and say O’Byrne thinks Stevens has fallen back into his old way of life and Montoya’s none the wiser, so she’s going to use you to sniff him out. He used you to find out if Mrs. Brinkerhoff was still lying on that lawn, and O’Byrne is using you to find out if he was the one who put her there.”
Five
“WANT ME to come with you?” Bobby asked from the relative safety of a palm tree’s shade. “I mean, I can if you want.”
It was a magnanimous offer, especially since Ichi’s tattoo shop, Hizoku Ink, was only a few doors down from Rook Stevens’s memorabilia store. I either hadn’t remembered that tiny little fact or it just hadn’t sunk in, because I’d been to Hizoku enough times to nearly call it a second office. I’d actually been in Potter’s Field a few times before but hadn’t connected it to Montoya’s lover. That also could have been me lacking the particulars instead of being obtuse.
Either way, we were close enough to Ichi to make Bobby fret.
It was kind of adorable to see my once-lothario best friend wrapped up tight around a wedding ring and marriage vows. Less cute was that he was doing unspeakable things to my baby brother, but Ichi could take care of himself and probably gave as good as he got. It wasn’t that I was squeamish about what they were doing. I didn’t want to dwell on Mike and Maddy having sex either, despite having clear evidence they’d done it at least once in the freakishly gorgeous baby girl they had a few years ago. Lisa Rei McGinnis was going to be a heartbreaker once she realized she’d won the genetic lottery, and I was doing everything I could to keep my niece off the straight-and-narrow path. Mike didn’t stand a chance. Between me buying a motorized kid-scale Ferrari for her to tool around in and Ichi applying temporary tattoos to her arms and shoulders whenever she wanted to change things up, Mad Dog Junior was going to be a kick-ass woman in a leather jacket and glittery combat boots.
Or at least that’s what we were all hoping. So far her favorite things were dinosaurs, muscle cars, fairies, and books. And we were doing everything in our power to encourage her to keep pushing boundaries and take no prisoners.
Mike really didn’t stand a chance.
Neither did Rook Stevens if he had anything to do with Adele’s murder. Cop boyfriend notwithstanding, if he crossed into my life and brought death with him, there were going to be consequences. I didn’t care how much Montoya loved him.
“Just tell Ichi I’ll be by later to say hey. Jae might’ve already called him to see if you guys were coming for dinner. There was some furious fish chopping this morning when I left, so either we’re going to be overfeeding the cat, or we’re going to be feeding the two of you.” I glanced down toward Potter’s Field, where there appeared to be a small line forming outside the door. “I might be a while. Place looks like it’s busy. Stevens might not be able to break away.”
“If I don’t hear from you in an hour, I’ll send somebody to get you, Princess,” Bobby drawled. “Just make sure you’re in the right tower.”
“Is that a gaming joke?” I cocked my head at him.
“Yes it is. You know you’re getting old when you aren’t up with current games and music, Cole.” He shook his head, tsking at me with a few clicks of his tongue.
“Some of us aren’t so desperate to avoid aging that we marry somebody twenty years younger than us,” I stabbed at him with teasing, sharp words, knowing I could score a hit.
“Just remember that someone is your brother,” Bobby shot back.
“Yeah, and it’s something I try to bleach out of my mind every single night after I’m done brushing my teeth.” I gave him a light shove toward Ichi’s shop. “Get going, old man. Try to stay out of trouble while I’m gone.”
“That’s a shitload of funny coming out of you, dude,” Bobby said, giving me a punch back on my shoulder. It hurt. And not just because I was still a little bit tender from my pinball run through the garden and then my tuck and roll off the ledge of the Brinkerhoffs’ porch into the cacti patch. Bobby was a muscular, solid man who kept fit and trim by torturing me. And since torturing me was one