Not So Innocent (Shattered Glass #2)

Chapter Eleven

Kelly pulled up to the Thorpe estate twenty-four minutes on the dot after hanging up with McCleary. Fresh snow had compromised a scene already three hours old. As she steered around the police cars and the crime scene van, Riley kept an eye out for evidence that might soon be buried under the deluge. “Footprints,” he said. “And tire tracks. Can you pull up to the corner a sec?”

Kelly rolled to a stop in the middle of the intersection. “This is about, what, fifty yards from the estate entrance?” she asked.

“Seems about right.” Riley answered. He rolled down his window to get a clearer view. In this isolated area, the footprints were out of place. He searched for paw prints that might account for someone walking their dog. Nada. “Car was parked here, then fishtailed as it took off. Another car followed. See how it crosses the first tracks? The treads are going to disappear soon,” he warned.

“I’ll try to get techs out here before more evidence is buried,” Kelly said, snapping pictures with her phone.

They drove back to the scene and were met by a uniformed police officer wearing a thick winter jacket. Layers of white dusted his hat and the whiskers of his beard. Riley and Kelly held up their IDs for inspection and introduced themselves, then they ducked under the yellow tape.

“I’m Officer Paul.” Behind officer Paul, two police vehicles boxed in a security company car. “That’s McKennan with the security guard who called it in. Officers Diggs and Perez are up at the house. The M.E. already took Mrs. Thorpe’s body to the morgue. She was found outside here by the pedestrian gate. They’re processing Mr. Thorpe’s body inside the house.”

“Thank you,” Kelly said. “Can you show me where Mrs. Thorpe was found, please.”

While she examined that scene, Riley walked back to the street, moving parallel to the footprints where the tracks diverged toward a copse of evergreens and pines.

Kelly peered through the metal estate gate into the small pedestrian alcove. “Two sets of clean prints running toward where you’re standing, Riles.” Clean meant unmarred by first responders.

“Chasing the two from back there, I’d wager.” Riley turned in a half-circle then asked her, “They fled to the grove, and then back to the car? Why not just go directly to the car?”

“If I were being chased and my choices were a dark, cold forest or a lit sidewalk, I’d run the fifteen extra yards to the car. Unless something blocked me.” She walked to the center of the road, crouched and lit the area with her phone. “Hmm.” She strode up the driveway and back.

“You see something?” Riley asked.

“Size fourteen? Fifteen? Don’t see a lot of people with that shoe size.” She took more pictures. “Visitors wouldn’t park that far. Perps had cars in the driveway. Some poor random people out for a walk?” she asked with a squint that said she was skeptical. “They stop here, outside the estate. Maybe they saw the body and took off?”

“They just happen to be strolling by this remote estate, during a snowstorm, when an FSI executive gets—” Oh, fuck. “What size?”

She looked up at him. He must have worn the answer on his face. Her shoulders dropped as she shook her head. “I need more evidence than a shoe print for a warrant. Let’s get a search of those trees going.”

“Officer Paul, I’ll need your assistance.” Riley indicated the urban forest across from them. “Has anyone cleared that area?”

“McKennan and I did a quick sweep after backup arrived.”

“Good. We’re going to do a thorough one before snow covers any more evidence.” Riley unclipped his holster.

“Yes, sir.”

As they walked off, Kelly interrupted the officer questioning the security guard. “Officer McKennan, could I have your vehicle aim its spotlight on the trees over there?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The voices trailed off as Riley moved east.

* * *

Inside Austin’s carriage house, Peter and Austin argued with The Starry Night as their backdrop. Cai sat between Rachel and Julian on the same sofa he’d spent nights chatting with Riley three years ago.

He tried not to look at the mural, tried not to remember the first time he’d been alone with Riley. But that question Julian had asked in the car repeated. “Why?” Cai couldn’t just point at The Starry Night and go, “That’s why!” He couldn’t explain that Riley was titanium zinc white because Julian would say something like, “Are you cracked?’ Even Cai couldn’t quite explain it. He could saturate a canvas, make others feel emotion with the sweep of a brush, but explain a feeling, a relationship this deep and complicated with words?

