morning, Dante squeezed in a shower and found a suit from God only knows where. He smartly stays quiet and nods back at her.
"These are my security, Jiro and Ren." She says, indicating the two muscled up men of apparent Japanese origins with tattoos for days. Size-wise, I'm probably the only one as bulky as the two of them… maybe Augustine is a close second. They are packing weapons and didn't try to hide the fact.
"They may look like teddy bears, but I promise you, if you fuck with me, or double-cross me they will fillet you faster than I can scoff a protest." A gleam of sadistic happiness flashed through Ahmya's face that even sent me a shiver of awareness. Trust me, though- no one thought these men were teddy bears in any definition of the word.
"Ahmya, Fletch says you have your payment request ready for us. Care to enlighten the rest of us what that is?" I look at my watch, "Jeffrey will be here in less than two hours with the limo to take us all to the jet, and we all still need to take quick showers and throw some clothes in to-go bags."
"I think I'll wait and bring up my fee on the jet while I have a captive audience. The next part I need to say is best between just Blue and me." Her referring to Blue as Blue and not a nickname, this can't bode well for the conversation. It must be some serious shit.
"Ren, the folder." She snaps her fingers, and Ren produces a folder from under his jacket and hands it to Ahmya. "Ayida. Truly. I'm sorry for having to give this to you, but I thought you'd want to know the sooner, the better."
With a heavy sigh, Blue passes on the orders. "Guys, go shower, pack, eat breakfast, watch a movie, whatever. Looks like Ahmya, and I have to speak in private." She leads the way to the dining room. I jerk my head to the other guys letting them know 'I got this' in silent communication. I follow behind the women, Ren trailing behind me stiffly. Both of us standing post at the dining room swinging door, as the other guys go to take care of their own shit before the flight.
The ladies take a seat at the dining room table across from each other before Ahmya slides the folder over to Blue.
"Fletchy told me how after our meeting, you got some files from your father's house, Frank Underhill, correct?"
Blue nods, warily.
"I may have kinda, accidentally, on purpose, snapped pics of the files when I was here yesterday too. I wanted to research at home on my own... Please, don't be too angry, and I implore you not to blame Fletchy, I can be sneaky when I want to be."
Looking at the tension in Blue's shoulders, I can tell she isn't too happy about Ahmya's snooping from Fletcher's lack of being a vigilant watchdog with her when she was in our home.
"The thing is, I only wanted to help. I know we joke and have fun. And I know you are a badass bitch and could easily strike me down if you wanted to, which is why I am bringing you this evidence directly and not trying to blackmail anyone with my findings." This has Blue and my ears perking up.
"What's in the file?" I deadpan, causing both women to look back at me. I guess they forgot Ren and I were in the room too.
"Evidence." Ahmya reaches for Blue's hand, which is resting on the folder and squeezes it briefly. "Your mother, Caroline Underhill, was murdered."
Ayida's body goes stock still other than her hands that are now shaking, grasping the folder. I go to her and rest my hands on her shoulder.
"What do you know about your mother's death?" Ahmya questions.
"My mom was a sweet, easy-going woman. She didn't have a mean bone in her body. My dad backed off from being an active member of the Saupoudrer crime syndicate when I was still a kid. Mom wanted me raised right," she snorts because we are all far from innocent bystanders at this point. "Old Man was known for cleaning up loose ends, running dirty money until it was clean, and never opened his mouth even when he served time for eight years."
"Yea, Old Man had high standards for all of us. He would have whipped The Family into shape had this spitfire here not been born. I reckon her Mama wanted better for Blue than us chaos makers. Ya know- all the violence, blood, and death that seem to fall in our wake," I squeeze Ayida's shoulders again. "When he stepped down and retired solely to the RV Park, he officially went under the radar as far as my understanding went with The Family."
"When Mama died, I guess I went a bit wild, and self-destructive. I just had to get away. That's when I met Robert, and my life became hell in a way I never imagined for five-years. Then, I came back here, Old Man took me back in, and I met these guys," She reaches up and squeezes my hands back, "And that, as they say, is history." Ayida summarizes.
"Frank Underhill believed Caroline Underhill was murdered from the start, correct?" Ahmya asks, looking between Blue and me.
"My dad told me his suspicion, that he thought she was murdered, with his last breath. He didn't get the chance to tell me why he believed it, but I believed him. I've been wanting to look into her medical records, and go in-depth into Old Man's notes, but there just never seemed to be enough time with all the other chaos that seems to find us." Blue drops her head like she's somehow disappointed her deceased father by her inaction.
I rub my hands up and down Blue's arms from behind her chair, trying to push good vibes into her. "I remember when Caroline passed. It wasn't very pleasant. It wrecked Old Man. I still remember how he was hunched over in the pew, with his hands covering his face. I think it broke him. Caroline was Old Man's world."