Page 11 of What’s Left of You (What Left #2)
I thought Vinny was joking, but we pull up to Edwin’s old house the following Wednesday.
We were supposed to come over on Saturday after fooling around, but Sterling called Vinny and delayed that.
They were doing a lot of digging around regarding some bodies, and there’s a dead coroner that I guess they got some new intel on.
According to the reports I saw on the TV he died in his home, murdered somewhere down the coast. I’m assuming it wasn’t a coincidence since he handled my mother’s autopsy and she turned out to still be alive.
This isn’t the first time I’ve seen the place, but it will be my first official visit here. Originally I wanted to come here the moment I realized we needed to do more interviews. The sooner I could get that out of the way the sooner I could fret about something else.
Like where Alastair is, and what my mother is doing. And are they still together? If they could just be found things would be a whole lot easier.
“So is it impolite to mention what happened yesterday?” I ask dryly, glaring towards the house.
It’s one of those southern charm houses, with a big wrap-around porch and tall windows.
The amount of large SUVs with dark, tinted windows definitely doesn’t hide the type of people staying here.
If I didn’t already know this is an FBI spot I’d assume something criminal was going on inside.
“I’d keep that between the three of us for now,” Vinny advises, sending me a smirk.
After Sterling left we talked a little bit about how we each felt about him in general.
It didn’t get us anywhere, but the conversation did sum up one thing: neither of us regretted bringing him in, even if it might only happen once.
He looked, he didn’t touch, and that might be all there ever is between us.
I nod before climbing out of the vehicle, glancing behind us as a car pulls up to the curb on the opposite side of the road. I round the front of the car and shoot Vinny a glare as we head towards the house. “Do they need to follow us here?”
“Xeno was explicitly clear with the instructions,” Vinny replies, casting a look over his shoulder.
Over the last few weeks I’ve seen the same car close by at all times.
I know it’s the same two men, Dante and Jonathan, but I haven’t spoken to either one more than once or twice.
“Where we go, they are the shadows that follow. We don’t need another Porscha incident. ”
I wince at the reminder as he threads our fingers together, dragging me to the porch. “So we’ll just have shadows forever?”
“At least while we’re here,” Vinny says, and I think it’s supposed to assure me yet somehow, it doesn’t.
“Xeno said there’s something happening south of us, more in central Florida.
Massimo is calling more and more of the family down that way.
There are only so many people left in town for Xeno to dispatch our way. ”
Glancing at the door in front of us, I wonder if now is the time to mention this. Would Sterling care about the details of a crime family when it’s not related to the case currently? “Does that mean something to us?”
He sighs, rubbing at his brow. “It means Mama is having a fit about her security, which will be fine by the way. She’s giving Xeno hell. I might need to go see her.”
“Lucky us,” I grumble, reaching towards the bell. Vinny shakes his head though, and I hesitate. “What?”
“Sterling needed something that Echo has,” he explains, and I frown.
Echo hasn’t spoken to Vinny much since their phone call, and the four of us never rescheduled that dinner the two of them talked about.
Her school is almost out for summer and she’s somehow more difficult to contact than she was weeks ago.
“A book. Something that Harrowths wrote.”
Ugh, here we go—another version of my mother. I push away the discomfort creeping over me, reminding myself that I only ever knew one side of her. “Why did Echo have it?”
“It’s like a love story about the Citrus Grove Slayer,” he explains. “It’s focused on Alastair, if we believe he’s the true CGS-”
“We do,” I interrupt, subtly shaking my head. I refuse to believe anything else yet because anything else would be extremely painful. “He was the original and Porscha might be the copycat.”
He gives me a skeptical look mixed with pity but doesn’t push.
“Anyway, Echo fell into the fandom or something and ended up with a copy. She’s supposed to hand it over to Sterling’s team, and he’s asked me about it a couple times.
If she doesn’t do it soon they will ask for a warrant, and you know my parents will raise hell for that.
It might be easier if I try to go and grab it. ”
“Another visit to see Gloria. What a joy.”
Vinny reaches out, grasping my chin before I can turn away. There are enough people watching from a distance and judging us about Alastair, I don’t need his mother’s disdain too. “You, my darling, don’t need to put up with her bullshit. I can handle Mama on my own.”
