Page 13 of What’s Left of Us (What Left #3)

Guilt claws at my chest as I emerge from the bathroom.

Jo and Vinny both washed off in their en suite bathroom, and I didn’t want to invade that private moment with them.

There are times I feel drawn into their web, like they will never let go again, and others where it feels like I’m still standing in the background.

Get over it. This can’t happen.

I’m sitting in the kitchen when they come downstairs, shooting off messages to my team members.

Coming here is supposed to ease the ache in my chest, not carve it open again.

I needed to see something besides the skeleton, the ID cards, and everything else in that damn house that Porscha took over.

If she’s responsible for their death there’s two more lives that Porscha destroyed.

Jensen… I think he knows there’s something going on.

I made up an excuse to come here instead of heading back to the house, but every time I think of my team I feel like a traitor.

I’m sleeping with people involved in the case, and worse yet, I slept with the suspect. There’s no changing what’s happened.

I’ve never kept secrets like this from my team before. They are more than just colleagues; they’ve become my family. And I’ve never had such intimate secrets to keep to myself before.

“I’m guessing you didn’t just drop by for sex,” Jo says, stepping into the kitchen first. I glance behind her, expecting Vinny to be walking in her shadow, but he isn’t there. She doesn’t follow my gaze but lifts her chin, clearing her throat so I focus on her again. “He’s on a call.”

I adjust my position on the chair. This is a unique opportunity to speak with Jo alone. Not in an interrogation room as an FBI agent, but as myself. “How are you feeling?”

She smiles, making the dimple piercings stick out as she sits across from me. “Don’t fret, Vinny always takes care of me afterwards when I start coming down. Aftercare. It’s a skill you should learn.”

“I know what aftercare is,” I huff, but I can feel the faint burn in my cheeks. “But the dominant partner usually leads that. That’s Vinny. He took you upstairs and it didn’t feel like my place to follow.”

Jo tilts her head, her long hair tumbling down one shoulder. “What is your place then?”

I shrug. It’s not something I know how to answer. Skirting my gaze away from hers, I clear my throat, mirroring what she just did. “I came by because I have news.”

“About Alastair?” she breathes.

The hope in her voice is painful, and I glance back at her again. “About your mother.”

She winces. “Did she finally fess up?”

“No,” I say slowly, “Alastair did though. He gave us details about the place he was kept and described certain things about the building. We located it.”

Jo shifts around, tucking her knees beneath her to fold her elbows on top of them. “And?”

I hesitate, walking a thin line with her. We could sit here and bask in the post orgasm haze, and the three of us could ignore all the problems just beyond the front door. But that isn’t real, and the longer Jo stares at me the worse I feel.

I shift in my chair. “Did your mother even mention the names James or Diana Nunes?”

“No,” she says instantly, narrowing her eyes. “Did you really come here just to kill my mood?”

“No,” I repeat, running my fingers through my hair. “I went home and showered and planned to not bother you two until tomorrow but I couldn’t relax so...”

She raises a brow, fighting back a smile. “You came to see us… for comfort?”

“You could say that,” I hedge.

Jo chuckles. “It’s okay to admit that we give you comfort. We’re not here to manipulate you, Sterling. We wouldn’t benefit from that anyway. People need a place to go where they can drop their guard. Sometimes that place is another person.”

I roll her words over in my head. She has a point; she and Vinny do make me feel safe.

They like what my body does to and for them and they don’t expect some big, emotional revelation either.

They have each other for that, which is perfect because I’m not sure how emotionally invested I can be in anything other than the case right now.

It’s taken over my life, and I don’t think I’ll be able to let it go until I have answers.

Trauma or not, they’ve always had each other. The killings didn’t affect me so much when we were younger, but now it’s become my whole world.

“See that,” Dad says, pointing off towards the cafe. I’m back in town for a weekend and instead of giving me the chance to see some old friends, he’s monopolized all of my time. “These kids are trouble.”

I follow his finger and breathe out a sigh. What does he want me to say? The town is small, and everyone knows Vinny Ajello. He draws attention without having to try because of who his father is.

But I know that’s not what he means. He’s looking at the trio. Emeric is there, and if there’s any truth to the rumors, he’s supposed to be getting a new foster brother. I don’t know how I will ever be able to handle the riveting drama taking over this small town.

Vinny wrapped his arm around Joelle, her long hair swept into two braids that are falling out. The three of them seem to be laughing together, and from where I’m standing they all just look like normal teenagers.

“They’re going to eat,” I reply, bored. He’s taken over my whole day to drive around town because he’s currently on break too, and somehow my degree in journalism gets ignored anytime Dad thinks he’ll be able to convince me to apply for the FBI. “Nothing interesting about that.”

“Everything is interesting if the people completing the actions are interesting,” dad says, and I glance at him. It sounds like nonsense to me. “Besides, the Ajello Family is at the top of the list for the murder of that local girl.”

I had heard about that but only because it made all of thirty seconds in a “happening now” video about Citrus Grove. “Right. Natasha something?”

“Odell,” Dad agrees, and if I couldn’t see him I’d think he was reading off the name from the certainty in his voice. “Killed with a decent amount of violence. She was a mess when they discovered her.”

My nose wrinkles at the statement. Dad always did have a strange way of describing things, but I guess he cleans up his lingo for when he’s working a case. It always comes across as a little careless to me. “What does that have to do with the Ajellos?”

