Chapter 19
HARLOW
"We can't just…answer that." I stared at the phone while Cass scrambled to his feet and bolted to his bedroom. He came back with his laptop, all but slammed it down on the table and wrenched it open.
The phone stopped ringing.
"Typical," Boner remarked.
I hummed my agreement. "I guess if it's important—"
The phone started ringing again.
Cass gestured something vague, but then nodded and waved his hand at the phone, indicating that someone should answer it.
Drawing my lower lip between my teeth and biting down, I leaned forward to press on the screen and answer the call.
Fairfield's voice came from Cass' computer.
"Hello?"
"I missed you at the little soirée at the gallery." It was the same voice that responded. Eros.
Or was it? Something about it was off. I leaned forward so I could listen better.
Cass typed quickly.
"Sorry, I got caught up in a situation. You know how it is." The similarity to the real Fairfield made my skin crawl. Yet, sitting here, listening the differences were subtle. A slightly stilted word here or there, lacking inflection. The word 'sorry' lacked any sincerity.
Although, if anyone was expecting sincerity from Fairfield, they might be looking in the wrong place.
"Indeed I do," Eros replied. "The party was interesting. It's a shame you missed it."
"Oh, interesting how?" the laptop asked. "Did I miss some good champagne?"
Boner mouthed, "Priorities."
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. Cass was right to ask that though; Fairfield was the kind of man who'd care.
"You missed superb hors d'oeuvres," Eros replied. "I understand they came from that pleasant little Italian restaurant a couple of blocks away."
I stared at the phone. Of course he knew my restaurant. What else did he know?
When Cass glanced at me I nodded. His fingers flew over the keyboard.
"Such a shame they had to close the place for a while," the laptop said.
"You heard about that?" Eros said.
"Did you think one of her staff would be brutally murdered and I wouldn't know?" Fairfield would have sounded more offended, but it was the best we could do. "Of course I heard."
"It was necessary," Eros said. "Miss St. James is getting suspicious of me. Or so I was told."
I curled my hands into fists. I wanted to ask who told him, but that would give all of us away immediately.
"I'm sure she won't be poking around anymore," the laptop said. "If I was her, I'd be running scared."
Cass gave me an apologetic look, which I respond to with a shrug. He had to answer like Fairfield would, regardless of my feelings.
"She's a nuisance and needs to be taken care of," Eros said. "I don't want Hypnos and Zeus to think we're incompetent."
Cass hesitated, his hands hovering over the keyboard before he started to type out another message.
"We should take care of the matter before they have any reason to believe that."
"I agree completely," Eros said. "Which is why I have a plan in place. In fact, that's the reason for this call. We should meet to discuss the details."
Cass grimaced.
Boner pulled the keyboard over to him and typed.
"I'd love to, but that business situation took me to the Caribbean. Looks like I'm going to be stuck here for at least another week. My resort down here is a mess."
Jules spread his hands in a 'what the hell, dude?' gesture.
Boner waved at him to chill out.
"I heard you had some difficulty with that place," Eros said. "I told you not to buy it."
We all stared at Boner, who grinned at us and replied with, "I know you did, but I couldn't resist. Beaches and bikinis. Not to mention good food and cocktails."
"The simple pleasures in life," Eros said. "Fine, I'll deal with her myself. I trust you remember our agreement."
"Of course I do," the laptop replied. "Is there anything I can help you with from a distance?"
We all listened with interest.
"No, I'll get everything under control," Eros said. "I'll be in contact." The call ended.
"How did you know he had a resort in the Caribbean?" Jules asked Boner.
"I found out a few things about our old friend Granger Fairfield before we took care of him," Boner said easily. "Including the fact he bought a resort from the previous owners who were losing money hand over fist. Call it an educated guess."
"And we know Eros is planning to go after Harlow," Cass said, looking furious.
"Do any of you recognize his voice?" Jules asked.
"That's not his voice," I said. When they all turned to stare at me I said, "He's using a voice changer as well. His voice has the same lack of inflection as ours. When he said the simple pleasures in life, he didn't sound wistful, like people usually do."
"Fuck," Cass whispered. "I should have heard that."
"It doesn't matter." I shook my head. "The fact is, that could be anyone on the other end of that phone. Young, old. We don't know."
"We do know Hypnos and Zeus know, but they aren’t a part of this. Not immediately." Boner pointed out. "Whatever this prick is doing, he's working alone. Or… Not with them anyway."
"We also know Fairfield and Eros aren't as powerful as Hypnos and Zeus," Archer said. "Even without hearing his actual voice, the words suggest he’s subservient in some way. If they think he’s not competent, he has something to lose. Otherwise, he'd ask for help."
"Makes sense," I agreed. "That would also suggest he's planning to act quickly. He doesn't want to wait for Fairfield to return from his beach holiday."
