I stilled. Sometimes Pauley’s genius took me off guard, even though I’d known him his entire life. I had no doubt he’d do another year at the local college and then head off to Harvard or MIT or somewhere for geniuses. His social interactions were becoming pretty good, too. Sometimes I wished I could just get into his head and see how it all worked. From day one, Pauley had fascinated me. “Maybe I should help Aiden.” How? I just wasn’t sure.
Pauley flipped his wrist over to check his watch and then returned his focus to the birds. “If you do not know if Aiden is good or bad, you do not know whether to help him or not. Find out.”
I bit my lip. Clarice still hadn’t gotten back to me with any answers or more records, but there was one place I could go and try to get answers. It was probably a bad idea—definitely a bad idea—but when had that stopped me? “You’re right.” I hoped off the table. Everything inside me wanted to hug my cousin or at least give him a peck on the cheek, but that’s what I wanted and not what he needed. Like many folks on the spectrum, Pauley didn’t like being touched. “Thanks, P.”
He nodded, still not looking at me. “Thank you for checking on me. After class my mom is picking me up to go shopping for shoes before going home. Tell my sister that I am fine.”
I grinned. “You’ve got it. Have a nice rest of the day.”
He frowned. “History class is next. I already know what happened before now.”
Yeah. He probably did. “Well, if nothing else, you’ll learn that history repeats itself,” I joked.
He didn’t smile. Then he turned and looked at me, full on. Sometimes I forgot how deep and dark his brown eyes were since he rarely made eye contact. “Does it?” He broke his gaze free and looked back at the far shoreline.
The chill that swept over me had nothing to do with the breeze off the lake. “Apparently.” Because like it or not, Aiden Devlin was back, and danger was all around. Again.
Chapter 7
I left Pauley to his ducks, knowing he needed solitude before tackling a classroom with other people, but my walk to the courthouse was slow, my heels clipping softly on the sidewalk skirting the grassy park. Little green sprouts poked up between the cement, and the smell of both oncoming rain and spring flowers hinted on the breeze. Even though I’d been shot at the other day, those shooters had been after Aiden or Randy, so I couldn’t find it in me to be worried that it’d happen again. I had enough to be concerned about. I reached the outside of my building and looked up the flights of stairs to the heavy door.
The wind picked up. My phone dinged, and I answered it. “Albertini.”
“Hi, Anna, it’s Clarice.” Even through the phone, the head paralegal’s voice was dignified. “I can’t find any other records of the Devlin case in Scot’s office, which is now Nick’s office, by the way.” She sniffed.
I winced. How long had Clarice and Scot worked together? “Thanks for trying.”
Her voice lowered to a whisper, and it sounded like she cupped a hand around the receiver. “I heard that Scot was released on bond about an hour ago. Maybe you should go talk to him?”
He was out on bond? How had that happened? “Good idea. Would you give me his address?”
“Sure.” She read off his address. “He lives around Lilac Lake toward Boomerang Bay.”
“Thanks. I’ll check in with you later.” I clicked off. Making a mental decision with no debate whatsoever, I turned and walked around the corner, away from the park, and toward the parking lot on the other side of the building. Rose bushes lined the building, just starting to bud. Somebody had placed hay around them for winter survival, which was lazily blowing across the lot now that the snow had dried from it.
I should probably check in with Nick about this, but I really needed to talk to Scot alone. Just once. So I jumped into my Fiat and fought with the ancient seatbelt before giving up and driving onto Justice Road toward Main Street. Even though it was still June, the summer crowd had arrived in town, and I dealt with minor traffic until reaching Lilac Lake Road. Lilac Lake was much larger than my quiet Tamarack