Chapter 42 Maeve
MAEVE
I was putting the finishing touches on a pot roast a few days later when Rafe stepped into the loft with Lilah. Christmas was only ten days away, and I was trying to keep myself out of the hole of despair that beckoned whenever I thought about another Christmas without June.
I waved from the kitchen and Lilah came over to say hi while the guys made small talk.
“Well, that looks amazing,” she said, taking in the roast surrounded by fingerling potatoes, chunks of onion, and sprigs of rosemary and thyme.
I’d forgotten how pretty she was, with golden hair, bright green eyes, and a round face that made her look like an angel.
I smiled. “Enjoy the view while you can. These three will demolish it in under thirty minutes.”
“I wish I knew how to cook,” she said, tugging at the sleeves of her black hoodie. “Then again, maybe I don’t. Rafe, Nolan, and Jude eat like an army. I’d never leave the kitchen.”
“Who cooks at your place?” I picked up the enamel pot and walked it over to the oven.
“Mostly Jude and Nolan,” she said, “although Rafe does make killer tacos.”
“Lucky you.”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
“How long have you been together?” I was testing the waters, being nosy without asking the question I really wanted to ask, which was, Are you fucking all three of them?
It didn’t come from a place of judgement. Just a few days ago I’d gone down on Poe while Remy absolutely railed me from behind, and none of us had moved a muscle when Bram had walked in on the postcoital scene, all three of us ass-naked and intertwined on the sofa.
I was just curious. I’d heard about polyamorous relationships. Was that what this… whatever this thing was between Poe and Remy and me?
“Officially? About six months,” she said. “But we were on our way to it for a while.”
I lowered my voice as I wiped down the counter. “Do you mind if I ask…”
I trailed off, not wanting to offend her.
“How it works?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Honestly, I’m not sure. It just does.”
“Don’t they get jealous?” I’d never been more glad for both the cavernous great room and the booming voices of the Butchers as they talked about some new car that had just been released.
Hopefully they couldn’t hear me asking for tips from Lilah. I wasn’t even sure if they wanted an actual relationship with me, and it remained to be seen whether that was even possible with Bram.
She laughed. “Insanely, but not in that annoying insecure boyfriend way.” She blushed. “They just… compete for me in a way, but they’re also happy to… share?” Her cheeks turned a deeper shade of red. “Sorry, that’s probably TMI.”
“Not at all.” I pulled some beers out of the fridge. “I actually appreciate it. I didn’t know how to ask.”
“Is that how it is with you and the Butch— ” She shook her head. “With you and the guys?”
“It’s okay," I said. “I know what everyone calls them. And we’re not there yet. I’ve just been wondering how it would work.”
“I completely get it.” She leaned on the kitchen island. “My mom’s super religious, so it was pretty out of my comfort zone at first.”
“Oh wow, what does she think about the whole thing?” I asked.
She frowned. “We don’t really talk.”
“I’m sorry. That must be hard.” I couldn’t imagine not talking to my parents, but I was also lucky enough to know that they would love and support me no matter what I did, even if deep down they thought it was unhinged.
At least I hoped so.
“I’m kind of used to it,” she said. “Our relationship has always been difficult.”
“Good for you for making yourself happy.” I took a charcuterie board I’d prepared earlier out of the fridge. “Want to carry this while I get the beers?”
She laughed. “Now you’re just making me look bad.”
“From the way Rafe looks at you, I’m pretty sure that would be impossible.”
Rafe’s gaze landed on Lilah as we headed into the living room. The love on his face was obvious.
“Want to sit down?” Poe asked Rafe and Lilah.
“Sure.” Rafe took the beer I passed him and looked at the charcuterie. “Wow, that looks amazing.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Lilah said. “I’ll never be this good in the kitchen.”
He grinned. “The kitchen isn’t the room I think of when I think about you.”
She rolled her eyes with a smile.
“But maybe we can get Jude or Nolan to make us one of those sometime,” he said.
She stood on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss on the lips. “Now you’re talking.”
We got settled around the table and Rafe opened his laptop. “I’ll send this file to you, but I wanted to point some things out first.”
He pulled up an aerial view of a house and two smaller structures nestled in a thick stand of trees and I knew immediately it was the house purchased by Ethan Todd.
I hadn’t seen it up close when I’d done my drive-by, but I’d looked at the real estate listing enough times to recognize the massive main house with big windows, the outdoor complex out back, including a pool, hot tub, and sauna, and the two smaller buildings, which had been described as guesthouses in the listing.
“Let’s go over the house and property first,” Rafe said. “Then we’ll go again and talk about security and see if we can ID your man.”
He hit play on the video and it started over, this time over a wide swath of trees, the Blackwell River winding like a ribbon of glistening silk far below.
Then, a long stretch of gray nestled between stands of trees.
“Here you have the driveway leading to the compound,” Rafe said.
He narrated the rest: the big main house at the top of a hill, a series of pathways that led to the outdoor space, the two guesthouses, and a series of walking trails that led up into the woods behind the house.
“The fence doesn’t go all the way around the property,” Rafe said, "but it is electrified. It extends about a hundred yards on either side of the gate, right up to the heavily wooded areas that surround the house. I’m guessing whoever built it wasn’t as worried about security as its current owner.
Either that or they figured the woods offered enough protection from outsiders, which was a fair assumption if you’re just talking about the average hiker. ”
“So we can get in through the woods,” Bram said.
Rafe tipped his head. "You could, but you’d still have to deal with security. Hang on.”
He exited the current video and pulled up another one. This one was a zoomed-in view of the main house.
“I’ll put this one in slo-mo.” He pressed play and the video unfolded slowly.
Now I could see that there were men at the back of the house.
Men with guns.
“You can see this guy’s got some pretty heavy security,” Rafe said. “Way more than I’d expect even for an influencer who has a lot of haters. Any idea if this is new?”
“None,” Poe said. “This is the first glimpse we’re getting of the place.”
The drone swung around to the side of the house. “Not a lot of coverage on the side.” Rafe hit pause. “But if you look closely here, you can see the security cameras, and the lights, which are probably on a motion sensor.”
The video continued toward the outdoor space, the guesthouses, and the back of the property where there were no security guards.
He pressed a button on his laptop and the camera zoomed in.
“Again, you can see the cameras.” I might not have noticed them on my own, but once Rafe pointed them out it was obvious they were there.
Bram, Poe, and Remy were glued to the footage. I could almost see their minds working, trying to reason the best way in.
“Would it be better to try and take him out away from the house?” Remy asked.
“Do we even know if it’s really him?” Poe asked.
Rafe exited out of the screen and pulled up a third video. On this one a figure was frozen onscreen.
Rafe pressed play and the drone footage zoomed in increments until Rafe pressed pause again.
And there was Ethan Todd’s grainy face.
“That’s him.” My heart beat like a war drum in my chest.
Bram leaned in to look closer. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure.” Excitement gave me a shot of adrenaline. I was closer than I’d ever been to getting justice for June. “I knew it.”