Chapter 15
HARLOW
Forrest Cross' blue eyes appraised me as I stepped out of the kitchen. His chin raised. Expression cold. His posture was relaxed, except for a hint of tension in his shoulders, as if I wasn't a threat to him at all.
"Miss St. James," he said easily. Too easily.
"Judge Cross." I kept my tone as even as his. I wasn't going to show him I was rattled. People like him could smell fear. He'd take advantage of it the moment he caught any indication I was anything but confident.
"You can call me Forrest," he said as if we were acquainted.
"Why would I call you that?" I asked.
In the corner of my eye, Cass moved closer to me, putting himself between me and his father.
"How about I call you Zeus?" I suggested.
Forrest barked out a laugh. "Why would you do that?" He seemed genuinely amused.
Me, not so much.
"That's what you call yourself, isn't it?" I asked, doubt creeping into my mind for the first time. I tried to shove it away, but it kept sneaking back in, like a small but persistent snake.
"It absolutely is not," he said firmly. "The opposite. I've been trying to track down Zeus for a long time. Since he helped cover up what happened to my youngest son." He glanced over to Cass, who gaped at him.
"You cared?" Cass asked. He looked like that small, sneaky snake had slapped him across the face.
"Of course I cared," Forrest said. Not scoffing. Rather, he seemed resigned. "I know you think I'm a cold, unfeeling monster. But I care." For a fraction of a second his facade slipped, a hint of grief in his eyes.
To say I was confused was an understatement.
"You've been trying to track down Zeus," I asked. "I don't understand."
"That much is clear, Miss St. James," Forrest said. "I've been tracking him and his associates. Me and my associates noticed a correlation between their deaths and your presence. I decided to keep an eye on you."
"That's why you've been eating at my restaurant," I said, still trying to get my head around everything.
"That and the food is excellent," he said. "I was close to uncovering the identity of Hypnos. I had a feeling you were about to do the same. He was at that dinner a couple of nights ago. After you put word around that Detective Hans Getzoff was close to uncovering Hypnos and Zeus."
"You knew that?" Cass asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
Forrest gave him a thin-lipped smile. "You'd be surprised by the things I know," he said.
"You're going to have to give me a minute," I said. My brain was turning around and around, almost tying itself in knots.
"You're not Zeus?" Cass was visibly conflicted.
That was completely understandable. Not only was I conflicted, I was aware how easy it would be for Forrest to walk in here and say about anything to get us off his tail.
"You honestly think I'm capable of the things he did?" Forrest asked. "Yes, we've had our differences, but the things he and his companions…" His Adam's apple bobbed, reminding me very much of Cass when things got gory. He was sickened by all of it.
As sickened as the rest of us.
Forrest glanced at me. "Hypnos is dead." It was a statement, but not one delivered with certainty. There was a hint of a question in there too.
"What makes you think that?" I said carefully.
"Because you thought I was Zeus," he reasoned. "How would you come to that conclusion? They knew I was hunting them. Knew they couldn't touch me. Why point the finger at me?"
I was at least halfway to believing the things he said. It made sense. Not to mention the fact he was Cass and Jules' father. The man he was trying to say he was, fit better than the man we'd assumed.
The monster we'd assumed.
"Do you know who Hypnos was?" I asked carefully. Not carefully enough. I realized my mistake too late, but managed to suppress a wince.
"'Was' confirms he's dead," Forrest said.
Of course he'd pick up on that. "He was one of the guests at the dinner.
Two men slipped out approximately the same time as I did.
One of them was Solomon Danforth's cousin, Harrison Frankel.
He and I have clashed in the past. He owned a media empire, with let's say, dubious morals.
I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to pass injunctions to stop them from printing things they shouldn't.
Baseless accusations, flat out lies, vilifying good people while pretending others were decent, when in reality they belonged in the sewer. Sewer if they were lucky."
"You think he claimed you were Zeus to get back at you for all of that?" I asked.
"It seems to me the likely scenario," he said. He rubbed his chin again.
I looked over to Cass.
He looked back at me, hope in his eyes. Of course he hadn't wanted to believe his father was a monster. Who would?
Believing he was on our side though? That was a stretch.
So far, Zeus would know the things he'd told us. I needed something more for proof.
"Why did you send Jules to the Hamptons?" I asked.
"Believe it or not, I genuinely needed the house down there rewired," he said. "It's a fire hazard waiting to happen."
“Mm-hmm." I gave him the side eye. "No ulterior motive?"
"Maybe one,” he said unapologetically.
Of course there was.
"I wanted to have a conversation with Cassius without him around. Jules wouldn't have listened to the things I've said."
I couldn't argue with that. Jules would have told him to fuck off and walked out the door by now.
"That doesn't mean I believe you," Cass said, voice low. He wanted to, I saw that on his face, but no one wanted to be perceived as a total pushover.
"Believe it," Forrest said. "I've spent my entire career putting people like this in prison."
He left something unsaid.
"And?" I prompted.
He seemed to know about the things I'd done, but didn't seem to be in a hurry to put me behind bars.
"As I mentioned, I have associates," he said. "They help me to…deal with people the law can't."
