CHAPTER 41 - VINCE AND DAPH SAY THEIR PIECES
QUBE HOUSE - LATE MORNING NEXT DAY
STORM ROOM
JUSTIN
I kick the door shut as quietly as I can. He sniffs as he slowly sits up. “Morn...no coffee smell, so what have you been doing?”
“Pommery and truffle scrambled eggs.” Hazel eyes widen. “Go brush your teeth.” I carefully put the tray down, then get back in bed. We got here late last night. Leda flew us up whilst Zee, Faal and the brothers are still in Pittsburgh. I had every intention of making him pay for his safe mistake, but on the flight, he was in the cockpit then never said a word on the drive to the house. “Brian, what’s wrong?”
“I feel so stupid and arrogant. I should've given the place a thorough once over. Now I have put you in danger.”
“Stud, I was always going to be in danger.”
“How the fuck do you work that out?!” He keeps his voice low, his temper not so much.
“Because, whatever it is was always there. When they swooped on him for embezzlement, he was taken away so quickly remember? He had no chance to do anything. Also when he got out but never came back to Liberty Avenue, maybe he figured that you didn’t look and it’s been years since.” He goes to protest, but then realises the correctness of my statement. “Besides, who says it’s about me, ever thought it could be you?” Even though I’m spitballing, the idea has some merit. Just as I’m about to continue, his phone rings. “Who is it?”
“Faal.” He puts it on speaker. “What’s up?”
“Found a tape of Justin being sucked off by Sapperstein. I closed my eyes during that bit, but someone was watching you. We will need to do clean up to get a good image, but I think it might’ve been Novotny.”
“Him? Why? And how?” Brian tests the cloche at the same time. Judging by that wince the eggs are still hot.
“You said that he sometimes watched you, Brian, supposing...hold on, what? Stront!” Then his phone is cut. We set our watches and wait, we have to wait five minutes,
“Can you eat?” Brian brings me tighter to him, I shake my head. “How much longer?”
“Four minutes and 15 seconds.”
“Fuck!” He growls. Our hearts are beating so fast. Although we ‘know and have seen them work’, them working for us is different, and we’ve both had trouble separating the emotions from the practicalities.
“Should we get dressed, or…” His phone rings; he reaches it, but I stop him. “...voicemail, remember?!” When the door knocks. I hurry to let in Vince. He takes Brian’s phone. “Jesus, how long does it take to leave a fucking message?!” I grumble as my stomach churns with each passing second. Finally, Vince smiles, then gives us the a-okay signal.
“Excuse me a sec…” Brian mutters before running to the bathroom. We say nothing as he throws up. He’s quiet as he gets back in bed.
“Want Mom?” Vince asks quietly. He just nods. Whilst he goes to get Debs, I hold my trembling husband.
“They’re fine. Sssh, they’re fine.”
“Let us in, Sunshine.” Debs orders as Mom takes the tray off the bed. “Take him to Daph, we’ve got our son.”
Vince waits for me to put on my robe before he takes me to their room. As soon as her arms are around me, I break down. “I'm gonna check in proper. I got the jist, but wanted to make sure it was legit.”
“Okay.” Daphne calls over my shoulder. She waits for me to settle before moving us under the quilt. “No more.” She tilts up my chin before wiping my eyes with her cuffs. “What’s the point of training us and shit if we can’t be on red alert too?”
“But Vince is…”
“No. Just...Zee thinks this is a good idea, why don’t you two?”
“For me…” I sit up a bit. “...I see you, you all as my family, and for you to put your lives on the line for me is…”
“What families do! We protect! We have the technology and the skills, let us use them! You know we couldn't knock boots for two days after I pulled my hamstring?! You owe me!”
“I need to speak to Brian.”
“No you don’t. Have spoken to them, you’re all ‘on’.” Brian gets in behind me. “Bell came, saw cars outside but was gone before they could get to him.” We fall silent. “Did you tell her that Novotny might have watched you get blown by Sapperstein?”
“And said nothing to you about it? Mind you, how could he say he found that out…”
“Besides, I told you immediately afterwards, so…”
“There’s more.” Brian swallows. Daph and I get on either side of him. “There were many tapes of...a night like your night. Need you to look at someone, do you recognise him?”
He hands me his phone. “Yes, vaguely, but not his name though, I think he is one of our former Pink Posse members. He, like others, ducked out when Bell started getting hardcore. Why?”
“Because he ducked out when Bell was drawing too much attention. This guy worked for Sapperstein, befriended the waifs and strays...then led them to a ‘safe’ place.”
We absorb this new development in horror, all of us thinking how I could’ve ended up on those tapes or even worse!
