“Speaking of hands-on —” I twirled more noodles around my fork “— I’m not touching that comment.”
A mewling sound rose from the bouncy seat, and Sherry set down her food. “What’s wrong, sugar lump?” She lifted her daughter, wrinkled her nose, then turned her head to cough. “You are so your father’s daughter.” Eyes watering, she cuddled her baby closer. “We’ll be right back. This won’t take but a minute.”
“Take your time.” I placed my foot on the coffee table and went through the motions of popping the tab on my own drink. “There’s no rush.”
Singing an old nursery rhyme, Sherry carried Nettie down the hall to her bedroom for a change. I waited a heartbeat to see if the door would shut, but it didn’t. Nothing for it. I set the can on a coaster and stood in a rush, making my way down the opposite hall to where Rixton had carved out his office in the formal dining room.
Stacks of papers, electronics, and bills littered the glossy oak behemoth functioning as his desk. Six ladder-back chairs, their seats buried under a mishmash of overflow, tucked beneath the table. Two bookshelves crowded one wall, both stuffed to capacity, and a file cabinet on wheels sat abandoned in one corner.
Hands trembling, I started a quick and methodical search through Rixton’s belongings, the invasion of his privacy unsettling the Thai in my gut. Nothing. There was nothing here. I scanned the room again, slower this time. Where had he…?
Years spent exploring the labyrinthine twists of Rixton’s mind popped the answer into my head.
Below the window was an outlet that didn’t match the style of the others. It was larger, plainer, and the color was one shade lighter. Those were sins Sherry would never forgive without good reason. I crossed the room and knelt, running my fingers around the raised edges. There was a bit of give, but not enough sway to be useful. I tested the screw in the center with my thumbnail only to discover it was fake. The entire rectangle was one solid piece of molded plastic.
Springing back onto my feet, I scoured Rixton’s desk for the letter opener I’d spotted earlier and carried it to the wall where I used the flat edge to pry the whole contraption forward a fraction of an inch. With my fingertips, I pulled the cover out farther until the dummy outlet fell into my hands. Through the narrow opening, I spied several sets of rolled-up papers secured with rubber bands. Tucked into the gap between the wall studs, nestled between other scrolls, was the bundle of prints.
Before I lost my nerve, I finagled the photos from their hidey hole. Once I popped the cover back in place, I unrolled the stack, checked to make sure they were all there, then folded them until they fit in my back pocket. I’d worn an extra-long, extra-loose shirt to make the contraband less noticeable. It was the best I could do on short notice.
Tearing the images to pieces and flushing them would be more satisfying, a fitting outlet for my guilt, but my gut warned me Wu would accept nothing less than the originals. After going through all the hassle of securing the copies, he would want to destroy them in the manner he saw fit.
With that done, I rolled back onto my feet and examined the outlet. Everything looked good from here. As I backed out of the office, I returned the letter opener and checked to make sure I had righted everything I’d touched. Certain I had covered my tracks, I dashed back into the living room and ran smack into Sherry and Nettie.
“You’re not leaving already, are you?” Sherry strapped Nettie back into her seat. “I promise she won’t drop another bomb for at least three hours.”
“There were no napkins in our bags.” I gave her a wide berth and kept my back to the wall. “I was going for paper towels.” Excuses made, I bolted for the kitchen where I stood with my palms braced on the sink and hung my head. “I am so not cut out for covert ops.”
“Luce,” Sherry called after a few minutes, “a piece of your chicken jumped off your plate into my mouth. You better hurry up in case the others attempt an escape. I’m only one woman here. I can’t stem the tide.”
I tore off a few paper towels on my way back into the living room, but I couldn’t stomach another bite. I had betrayed Rixton, Sherry, and Nettie. In their own home. The one place meant to be a safe haven, and I had shaken that foundation of their trust and love and welcome with my deceit.
Rock, meet bottom.
I sat and talked with her for hours, like I might never get another chance, which was a real possibility after Rixton realized what I had done. I even fed Nettie a bottle while she luxuriated in the safety of her bouncy seat, but I couldn’t stop fidgeting. I was ready to crawl out of my skin by the time Rixton called to ask Sherry if she needed him to pick anything up from the store on his way home.
That was my cue to exit stage left.
With the prints tucked safely in my back pocket, I said my goodbyes and hit the steps at a gallop. Holed up in the Bronco, I brought the black cell to my lips and spoke two damning words. “It’s done.”
But whether I meant the job, the friendship with Sherry, or my partnership with Rixton, I wasn’t sure.
Wu met me in the same grocery store parking lot where I saved Sherry all those years ago, and it got me thinking about how life moved in circles. Free will creating endless ripples in a cosmic pond. This was where it all began for me and the Rixtons, and this might very well be where it ended.
With my hip braced against the Bronco’s tailgate, I watched his approach, his every move screaming top of the food chain, baby and marveled at how charun blended so well among humans. They were apex predators, and they wore us like dressing as a sheep might hide the wolf salivating behind their eyes.
“You’re unhappy.” Wu studied the heaviness in my shoulders, the drooping of my spine. “You should be pleased. You got what we needed without getting caught.”
“I invited myself over to my partner’s house tonight. I brought his wife dinner and pretended I was there to visit her and the baby, my goddaughter, and then I broke into his personal files while her back was turned.” The copies in the car had at least been held in a communal area, not that theft of community property was better than personal. I shoved the prints at him, eager to wash my hands of them. “I accept the necessity of what had to be done, but I take no satisfaction in what I did. He’s my friend. He deserves better than this. They both do.”
Wu mimicked my posture. “How is Miller?”
“Ready to leap tallish buildings in a single hop.”
“So protective.” His chuckle raced over my skin. “I’m not interested in exploiting his weakness.”
“Mmm-hmm.” Survival of the fittest got real when charun were involved. “Do you ever get tired of spying on me?”
“You fascinate me.” His shoulders twitched in a shrug. “So, no. I don’t.”
Can’t blame a girl for trying. “Can we agree to leave my coterie out of this?”
“Since you’re one and the same, no.” He shoved off the Bronco. “Miller, in particular, is a high risk. His unflinching loyalty to you is the only reason he’s not kept in chains. While he’s weak, he’ll have difficulty holding onto his skin. Either we monitor him from afar, or we check him into a facility until he’s recovered.”
“He stays where he is,” I warned him. “Miller will be back on his feet within the next twenty-four hours.” I had overheard Thom tell Cole that much. “He’s healing well. There’s no reason to think he’s going to explode into… whatever it is that scares the pants off everyone.”
“He hasn’t told you?” Wu wiped all expression from his features. “You haven’t seen him?”
I opened my mouth, and then shut it. “We all have our secrets. I’m not going to twist his arm to get at his.”