Page 128 of A Quick Buck

His uncle might die tonight.

He didn’t find his voice again until they were back in the car with Junior behind the wheel, driving them home.

“What’s gonna happen?” Noah asked quietly.

“We will go home, you will go to your room, and I am going to wait for your uncle to arrive,” Alistair replied. He was calm, his face blank, but he was staring out the window.

“And then what?” Noah pressed.

“And then I am going to talk to him.”

“Just talk?”

“Yes.”

Oh, Noah didn’t believe that for a second.

“Lemme talk to him first,” Noah pleaded, reaching for Alistair’s hand and squeezing. “Please. Just lemme see him for a minute. I just wanna—”

“No.”

“Why not?” Noah demanded. His earlier distress returned, bile creeping up into his mouth that tasted of bitter red wine.

“It is best that you do not see him until I’m done speaking with him.” Alistair continued staring out the window.

“Is he still gonna be alive then?”

“You’ve lost your faith in me so quickly, have you?”

“You weren’t sayin’ that I couldn’t see my damn uncle before,” Noah challenged.

“I never said that you’d be able to. That’s your mistake for assuming.”

“I’m sorry, butnormalpeople would assume they’d be able to see their mysteriously missing relatives! You know, especially the ones who might be murdered over some damn blood debt, hello?”

Alistair was silent.

“We’re really doing this?” Noah pulled his hand away. “Seriously?”

“And what exactly do you mean by ‘this’?” Alistair asked quietly.

“You bein’ a giant dickwad,” Noah snapped. “You’re lying to me. Aren’t you? Huh? You’re not even gonna let me fuckin’ say goodbye, are you?”

“There’s no need to be so dramatic—”

“If you’re gonna fuckin’ kill him, then have the fuckin’ balls to tell me—!”

“Stop.” Alistair turned, grabbing Noah’s hair and pulling sharply. “I have already told you that I will do whatever must be done, or did you forget? Hmm?”

Noah jerked in Alistair’s grip, glaring at him furiously. “No, I didn’t forget. I remember. Oh, yeah. I know. If you think he’s guilty, then that’s it!”

“I also told you I have doubts.”

Junior made a small grumpy sound from up front. He had also been quiet since hearing the news from the phone call, and Noah had only heard him speak when he was talking with Alistair about getting something from the wine cellar at the club.

Alistair glanced Junior’s way, perhaps staring him down in the rearview mirror before turning back to Noah. “I told you I believe there is more going on than any of us know, and I wanted to speak to your uncle to find out the truth. If he is not guilty, he may still know something vital. Somewhere between that conversation and now did you suffer some kind of head injury I didn’t notice?”

“Fuck you!” Noah spat, all fire and rage.