“Cyn is coming up with Zeus. Ben and Ted are working on a statement.”
“Statement? What for?” Daph frowns whilst I nod. “Oh, I see, striking whilst the iron is hot. Going to try and force Bell out?”
“Exactly. And it is about to get hotter.” Judging by that smile, the bad news is over for now. “We know where this guy is.” He taps his phone. “And how much trouble he is in.”
“They can connect him to the Sap?” I ask, resting against his chest. His heartbeat is nice and steady, so definitely good news! “Come on, tell us!”
“He’s in jail. Not for anything like that, but connected in a way. Drugs. Him and Sapperstein never reconnected, but he and someone else have…”
“Can we name this turd, please?!” Daph demands. “All the ‘he’ is confusing!”
“Raymond Park. And the person Raymond has met, and more importantly, asked for help in his retrial…”
“No way?!” I gasp.
“Yes way!” Brian laughs.
“Luther?!” Daph bounces on the bed. “There is no way in fuck, he’s going to do that, is he?”
“No, especially when he described a certain person as ‘a choice piece of chicken that was ripe for the skewering’.”
“Why do you always attract the nutjobs?” Daph grumps as she shoves us out of bed.
“He could’ve been talking about me, you know?!” Brian looks so affronted that I start to smile.
“Was he talking about you?” Daph smirks.
“No, but that’s not the point…” I start to haul him back to our room. “...it’s not funny! He could’ve been talking about me!”
STORM ROOM - FIVE MINUTES LATER
BRIAN
As we get back inside, Vince is finishing up a call. We wait quietly. “Okay, thanks, Zee. Yeah, will talk to them. See you this evening.”
“She’s coming?” I’m so relieved.
“They both are, and so is everyone else, bar the brothers. They’re going to be locking down Britin.”
“Locking down…” I begin. “...it is already locked down enough!” I get in before Justin can. “I understand the concern, but Britin is our home, we’re happy with the arrangements we currently have.”
“No, it isn’t!” Vince retorts. “And now there’s one more nutter running around, it is being locked down our way!” He runs his hands through his hair, looking for the first time seriously exasperated at us. “I’ve worked for you for a long time, but you guys still aren’t telling each other everything! There is nothing to be afraid of, he’s dead! Look at each other and say how you feel, Justin. And Brian, tell him what happened in that room.”
After he leaves, we say nothing, so I clear my throat. “What is he talking about, Justin?”
“Every second he was with you, I was afraid you would believe his lies.” He whispers, “Even after we got married, I would just wait, wait for him to worm his way back in. And he almost did...”
“But that was for Debs, and...”
“No it wasn’t, but that's what you told everyone, including yourself. It was only when you saw his very true colours…”
“Knowing that he was going to jail, somewhere he could not get out of, made me feel better…”
“And safer?” He asks. I nod. “That’s why you included him in the article?” He sighs before taking my trembling hands. “Brian, stop blaming yourself.”
“I’ve stopped blaming myself for the bash…”
“For Jacob Jones.”
JUSTIN
He’s stroking my palms. “I just can’t reconcile who I knew to who he became...”
“What, not who. It’s what he became...he became a murderer…”
“To get to see me!” Tears start to flow. “By rights, I should be…”
“Don’t you finish that sentence! You are not to blame! Why can you see me as a victim, but not yourself?!”
“Because I never thought he would do that!”
“Nobody did!” I declare.
“No, not that. I mean at the party, when I hit him. I thought he would explain, but he didn’t…well not properly.”
“Of course he wouldn't say anything, he would lose the victim status!” I snap, then another thought occurs. “Did he say sorry to you?”
“Not really. But when he leapt at you in court, he had that same look on his face, only seen it four times. So full of hatred.”
“When were the other two times?” I query. I have only seen it once, at the last trial, it sent shivers down my spine for a few nights.
“When he came to the loft after our first night. Third time was in New York. I always regretted that you weren’t there when I told him that I fell in love the moment I saw you, but I was in denial, and how scared I was when we came to bring you back from New York. Also told him that I hated him. You should’ve been there to hear that.”
I sigh, resting my head on his shoulder. “I did get to hear you say that he’s dead to you as you left the room.”
“He called me a pathetic fool.”
“Why?”
“Because you weren’t sitting outside like I told him you were…”
“Oh. Wrong time to not be a litterbug.”
BRIAN
“Agreed. But then we heard your voice; I turned around to say ‘told you so’, but then I saw that look.” I wrap my arm around his waist. “Justin, I know we don’t want to speak about him anymore, but I’m hoping it was him that was watching you and Sapperstein.
“You too?” He whispers. “Because if it’s not him, who else could it be, and where are they now?”