Free Jamie Garrett - Riley Reid 03 - Ends and Beginnings by Jamie Garrett

accompanied by a heavily tattooed man in a beige jumpsuit. The tattooed man was walked around to his side of the table, and the guard attached the chains around his wrists and ankles to the floor and table.
    “Fifteen minutes,” said the second guard, before nodding to the other in the corner, and leaving. I could feel the first guard’s eyes on me.
    The inmate’s hair was grey and cut extremely short. Wrinkles on his face conveyed a life hard-lived. He had grey stubble that would have formed a full beard if left unshaven. His eyes were fierce and blue.
    Harlan stared at me for a few moments, then opened his mouth. “What the fuck do you want?” His voice was deep and scratchy.
    “I’m…”
    “I know who you are, Riley Reid. What do you want?”
    “I wanted to ask you some questions about my father, Troy Reid.”
    Harlan smiled, then took out a cigarette. He also had a box of matches that he retrieved from his prison pants pocket. I didn’t think that was allowed in jail. When I glanced over at the guard, he now seemed to be purposefully looking anywhere but at the crime lord.
    “You didn’t come here to tell me where my money is?” asked Harlan. He leaned back in his chair.
    “Your money?”
    “The money that your old man stole from me. I want it back.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I knew my dad had stolen something from Harlan Green from his note. I didn’t know how much money he’d taken, but if Harlan was still after it, then it must’ve been quite a bit.
    “Sure, you don’t. Why should I talk to you, girl? What’s in it for me? For all I care, you never learn anything about your piece-of-shit thieving dad.”
    I let the insults slide. Getting lippy with a crime lord was not a good idea. No matter what he said, I’d have to stay calm and composed. Otherwise, I’d never get the answers I wanted.
    “Well, Mr. Greene…”
    Harlan interrupted me. “Harlan.”
    “Well, Harlan, if you tell me about my dad it might give me some clues about where your money is.”
    “And you’ll just give it to me once you find it? Is that what I’m supposed to believe?”
    “I don’t give a damn what you believe.” I thought back to the man I’d seen at the fountain, and then looked again at Harlan. An idea occurred to me. It was worth a shot.
    “Anyway, I know you have people following me. So if I find it, so do they, right?”
    Harlan leaned forward. He flicked off the ashes of his cigarette on the table top. “I suppose you have a point. What is it you want to know?”
    Well, at least I knew who was following me now.
    “I want to know who my dad was. I want to hear it from you.”
    Harlan smiled again. “If you insist. Your daddy, Troy Reid, was a thief and a drug dealer. He worked for me. I didn’t know him all that well. He was small time. I had him flipping dimes and dubs to high schoolers and college students. Or at least, my man in Virginia did.
    “Anyway, I heard he started robbing other drug dealers. I didn’t give a shit. They were the competition and like everything else, I got a kickback from it. That’s all I knew of him before he decided he wanted to rob one of my poker games.”
    “Poker games?” I asked. I had my notepad out at that point and was trying my best to record every word Harlan told me.
    “I used to go around to the different cities I had business in. It was a chance for me to make sure nobody was skimming and get some face time with the people running my franchises. One night, I had a game over in Richmond.
    “Don’t get shit twisted. Your daddy wasn’t invited. I’d never play cards or spend any time with someone like that. He was a leech, a parasite. But he showed up anyway. And when he did, it was with a ski mask and a shotgun.
    “The idiot started waving his gun around demanding our money. He had the drop on us, so we had no choice. We gave our shit up. The little weasel had some inside info, though.”
    “From who?”
    “Shit, I don’t