“Yeah, we already talked to her, but it’s far less sinister than it sounds. Her business is legitimate, as far as it goes, but he’d been flaking on assignments right and left, so she was ready to kick him to the curb.”
“Oh,” I mumbled, understanding then that she was threatening him with termination, not death. He’d told me she would kill him, but she wouldn’t have done more than fire him. All the panic I’d heard in his voice had been over losing his job. “Can I ask a question?”
“Certainly.”
“Why is he actually in protective custody?”
“He was threatened, as I said, and then members of the Brotherhood—we assume, we don’t know, but it makes sense it would be them since they were the ones who threatened him—searched his apartment.”
“Searched?”
“Yeah, actually destroyed is a better adjective.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah. They turned his place upside down, and there’s only one reason for that; they’re looking for something. Now, we have no way of knowing if they found whatever they were searching for, but when I say they destroyed his place, I mean whoever it was sliced open his mattress to get a look inside and took apart his dresser with an axe.”
“Jesus.”
“Yeah.”
“So they tossed his place looking for something he stole.”
“Interesting,” he muttered. “What makes you jump to stole?”
“Well, the first day of class, for our icebreaker exercise, our instructor had us play two truths and a lie. It turns out that Shawn has a slight, though documented, case of kleptomania. He said that whenever he was nervous or angry, he’d swipe something small no one would miss.”
“Okay, good, that’s very helpful,” he assured me. “He didn’t come clean about that at all. Is there anything else you can think of that might be relevant to the investigation, like the kleptomania thing? I also have some photos I’d like you to look at to see if any of the faces look familiar. Can you drive into Sac and sit down with me tonight?”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that right now. My bike is busted, and I’m waiting on the side of the road for my buddy to come pick me up.”
“Oh,” he said, sounding surprised. “Well, uh, could I come meet you at your place?”
“You can meet me at Bishop Auto Works; that’s where I’ll be.”
“Okay, great, I’ll be there in forty-five minutes, give or take. I just need to wrap up some stuff here, and then we’ll be out.”
“I’ll see you then.”
“Thank you, Mr. Wolfe, I appreciate your help.”
“I’m really not sure how much more help I’ll be, but I’ll do whatever I can.”
“That’s all I’m asking for.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
As soon as I hung up, I felt the overwhelming urge to call Cameron, and I had to wonder why. It made no sense. Certainly if I told him everything, he’d think I was more trouble than I was worth. He’d probably cut me off so fast it would be like our amazing beginning had never happened. No, it was better to keep this a secret and go forward and hope for the best.
But then, why did that somehow seem like a betrayal? I had lied a lot in my life, so why couldn’t I bring myself to keep anything from Cameron Gallagher?
8
Cameron
Dinner at the hospital was more fun than I thought it would be. Seth had Chinese food delivered, and we were all feasting as my father sat, arms crossed, glowering at us.
“You know, there’s an entire laundry list of things you can’t have anymore,” Courtney called over to him. “I think soy sauce is at the top.”
He muttered something under his breath and poked at the orange Jell-O in a small dish on his tray. It rocked from side to side, and Makayla snorted out a laugh at how dire it was. Of course, my mother took pity on him and let him have a single piece of General Tso’s chicken, and then smiled when he told her she was the only one he liked.
We all sat around telling Dad stories until he reminded us it wasn’t a wake, and asked could we please knock it off.
“Find another topic,” he grumbled, and then his face lit up. “Oh, I know! Does anyone but me know that Cam has a new guy in his life?”
It was creepy the way everyone turned to me at once. “That’s not true,” I deflected immediately. “I mean, there is a guy I hope to see more of, but at the moment, we’re at