Chapter 27
twenty-seven
CAL
“Nothing has come from the shooting. Nothing has come from the texts on Ezra’s phone. It’s like we just keep banging our heads against the same wall over and over again.”
Kai has been pacing and ranting for at least ten minutes now. Which I guess isn’t a lot, but considering we were supposed to be having a fun guys’ night before heading out on the tour, it’s too much.
“Yeah, except that wall is a person, and that person is my father,” Mav grumbles, hugging a black velvety throw pillow to his chest. We decided to gather at his house since the girls are at mine so Cora can be involved in their night too.
“That still doesn’t make sense to me,” I admit. Kai opens his mouth, probably to make a joke about nothing making sense to me, but then he closes it. Old habits die hard, but they’re all trying.
Mav shrugs and hugs the pillow tighter. “He’s made it very clear he doesn’t approve of my career, my choice in partner, or really my entire existence in general.”
“He hurt Ezra because you like dick and to play bass and then went to borderline psychotic lengths to cover it up?” I chew the inside of my cheek. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
“Isn’t this supposed to be Ray’s thing? Why are we sitting around speculating instead of having fun?” Kai asks, although he doesn’t offer an alternative. He’s also the one who started this topic of conversation, but I don’t think pointing that out will help.
“My dad has emailed me once a week since I joined the band. Every time, it’s about forming an alliance and helping the family. Apparently, I’m a disappointment and need to get my head on straight, marry the girl he wants, take over the family business, and run for public office.”
“Cal can be your campaign manager. He could convince a penguin to buy ice from a polar bear,” Kai says.
I ignore him and grab my phone, calling Harlow on FaceTime. The guys roll their eyes at me, but keep their mouths shut.
“Miss me already?” Harlow’s beautiful smile and glittering green eyes light up the screen.
“You know I do, Firecracker.”
“Da-dammm!” Cora squeals. Harlow turns the phone so I can see my little girl. She’s in Willa’s arms and claps when she sees me.
“Hi baby girl! Do you miss Daddy?” I coo into my phone, ignoring the eye rolls from Mav and Kai.
“Why are you talking to the guys? We’re supposed to be having a girl’s night.” Belle says from somewhere in my house.
“Why are you calling me?” Harlow asks, turning the phone back to her perfect face.
“I just thought of something, and I wanted to run it by you before I talked to your dad.”
“Lay it on me, Vocal Daddy,” she says with a mischievous smile.
“Firecracker,” I growl.
“I’m just kidding. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“Did your dad look into how Senator Wolfe funded his campaign?”
Harlow raises an eyebrow, and I can see her eyes sparkle with interest. “Yeah. He used old family money.”
Mav shoots up from his seat on the couch and comes to stand next to me, pushing in so he can see Harlow too. I glare at him until I see the look on his face. He looks angry.
“We don’t have old family money. My grandparents on my dad’s side were dirt poor and lived off the system. The ones on my mom’s side were middle class and died with debt,” he tells Harlow.
“It was part of his entire campaign. He’s from an old family with old money, and he’s putting that money back into the state of Maine,” Harlow says, watching Maverick’s reaction carefully.
“I didn’t pay attention to his campaign. I wanted nothing to do with him and made sure I didn’t have to hear about it.”
Harlow nods at his words. “What are you thinking, Cal?” she asks me.
“The senator has emailed Mav a lot.”
“How often?” she asks him.
“Once a week since Kai talked me into joining Shattered Halo.”
“Yeah, and he mentions things like the family business and forming alliances and things that sound a lot like old mafia movies.” Anyone else would tell me I need to lay off the movie watching, but Harlow takes me seriously. She mumbles something to Willa and then runs upstairs to our room, grabbing her computer and propping her phone up on the bedside table so I can see the side of her face as she frantically types.
“I think you might be onto something,” she says, not taking her eyes from the computer screen. “Maine has a drug problem. It isn’t a secret. It’s been all over the news for years. Especially since it’s causing a huge uptick in deaths because of overdose in the 18-24 and an even bigger one in the 25-36 age range.”
“He’s a drug dealer?” That’s not exactly where my brain was going, but it could fit.
“The first reports of an increase in overdoses and the start of his bid for senator started within months of each other,” Harlow says, turning towards me. “I’m going to call my dad and see what he can find.”
I nod, Mav still next to me, looking pale. Kai is in Mav’s spot on the couch with his head in his hands.
“Thanks, baby.”
“Callahan,” she says, making sure she has my full attention. “Do you understand what you may have done? You may have found not only the motive, but the person who’s been smuggling in all the drugs.”
“Yeah, but none of that matters if it doesn’t lead to Ez,” I say, not feeling the same excitement she is.
“Not yet, but if this all checks out, we could be a lot closer than we have been in months.”
I nod. “Let me know what your dad says, and I’ll see you in a few hours.”
“I love you, Cal,” she says, beaming at me, and I wish I could reach through the phone and kiss her.
“I love you too, Firecracker.”
I put my phone in my pocket and watch Maverick unravel. He drops to the floor at my feet, and I quickly sit next to him, pulling him into my arms as he cries. Kai is on his other side in an instant. We let him cry, holding our best friend between us like our combined strength can keep him from completely falling apart.
It may have been minutes or hours later, but Mav eventually runs out of tears.
“My dad is responsible for hundreds of deaths,” he croaks. “My dad hurt the love of my life.”
We’ve all been saying Ezra is hurt instead of dead. We don’t have proof that he is, and we all silently agreed not to use the d-word until we have absolute proof. No one is giving up on him.
“Ezra must have seen something related to the drug stuff,” Mav continues, his voice hoarse. “We’re going on tour tomorrow.”
“We have time for Harrison to make sense of all this. The girls are saving our interview for last anyway. So maybe we’ll have more information for them. Then they’ll release the episode . . .” I’m just rambling now. I don’t know what will happen. Our tour starts and ends in Boston. We wanted to bookend it with home shows. It was Jo’s idea so that they would have more time to work on Ezra’s episode, but we all agreed because we liked the idea of starting and ending at home.
“There’s still a lot we don’t know, but we’re getting there,” Kai says. “This is the first time since Ezra went missing that I feel like we’re actually making progress.”
Mav nods and starts to stand. Kai and I move away so he can actually get up off the floor.
“Alright,” he declares after taking a deep breath. “Let’s order pizza and watch a movie with lots of explosions.”
Kai and I watch from where we’re still sitting on the floor as Mav walks into the kitchen.
“You alright?” I ask Kai. Mav has the bigger, more emotional reactions. So everyone’s instinct is to help Mav first. But Kai is Ezra’s twin and has to be taking this information just as hard as Mav is right now.
Kai sighs and scratches the back of his head. “It feels like the closer we get, the deeper Ezra’s grave is, you know? Like we get closer to finding the truth, but the truth seems to lean towards his demise.”
“Do you feel like he’s dead? You with that weird twin magic thing?” There are so many articles talking about twin connections that science and logic can’t explain. I would know. I looked it up.
Kai holds my stare for a beat and then shakes his head. “I would have to feel it, right? Like part of my soul was gone or something. But I don’t feel that way. I never have.”
I nod. “He’s out there masquerading as a diner cook or a bartender in some remote town that’s not even on a map. But we’re going to find him, and we’re going to bring him home.”
Kai stands and offers his hand, helping me up. “Might need to take down a crime lord pretending to be your friendly local politician while embarking on a national tour and selling albums.”
“Easy.”