Page 35 of The Question of Us (Fisher & Church #2)

“Angela, however, wasn’t such a fan, especially when she learned about the so-called domestic incident years ago that was dismissed.

She’s a transplant from Melbourne and a lot more cynical than the local guys.

She didn’t like Marty from the get-go and agreed to do some extra digging for me, on her own.

Along with the dismissed incident in front of the house, she found a couple of other red flags. ”

I leaned forward; we all did.

Samuel continued, “Nothing illegal, of course. Marty is a careful man. But he is known for keeping his companions, boyfriends, whatever you want to call them, on a tight leash, and he doesn’t take kindly to anyone engaging with them in any way, even in town.

Most dismiss the behaviour as jealousy or protectiveness.

Angela said it’s just plain creepy. Marty also has a reputation for his wandering eye, regardless of his current boyfriend status, and he doesn’t think twice about indulging his tastes.

Which only makes him an arsehole, let’s be honest. The biggest red flags are his choice of friends and employees.

Two of his closest friends have had previous sexual assault charges, although they were later dropped. And Marty’s personal assistant?—”

“Freddie,” I offered.

Samuel turned to me. “Yes, Freddie Young. He’s especially interesting.

Ex-army, handy with his fists, and knows nothing about horses from what we can tell.

He has a record for sexual assault, battery, and drug possession.

Six years ago, when Freddie was released from jail after serving yet more time for assault, Marty offered him a job.

The story was that Freddie is some kind of distant relative, and this was offered as an opportunity to turn his life around, but it’s an odd choice for a personal assistant, wouldn’t you say? ”

The three of us exchanged looks, but it was me who answered. “Not if you wanted a strong arm to provide security, watch over your boyfriend, and keep your employees in line. Someone who owed you and would keep his mouth shut.”

“Precisely.” Samuel appeared somewhat mollified by the acknowledgement. “And Angela agrees. Which means no one should be going anywhere near that house without professional backup.”

I got what he was saying but I shook my head.

“And who exactly is going to provide this backup? You said it yourself; there’s zero evidence to grant a search warrant or even force an interview of Marty, and the same has to apply to this situation.

But we’ve been handed a perfectly legal opportunity to at least get inside the house.

Are you seriously telling me you wouldn’t be doing the same if you were in our shoes? ”

Samuel didn’t take long to come up with an answer, but he didn’t look happy either. “Maybe I would, but the difference is that I’d be the one going in. Not Gazza. And not Nick. Why? Because at least I know what I’m fucking doing.”

He was being ridiculous, and my voice rose at the fact.

“I’m sorry to disavow the impact of your relative charms, Samuel, but you would’ve stood precisely zero chance of getting an invite to that party.

Plus, your face was all over the news as the cop in charge of the marina takedown.

Gazza has the requisite expertise and the hot-as-fuck looks to go with it.

You really should’ve seen him at that sale.

Nick called it an Oscar-winning performance.

Gazza is exactly Marty’s type. He’s a more streetwise, sophisticated version of Lee.

One look and Marty couldn’t help himself.

No one could’ve done that except Gazza. Not Nick.

Not me. And certainly not you. Plus, there’s only one invite. ”

“Gee, thanks,” Samuel grumbled.

“My pleasure,” I responded snippily. “Besides, Gazza won’t be alone. Nick will be close by in case he’s needed.”

Samuel grumbled something about that being a fat lot of use but didn’t push it.

“You’re just pissed that you’re not here to be a part of this,” I finished. “So how about you stop whingeing and help us make the plan as safe and airtight as we can.”

Samuel’s teeth ground for far too long to be a good sign but then he surprised me by sagging with what looked like defeat.

“All right. All right. If you won’t reconsider, then you should at least be smart about it.

Pay attention.” He eyeballed us one at a time and I fought the urge not to squirm in my seat.

“Let’s say somehow you miraculously manage to convince Lee and his brother to leave with you Friday night.

How exactly do you see that working? It’s not like Marty is going to just let them simply walk away.

He had Justin killed and Davis run off the road.

He organised kidnapping, arson, surveillance, and god knows what else.