Serenity, if he had to use a word.

“Isn’t that supposed to be a tree?” Riley asked.

“Oh. Um. The shadow?” Cai gently took Riley’s tablet and then Googled Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. “See, if you look here, doesn’t it look like the church? The tree, I mean. All the gnarled branches and this large one jutting out the top—it’s the steeple, right? The tree’s like a displaced shadow of the church, only...” Only twisted and misshapen, he wanted to say, but Riley’s smile clamped off his voice.

“Nikolaj?”

Flustered, Cai gave the tablet back without a word.

Riley glanced briefly at the scars on his arms as he took it.

The smile didn’t falter. Not even for a second.

“I heard voices,” Cai explained, hiding the scars on his neck under his palm. “I heard voices and thought...I thought I could bleed them out of my brain. It seems crazy, now, even to me. But, um, it made sense at the time.”

“Nikolaj, the only shame with mental illness is on those who shame you.”

Cai couldn’t restrain his grin as a dam of gratitude burst inside him. “Better. I’m better. With drugs. Legal drugs. I’m going to be normal. Mostly. A little duller.”

“Until then, lock up all the sharp objects?”

Cai dropped his innocent facade, and his grin turned into wonder. No one had ever been this authentic with him about his illness. Who are you, Agent Cordova?

Julian elbowed him out of the memory. His attention snapped back to the present and a whole lot of yelling.

“He’s not going to the fucking police, Austin! I’m not arguing about it anymore,” Peter ground out. “You want him to go to fucking cops who set him up last time? They knew he’d just been—they knew what he’d been through, and they locked him in a cell with that freaking maniac who’d burned his parents alive!”

Austin’s hair usually looked like a cigar end had exploded on his head. Now, it lay flat on the sides as he slid his fingers through it for the tenth time. “He needs to turn himself in. All hiding does is make him look guilty. Angelica will be with him. She won’t let him get arrested.”

“Are they always like this?” Julian asked.

“Yes,” Cai and Rachel answered.

“Them deciding what you’ll do or them arguing?”

“Yes,” they answered again.

“Completely bonkers, your family.”

The heavy front door swung open and nearly ripped off the hinges with the force.

“For fuckssake!” Austin yelled. “I just replaced that goddamned door!”

“Fuck your door, douchetube.” Dare scanned the room, his green eyes landing on Julian. He back-kicked the door, slamming it shut hard enough that a breeze floated the hair off the back of Cai’s neck. Then, Dare took off his puffy jacket and tossed it onto the chair.

“Dare,” Peter warned and moved to block his path.

“I’m only going to say this once. Get out of the way, Rabbit.” Dare swept his blond hair into a ponytail and knotted it with an extra strand. In his bright yellow corduroys and matching Lycra top, he looked like a beam of sunlight. And just as fierce. He pinned Julian with a heated glare.

Oh, no . Cai jumped up and stood between Dare and his target. “It’s not his fault.”

“What’s happening?” Julian asked, looking right and left. “What Rabbit?”

“I’m going to give you every gay boy’s dream—a second asshole,” Dare said. “That’s what’s happening.”

“Rabbit’s Peter’s nickname,” Rachel whispered. “‘Cause of the twitchy nose thing. And Dare’s gonna kill you ‘cause you slept with Cai or he thinks you got Cai in trouble. Not sure which. Could be both.”

“Perfect.” Austin sank into his armchair and crossed his ankle over his knee. “We didn’t have enough chaos? You had to light the Batshit-Crazy Signal?”

Peter stopped Darryl with a hand against his chest. “This is not going to help.”

After jamming his sleeves up to his elbows, Dare pointed a bony finger at Julian. “When I’m done with him”—he switched his aim to Austin—“I’m coming for you. First, I’m going to kick that—what’s an insult to call British people?”

“American?” Julian supplied.

Dare’s eyes blew open. He pushed Peter out of the way and came nose-to-chest with Cai. Undeterred, he looked up. “Move.”

