Page 82 of Fish in a Barrel
“Where’s Jade and Galen?”
“In their respective homes,” Ellery said. “Jade and Mike are thinking about taking off to spend a couple of days with your brother in the hills.” Kaden and his wife, Rhonda, and their three children lived up near Truckee. They’d been stashed up there for protective custody during Ellery and Jackson’s first case together and had loved living in the mountains so much they’d stayed. The place was out-of-the-way and unexpected. Jade and Mike were minor enough players for them to be pretty safe up in Todd Valley.
Jackson’s eyes widened appreciatively. “Ooh, that’s a good idea. I should have thought of it. I’ll text her.”
“In a minute,” Ellery said gently, watching as he squeezed his eyes shut repeatedly in order to clear the sand of too much video analysis from his vision. “Henry said he had to change your bandages.”
Jackson grimaced. “I know you heard me bitch about this all weekend, but, you know, it’s your fuckin’back. You never think about the skin on your back unless you’re trying to scratch an itch. Who knew it was connected toeverything? Sitting down, standing up—”
“Walking four flights of stairs to check out a sniper’s nest,” Henry said, setting a bowl of chicken and cauliflower noodles at Ellery’s elbow. “I felt like shit when I realized how much pain he was in, and we still had to walk down.”
Jackson grunted. “I swear, I only thought we were leaving the house to….” His eyes darted to Ellery’s, and he gave a game “I’m not hiding anything”smile.
“To what?” Ellery asked curiously.
“Yeah, Jackson. To what? I never did catch what you were doing out there by the crime scene.”
Jackson shot Henry a look of pure venom. “I almost liked you today. Almost.”
“Don’t give up on me. You might almost like me sometime next week. I’ll hold out hope.” Henry gave an evil smile, and Jackson growled at him. Ellery chuckled, because while he and his sister had never engaged in sibling schtick, he imagined this was probably what most people meant when they talked about brothers.
“Joey’s sister’s car was rear-ended this morning,” Jackson said. “I told you that. Talking to her was how we realized Cartman was fleeing the area. You both knew that.”
Henry frowned. “That was Joey’s sister’s car? I swore that was the—” His eyes got big. “No,” he said.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jackson lied. Ellery knew he was lying, Henry knew he was lying, but only Henry knew what he was lyingabout.
“Ellery,” Henry squeaked, “he totally traded his CR-V for that brown piece of—”
“Sweet sugary goodness!” Jackson inserted. “Oh my God, Henry! Have you learned nothing in the last four days? If we want that car to not try to catapult you out of the front seat, what do we need to do?”
Henry gave him a bleak look. “She’s a lovely car, Jackson. I just thought she wassomebody else’scar. But apparently she’s not. I’m so happy. We get to drive herforever.”
Ellery gaped at them both, trying to fit the pieces together in his tired brain, when an epic war broke out in the living room. It started with one of the cats growling, and then both of the cats yowling, and then the tiny, sad yelping of a little brown ball of fur as he hauled ass through the house, screaming at the top of his miniscule lungs.
“Aw, Poppy,” Billy said, moving from his place soldered to Sean’s side to bend down and pick up the little dog that Ellery hadn’t noticed until now. “Baby, did those two terrible cats try to eat you?”
“I thought he was going with Cody Gabriel?” Ellery said, staring at the dog.
“Well, yeah,” Henry said. “But right now Cody’s in the part of rehab where he’s being sedated and detoxed. He can’t care for the dog atall.We’re bringing him back at the end of the week, and I’m sure it will help.”
At that moment Billy Bob leapt onto the middle of the kitchen table, wiggling his ass and knocking laptops right and left, meowing his displeasure. Jackson grunted and stood painfully, and Ellery watched as he picked the big furry goober off the table, straining his stitches as he did so.
“Come on, No-thumbs,” he said, even his voice aching with weariness. “Let’s get you into the bedroom where the big scary five-pound dog is not a threat.” As he left, he picked up a shadow as Lucifer followed at his heels, meowing pitifully the entire time.
Ellery and Henry watched him go, concerned, but Ellery blew out a sigh of relief when the door closed.
“What?” Henry asked.
“He’s not fond of crowds,” Ellery reminded him. “And he’s exhausted. If we’re lucky he’ll linger there to settle the cats and maybe fall asleep.”
Henry nodded and gave Sean a meaningful glance over the computer screens. “Did you hear that?” he asked. “’Cause, you know—it could be catching.”
Sean gave him a dead-eyed look. “Junior, do you have any idea how long I can live on irritation and coffee?”
“Oh dear Lord,” Ellery muttered. “You sound like Jackson’s ventriloquist dummy. Go into the living room and close your eyes.”
Sean gave him a look of sheer horror. “Shut your mouth.”