Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Darkness surrounded me as I woke, the bed beneath me stiff and the shape of the room around me unfamiliar. Where was I?
I remembered flashing lights, panic setting in as I sped away from the apartment parking lot filled with police vehicles. Calling Noah. Leaving him that message. Then?—
Memory snapped into place as I caught the faint line of light beneath the bedroom door.
I was in Trick’s loft, above Mug+Shots. The blackout curtains he’d once bragged about, the ones that could blot out a nuclear event, worked just as well to black out the late summer afternoon.
I shifted, catching the faint scent of coffee and fryer grease in the air, the distant hum of conversation and cutlery against plates filtering up through the floorboards.
Beneath me the world went on, unaware of how I had gone from a nice, stable life to fleeing once again.
I’d driven all the way past Redmond before I had calmed down enough to start making a better plan than to simply run away before the police could find me.
A call to Trick had calmed me even further, his soothing voice assuring me I could stay in his loft for the night while he was on a fishing trip and that we would get ahold of Noah and figure out next steps once he was back in town.
The muffled sound of a fist banging on a door pulled me out of my memories and I felt Rogue jolt up from where he had been laying at my feet. He let out a bark that drowned out the continued knocking and I put a hand on his back.
“Settle,” I told him, and he let out one last bark before going quiet. Whoever was at the door hadn’t gotten the message, though, and continued to knock furiously.
“Cavanaugh, let me in!” a voice I knew all too well called out and I sprang up, stumbling through the darkened bedroom and out into the too-bright living room.
I stumbled and blinked at the stark difference in lighting before I reached the door.
I paused for a moment as I peeked through the peephole to make sure it was actually Noah—and only Noah—on the other side.
Then, I swung the door open.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, even as I remembered the panicked voicemail and series of text messages I had left him only two hours ago.
But it was at least a three-hour drive to get here from Portland, so even if he had jumped in the car right away he couldn’t have gotten here that quickly. “And why didn’t you pick up?”
“I didn’t have signal,” he replied, glancing behind him before stepping into the loft and closing the door and looking around the loft. “Where’s Trick?”
“I don’t know,” I replied. At my side, Rogue pressed into my leg, and I set a hand on his head, petting him in reassurance. “Fishing. He said he was out of town and that he wouldn’t be back until tomorrow.”
“Why haven’t you been answering the phone?
You said your cover was blown and then you didn’t bother to answer when I called you back.
Do you know how worried I was?” he asked, moving to sit in one of the leather recliners in the sitting area.
I took up the other recliner and shrugged as I sat down, a faint heat coming to my cheeks.
“I think the moment I felt safe enough to stop panicking, I just passed out,” I said, a note of apology in my voice as I folded my legs under me.
“And my cover is blown. At least, that’s what I’m assuming considering there were a dozen police officers in my parking lot and my apartment door was sitting wide open last time I drove past. When you didn’t answer, I decided I would wait for Trick to get back, see if he could whip up another of those fake ID’s and then I would get the hell out of here. ”
“Avery. When did you get a dog?” Noah asked, staring at the Cane Corso like he had only just registered the massive dog glued to my side, watching him like Noah was a potential danger that I needed protection from.
Like the news that I was once again about to start running for my life didn’t faze him in the least.
“Yesterday,” I replied with a little shrug. “He’s great for letting me know when there are people at the door.”
“Okay,” Noah said, like he was trying to take stock of the situation and figure out how it all fit together.
“Well, your cover isn’t blown. I just drove by your place and there were no police.
There’s been no activity on your case file.
Your door was closed. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m certain that if someone had tipped off law enforcement about you, you wouldn’t see them loitering in front of your open door waiting for you to come home and turn yourself in. ”
“So what, they were just having a fun little tailgate party next to my open door?” I asked, and Noah laughed.
“I’ll do some digging and find out,” he replied. “In the meantime, stay here. Yes, like you already planned to. Don’t give me that look. I’ve suffered enough from you already today.”
Noah sank deeper into his chair and looked like he’d aged five years from the stress I had put him under.
I grimaced, wishing I’d thought to charge my phone before passing out.
My sleep schedule had been so warped lately, and Trick’s bedroom had such good blackout curtains it had been all too easy to fall asleep before I even realized what was happening.
“I’m sorry I worried you but look at it from my perspective.
What was I supposed to do?” I said, running my hand along Rogue’s fur.
The repetitive motion was comforting for me, and seemed to relax him as well, taking him from the on-edge vigilance of watching Noah’s every move to resting his chin on the arm of my chair, tail slowly moving back and forth.
“No, it was the right call, it’s just…” He waved it off. “Actually, it works out better,” Noah replied, sitting up a little as something occurred to him. “I thought I’d be informing you over the phone, but I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh?” I asked, leaning forward. He reached into his pocket and pulled something out, handing it over. It was a square of paper, folded into fourths, and as I unfolded it and smoothed it out the image of a car’s bumper and license plate came into view. “What is this?”
“That,” Noah said, “is the license plate of known fixer Vienna Quinn, a favorite resource among DC politicians for cleaning up their messes. AKA political assassin. And that photo was taken two streets away from Monica’s house, half an hour before she was killed.”