“No,” Cai said, blocking with a sidestep. Dare would never hurt him, but there was a chance he would end up hogtied with the nearest cord. He dipped his head and peered at his brother through his lashes.

“I taught you that look, Cai, and I will smack the innocence right outta you if you try it on me again. Now, for the last time, move.”

Julian looked around Cai. “Why does a sunflower petal want to kick my ass?”

“I’ll show you a fucki—”

Cai covered Dare’s mouth just as Stuart came down the stairs.

“How come people are screaming?” Stuart rubbed his eyes, brown hair poking out like bicycle spokes.

“Grown up stuff, Stu. It’s boring,” Austin said as he stood up. He lightly tackled Stuart and lifted him over his shoulder. “Rachel, come help me tuck your favorite boy back into bed.”

“I’m too old to be tucked in, Austin.” Stuart looked up from Austin’s back. “And to be carried off. I want to watch Uncle Darryl kick that man’s ass.”

“Me too,” Austin said. “But Peter won’t let that happen. He’s not fun like we are.” He pointed up the stairs. “Rachel.”

“My vagina does not make me better at tucking in nine-year-old boys than any of you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her audience. “I have more sack than all of you put together. Why should I go upstairs?”

“Misogyny noted, but you made the decision to stay with us. Your decisions are done for the night. It’s neither your vagina nor your sack’s business what Cai and Julian decide to do.” Austin moved aside to wait for her to pass him.

“I’m nine. Too old to be picked up!” Stuart, seemingly exhausted from holding his head up, dangled with a put-upon sigh. “What kind of sack? Is that like balls? Why does she have a sack? Does she mean her boobs?”

The questions continued as they climbed, along with Austin’s repeated answer, “Ask Peter.”

“Drop it, Dare,” Peter said once they were out of earshot. “We’ve got enough to deal with. I don’t need to protect them from you, too.”

Darryl kept the vehement finger pointed at Julian and jabbed. “I told you not to let Cai move in with him.”

“He’s nineteen. What did you want me to do?”

“How about not paying his rent?”

After seeing Stuart get the same childish treatment Cai had always gotten, a ball of anger erupted from him. “I pay my own rent with my own jobs!”

Darryl thumped down onto the arm of the recliner, and Peter swiped his palm over his mouth as he leaned against the wood banister.

“Both of you stop deciding things for me,” Cai added quietly.

“So we’re clear,” Julian said. “Am I still under threat from the sentient banana over there?”

“Do you really think you should be talking right now, cocksocket?” Dare asked. “If it wasn’t for you making Cai second-guess killing that fuckwad, you both could have ran out of there sooner, and we wouldn’t have to worry about killers being after us.”

Cai started to respond but was interrupted by Julian.

“You mean I was supposed to let him…? Now I see why he thinks it’s fine to go shooting people in the face. He was raised by mental people. Look, I’ve said already, they didn’t see him. I only knew it was him because he was the bigger moving tree!”

Cai slouched. “I—”

“We’re not taking any chances,” Peter said. “Stuart needs to be safe. We react like they already know who we are. We take every precaution, including finding a safer place to stay. I’ll call Mama. You three get some sleep down here, and we’ll all leave in a few hours. I better go tell Austin the plan.”

Guilt bore down on Cai, draining his indignation away, forcing himself to meet Peter’s intense blue eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said. Sorry for a million things.

Peter stopped on the way upstairs. He clamped his lips tight and dragged a hand through his hair. Without looking at Cai, he said, “Okay.” Typical Peter to say it all in one word. Okay, we’re good. Okay, I love you. But his footsteps sounded heavy as he climbed up the stairs.

Cai took a deep breath before heading outside into the courtyard—away from the mural, and the guilt, and all the reminders of his mistakes. He pushed the snow off a metal bench and sat on the leftover droplets, letting them seep into his jeans.

