A Murder's Hunt, page 9
“So, what are we going to do about the mess you left behind?” Dante asked, looking at Lucian with icy blue eyes.
“Killing a Crime Lord was going to bring about consequences regardless of how it was executed.” Lucian said as he laced his fingers together. “But, we have to stop the uprisings before it gets out of control.”
“Last time this happened, we stopped the fighting by appointing a new Crime Lord.” Charlie said. He glanced at Weston without dropping the smile on his face. “It worked relatively well then.”
Weston’s hazel eyes narrowed, but he ignored the slight sarcasm in Charlie’s voice. “Do you think there’s a gang leader in Othloh who has the authority to become one?” He chuckled and shook his head. “There’s no one with nearly enough influence.”
“Well, there is one person I can think of.” Charlie said coyly, tapping his fingers on the table.
“You think we’re going to let you appoint someone from your territory? I’m not letting you have half the city.” Dante hissed as she took her feet off the table and leaned forward.
“No, not from my territory, from his.” Charlie said casually as he pointed to Lucian.
Dante and Weston shifted their gazes to Lucian, and Hunter tensed. She instinctively wanted to grab her knife, but she remembered she’d been forced to leave it and all her other weapons behind before entering the room. She gritted her teeth and tried to relax her shoulders.
“You want to make the old man a Crime Lord?” Weston said, raising an eyebrow as his gaze shifted from Lucian to Charlie.
“He already has the authority.” Charlie pointed out. “But on one condition.”
Lucian’s eyebrow rose. “Oh?”
“Kestrel was a fool, but he had good ideas. I think we should start expanding more.” Charlie said. Dante laughed in disbelief and Weston knitted his eyebrows together. He couldn't understand where Charlie was coming from.
“There’s no way I’m risking getting the law involved. If we get too big, we’re going down.” Dante pointed out. She leaned back in her chair and waved a dismissive hand. “Appointing Lucian as Crime Lord makes sense, but what does that have to do with making Othloh any more involved?”
“This brings me to why I wanted Hunter here.” Charlie suddenly turned to look at her. She froze and stared at him with an expressionless face, unsure on how to respond.
“Charlie, I think your age is starting to get to you.” Dante deadpanned.
He laughed. “It’s about time we united Othloh, don’t you think? Instead of being three or four separate organizations only cooperating in fear that someone will bring a guillotine down on our necks, why don’t we work collaboratively?”
“I don’t play well with others.” Weston said automatically. He sighed and looked at Charlie. “And even if we were to work together, we’ll just become a bigger target. What’s stopping any other big gang from bringing us down?”
Charlie’s smile widened as he suddenly stood from his chair and approached Hunter. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her into a side hug. “Her.”
“Seriously?” Dante scoffed. She brushed her braid behind her shoulder and looked Hunter up and down. “I know you do good work, but I don’t see how you’re going to be our shield.”
“Everyone in Othloh already fears Lucian’s masked crow. We just have to make everyone else fear her too.” Charlie explained. “Show them that betraying us, or even thinking about it, gets you trapped six feet underground.”
“You think that’s going to work?” Dante asked, sounding skeptical.
“Fear is a great motivator.”
“Yeah, until you have nothing left to lose.” She pointed out.
Charlie’s smile looked the same, but Hunter felt a chill run down her spine as his dark brown eyes glinted. “Then we’ll make sure there’s always something on the line.”
“Neither of you seem very convinced.” Lucian suddenly said. He looked at Dante and Weston and nodded his head. “I understand. You both aren't very good at putting your faith into other people, but I think you underestimate how far a story can go if it’s planted correctly.” He looked at Charlie and nodded his head. “And I happen to know someone who is very good at planting stories.”
“What exactly is the plan here?” Dante asked, her eyes shifting between everyone in the room. “Why now?”
“It’s no secret that I despised Kestrel.” Charlie said. He let go of Hunter’s shoulders and walked back toward his seat. “And I want to make sure no one like him can get to that place again. Yes, growing my business would be beneficial, but I mostly want to make sure Othloh isn’t at risk of falling. And I believe together, along with the help of a little crow we know, we can make that happen.”
“The majority of our influence will be dependent on how scared people are of Hunter.” Weston said. He had a distant look in his eyes, as if he were trying to map out the millions of possible outcomes this partnership could give him.
“Yes. At the beginning.” Charlie said. “After that, it’ll move onto something more concrete.”
“She’ll have to remain anonymous.” Weston said. His eyes snapped up to Charlie. “I want to be able to manipulate what people think they know about her.”
“Of course.” Charlie said, patting Weston on the shoulder. He glared at Charlie’s hand but didn’t say anything. “It’s much stronger if there’s an air of mystery.”
Dante sighed loudly. “I don’t really care about the theatrics, but I like the idea of having more control of the waters.” Her face soured, “Pirates are beginning to get on my nerves.”
“We’re all in agreement then?” Charlie asked, looking around the room with his bright smile still plastered on his face.
“If any of you betray me or put my business in jeopardy, I won’t hesitate to kill you.” Weston said. He looked at every person in the room, and Hunter swore he spend half a second longer staring at her. She could almost hear his voice in her head: I saved you once, don’t expect me to do it again.
“Of course.” Charlie said. He bowed, taking his hat off before placing it back on his head. “I’m glad we could have this conversation.”
It took everything in Hunter’s power not to gape at the scene in front of her. It hadn’t seemed as if Charlie had done much, but he’d somehow convinced three of the most powerful people in the city to work together. She was both excited and terrified of what would happen.
“You, young lady, are going to be very busy soon.” Lucian said. He stood from his chair and grabbed his cane before turning to face her. “I suppose I’ll have to get started with working on our new territory. I’ll need a new bookstore built.”
As the two of them were walking out, Weston stepped in front of her and stared down at her expressionlessly. “I hope you don’t disappoint me.”
Her lips curled as she glared at him. Without saying another word, Weston pushed past Lucian, who’d stopped when Hunter had, and left the room. Unconcerned, Lucian kept walking and she quickly followed, not bothering to say goodbye to Dante or Charlie.
“So, what’s next?” She asked, stuffing her hands into her pockets after she retrieved her weapons from outside the office.
“Like I said, we’ll have to rebuild the Crow’s Nest,” Lucian said. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled just slightly. “After that, I suppose it’ll depend on who needs someone dead first.”
Danica Taylor, A Murder's Hunt
