Cop Said “You Two Aren't Welcome Here” To Twins — Both Were Federal Agents Investigating Him
Chapter 2
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Hank swallowed hard. He took the envelope and slipped it under the cash register.A young woman with an auburn ponytail came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of clean glasses. She was Lucy Delaney, Hank's granddaughter. She was 24, and she had worked behind this bar since she was old enough to carry a tray."Grandpa, you look like you saw a ghost," she said. Then she saw the twins and stopped. "Oh, is this them?""Just pour them something, honey," Hank said.Lucy poured two sodas with lime and set them down. She leaned in close. "He's mean," she whispered. "I mean really mean. Last year a man told him no; Dempsey arrested him in front of his own kids. Said he smelled weed. There wasn't any weed.""We know," Kendra said gently. "That's why we're here."Jayda lifted her soda and took a small sip. With her other hand, she touched the second button on her jacket: it looked like a plain brown button, but it was a camera—it could see the whole bar and hear every word spoken within 20 feet."Recording," Jayda murmured.Kendra nodded and looked at Hank. "Here's what happens tonight: he walks in, he takes the envelope. You don't argue. You don't look at us. You let him take it and leave. That's all."Hank wiped the bar with a rag—the same spot over and over. "30 years I've stood behind this bar," he said. "My daddy stood here before me. I paid that man every Friday for 11 years because I was scared." He stopped wiping. "I'm done being scared. I'm done paying.""After tonight," Kendra said, "you won't have to."The clock above the mirror said 8:58. Lucy went back to the kitchen. Hank moved down the bar to fill a pitcher. The ballgame went to a commercial; somebody laughed at a table in the back. Kendra kept her eyes on the mirror, where she could see the front door. Jayda kept her hands around her glass.8:59."You good?" Jayda asked without moving her lips."Always," Kendra said.At 9:00 exactly, the front door banged open so hard it hit the wall. A police sergeant walked in: a big man in a dark blue uniform with short brown hair and a short beard, boots loud on the wood floor, a gold badge on his chest with the name tag Dempsey underneath.The whole bar went quiet—the way a room goes quiet when everyone in it is afraid of the same person. Dempsey smiled like he liked it that way. He started toward the register. Then he saw the two women at the bar, and he stopped walking.His smile went flat. He looked at Kendra, looked at Jayda, looked back at Kendra."Well, look at this," he said loudly. "You two aren't welcome here."Nobody in Delaney's Tavern moved. The jukebox kept playing; the ballgame came back on, but every face in the room had turned toward the bar.Dempsey walked up slowly and stood right behind the twins, putting one hand on the bar between their glasses. "Did you hear me?" he said. "I said you two aren't welcome here."