Chapter 15
HARLOW
"That's the last of it." Archer peeled off his gloves and tossed them in the trash. He blinked a couple of times, fighting off visible fatigue.
He hadn't stopped working since he walked through the door. There wasn't an inch of the seating area, chairs or tables he hadn't touched. Wiped, scrubbed, scoured.
All of it without saying a word.
"I don't think the place has ever been so clean." Which was saying something, because I liked the place immaculate.
I tossed my gloves in on top of his and rubbed my temples. Without gloves, my hands still smelled of bleach. Or maybe it was seared onto the inside of my nostrils. Even with the front and back doors propped open, the smell was strong.
It obliterated the smell of blood, so there was that.
"You okay, love?" Boner wrapped his arms around me from behind and pulled me back to his chest.
"No," I said honestly.
How could I possibly be right with everything that happened? My friend was murdered and my business was defiled. I felt as though I'd been violated twice over. No amount of cleaning was going to make up for that. Not even meticulous to the point of sterile.
I leaned against him, my head on his shoulder. "I'm starting to think Jules was right."
"I'm always right," he called out from the other side of the room. At some point, he'd started to wipe down the legs of the chairs and stack them carefully against the wall.
I rolled my eyes. At his response, not his cleaning efforts. If he wasn't so arrogant, I'd offer him a gold star.
Boner turned me around to face him. "Right about what?" Over his shoulder he called out to Jules, "Don't say ‘everything.’"
He focused his attention back on me, giving me a tired, worried smile.
He looked as exhausted as I felt. He'd moved around a lot of tables, and at one point I saw him on the floor scrubbing.
Humming something to himself under his breath, his customary optimism still firmly in place.
The man was unshakeable, I had to give him that.
Or should I say, he was good at covering his frustration or fear? No doubt he felt it, right along with the rest of us.
"I couldn't protect her," I said. "He said I should have focused on hunting them down, not opening a restaurant. If I had, she might still be alive."
My eyes prickled with tears. I'd let her down. I'd failed her. She'd trusted me and she shouldn't have.
"What were you supposed to do?" Boner asked. "Put a collar around her neck and lead her around everywhere? She wouldn't have let you." He held up a finger when I started to respond.
"You gave her a job here. You took care of her.
If you went after them instead of opening this place, where would she be?
Would anyone else have given her a chance?
They wouldn't. You did. Okay, maybe you would have found them all by now and they'd be dead, but she might also be gone either way.
If not by these assholes, then by someone else. "
"She would have found a way out," I argued weakly. "What about anyone else they've hurt? Like Cass and Jules' brother. Who knows how many more?"
He wiped tears off my cheek with the pad of his thumb.
"You're many things, but may I remind you you're not a superhero.
What happened to Titmus the youngest wasn't your fault.
What happened to Erin? Also not your fault.
Didn't you once tell me you give the proceeds of the restaurant to shelters around here?
How many people have you helped by running this place? Probably hundreds. Maybe thousands."
He was exaggerating, but I appreciated the sentiment. And the heart behind them. Biological and otherwise.
"We need to find them before they do anything else," I said. "They know who we are. Who I am."
"Do they?" He cocked his head. "Targeting her might be nothing more than a coincidence."
"Did Erin know what you get up to?" Jules asked. When we all turned to look at him, he shrugged. "Just saying, is it possible she was working with them? Then they turned on her."
I opened my mouth to argue, but Cass came out of the office, carrying his laptop.
"I found something on the video footage you should see." His one visible eye was laced with regret. The other was covered with hair that looked like it needed a good wash.
We gathered around the table where he placed the device and started the playback.
The footage was dark and grainy, but clear enough to make out Erin walking up the alley.
Heart in my throat, I watched her stop outside the restaurant door. Someone approached from the other direction, their face obscured.
They stopped in front of her. I expected to see a struggle, but she spoke to them, laughing at something they said. She pulled out her key and unlocked the door, gesturing for them to follow her in.
"He left about twenty-seven minutes later," Cass said. "His face turned from the camera."
"Looks like I was right," Jules said without any hint of triumph. Of course not; he'd seen what this person did. There was nothing to be triumphant about.
I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my hand. "Why would she be working for anyone else?" My head spun with the implications. Had she taken those photos on purpose, hoping we'd find them? If she had, what else had she done?
"Money?" Archer suggested. "Bribery? Power? The usual driving forces behind people's manipulation."
