Page 112 of The Fallen Man

“Son of a bitch,” said Aiden. “That’s like a two for one asshole maneuver. How do you even get to be that much a dick?”

“By being a complete narcissist,” said Evan with a shrug. “OK, so where does Dennis Houge come into this?”

“Unclear,” said Pete. “But Dominique ID’d him at the scene. Said he attacked Caitlin, and then she and some kid and possibly a drug dealer had to run him off. I’m still working that oneout. Cops are on the scene now, so maybe we’ll learn more, but probably not. Jackson said Dominique hit Houge with a golf club.”

“Classic Nika,” said Aiden, nodding. “Although, I wish she wouldn’t. Once is an accident. Twice… It’s the kind of thing that looks like it’s becoming a habit.”

“Oh. Are we caring what people think? I thought we weren’t doing that.”

“Not in general, but legally,” said Aiden. “I dislike establishing a pattern. I did offer to take her to do some training with Ella and me, but she said that she likes her kickboxing class doing batting practice with Max on date night.”

“She’s always had very good aim,” said Evan. “Remember the time she pegged you in the forehead with the suction cup arrow.”

“That would have been funny if she hadn’t tipped it in ink first,” said Aiden.

“No,” said Evan, “it was still funny.”

“It’s moments like this that give me insight into your family,” said Pete. “Although, frequently, they are insights I didn’t want. Meanwhile, I’m now about to go chase down a lead on a guy with a broken arm. When Jackson gets here, tell him to call me. Garcia, you’re with me. Kerschel, call me when you’ve got something on Baranov.”

“I have it already,” said Kerschel getting up and following Pete and Garcia as they put on their jackets. “Stepan Baranov. Legal non-citizen. Ties to the Russian mafia, but who the fuck doesn’t? I called Houge’s office in my cheerful lady voice and asked where Baranov could send his invoice, and she got annoyed and said to send it to the same place as last month and gave me an email address. I’m hacking that. I’ll have financial ties between him and Houge by the time you get back.”

“OK,” said Pete, “but don’t leave any fingerprints. The police have to be able to find all this on their own and it has to be clean.We can’t look like we were doing anything more than hitting people with golf clubs.”

“I believe you mean protecting the innocent from assault,” Aiden called after him.

“What he said,” said Pete. The old-fashioned bell bounced and jangled as the two men left, and Aiden turned to Evan.

“I don’t like doing nothing. Jackson had better get back soon, or I shall be forced to come up with something.”

“Like what?” asked Evan. His cousin was creative, but he was unsure which direction that would go in the current situation.

“Honestly, I’m thinking about calling Zoe, Grandma’s Chief-of-Staff and start doing a little digging on Houge from that direction.”

“Grandma might not appreciate that,” said Evan, thoughtfully, trying to weight the pros and cons.

“Didn’t you just say we weren’t caring what people think?” asked Aiden.

“Grandma isn’t people,” said Evan drily.

“Jackson needs help.”

“Start with Hannah Nowitsky,” said Kerschel. “She’s Jackson’s inside man.”

“Thanks,” said Aiden, flashing her a smile. “Now is there an office I can use somewhere?”

“There’s the kitchen, the supply closet, the locker room, or the storage room with the gym equipment.”

“Gym equipment!” said Aiden, perking up.

“Down the hall, last door on the left,” said Kerschel, pointing.

Aiden went, but Evan decided not to go with him. He looked around and eventually located the desk with the green fidget toy on top and sat down. He opened a drawer found Jackson’s pack of gum and then put it back. “Hubba-Bubba,” he said shaking his head.

“He ran out of regular gum a couple of days ago, and we keepforgetting to put in the supply order,” said Kerschel. “We’re down to eggs, a box of staples, and one pack of post-it notes. Everyone keeps complaining because there aren’t any more microwave breakfast burritos, but no one will just make eggs.”

Evan nodded.

“You know what? I’m going to put the order in now. He should have gum.” She switched tabs on her screen, and a few minutes later, he heard her make an affirmative noise. “It won’t make any difference,” she said with a sigh. “But it will be here by tomorrow.”