Page 61 of Retribution

I snort. ‘Jealous? Not my fault you can’t grow a beard, my friend.’

I roll onto my back and stare up at the ceiling.

‘Heard any more from our girl?’ he asks.

‘Not since yesterday. But she said about that nurse being on her ass, so…’ I glance at him. ‘I have a bad feeling though.’

He nods. ‘Me too, but we can’t get near her, not until she’s next scheduled to be on campus.’

‘When is that?’ I ask.

‘Two days from now.’

I swear. ‘That’s too long.’

He nods again. ‘Did she even say why she didn’t come to school like she was supposed to yesterday morning?’

‘Only that she was tired and thinks she has a virus.’

‘Huh,’ he snorts as he gets out of the bed.

‘I don’t know,’ I say, thinking aloud. ‘I feel like it would take more than that to keep her in the Novelle house. Coming to Richmond U is just about the only time she gets out of the gilded prison Joe is keeping her in.’

‘You got a point. Maybe we try to get in there later, pose as delivery guys, or something,’ Blake says, side-eying me.

I sit up. ‘Might be better to see if Lu Garrett can try. They know her. She might get lucky.’

He nods. ‘I went by the club last night.’

‘How’s it looking?’

He shrugs. ‘Still a gigantic fucking hole in the floor, but other than that, great.’

He gestures with his head over at Daisy’s desk where a cardboard box sits.

‘What’s that?’ I ask.

‘The box of Daisy’s stuff from that UK spa she was in. It was sitting just inside the door at Wrath. One of the construction guys must have signed for it. It’s addressed to John Novelle.’

We look at each other and both lunge toward it at the same time.

Blake gets to the box first and takes his flip knife out, cutting the packaging tape deftly.

We open it together, not sure what we’re expecting, but it’s not an old pair of jeans, a t-shirt with a cat on it, and a knitted stripy sweater. Blake turns the box upside down, shaking it, just as Shade comes in.

‘Thought I heard something in here. What are you doing?’

I show him the box and Shade stares at it. ‘Took their sweet time sending it, huh?’

I nod.

He looks through the small pile.

‘That’s it?’

He looks inside the box and then at the clothes again.

‘Anyone else sort of get the feeling that the spa wasn’t exactly like we think?’ Blake asks.