Or have you forgotten what this guy is capable of? ”

“Of course we haven’t,” Nick blustered.

I side-eyed Nick because we hadn’t, not really, probably because we didn’t want to think about it. “What Nick means—” I ignored Nick’s oh-really eye roll and turned back to Samuel. “—is that we’re aware of the potential issues and we’re still working on a solution.”

Gazza gave a soft snort that did nothing to cover Nick’s groan, and then they nodded, innocent as lambs. But Samuel wasn’t fooled for a second. He looked between the three of us and shook his head in utter disgust.

“Dear God, please don’t let Madigan anywhere near that damn house,” Samuel grumbled. “He can’t lie to save himself.”

Nick shot me a smug smile. “Yeah, we’re not unaware.”

“I can lie perfectly well, thank you very much,” I bit back.

“No. You absolutely can’t,” Nick countered, wrapping his hand around my neck, his thumb making small circles at the top of my spine. “We’ve already had this discussion.”

“Yep. What they said,” Gazza affirmed brightly, rocketing to the top of my shit list, along with the other two. It was getting crowded up there. “Although it is kind of cute.”

“Shut up, all of you,” I grumbled, folding my arms across my chest. “None of you would be here if it wasn’t for me.

” Which, I realised a little late, wasn’t actually a huge selling point for my strategy.

Thankfully, no one called me on my bullshit and I was left to scowl at Samuel in peace.

“Can we please move on to the part where you actually help us instead of banging on about everything we’re doing wrong? We need to get this right.”

“Fine.” Samuel nodded. “Since there’s no way I can get over there in time to oversee this potential shitshow, a fact I believe you were counting on—” He glared Nick’s way. “—I’ll be letting Angela know at least the basics of what you’re up to.”

“No,” Nick growled. “I only agreed to this call because I truly thought we could trust you. I?—”

“Calm down.” Samuel raised his hands. “Angela can’t stop you from accepting an invite to the man’s party.

She might even appreciate the intel. Especially since you’re only going for a looksee and maybe a chance to talk to Lee, right?

” When he eyeballed us, it took all I had not to look away.

“Besides, I owe her an unofficial heads-up at the very least. She’s our best bet if something goes wrong and it’ll make me feel a damn sight better about the whole thing. Got it?”

We all nodded.

“Good, now listen up. And Gazza, take notes.”

Gazza grabbed a few sheets of motel notepaper and I found him a pen.

By the time Samuel was done talking, the paper was covered in Gazza’s scrawl, and it felt a lot better to have the plan outlined in a cohesive manner, including the addition of Samuel’s concerns and potential workarounds.

It also made it harder to ignore those earlier warnings.

Because Samuel was right, of course. What we were about to do was super fucking dangerous.

We were poking the bear who, as yet, didn’t even know we were in his territory, let alone about to try and relieve him of his favourite jar of honey.

Making sure Gazza used the second prepaid phone while he was at the party instead of his usual one was Samuel’s first non-negotiable.

It would keep Gazza as disconnected from Nick and me as possible if he happened to be recognised.

He also walked us through the setting up of our phones so they couldn’t be heard or seen if we were sneaking around or accessed easily if they were lost or taken.

Hiding text previews from the locked screen and a whole lot of smaller tweaks, all intended to lessen the chance of us making a mistake or being recognised, none of which we’d likely have thought of.

Finally, after another round of ear-bashing and ominous threats to keep in touch or else, Samuel ended the call, and we regarded each other in stunned relief.

“So...” I got to my feet and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. “That went about as well as expected.” Gazza and Nick laughed as intended, albeit a little underwhelming. “Anyone feel the need to reconsider?”

Nick pulled my hand from his shoulder and wrapped it between his. “Not a chance.”

“Likewise.” Gazza stood and faced us. “Samuel didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know, and I think we needed the reminder about who these guys are and that this isn’t a game.

If you hadn’t got off that boat, Madigan, who knows what they would’ve done?

I think we brushed that aside too much in our concern about Lee. ”

I nodded in agreement and Nick squeezed my hand.

“He’s right.” Those grey eyes sat soft on mine. “Had things gone differently, you might not be here right now.”