“You don’t have to sideline me just because Gloria makes me uncomfortable,” I continue with a frown as his fingers trace along my skin.
“No, you don’t have to put up with my mother just because she can’t take a clue,” he explains, leaning in. “If she wants to fight with me about my wife, she can contend with her place in my life. In every circumstance, I choose you, Jo. Never doubt where my loyalties lie.”
It’s hard to remain stubborn when he says sweet shit like that. I don’t protest when he kisses me, rising slightly on my toes to deepen the kiss before he pulls back. For a moment we just stare at each other.
Whatever he might say next is interrupted by shouting inside, and his eyes slide away from mine towards the door.
Sounds like things are going sideways for Sterling and his crew.
Before we can do something else to delay ourselves, Vinny steps back and presses the doorbell, grasping my hand again as he does so.
We hear unintelligible shouting and exchange a glance just before the door is thrown open.
Jensen stands just inside the door, rolling his eyes at us before turning on his heel and gesturing for us to follow. “Oh, good, you two. Come on, get in here so he can yell at you.”
He’s looking a little disheveled, his perfectly fitted suit replaced with a wrinkled button up shirt that’s partially undone and rolled to the elbows.
Vinny steps in and I follow in his wake, shutting the door behind me.
The shouting is louder now, and it’s not just two voices but three.
I recognize the sounds of Sterling, Gabe, and Tyler all yelling at each other as we walk into the house.
Jensen turns back, stopping us halfway across the front room. This is the first time I’ve ever been inside Edwin Gideon’s house, and despite the reason we’re here my curiosity is killing me at what the place looks like. “Wait here. It’s a little… chaotic.”
There’s still shouting in here, and I guess it just doesn’t bother Jensen because he’s doing a damn good job ignoring it.
From the front room we can see back into the kitchen, and Gabe appears among the shouting.
Jensen’s sigh is audible as he marches over, and Gabe looks our way, his voice stuttering around the shouts before he waves. “Oh! Guests!”
That seems to cut through whatever they are yelling about, and I’ve heard the three of them yelling something about plans, but their voices overlapped too much to really figure out what’s going on.
Shifting beside Vinny, I have to fight the urge to march after Jensen as he rounds the corner and disappears from sight.
Tyler pokes her head from around the corner, and she looks more put together than Gabe does. I’ve never seen him with his hair down, but Tyler’s still got her hair styled and her makeup in place. “Hello. Don’t worry, I’m sending Sterling out in a moment.”
I lean closer to Vinny, exchanging a glance with him. Doesn’t the leader of the team usually send people out? I thought Sterling was Tyler’s boss.
“Don’t mind her,” Gabe continues, shaking his head when I look back. “We’re just having a shit day. People get moody when we can’t find killers.”
Oh, so they’re all acting weird. Gabe looks exhausted, like he hasn’t slept at all.
As we watch, he takes a sip from a mug—probably coffee, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a little something stronger added.
His eyes are fixed on something across the room, out of our line of sight, and as we stand there in the front room waiting, it feels a bit like we’re intruding on something private.
“What do you think they’ll do if they have to do real interviews?” Vinny asks me, bending slightly to whisper in my ear.
“In this chaos?” I whisper back, glancing around us in the sudden quiet. “Probably go to the PD. Look at this place. I don’t think anyone’s redecorated since Sterling’s parents lived here.”
Gabe starts across the space, and I guess Jensen isn’t going to circle back. He nods to us, lifting his brows as he takes another sip. “Okay, don’t mind us. You showed up sooner than we expected.”
“Didn’t you talk with Sterling about this already?” Vinny asks.
“Yeah, well, there’s always something new happening here,” he says with a shrug. “Lots of working parts to figure out where the killers are, ya know?”
I stare at him, surprised how casual he sounds with us.
I’m used to the agents holding us at arm’s length since we aren't part of their team, and the only one to deviate from that thought process is Sterling. And he only does so because of sex. We’ve caught him off guard twice now, once on the side of the highway and then at Emeric’s house.
Maybe he needs a moment to compose himself before speaking to us again.
Gabe bypasses us, pointing to the stairs. “Follow me. I think Sterling wants to speak to you up here.”