Stuart and Rachel’s giggles trickled down from the only lit room near the attic. The rest of the apartment building was completely dark. Cai looked up at the various windows and wondered what it would be like to sleep without nightmares or nervous energy. His apartment was never dark.

Dare came outside and lit up a cigarette on the stoop. Cai tensed, ready to defend himself. Then he glared at the cigarette.

“Quit looking at me like that.” Dare climbed down the steps and dropped the cigarette, stomping it into the concrete. Tossing one end of his scarf over his shoulder, he leaned against the fence.

“I wanted to be alone?” Cai said.

“And I wanted to be balls-deep in the hairy biker I had licking my boots an hour ago.”

Cai scooped up a helping of snow and began to sculpt. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re not. Not about what you should be sorry for.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel!”

“Don’t cop attitude with me. Whatever you’re into, Cai, you should have come to us before it got this bad.”

“I couldn’t come to you.”

“Bullshit,” Dare said. “There’s nothing we won’t do for you.”

“Yes, exactly. There’s nothing you won’t do.”

Dare appeared to be in thought. He nodded as if he understood, but then he said, “You can’t keep this shit to yourself anymore. Rabbit’s going to want to know what happened. Why you got involved in another fuck-up.”

“You don’t want to know?”

Dare pulled on his gloves and wiped the seat next to Cai. After folding his scarf in half, he used it to make a small dry area for himself. “Would it make me want to smack you in the mouth?”

“Yeah.” Dare was all talk. He’d never hit him. Cai smiled to himself and leaned into Dare’s thin form. They sat silently while his brother’s anger simmered and cooled.

New abrasions and scabs hid Dare’s scarred knuckles. His bouncer job kept him busy. How was he so angry when all he did was blow off steam?

“How come you never taught me how to fight?” Cai asked.

“We taught you how to run. Well, Rabbit did.”

Running hadn’t helped three years ago. If he’d been able to defend himself... “You taught Peter how to fight.”

“Rabbit lets people get too close.” Darryl rested his arm on the back of the bench and placed his other hand over Cai’s heart. It put him close enough that Cai could smell strawberry lip gloss. “Everything Rabbit has is in here, and he just offers it up,” Dare said. “Like to that foot-in-mouth disease in there. Rabbit needed to learn how to push people away.”

“I let Iss get too close,” Cai said.

“You did a stupid thing ‘cause you were pissed. Hey.” Dare grabbed his chin and tilted it, locking their gazes. “No one could have fought Iss off. Not Peter. Not even me.” He poked Cai’s forehead. “Everything you have is right in here. It’ll tell you when to run. Don’t ever let anger cloud your judgment again.” He looked toward the house. “Speaking of fighting, does he know how to?”

“Julian? Not really. He looks strong, but he’s kind of delicate. Or not delicate...refined, I guess. He pretends to be street.”

Dare stared at the door. “I had a boyfriend like that once. He liked to wear a napkin like a bib around his balls so when I—”

Cai covered Dare’s mouth again. “Please stop.” He laughed, unable to prevent the images produced. While it was nice that at least one brother made the effort to talk to him openly about sex, he wouldn’t mind going back to the days when that kind of thing was taboo. “Not an image of my brother that I want in my head.”

Dare grinned and let out a small chuckle. Even that sounded low and wicked. He tapped out a new cigarette, met Cai’s eyes and then ground his teeth together. Instead of smoking it, he tore at the paper and squished the tobacco between his thumb and finger. The brown bits scattered over his thighs. “Now, do you wanna tell me what you’re really doing out here.”

Was this the time to talk about it? Could he end this with a whisper in his brother’s ear? “I’m tired,” Cai wanted to say. “I can’t shake it. My pills aren’t helping.” What he said instead was, “Figuring things out.” He sat back, taking comfort in the soft pressure of Dare’s arm against his back. The brief solace didn’t change anything. He couldn’t risk his brothers finding out the truth. Definitely not about Tommy. “I need you to look after Julian. He’s going to do some stupid things.”

“What are you gonna do?”

“I think...I think I have to talk to Riley.”

“You can’t trust cops.”