I knew what Boner would have said to that. 'Hell yeah, another alumni from Vigilante University.'
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck and gripped my ponytail. "Who are these associates?"
Forrest clicked his tongue. "We aren't at that stage yet, Miss St. James."
"I guess you can call me Harlow," I said, since he knew who I was anyway, and apparently we were on the same side. "Harrison Frankel was Hypnos. He met a sticky end after that dinner of mine. After he released gas in my restaurant and put us to sleep."
"He tried to kill Harlow," Cass said darkly.
"He failed," Forrest said, the words clearly redundant, because I was standing right there.
"Very much so," I agreed.
"And Hans Getzoff?" Forrest asked.
"Also dead," I said regretfully. "Hypnos killed him."
Forrest closed his eyes for a few moments and shook his head. Evidently he wasn't questioning my claim. Didn't think I was blaming Hypnos for something I'd done.
"One of your associates?" I asked.
"In a manner of speaking," he said, opening his eyes and locking his gaze on mine. "We worked closely together. He was close to figuring out who Hypnos and Zeus were. Closer than you might have realized. He was reluctant to attend that dinner but I encouraged him to. We needed answers."
Forrest used him for bait as well, or another step in the investigation. It came to the same thing. Getzoff was still dead.
"Why didn't you tell us you were going after Auggie's abusers?" Cass asked.
"Because I didn't want either of you involved," Forrest said simply. "And yet, here you are. Perhaps I was naive in trying to keep you out."
"For what it's worth, I've been trying to keep them from getting involved myself," I said. "Your sons are determined."
Forrest gave Cass a fond glance. "That they are. They get that from both their parents. It caused many a fight before Emily insisted I leave."
Cass blinked at him a couple of times. "Mom asked you to leave?"
"She did." Forrest agreed. "She asked me to go and give her some breathing space.
I respected her wishes. The next thing I knew, she'd changed you boys’ last name to hers.
" He pressed his lips together until they were white.
"I know she didn't give you access to your trust funds yet because every cent is still in there. "
"Trust fund?" Cass shook his head. "I didn't know I had one."
"You both do," Forrest said, his brow creasing as he frowned. "Every birthday and Christmas I put money in there, as well as sending presents."
His words hung in the air before Cass whispered, "We didn't get any presents. Mom must have thrown them out."
A flash of anger crossed Forrest's features, but he quickly schooled it away, containing himself again. Anger at his ex-wife wouldn't benefit his relationship with either of his sons, even if it was justified.
I felt sorry for him, but more so for Cass and Jules. They must have grown up thinking their father was someone he wasn't, at least to some extent.
"It seems we have some time to make up," Forrest said.
"I guess so," Cass said awkwardly.
The whole floor full of carpet had been pulled out from under his feet. He was trying to keep his balance.
Honestly though, this was a lot better than thinking their father was a monster. Right?
"Was this why you moved to New York?" Cass asked.
"To hunt down Augustus' abusers, or to spend more time with you and your brother?" Forrest asked. "I moved for both reason, but mostly the latter. I wanted to reach out to you sooner. I would have, but Julius made it clear you didn't want me to."
"I would have been open to it," Cass said uncertainly.
It was easy to say that now. He might have felt differently if Forrest tried before. There was no way of knowing. I don't suppose it mattered much. The past was the past. We couldn't do anything to change it.
Although I expected Cass to yell at Jules later for saying that to their father. When that conversation happened, I'd have to make sure there were no sharp implements for either of them to use.
Or heavy, blunt ones.
Or industrial-sized vats of boiling hot water.
Not even a bath with acid.
Maybe they could wrestle in Jell-O. I'd be down for watching that. I bet Boner and Archer would enjoy it too. I'd have to propose that later.
"Are you really thinking of buying this restaurant?" Forrest gestured around, his lip curled.
"I'm not, but Harlow is," Cass said. He gestured at me before his eyes snapped back to Forrest "Wait a minute, how big is that trust fund?"
"Big enough," Forrest said.
"I'll have to think about it," Cass said. He didn't seem to hate the idea.
"I'm not releasing a cent of those funds unless you agree to pull up the carpet," Forrest said, looking pained at the idea it might stay.
Cass grinned. "The carpet's the first thing to go. It looks like it's hiding a decade of bloodstains."
I took another look down at it.
"You have a point there, it might come in useful." I let a slow smile creep onto my face to show I was joking. A carpet like this would hide blood, but the evidence would be there for the cops to find. No, hardwood or tiled floors were much better.
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Forrest said.
"There's a lot of this whole conversation we all have to pretend we didn't hear," I pointed out.
There was enough information to incriminate all of us for a bunch of things. Although Forrest had a better chance of covering his own ass than we did. I didn't think he was going to turn on his own sons, not now.
So I said slowly, "If you're not Zeus, who do you think is?" I thought back to a couple of nights ago and those who attended the dinner. One name stood out to me, but I didn't want to say it first. There was still a chance Forrest wasn't genuine.
"My suspicion is that Zeus is—"
He was cut off as Boner and Jules rushed through the door behind him.
"Looks like we got here just in time," Boner said.