Page 109 of Goldilocks

A body.

“Dad’s with Mal,” Sam said.

Eric reached for his hand and squeezed it. “I was with him a few hours ago.”

The ghoul had killed someone.

Laurence tapped on the screen. Fionn narrowed his eyes at him. “How’d you know the code?”

“That’s Austin’s birthday.”

“Jasper, did you recognise them?” Sam asked.

Jasper shook his head. “The man was unknown to me.”

“They were definitely stalking Austin,” Laurence murmured. He and Fionn scrolled through the phone. Sam thought now might be a good time to point out they shouldn’t be going through a dead guy’s phone, that the guards wouldn’t like that. But he wasn’t sure what the guards would make of the dead ghoul in the driveway or the merman bleeding out by his side. Sam turned to check that Roan was still okay and found watchful eyes already on him. Sam couldn’t call the police. Not with Roan like this, shifted and vulnerable. If Jasper hadn’t been here, they wouldn’t have been able to move him an inch. He wasn’t going to call the guards and let him end up in a lab. Connor’s experience had taught Sam enough to know he didn’t want any officials learning about Roan.

Fionn snatched the phone from Laurence, tapping on the screen. “The hell? Who is upstairs?” he demanded.

“What is it?” Laurence asked.

“Photos of my yacht! Diagrams of yachts that sunk! Details about where the weakness in the hulls are, and—”

“Jasper…Does he have dark hair? And is he big, kind of like Nick?” Sam asked.

Jasper nodded.

An obsession with Austin and evidence of sabotage…Sam could make a guess, though he couldn’t saywhyhe felt so certain about it. “It’s Gary,” Sam said.

“The man who punched you at college?” Eric asked hesitantly.

Fionn blinked. He looked up from the phone and pulled a face. “I…I’ll check. If it’s Gary, I’ll recognise him.” He was gone only seconds. “Yeah,” he said, pale-faced.

There was a beat of silence. Eric looked at Ivan, and there was silent communication going on between them.

“So,” Ivan began. “I’m thinking this is a mess. A big, big mess. I’m thinking the guards will make it an even bigger mess. I’m proposing that for all of our sakes – and to keep everyone sitting here safe, especially our unique friends – we take care of the mess ourselves. I’ll do everything. Nobody has any reason to have any sort of guilty conscience, alright? Nobody here harmed anybody. It was just that dead thing in the driveway that did it. That Gary guy? Well, if he had it out for Sam, and now he’s dead in Sam’s house, I’m worried how this will all look.”

“He sunk my yacht,” Fionn added.

Ivan blinked. “Right. He had it out for you too. Do I have your agreement, then? Everything here stays between us?”

Laurence was already nodding, far too quick to agree to covering up a dead body for Sam’s tastes. Fionn looked right at Sam. “Is that what you want to do?” he asked.

Sam’s neck was too stiff to nod his head. “Yeah,” he agreed.

And after meeting his eyes, Fionn nodded too.

“Alright. Good.” Ivan stood and entered the house, and Eric got to his feet and followed. “Be back in a minute,” he said to Sam. Jasper followed the two of them.

Fionn joined Sam on the bench. He set his elbows on his knees and peered up at Sam’s face. “You want another cup of tea?” he asked.

“No, thanks.” Sam breathed in. Breathed out. “Fionn.”

“Yeah?”

“You were really cool.”

Fionn reddened, and his mouth quivered, before a little smile turned up the corners of his lips. “Laurence was running around all panicked, looking for a car. Right place, right time.”