“Don’t be dumb,” he tells me, glaring through the corners of his eyes. “Massimo is usually better at keeping his job outside of town, but mistakes happen. I’m sure she’s a casualty of the family. Maybe she didn’t pay up, or was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That’s a lot of speculation, Dad,” I tell him dryly.

“Speculation leads to solutions,” he says. “They’re all a violent sort. That girl was massacred. Only someone deranged could be responsible for that. Why not blame the family?”

My brow twitches as my phone buzzes, and I glance down at the message. I hadn’t thought about that moment in time in ages. It feels so… obscure.

Now though, I’m second guessing the timeline. Was Alastair in Citrus Grove at that point? He had to be if he confessed to the murder of Odell, and they accepted his confession.

“You seem on edge,” Jo says, distracting me. “Sex usually helps people relax.”

I purse my lips and eye the room. Vinny still hasn’t come down the stairs, and I can’t help wondering what his call is about.

Dad’s paranoia always made Vinny seem like such a big threat, but from what I’ve seen he’s only ever dangerous when he absolutely needs to be.

He’s otherwise too obsessed with Jo to constantly pose a threat to anyone else.

“I have a lot on my mind,” I tell her.

“I don’t know those names,” Jo says, shrugging her shoulders. “So if you think there’s a connection to Porscha or something I can’t help you. Other than Uncle Wayne we never had any family, and she never spoke with him.”

Nodding, I flip my phone over and let the message from Jensen sit on read for now. “Right. There’s a report about your grandparents.”

“Yeah,” she says, her voice all business. “Died in a car crash a couple months before I was born. Porscha always said Wayne blamed her for their parents commuting down to Tallahassee to see her around appointments.”

“Porscha was only seventeen when she had you. Why wasn’t she staying with your parents?”

“Oh, they were up in Montgomery,” Jo says, waving a hand like that explains everything.

“She got pregnant on one of their trips to Florida, made friends with some local girls, basically gave my grandparents hell from what I’ve heard.

They were driving back in the rain and lost control on the highway, flipping twice.

Once they passed Porscha emancipated over going into her brother’s care and permanently moved to Citrus Grove. ”

I run that information over in my head. I’ve already read all the files, none of this is new to me. It’s just interesting to listen to Jo deliver the story in such a monotone way. She’s truly detached from not only her grandparents, but her entire family tree.

“You said you found the house Alastair was kept at?” she asks, crossing her arms. “Does that have something to do with whoever James is?”

I nod. “We found mail with his name and the house Alastair was kept in belonged to James Nunes. He disappeared years ago.”

“Like… disappeared as in died?”

Like I’m pretty sure he was buried in the backyard with part of his wife “More than likely.”

Jo nods, and I hear footsteps upstairs, indicating Vinny is getting ready to join us. Before he enters the room, Jo reaches out and grips my wrist, her blue eyes imploring as she stares at me. “Have you seen Alastair again? How is he?”

Here’s where it gets tricky. I’m still working the case, and even if I think I should step away, I can’t let go now. We have both the suspected Citrus Grove Slayers in custody and it feels like the end is near. It’s so close but I’m still buried in unanswered questions.

In reality, I shouldn’t say anything at all, but I can’t leave her hanging when she looks at me like that. My thumb brushes along her knuckles. “He’s healing.”

“But how is he?” she stresses, her eyebrows knitting together. “Is he in pain, suffering? Remorseful? What is he like?”

I can’t see Alastair anymore without his attorney, and like a smart man he’s not waiving his rights to council this time.

But there’s no way to truly ask him questions like the ones Jo is dying to hear.

“Alastair has an attorney now, and assigned guards who stand armed and in the room at all times. We are never alone together. The only things I can ask are things associated with the case.”

Jo frowns, pulling her hand from my grip. “I thought you might try harder to check on him.”

Her words leave a mark, and I have to look away. “If I mess up and get removed from this case, no one who really cares for him will be close. He’s healing and he’s receiving excellent medical care. I believe the doctors plan to discharge him soon-”

“Back to prison?” she asks icily, and Vinny appears to her left. “Isolated and alone?”

I swallow. “He’ll likely return to solitary since his escape-”

“Technically he was abducted,” Vinny says, like I need the reminder.

“Yes, that may be true, but in the eyes of the law now he’s tasted freedom. For the first time in over fifteen years. That makes him a flight risk, extenuating circumstances aside. As a Death Row inmate, he’s considered highly dangerous no matter what.”

Jo sneers at me before ducking her head, and I already knew that wasn’t going to go over well. The connection we had a short time ago under the haze of amazing sex is already being destroyed.

I know this situation between us is destined to be short-lived, but how will it last any longer than this if we can’t even agree on anything when we all chat with each other?

My phone buzzes again, and Vinny cocks his head as he glares at me. “Better take that.”

He doesn’t elaborate, and I grit my teeth instead of arguing as I eye the caller ID. Jensen again. “What?”

“Boss, we have an issue here,” Jensen says, his voice strained. “You need to get down to the hospital now.”

“What’s happened?” I ask, standing. The couple watches me, but their eyes are guarded. I’ve successfully pissed both of them off.

“Oh, nothing much,” he hisses. “Except the damn Slayers seem to have figured out Constantine is here, and his adoring fans are causing issues outside the hospital. No one’s gotten in yet.”

“Have the local PD-”

“We called them already,” he interrupts. “You need to come down here and speak with the staff. I don’t know where the hell you went after the house, but things are a mess here. Finley said there’s a rumor that Director Pabst is going to come down here and investigate the case himself.”