Chapter 51
FIFTY-ONE
Grayden
As I walked toward Milo’s shop, I spotted him outside, wiping down the bikes for sale.
“Afternoon,” I said.
The guy jumped, shoulders hunching as he turned toward me. “Oh, Grayden. Hey. Been a few days.”
Geez, he seemed tightly wound today. “It has. Funny story, except not so funny…”
Milo grimaced. “Dude, I heard all about it. I came down with a brutal stomach bug on Monday and was out of commission until yesterday. Finally poked my head out of my own house, and bam, heard the news about what happened to Danny Carmichael and you being questioned by the police.”
So that explained why he looked so pale. At least I didn’t have to catch him up.
“I was going to call you and see how you’re doing,” he said guiltily.
“Nah, you get a pass if you were sick. It’s been a tough week so far. But it’s been getting better.”
I’d been spending every moment possible with Piper and Ollie. Yesterday had been his first day back at school, and Piper and I had been able to forget the world and just be together for a while.
Then, after school, we’d had dinner together at their house. Roasted chicken and potatoes. Ollie had shown me his favorite comic books before bedtime, and then Piper and I relaxed and watched a movie on her couch. Well, watch was a loose term. Mostly, we’d made out like teenagers.
All in all, a pretty much perfect day. Except for the part where I went back to my place to sleep. I was seeing the benefits of Ollie’s suggestion that I move in. But we weren’t quite there yet.
Soon, I hoped.
With Piper’s okay, I’d given Ollie my number to program into his phone. So far, he’d texted me a meme this morning that I couldn’t understand. I’d smiled so big when that notification popped up.
I’d spent my morning working on my mural. I had plans with Piper and Ollie later this afternoon. We would meet up for Ollie’s after-school martial arts class, which promised to be a good time. Best of all, Ashford was the teacher.
My relationship with Ashford had a long way to go. But being able to hang out with him, to just be brothers again, was the best feeling in the world.
“Anyway, thought I’d stop by to say hello,” I said. “Could I take another look at that Ninja you loaned me? It’s still for sale, right?”
A smile broke over Milo’s face, making him look more like his usual self. “Yeah, man. Come on. Let’s talk.”
We walked to the next row of bikes, and we batted around some numbers. I wasn’t ready yet to make a big purchase, not until my studio was open. But I had ideas about taking Piper out on another ride before long.
Maybe we’d even hit up the Mangy Moose for more of those mocktails.
Milo rested a hand on a nearby sport bike. “So I hear Danny’s recovering?”
“He’s doing as well as can be expected. Or so the doctors say. Piper’s been there for him at the hospital far more than he deserves.”
“And the attack? Does Danny remember what happened?”
That tense, distracted look had reappeared on Milo’s face.
“If he does, he’s not talking,” I said. “But Piper thinks he knows a lot more than he’s saying. She suspected Danny was up to something even before the attack.”
“Right. You said he broke into your place.”
“He did, at least once.” I scrubbed my hand over my beard. “Actually, I’ve been thinking a lot about the day I met you. When Earl and Zach found the drugs?”
Milo laughed nervously. “The fake drugs, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
This was my other reason for stopping by the motorcycle shop today. My brain had been turning over the events of the last several weeks. Chewing on those details like a piece of gristle.
Something had been bugging me, and it just wouldn’t go away.
We now knew Danny hadn’t broken into Piper’s garage. That had been someone else. The would-be killer, who’d stolen the knife used to stab Danny. We also knew my Seattle sweatshirt had wound up in the hands of that same attacker.
The question was, how? Had Danny really planted the fake drugs at my place?
Or somebody else?
Before I could ask another question, someone called out, “Hey, Milo?”
We looked over. Dillon Kirby, Piper’s employee from Silver Linings, stood several yards away.
Geez, was that stomach bug going around? Because Dillon didn’t look well either. He looked like warmed-over shit.
“How’s it going, Dillon?” Milo asked, walking between the motorcycles toward him.
Dillon dug a hand into his greasy hair. Dark circles ringed his eyes. “Can I talk to you?”
He glanced past Milo’s shoulder, scowling at me, and the rest of that sentence was implied. In private. Whatever Dillon wanted to discuss, he didn’t want me around for it.
