Autumn Feast - Charlie Richards Page 0,20
counter and crossed his arms over his chest. “How does someone even tamper with an oven? I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I don’t know if that’s possible.”
“Maybe not, but do you remember the last time coincidences added up?”
Roark grimaced. “That weekend was a shit show. At least we managed to have fun once we caught that guy.”
“Yeah, but we never heard about him again.”
“You think he’s still after me? I’m not sure it makes sense.”
“Some people can hold a grudge, and there’s the fact that you humiliated him again. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to get to you a second time.”
“He hasn’t until now, and it’s been almost a year.”
“True. That doesn’t mean he’s not around here somewhere lurking and waiting for his chance to strike. And if he is here, the situation is dangerous for the kids. The party would be the perfect occasion for this guy to get his revenge, and I don’t know if he’d stop in front of the kids.”
Roark nodded. “If he or anyone else is here, we need to find them.”
“That’s’ what I was thinking.” This was something North was good at. Not at talking with people, not at taking care of any of them but Milo, but this. He supposed it was a way of taking care of them, though. He could use his training to find the threat and get rid of it.
They separated and combed through the shelter room by room. They had to tell the woman in charge about it as to not frighten the teenagers who lived there. North hadn’t spoken to any of them, but he could too easily imagine what some of them had gone through, and he didn’t want to freak them out.
North found him in a broom closet upstairs.
He almost laughed in his face when he opened the door and found Julian with his back pressed against the wall, his front so close to the vacuum cleaner that he could have kissed it just by puckering his lips.
Julian glared at North as North crossed his arms over his chest and leaned his shoulder against the frame of the door. “I’d ask why you’re here, but I suspect I already know,” North drawled.
“Where is Roark?”
North rolled his eyes. “Around. How’s that vacuum cleaner treating you? You look cozy.”
“I’m going to find Roark, and I’m going to—”
“Make out with the vacuum cleaner, yeah, I got that. And why the fuck would you think that coming here of all places to get back at Roark for whatever imaginary slight he did to you was a good idea?”
“I wanted to ruin his party. I thought he’d cancel it when I flooded the place he’d rented, and when he didn’t, I followed him here.”
“And you tampered with the oven without noticing that this is an LGBTQ shelter for teenagers.”
Julian’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Are you sure you’re a professional killer? Because not researching this place doesn’t sound professional to me.”
“I didn’t have the time to research!”
“Whatever. So you decided it would be a good idea to ruin the Halloween party Roark organized for those poor kids who’ve been kicked out of their houses and had to go through hell and back just because you have a grudge. Got it.”
Julian wiggled out of the closet. North stepped back to let him pass. He doubted Julian would have tried to kill Roark this time around—not that he had the first time. It sounded more like he was trying to ruin his day than like he wanted to hurt him, and so far, he’d very much managed to do that.
“I want to make it up to the kids,” Julian said.
“Good. You can leave. That should do it.”
“I want to do more. It’s my fault that this party is ruined.”
“Who said it was? Graham and Milo went back home to bake there, so that’s not going to be a problem.” But North did not want to clean up the kitchen, and since Julian had offered to help...”But I do have something for you to do. That is, if Roark doesn’t try to rip your head off first, of course. I doubt he’s going to be happy to find you here and to realize you’re the one creating all these problems and sabotaging our party.”
Julian paled just a bit, but he nodded. “You can tell him.”
“I will, and not because I have your authorization.”
“But I do want to help, so it would probably be better for you to wait.”
“Maybe, but Roark isn’t an idiot.