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“You really thought coming back would be safe?” Xeno hisses, walking with us to the edge of the porch. “With a copycat wandering around?”
I glare at my brother, and Jo tilts her head as she looks between us. All my other siblings were younger and had no interest in chatting with us, but Xeno and Jo got along pretty well. “We made a necessary decision.”
Xeno smirks, leaning against the railing. “Necessary,brother? Or did you pick the one that saves your club? I understand it’s become something of a hidden gem?”
“We wouldn't want our pasts affecting anyone there,” I explain.
“Alastair is bad,” Jo continues, drawing his attention. “But he’s one person, locked up and unable to get to anyone. He’s not who we have to fear, Xeno. Slander can hurt a business. We built our club to give people freedom and safety for what they love, consensually. If anything critical about the club gets leaked to the news we’ll lose the faith of all our patrons. Once it’s gone we won’t be able to easily rebuild either. This stop in Florida is temporary. When the copycat is arrested, we’ll go home. There just better be something to go back to.”
Nodding, Xeno straightens up and brushes back his hair. “So telling you to leave Florida is out of the question?”
“Find the killer and we will,” I reply with a shrug, but Xeno shakes his head. “The FBI is back, which I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“It’s always nice having the Feds in my backyard,” he grumbles. “The sooner the copycat is caught and you two go home, the sooner Citrus Grove will be free reign again.”
I feel Jo looking at me, but I ignore it and keep talking to my brother. She’s going to want to talk about whatfree reignmeans to Xeno. “We can’t stay here, brother. If there is someone out there targeting us, this is the first place they would look. The FBI doesn’t suspect anything of us, but if we decide to hide here with you Gideon is going to start thinking otherwise.”
Xeno laughs. “Gideon, huh? I haven’t heard that name in a while.”
“Not Edwin,” Jo corrects. “His son, Sterling.”
“Son of a bitch,” Xeno says, still laughing. “It’s like a generational case.”
“You could say that,” I reply. “Xeno, we might not be able to stay here, but if you happen to have a car, I think it would benefit us to not drive the rental anymore. The copycat will be able to pick those plates out easily.”
Xeno nods. “Leave it here, I’ll have one of the men return it on your behalf. Take the blue one. It should blend in with everything else in town.”
I smile, pulling out the keys to hand over the rental set. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” he replies with a grin, giving Jo a broad smile as he looks between us. “And I hear you stole Emeric Grey and made him go to Colorado? Staying in his home probably kept you under the radar-”
“Until a body turned up outside,” I agree.
“That’s what the men watching are for.” Xeno scratches his temple. “They didn’t report anything about the body. We’ve had some disturbances lately, and I pulled them back last night and the night before…”
“Don't worry about it,” I say with a shrug. “I still have ways to protect my wife.”
Jo’s eyes seem to burn into the side of my head at that but I ignore her. She knows without asking that I’ll protect her, but I don’t give out details on how unless she pushes for answers.
Xeno doesn’t question it either. “I see. I’ll have the guys out there watching from the car, but if someone dropped a body outside Grey’s house surely it can’t be a mistake. He doesn’t have a garage does he?”
I shake my head. “No. And I doubt it could be a mistake. It’s definitely a message.”
“Yes,” Xeno agrees. “Someone knows both of you are back in Citrus Grove and they want you to know they know where you’re staying. I’d say they want you to get the hell out. Again.”
Chapter 12
“You have visitors, Constantine.”
I glance up, surprised. Since murder number three I’ve had zero guests aside from Jensen stopping in to chat about the third victim. Jace hasn’t visited with me hasn’t been by since the last time I saw Sterling, along with the professors and any new doctors aside from my regular care team. Even the FBI seems to be unable to visit as often, like the warden is finally cracking down on shit again. Nine days elapsed between the last blow up I had with Sterling and body three, and I can’t help laughing at how angry the FBI probably is. Nothing seems to be working out for them when it comes to the case.
So when two guards appear and lead me to the visitation rooms upfront, cuffs in place once more, I’m surprised to see Jace sitting there after all. Professor Artemis sits next to him, and she’s about the only professor who comes down here regularly. I’m not entirely sure what the specifics are to visit a criminal psychopath like me, but there’s a lot of red tape to get through to be able to do this. Artemis passed all the background checks, and one time I heard her mention to one of the guards that she would be going back to speak with the warden. Makes me wonder if she knows him personally.
Either way, any face is a welcome face. I heard Bernie is stuck in solitaire for some sort of infraction, and I wonder if they take the whiteboard as punishment for that. He;s about the only person I can tolerate in here so it’s been a lonely week and a half.
I sit across from them, letting the guard click the cuffs to the hook in front of the chair, attached to the table. Only then does he step back, disappearing to the wall to eavesdrop instead of moving to watch and listen through the privacy glass. The other guard didn’t even walk in here, and this one, Norbert Preston, has been on my ass for the better part of a week. Wallsburg hasn’t been to work in days, and I almost miss his ugly mug because it was so easy to rile him up. I heard a rumor through some of the inmates that a couple agents came to chat with him and he hasn’t been back.
My tongue pokes against my cheek at the thought. Wallsburg had a thing going with Candace before she died, but as far as I remember he was working that night, so it wouldn’t make sense for him to be at fault for her death. Having Norbert on my detail instead of Kyle really isn’t that much fun.