"They know what they did to your sister," Boner said. "If I was a betting man, and I am, I'd bet they've been keeping an eye on Harlow. Seeing if you'll retaliate. They know someone killed three of their number. Four now." He nodded toward the tattoos on my arm, an indicator of those deaths.
"They might be keeping an eye on Cassius and me as well." Jules looked more pissed off than usual. Slightly. The bar was high.
"They don't know we've done anything," I said. "If they did, we'd be dead right now."
"It would be a good idea if the restaurant stayed closed for a while," Boner said. "You three should stay somewhere other than your own apartments. Harlow, I'll help you move into mine."
"With your noise-hating neighbor?" I didn't like the idea of hiding, but his place was tiny. It wouldn't fit all of us.
"She can stay in mine," Archer said. "You all can. My place is big enough for everyone."
"By everyone, you mean…" Jules winced.
"Everyone," Archer said firmly. "Including you. If they decide to go after Cass, they could use you against him. And vice versa."
Jules muttered something that sounded like, "I fucking told you not to get involved with these people."
I fucking hated that he was right.
Again.
"We were involved the minute they touched Auggie," Cass said. "They might decide to kill us to clean up after themselves. This way, we can make plans and defend ourselves."
"What he said." Boner pointed a finger gun at Cass. "If they're coming after any of us, we should get the hell out of here.
"What do I tell Gina?" I asked. If I had to keep the restaurant closed for a long time, she would have to find a new job. I'd be letting her down too.
If I was going to be sick over any of this, that would do it. That and underestimating these people. Especially if Erin was working with them.
If I couldn't trust Erin, who could I trust?
What about the men in this room with me? They could be suspected as well. I hated myself for thinking it, but I couldn't rule it out. Not right now.
"I'll look into Erin," Cass said. "If she was hiding anything else, I'll find it. Did anyone else work for you?"
"No, just Erin and Gina," I said.
I wouldn't be looking for more staff anytime soon. Fortunately I hadn't hired anyone else yet, or they might have been the ones to find her. As bad as it was, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Okay, maybe not anyone, but I wouldn't wish it on someone I chose to work for me.
"I vote we don't tell her anything," Boner said. "She saw what happened here. She knows to be careful. Right?"
"There's regular, everyday New York City careful, then there's this," I reasoned.
You could watch your back everywhere you went and still be caught out by something like this. Someone Erin apparently trusted. Someone she'd let in and turned her back on.
"Did she looked surprised?" Jules asked. "Gina, I mean."
"Did you?" I cocked my head at him.
He scowled. "I already told you, I had nothing to do with this. Cassius, tell her."
Cass looked back at him and blinked a couple of times.
"For fuck sake, I only met her once and that was here with all of you," he snarled. "I didn't kill her."
I closed my eyes for a few moments. I shouldn't bait him, but I couldn't seem to help myself. Something about him just drove me crazy.
Vice versa too, I knew that. If I wasn't baiting him, he'd be baiting me.
"I know you didn't kill her," I said finally. "I don't remember if Gina looked surprised. She was horrified."
I ran those few minutes over again in my head, but came to no further conclusions. Everything happened so fast. I was horrified and shocked myself. I wasn't watching for her response.
"It's probably a good idea if you don't tell her where you're going," Boner said. "Just in case."
"Yeah." I hated all of this.
It was like someone picked up my entire life, like a snow globe, shook it and nothing was settling back where it should.
Okay, who was I kidding? Everything was still whirling around me. When it did settle, nothing was going to be right.
"Cass, can you send that video footage to my phone? If I watch it often enough, maybe something will come to me."
"Mine too," Archer said.
"You're not going to make a meme out of it, are you?" Boner asked, half-teasing.
"I was thinking Booktok video," Archer deadpanned. "Mysterious book boyfriend."
"That's all kinds of fucked up." I shook my head. "Besides, he had his face averted. Maybe if he had a mask…"
"You're all screwy in the head," Jules told us.
"Thank you." Boner grinned. "I'm starting to realize insults are your love language." He made kissy faces in Jules' direction.
"Insults are my 'you're an idiot,' language," Jules retorted. "That's why you're hearing so many from me."
"He's so sweet," Boner whisper-shouted. "He loves us, he just can't admit it yet."
Jules rolled his eyes. "Can we get out of here now?"
"We should pack up what food is left," I said reluctantly. "It's going to go bad if we leave it here."
Cass glanced at me, then at the kitchen, then back at me.
"Nothing weird," I assured him.
"I'll help you then." He closed the laptop and followed me toward the kitchen.
"What you mean weird?" Jules called out behind us. "Cassius, what does she mean by weird?"