Page 36 of Nothing More

“I’d appreciate your help,” she said, “but even more, I’d appreciate you keeping this just between us, and your lab contact. No police.” She lifted her brows expectantly.Understood?

Melissa swallowed again…and then scowled. She looked angrier with herself than with Raven. “No police,” she echoed, sourly, and turned to leave, plastic evidence sleeves stowed safely away in her satchel.

“I’ll walk you out,” Bennet said, and followed her.

Raven turned around and put her back to the edge of the counter just as Toly arrived with her fresh drink. “Thanks.” It was easy, as she sipped, to watch him stalk back across the room, shrug out of his jacket and lay it over the back of the sofa.

His street clothes were baggy and shapeless – by intent, she thought now, because when you got him in something tailored, it became apparent that he wasn’t skinny, but merely lean; whipcord thin without an ounce of fat, his muscles strong and distinct beneath his thin white shirt. He pulled off his tie and laid it over the jacket; unbuttoned his collar and folded up his sleeves, revealing tattoos and sharply-defined forearms.

Belatedly, she realized Miles was talking.

“I’m not sure I trust her,” he said, once the front door had shut. “She’s far too worried about getting the rest of the police department involved.”

Toly turned around, arms folded, and the button holding the shirt closed over his sternum looked ready to give up the ghost. “Leave it to Pongo to bring around a woman who’s gonna get us all arrested,” he said, sourly.

“She’s only frightened,” Raven said, and earned skeptical, surprised glances from both of them. “I don’t think she’s going to turn us in,” she explained. “I only thought to frighten her back a little: make sure she’s more afraid of betraying us than of losing her job.”

Miles grinned. “That’s evil.”

“So’s life, most of the time. I feel for the poor girl – she’s never known anything like this life, always worked on the other side of the law – but being lenient with her won’t do her, or us, any favors.

“In any event, we have no other way of analyzing those…parts…without a law enforcement lab and database. Unless one of you has contacts I don’t know about?” She glanced between them. Miles shook his head. “We let her proceed, then. And, meanwhile, we…” She glanced down into her glass; swirled its contents so the ice cubes clicked together. “I don’t know. Drink ourselves blind. Move to Mexico.”

“Yeah,” Miles said, laughingly, “because there’s certainly not any dismembering gangsters in Mexico.”

By contrast, Toly’s voice was low and dark. “You need to email Smith again and tell him you won’t do the gala.”

Raven lifted her head.This again. Fought to keep from scowling at him. “Whatever for?”

His mouth hitched unhappily upward in one corner. “Donovan Smith comes to see you, and two hours later, the finger shows up. Today, Greg Ingles stops by to flirt with you–”

“Good God, man, you have to let that go,” she muttered.

“–to flirt with you,” he insisted, “and then, a few hours later, there’s an ear in your mailbox. It’s not a coincidence.”

“Itcouldbe.”

He stared at her.

Miles cleared his throat. “Maybe we’re being paranoid.”

“About theearin the post?” she asked.

“Well, no, that’s bad. That’s obviously a threat. But what if it has nothing to do with the club, or Abacus collapsing, or any of that. What if it’s someone who knows you from Intemporelle? Who just hates you for you?”

“Wonderful, Miles. Brilliant. How comforting to think that I’m that easy to hate.”

“Ugh, you know what I mean.”

“I disagree,” Toly said. To her: “Had anything like this ever happened before Abacus?”

“No.”

Miles shrugged. “First time for everything.”

Toly scrubbed a hand through his hair, dislodging it further, more of it falling in front of his ears and across his forehead than was slicked back, now. He shook his head. “This isn’t about a professional rivalry. I know it’s not. Even if it is,” he said, mostly to himself, “they’ve delegated: hired somebody to do the scaring and left it to their discretion.”

“Professional takedowns come in the form of leaked secrets and the poaching of clients lists,” Raven said. “Rumor-spreading,” she continued, while Toly nodded along in agreement (first time for everything, she supposed). “Corporate espionage–”