“What about Austin?”

“Austin was more than willing to fuck up his career for Peter. Riley’s whole self-image is wrapped up in the FBI. Why do you think Peter has worked so hard at keeping you away from him?”

Cai appraised his brother, then looked up at the upstairs window where Peter and Austin were probably talking. How many times, how many people did he have to make understand? “You’ll all do anything for me. But Riley will do the right thing, Dare.”

“If you go talk to him tonight, you gotta live with what he’ll do.” Darryl flicked the butt of the unsmoked cigarette over the fence and into the parking lot. “You ain’t gonna listen to me. You always gotta be like Rabbit. Riley is not Austin. When Riley’s career is on the line, you’re the first weight he’ll cut free.”

Cai’s voice came out thick and low. “If that time comes, I’ll walk away. But I’m not going to back off now because there’s the possibility of hurting later. I trust him.”

Dare slipped his hand into Cai’s hair, pulling the snow through it. “Ya know, I always thought we’d be closer. That you’d come to me for advice. Take after me.”

“Maybe we will be. Someday.” When you’re not so angry all the time, Cai added silently.

“Gotta be more careful who you let in. You and me, we only have so much room inside for anyone else.”

“You and I,” Julian corrected from the top of the stoop. He braced the door open with his shoulder while he rubbed his arms.

Dare stood and picked up his scarf, winding it around Cai’s neck before climbing the stairs. At the top, he slid his knuckles down Julian’s cheek. “Correct me again, and you and me are going to have an intimate moment with a baseball bat and no lube.”

“Is there an option for cuddling after?”

“There’s an option for my fist.”

“Kinky.” Julian looked back inside, stepped out, then let the door close quietly. Shivering, he stuck his hands in his pocket and scrunched himself tight as he spoke to Cai. “I’m meant to tell you to come in. But let’s just fuck off now.”

Cai rubbed his face and took a deep breath. “We need to talk.”

“I’ll tell Rabbit we’re leaving,” Dare said. Julian and he eyed each other like prizefighters. “Put your coat on, fuckwit.”

“You’re quite foul-mouthed. For a sparkly, little fairy.”

Dare’s expression never wavered as his punch connected.

Julian doubled over, wrapping his arms around his stomach while gasping for air. Dare leaned in and left a glossy kiss on his cheek before knocking Julian out of the way as he went inside. He tossed out a coat that landed on Julian’s head and then slammed the door.

Cai really should have warned his friend about Dare. “Did you know people used to hang items in their homes to ward fairies off because they believed they were actually demons?”

* * *

Flashes of red and blue from the police cruisers lit up the first few groups of trees but not much farther beyond that. Cold found an easy way in, numbing Riley’s face and stiffening his hand around the flashlight. That same cold had prevented a continuous trail from being left on the ground. Bits of cracked snow hinted that someone, or something, had broken through the top layer, but in the dark, even with a flashlight, it was next to impossible to follow. And Riley had an urban forest the size of a football field to search.

Officer Paul’s footsteps crunched between him and the road, keeping a separate, parallel, path. Beams from their lights sometimes crossed between the trees.

They moved methodically through the grid Riley had haphazardly drawn of the forest. It was easy to move slowly since his legs were practically ice at this point. He was just about to take a break to warm up when his flashlight skimmed over a dark patch on the ground. At the same time Officer Paul called out, “Agent Cordova, I’ve got some casings here.” Finally, they’d found a scene.

“Mark each one for the crime lab,” Riley called back. Kelly rang as he crouched for a closer look. Three bloodstains coalescing into one. While pulling his phone out, his light flashed over a broken branch. “Cordova,” he said, hooking his earpiece over his ear and pocketing his phone.

“I’m standing over a corpse with no junior partner to boss around so I can look important,” Kelly said. “Where are you?”

“Southeast of you. We found the scene. Casings, a thick branch with a clump of bloody hair, and what looks like a pool of blood. We’ll need more people to finish the grid search for a victim, but there are drops leading toward the road.” A scrap of yellow caught the outer edge of his beam. He trudged over to it.