That filled me with both dread and anticipation. He'd be coming after me, but it also gave me an opportunity to take care of him. If we were careful, we could do it without Hypnos and Zeus finding out.
Potentially, that could make it easier for us to deal with them. Those were eggs I wouldn't count until they were hatched. Or at least perfectly scrambled.
"Is there any way to find out where he's calling from?" Jules asked. "If we could get to him before he got to us." He looked around the table. "What? This is an us thing, like it or not."
"Of course it is," I assured him. "We all understand the situation. Just because Eros only mentioned me by name doesn't mean you aren't included in this. Cass and Jules in particular."
Cass pulled the laptop back over in front of himself. "Probably not," he admitted. "I put measures in to stop him from finding us. It'll do the same in reverse. It works well, until it doesn't."
He worked for a couple of minutes, then sighed, looking regretful. "It's worked exactly the way it's supposed to."
"That leaves us no closer than we were," I said, toying with the end of my hair. "All we know is he's coming after us and he's leaving out the big guns. Assuming that's what Hypnos and Zeus are."
I agreed with Archer's assessment. It made way too much sense not to. Even amongst men like this, there was a hierarchy. Considering how powerful Fairfield was, I hated to think what the top of the proverbial totem pole was like.
"It's nothing we can't handle, love," Boner said. "I'd say they'll live to regret getting on the wrong side of us, but they won't. Not for very long. Which brings me back to that box of yours."
He seemed to have taken a shine to it.
"You want to test it out?" Jules asked, as if Boner was offering to step inside and be locked up.
"Not personally," Boner said, lacing his fingers together and placing his hands on the table in front of him. "I'd like to see it in action. Sue me."
"We'll get the chance," Archer said. "We're all good at what we do. We have practice. We want to kill them more than they want to kill us."
"We need to give them a chance to find us," I said reluctantly. "I need to reopen the restaurant, and Boner, you need to reopen your gallery. We need to act like nothing is wrong."
"Harlow—" Cass started.
"She's right," Jules interrupted. He raised his hands when Cass rounded on him. "You know she is. We could sit here for the rest of our lives, hiding out, or we can hide in plain sight."
"What are you proposing?" Boner asked him, looking doubtful.
"There's five of us and two businesses," Jules said slowly. "If they open up again, we can split between the two and wait them out. Three of us at the restaurant, two at the gallery."
Boner opened and closed his mouth, before tilting his head to the side and exhaling.
"That's actually a good idea. I'll take Archer. Titmus the elder and Titmus the younger can take the restaurant. Greater numbers, can take better care of Harlow."
Before I could protest he raised a finger and added, "Eros is more likely to come after the restaurant. The more people there, the better."
"Right," I said after a moment. I didn't want anyone treating me like a damsel in distress, but he had a point. They'd already come after the restaurant once, there was reason to think they'd do it again. They saw the place as a vulnerable target.
I couldn't express how much I hated that. Angel’s Rest was supposed to be a haven of sorts. For people like I thought Erin was. For me.
That idea was firmly down the toilet.
"I've been meaning to have some of the electrical wiring looked at anyway," I said.
"And the place serves milkshakes." Jules smirked at Cass, who smiled in response.
"I'm in."
"Of course you are," his brother told him. "This guy would do almost anything for a fucking milkshake."
"We all have our weaknesses," Boner said. When we looked at him expectantly, he grinned. "Everyone except me."
"Bullshit. You have weaknesses," Jules said.
"I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours," Boner countered.
"Not a fucking chance," Jules said. "I'll work with you until the shit is done, it doesn't mean we're friends."
"Of course we are," Boner said. "We're all friends here." He spread his hands out, gesturing at all of us. "Some of us are currently closer to each other than others. Give it time. When you get to know us, you'll like us as much as we like each other."
Jules looked skeptical.
I understood. This was all a lot. A couple of weeks ago, he was living his life and now here he was, with us. Waiting for someone to come after us and try to kill us. There was a possibility he'd have to do some killing himself. Who wouldn't be skeptical?
"How are your dish washing skills?" I asked him and Cass. "We're going to have to come up with some reason for you both to be there for hours. One of you can help me in the kitchen and the other can help Gina serving customers."
"I'll take the kitchen," Cass said quickly. "I'm better in there than I am with people. Jules is more a people person."
Jules snorted. "I might scare all your customers away."
"This is New York. They're used to dealing with people like you," I said. It wouldn't be for long anyway. Hopefully this would be over before we killed each other.
"I'm going to need a holiday when this is over," Jules muttered.
Wouldn't we all? A resort in the Caribbean was sounding better and better. Maybe once they found out Fairfield was dead, I could buy his from his estate. It wasn't as though he was going to need it.