Page 89 of Mr. Perfect

Jill

Her words moved him so deeply that it took three attempts to open the attached letter to Spencer. The draft was professional, precise, and perfect, which is what he told her in his response. Felix ended the email by expressing his eagerness to meet her too.

When he finished, he glanced up just as he almost collided with Jude. Felix pulled up quickly but tripped and stumbled into the bookshelf hard enough to make the Chipper Jones baseball roll off the shelf and hit the floor with a thud.

“Oh shit,” Felix said, quickly retrieving the ball. “I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry? You’re not the one who broke my souvenir box,” Jude said. “The cleaning staff accidentally knocked it off the shelf this weekend. They left an apology note on my desk.”

Felix studied the box closer. The glass case was gone, and one of the metal prongs holding the ball was bent at an awkward angle, which was why it had fallen off just now. But there was something else off about it. The wood was sticking up weirdly at one corner.

“Hold this,” Felix said, handing the ball to Jude. “I bet I can fix this box. I’ve gotten handy at rehab projects.” The wood was smooth and faded from age, but it could be sanded and stained. Felix wiggled the metal piece that held the ball, and the entire top of the trophy box snapped off in his hand. “Oh fuck,” Felix said. “Jude, I’m—” His voice died when he saw a three-and-a-half-inch floppy disk hidden in the bottom of the box. Felix jerked his head up and met Jude’s gaze. “I think I know where your dad hid the evidence on Mercy.”

Felix tilted the box to Jude.

Jude swallowed hard as he removed the dark blue disk. “I haven’t seen one of these in forever. Who even has the capability of reading data stored on one of these?”

Felix smiled. “I know a guy.”

“Igot a bad feeling about this,” Royce said later that evening when he and Sawyer arrived at Jonah’s house.

“It feels like we were just here, doesn’t it?” Sawyer said, placing his hands on his lean hips. “If I remember correctly, these knuckleheads promised to keep their noses out of trouble.”

“We kept our noses clean,” Felix said. “Trouble found us anyway.”

“Why am I having a hard time believing you?” Royce asked him.

Felix gestured for the men to join them in the living room. “Because you’re stubborn and suspicious.”

Sawyer sat down on the loveseat next to his boyfriend. He looked at Jude and said, “I found out your cop buddy is okay.”

“Oh, good,” Jude said.

“He did have to abandon his undercover persona and is lying low.”

“I’m just glad he’s safe,” Jude said.

Sawyer looked around the room. “You guys asked for a meeting. Tell us everything.”

Felix held up the floppy disk. “We found this by sheer accident.”

Royce narrowed his eyes. “Why do you sound so defensive?”

“Because you’re stubborn and—”

“Suspicious,” Royce said. “Yeah, I get it.”

“I haven’t seen one of those floppy disks in twenty years,” Sawyer said. “What is it?”

“We’re pretty sure it’s the evidence my dad planned to hand over to the FBI,” Jude replied.

“Or a copy of what he turned over to them,” Felix added.

Royce released a deep breath. “This ought to be good. How did youaccidentallyfind it?”

Felix and Jude tag-teamed while telling the story. They left out Jill’s involvement because Felix had no intention of actually filing a lawsuit against Spencer. He just wanted to keep up pretenses to buy them time.

“So, what’s on the disk?” Sawyer asked.