“I’ll get more teams out there to search asap, and let local hospitals know we want victim reports,” she said. “Riles?”

“Yeah,” he answered breathlessly. “I need a tech out here.”

As tribute to her Peruvian grandmother, Riley’s mother knitted clothing as gifts. Chullo hats with dangling tassels, too-big sweaters, lopsided scarves, and mittens. The hallmark of the ugly things was her overuse of mustard-colored wool, and llamas. The llamas were always disproportionate, their legs too short, necks crooked, teeth bigger than the animal’s head. Some looked like goats, and several were just missing legs altogether. She passed them out to family. Only Cai wore the damn atrocities.

“Are you okay, Riles? You sound like you’re running.”

He jerked upright. “Fine. Worried he’s hurt. This is a lot of blood.”

“Did he sound injured on the phone?”

“He sounded calm.”

“After being chased down by men with guns?”

“He’s had a lot of experience running from people who want to kill him.” Riley pulled an evidence baggy from his inside pocket and stuffed the hat in it. “Anything up there?”

“Cameras were all disabled before the estate was breeched,” Kelly said. “That was our best shot to get them both in our custody, immediately. We don’t have enough for Strakosha, but you said they’d be together. I have more than enough on Lange. Two birds, one BOLO.”

“Let me get him,” he suggested. “He’s likely with Peter.”

“The one who hates cops?”

“Austin is Peter’s boyfriend and he’s a former cop. He’ll be reasonable.” She said nothing. “Two Denver detectives set him up, Kelly. If he gets picked up by the police, he’ll shut down.”

“If you think he’ll be more cooperative that way, bring him in by tomorrow afternoon,” Kelly said. “Now, I need you up here.”

“Be there in ten to fifteen.”

She hung up.

“What’s that?” Officer Paul asked as he walked over.

Riley looked at his hand. One of the ‘llamas’ squashed against the plastic as he clenched the baggy. “A gift from my mother.” Why did he say that instead of ‘evidence’?

“In an evidence bag?”

“I dropped it in some water.”

“Is that an anteater?”

“Yes,” he deadpanned.

“No offense to your mother, but wow, that’s awful.”

“If you find a way to offend my mother’s knitting, let me know. Someone needs to stop her from making these.” Riley stuck the fucking thing in his pocket. So far, it was the only hard evidence Cai had been here. Kelly could use it to arrest him if he wouldn’t talk. Without the hat, they couldn’t hold him, unless they found stronger evidence. “Seal off this area,” Riley said. “Wait here for the crime lab.” He handed the officer his business card. “If they’re not here in ten minutes, call me. Don’t be stubborn and freeze.”

“Yes, sir.”

Riley walked out of earshot and made another call.

God damn that kid.

* * *

Cai turned his phone off as Julian stumbled over and sat beside him. “You okay?”

“That was a sucker punch,’ Julian said. “He won’t do it twice”

“Yes, he will.”

“It was a lucky shot. I wasn’t expecting it.” Julian put his coat on and then pulled his grey beanie out of the pocket. He twirled it around his index finger while leaning back against the bench and staring up at the sky.

“You’re like a magpie tricked by the light,” Cai said. “All you see is shiny gloss and glitter. You won’t see the sharp edges until your face is sliced open.”

“Magpie? That your new pet name for me?” Julian looked at the carriage house as the last of the upstairs lights went out. “It’s time to get out of here. Where we stayin’?” he asked.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” Cai said it gently because he knew this would hit Julian hard. “I-I’m going to Riley.”

The hat stopped spinning. Julian clutched it in a tight fist. “We’re so close. You want to fuck it all up? After a year?”

“We almost died tonight. Other people did die,” Cai said.

“We only need a few more days. You’ll see.” Julian leaned in, his hand surprisingly warm as he cupped Cai’s cheek. His lips were even warmer, drawing a shiver and heartache at the same time. Julian’s manipulations were difficult to fight. “We’ll go to a hotel while Rach works out how to get the password code. We can pretend we’re on holiday, like Madrid. You can wear a dress again.”