“Sure.” Milo gave me an apologetic smile. “I’ll be right back, Grayden. Feel free to look around at the other bikes. Unless you need to take off?”
“I’m good. I’ll be here.”
Milo and Dillon walked toward the shop’s front door and into the small reception area.
But I didn’t stay put. I wanted to know why Dillon looked so stressed.
As soon as the shop’s front door closed, I walked along the building to get closer. The two bay doors to the garage were closed today, probably because it was chilly out.
I paused beside the shop’s front window and leaned against the stucco exterior wall. An upper frame of the window was open for ventilation, which meant I could hear everything they were saying. If I craned my neck, I could just see them without risking them spotting me.
“Have you seen my brother?” Dillon asked.
“I haven’t.” Milo’s voice was tight. “I was out sick for over two days.”
“So he hasn’t been here?”
“No, and that’s obviously an issue. Nobody’s seen him, and he won’t respond to my messages. I was going to call you to find out what the hell’s up with him. He’s stressing me out.”
Dillon muttered a curse. He grabbed his head and shifted his weight from foot to foot. The picture of anxiety. “You think you’re stressed? He told me something was up a couple months ago, but when I’ve asked lately what’s going on with him, he denies anything is wrong.”
I remembered how Dillon had been hanging around with Chad Bronski, the Silver Ridge cop who hated me.
Could that be the brother Dillon was talking about? Not all brothers had the same last name. They could have different fathers.
Mentally, I went back to the details that had been bugging me. The intuition that there was an obvious connection, and yet I was missing it.
So far, all I had were a lot of disjointed threads. Dillon was one of them. Bronski was another. My new friend Milo.
The fake drugs.
Then there was Danny. The break-ins at my place and Piper’s garage. Danny’s stabbing and his reluctance to confess what he’d really been up to in Silver Ridge.
“You guys aren’t all that close,” Milo said.
“But after everything our family has been through, I know my brother. I’m afraid he’s into something really bad this time, Milo. Really, really bad.”
Dillon asked Milo to contact him if his brother showed up. Milo agreed.
I stepped over to a nearby Harley, pretending to admire the leather and chrome, and Dillon stormed out of the shop. He jumped in a car and took off.
Milo came out a couple moments later, sighing heavily.
“Sorry,” he said. “Thanks for waiting around. As you can probably tell, I’m having a shitty day.”
I nodded. “No fun to be sick and have to catch up on work.”
“No kidding.”
I glanced in the direction Dillon had driven. “I may have overheard some of your conversation. Who’s Dillon’s brother? Is it Chad Bronski?”
Because a weird theory had just popped into my head. It was bizarre and totally far-fetched. But the truth was often pretty strange.
What if Dillon and Bronski had set me up? Planted those fake drugs, stolen my Seattle sweatshirt. And then Bronski pretended to receive an anonymous tip about me.
And the intruder in Piper’s garage. Bronski had shown up in response to Piper’s 911 call, conveniently the closest officer available. Then just happened to let the intruder get away.
I was sure Dillon had a thing for Piper. What if he’d planned to get rid of Danny and me in one fell swoop? Framing me for Danny’s murder?
Except Danny’s attacker had tried to frame Piper too. Hard to imagine Dillon being involved in that, unless he’d gone full crazed stalker.
Milo gave me a confused look. “No, Dillon and Chad are tight, but they’re friends. Dillon’s brother is Zach.”
“Zach?”
“Yeah, man. Zach Kirby. You remember him, right? He and Earl came with me to your place to meet you. Zach and Dillon remind me a little of you and Ashford, actually. They haven’t always gotten along. But I think Zach has been trying. He works on Dillon’s dirt bike here at cost.”
Zach. He and Earl had found the fake drugs.
Dillon hated me, and Zach was his brother.
“The Kirby family has been through some terrible things,” Milo went on, oblivious to where my mind had gone.
“Not really my business, but just saying. Usually, Zach has been a solid worker. But he hasn’t shown up here for work in days.
With me out sick as well, it’s been a clusterfuck. We’ve had to cancel appointments, and…”
Milo stopped, squinting at me.
“Grayden, you okay?”
“Not sure. Is Earl around? He working today?”
“Sure, he’s in the garage. Working his butt off to pick up slack. I really need to get in there and help him. Why?”
“This will probably seem odd. But I need to ask him a question.”