Page 25 of Junior Has a Secret
“Mendez,” I correct.“Lilah Mendez.I amnotthat man’s willing daughter.Feel free to pass that around as gossip.”I walk forward, without looking back to assure Jay and Andrew are following.Of course, they are and the trio of us head up a long flight of concrete stairs.
“I can’t believe the state thought paying for this was a good idea,” Andrew murmurs.
“I’m guessing it was the same private donors who paid to get Dad elected, but you can bet I’ll find out.Separate note, Tic Tac is thinking of rooming with Lucas.”
“That’s more stupid than me dating Samantha.”
Samantha being Kane’s ex-fuck buddy who Andrew decided to make his fuck buddy, only Andrew is more of a heart after man parts, kind of guy.He’s the kind of guy a girl like that takes to the bank.“Please tell me that means you broke up?”
“We did.And don’t ask details.”
“Sure.I’ll make up stories about all the ways she dumped you while drinking champagne tonight.”
We reach the door where there’s actually a uniform standing guard, I assume to be an off-duty private for hire, but it’s possible he’s assigned to guard the castle.Since they all seem to know me and Andrew, I motion to Jack and Jay.“They’re with us.”
“If it’s Pocher,” Andrew murmurs, “I’ll drink that champagne with you.”
The door swings open and Pocher greets us.“There you have it, Andrew.Pocher is not dead.Pity.”
The officer, a young red headed man with an excess of freckles coughs to hide his laughter.
“It is a pity,” I say, happy to speak my mind right to the snake’s face.
“Careful what you wish for, Lilah,” Pocher warns.
“Why?You afraid the wish fairy, otherwise known as Ghost, is listening?”
“I was thinking more because I have witnesses.”There’s not one ounce of discomfort in him at the mention of Ghost and the idea that he hired him, suddenly holds credence.He backs up and opens the door to show me an elegant foyer withAdams as the centerpiece, and today, Adam’s has dressed for the castle, in one heck of an expensive suit, and I make a mental note to find out how he afforded the fine silk.Despite the spiffy garb today he looks every day his thirty-eight years, with an added five to seven years of shadows beneath his eyes, and a few of the wrinkles I noticed before appear deeper, while his skin is a bit chalky.
“This way,” Adams says, and he walks toward an archway to the right.
I glance at Jay.“Stay here.”
Jay holds up his hands.“I’ll be happy to go to the car.”
Adamseyes Jack.“You too.And as for you, Andrew,” he says, shifting his attention to my brother, “you’re no longer a member of law enforcement.You need to go upstairs to your father’s office and talk to him.”Adams turns and starts walking.
I follow, eager to see what he has to show me and get the hell out of here, and already Andrew steps to my side, silently telling Adams to fuck off.I’m liking this new Andrew.Fuck you, Adams.I’m here for it.At this point, Adamsis leading us down a hallway, fancy marble beneath our feet.He stops at another archway and rotates to face us.“Forensics is on the way.So is the coroner.”He motions to the exposed room I can’t quite view.“You’ll want boots to go all the way in.”Apparently not that worried about Andrew, he moves out of the way to allow us to step forward.
We’ll want boots, I think.Not booties.
In other words, a messy murder to go with my breakfast.Maybe Andrew needs to go back to the foyer.He can’t handle the killer in me that doesn’t mind dead bodies, but then again, I don’t like blood in excess.Boots say excess.Andrew steps toward the archway and I capture his arm.“You’re not a member of law enforcement any longer, Andrew.You made that decision.Go back to the foyer.”
He yanks his arm back and walks right into the fire, otherwise known today, as the archway.I sigh and follow him, halting by his side.
Before us is a dead man hanging by the neck from the ceiling, his hands chopped off, blood staining the cream-colored carpet beneath him, crimson red.
Chapter Twenty-One
We’re silent several beats, just having a good old fashion family moment, and in true Love fashion we’re doing what Love brothers and sisters were destined to do, hanging out together, staring at a dead body.Which is fine by me, necessary to catch a killer, but Andrew doesn’t understand how to let a dead body talk to him.He doesn’t want that kind of imagery or conversation.And I can’t focus and let it happen for me when I know he’s living a nightmare in his mind.
Andrew doesn’t have the stomach for death, I realize now with one hundred percent certainty.
Meanwhile, Iamdeath.
As sisters do, I try to blow off my brother’s discomfort, returning my attention to the body, and trying to find an empty place in my mind I start filling up with the victim’s data; he’s thirtysomething.Wearing pants and a black T-shirt.His pant legs are soaked with dried blood.His body is rigid.He’s not a fresh kill, which stirs all kinds of new questions in my mind, but Andrew’s discomfort is a beating drum next to me, tugging my gaze his direction.
He’s so damn stiff, he could be the corpse.My brother is fucked in the head, beyond his normal fucked in the head.This part of the job is a necessary evil to most badges and you find a place to put it and just deal with it.Why can’t he just see that we’re the last defense this person has and if we shy away from the blood and gore, if we don’t let them talk to us in death, the killer goes free in life.It becomes cat and mouse between me and the monster who took a life, and I am one hundred percent the cat.