So easy to give in. Part of Cai wanted to. It was nice to be cherished instead of pushed away. “Julian, stop.” Immediately, he regretted halting the kiss. His lips burned from the cold. “It’s over.”

“Is this about me not letting you shoot all the people?”

“No. It’s about Peter and Stuart and Austin. We said we’d keep it away from them. When it was just you and me—”

“Oh, thanks very much for that.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Cai said. “We made the choice. They didn’t.”

Julian tapped his foot, vibrating the bench. “So what now? Just going to trust the FBI with an investigation of State Bloody Senator Cole and all his government lackeys?”

“Not the FBI. Riley.”

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.” Julian shook his leg so hard the screws in the metal arms squeaked. “We’ve almost got him.”

“No, we don’t,” Cai replied tersely. “We have papers which we can’t authenticate because the source is dead. A disk drive that we can’t get into because it’s encrypted. An encryption key that needs a password. And killers who are after us because they somehow figured out that we got all of that. Now, if you’re making a list, like I am, what we have is a big fat zero and what they have is a lot of guns and personnel.”

“Yes, but now we have a gun.”

“No, I have a gun. With limited bullets. All of which I’m tempted to use right now on your crotch, because if I maim that, maybe you can think properly.”

“That’d be hilarious if I didn’t think you would actually shoot me.” Julian must have seen his reaction because he threw up his hands in defense. “Okay. Listen, you told me we’d be safe with the FBI investigating them.”

“I said they would probably back off you if the FBI was investigating. They aren’t. And when I told you that, all the bad guys had to worry about was a bigger newspaper picking up your unsubstantiated story. This is different. They killed Zip and Thorpe. There is a team of them. Or teams. We don’t even know how many we’re up against. And it’s pretty obvious that whatever is on that hard drive, they will kill to cover it up.”

“Right, that’s it then, is it?”

It was hard to read if Julian had given up or was trying to figure out a way to manipulate the situation.

“Have you called your parents to get them somewhere safe?” Cai asked, reminding Julian what the stakes were.

“Yeah. Mum’s steamin’ but I got her to listen. They’re on their way to Manchester to visit Auntie Salima.”

“Okay. That’s good.” Cai watched the house, wondering why he hadn’t thought to keep his own family safe. This mess…all the years of planning, and it’d spun out of control.

Another layer of snow fell on the courtyard before either of them spoke again.

“I’m not going with you,” Julian said, tucking Cai’s hair back behind his ear. “I’m writing this story.”

“I figured. I’ll...be vague where I can.” Cai slipped his mittens on and stole his friend’s hat for the cold run ahead of him. “Leave the car here. Go with Dare. He’ll protect you.”

“Protect me how? I’ve pencils bigger than him.”

Cai paused at that, not to defend his brother, but because it occurred to him that Darryl would sleep with Julian.

“Julian, don’t um...Never mind.” He didn’t have to worry about his friend’s heart. Julian couldn’t lose it to Dare if it still belonged to Jonathan, after all. “I can’t know where you are. I won’t be able to lie to Riley. At least not well. Switch to the new burner phone, leave the number on our site. Hide it as the post code. I’ll text you.”

“And you and me?” Julian asked.

There’s never been a you and me. There’s me, settling for a lesser kind of love, and there’s you in love with a dead man.

“Cai, if I said I love—”

“You’d be lying,” Cai replied, and then quickly changed the subject. “How long do you need?”

“Dunno. Depends on how easy Cole’s password is to find.”

“Without Thorpe, I’m not sure Rach can find it.”

“Can I at least have a few days? We can dig through Cole’s trash, find some old passwords or somethin’. Or get into his office. Probably has it written down there, if it’s like Rach said.”

“Okay. I’m still going to Riley, but...I’ll push the FSI angle. If the FBI drags Cole’s attention away, it’ll keep you safer for a bit. A few days, that’s what you get. Then I tell him everything.”

Almost everything.