Page 32 of Retribution

She hangs up and I give a world-weary sigh as I glance at Blake and Mav.

‘Of all the people to become Daisy’s BFF,’ I say, ‘it had to be Lu Garrett.’

‘I kinda like her,’ Mav mutters and turns back to stare outside at the dark.

‘Did she just call me a simp?’ Blake mutters and then gives a shrug when I nod. ‘Okay, but dibs on Daisy’s Simp One. I’m no number two.’

‘What do you think Garrett is planning?’ Mav asks, ignoring Blake.

‘Who fucking knows?’ I say, leaving the room to go downstairs.

In the hallway by the front door, there’s an envelope on the bureau with my name on it.

‘When did this come?’ I ask one of the guys who’s loitering in the kitchen.

‘Some girl brought it. Dark hair. I think she’s in drama. It only just came a few minutes ago, Admiral.’

I turn away with a noise of discontent, shaking my head because one of the guys should have brought it up to me as soon as it arrived, and I come face to face with Laurie.

‘Oh!’ She stops short with a surprised look like she didn’t even see me. ‘I heard you didn’t live here anymore.’

‘What the fuck are you doing here, Laurie? You were banned, remember?’

‘I was just here to see if Marcus wanted to hang but he’s not around,’ she chirps, sidling past me.

I don’t tell her that he’s not welcome here. She probablyalready knows that. He’s just an excuse to come to the KIP house.

My eyes narrow at her as she stands in front of me.

‘Don’t worry. I’m leaving now.’

She saunters toward the foyer, giving me a little finger wave and a simpering smirk, and then slamming the front door shut so hard that the pictures on the wall in the hallway rattle.

‘Bitch,’ I mutter, making a mental note to ensure that every single KIP brother knows that there will be hell to pay if she gets in here again as I climb the stairs.

Back up in Blake’s room, I rip off the top of the manilla envelope. Inside is a green file. It’s not labelled, but as I take it out, a small note falls to the floor. I pick it up.

Couldn’t get original out of building. Took copies. Shannon

‘What is it?’ Mav asks.

‘This is everything they had on Daisy ten years ago after Larson was found dead in the woods near school.’

‘Where’d you get that?’

‘Lu Garrett has a contact in the town hall. I asked her to get the details of what happened. I don’t remember much. I was a kid. Just like she was. Anyway, she told me some things before Christmas and I got curious.’

Blake turns around, gazing at me quizzically. ‘Curious about what?’

‘I don’t know. She didn’t have a lawyer, just some half assed social worker who didn’t give a fuck about her. She said she doesn’t remember what happened that day, really.’

‘That could be trauma,’ Blake supplies thoughtfully.

‘Maybe. Or maybe there’s more going on. Nothing ever seems straightforward where our girl is concerned. I think we can all agree on that.’

Mav, now sitting on the bed, takes the file from my grasp before I can even open it properly and I scowl at him.

He ignores me as he inspects the relatively thin folder from the outside. ‘Doesn’t look like they had much to me.’