Chương 9
“I was invited there as a guest.”
“You arrived wearing company uniform.”
“I came from my shift.”
“There are photographs.”
Wren stared at the rain.
“You’re suspending me,” she said.
“We need time to evaluate.”
“Am I being paid?”
Silence.
“No,” she said. “Of course not.”
“Wren, this is a sensitive—”
She ended the call.
Detective Ruiz watched her place the phone in the signal-blocking pouch.
“Protective housing,” Wren said. “Before I change my mind.”
The safe apartment belonged to the state, not Nathaniel.
That mattered to Wren, though the place was smaller, uglier, and smelled faintly of old carpet. It stood in a suburban complex outside Cranston, where identical buildings faced a parking lot with no trees.
Ruiz took their phones.
Dahlia protested for eleven minutes.
“What am I supposed to do without maps?”
“Stay here,” Ruiz said.
“What if I need food?”
“There is food.”
“What if I need to know what food nearby is better?”
“There is no food nearby better than the food in the refrigerator.”
“You don’t know my standards.”
“I have met you for twenty minutes. I know enough.”
Gabriel took the second bedroom. Wren and Dahlia shared the first. Nathaniel was not permitted inside.
He stood at the door while Ruiz explained that armed private security could remain across the street but could not enter the property.
“This building has one accessible exit,” Nathaniel said.
“It has three.”
“The north stairwell camera is misaligned.”
Ruiz’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know?”
“I looked.”
“You were told not to enter the building.”
“I did not.”
“You examined the cameras from the parking lot?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz looked at Owen, who stood behind him.
Owen stared straight ahead.
“Fix the north camera,” Ruiz told a trooper.
Nathaniel looked at Wren. “Brutus stays.”
Ruiz said, “No.”
The mastiff sat beside Wren.
“He is trained for protection,” Nathaniel said.
“He is also a two-hundred-pound animal involved in an officer takedown.”
“He did not bite.”
“He placed a police sergeant in the hospital.”
“The sergeant bruised his ribs.”
Ruiz glanced at Brutus. “How comforting.”
Wren crouched and touched the leather collar. The Saint Francis medal had been reattached.
Brutus leaned into her hand.
“Let him stay,” she said.
Nathaniel’s gaze shifted to her face.
Ruiz sighed. “The dog stays. Mr. Vale does not.”
Nathaniel held Wren’s eyes for a moment, then nodded once.
He left without saying goodbye.
Gabriel watched from the living room window until the black SUV disappeared.
“You made his week,” he said.
“I did?”
“Brutus hasn’t chosen anyone over Nathaniel since he was a puppy.”
“I didn’t ask him to.”
“That is usually why dogs choose people.”
Gabriel lowered himself carefully onto the couch. Pain tightened his mouth before he hid it. He set the cane against the coffee table.
Wren sat across from him.
For the first time, they were alone. Dahlia had gone to examine the refrigerator as if Detective Ruiz might have lied about its contents.
Gabriel looked older up close. A pale scar crossed his lower lip. His left hand trembled when tired, though he kept it under his thigh.
“I owe you my life,” he said.
Wren’s shoulders tightened. “No.”
“Yes.”
“I called an ambulance.”
“You held an artery closed.”
“I held a shirt against your side.”
“The surgeon said another three minutes—”
“I don’t want that.”
Gabriel stopped.
Wren looked at Brutus instead. “People keep saying it like I’m supposed to become someone else because I did one useful thing.”
“What do they say?”
“That I’m brave. That I saved you. I was scared and late for work.”
“You still stopped.”
“I also stole twenty dollars from your wallet.”
Gabriel blinked.
Wren looked at him.
Then he laughed.
It hurt him. He pressed a hand against his ribs, though the old injuries had long healed.
“You stole twenty dollars?”
“I needed a taxi home from the hospital. The buses had stopped.”
“You could have taken more.”
“I considered it.”
“That is the most reassuring thing anyone has told me.”
She almost smiled.
Dahlia called from the kitchen, “There are six kinds of mustard and no wine.”
Gabriel raised his voice. “It’s protective custody.”
“That is when wine is most necessary.”
The moment loosened, then closed again.
Gabriel’s expression changed as he studied Wren. “You saw Morrow.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
“You remember the ring.”
“I remember Brutus hitting the window. I remember somebody saying my name.”
“What did he say?”
“Gabe, don’t make this worse.”
Wren felt the words settle.
“That wasn’t what he said at the car,” she murmured.
Gabriel leaned forward.
The memory came with rain.
A fist against glass. The black stone. A voice outside the overturned car.
Don’t make him come down here, Gabe.
She repeated it.
Gabriel went very still.
“Who?” Wren asked.
He rubbed his thumb against the trembling fingers of his left hand. “Nathaniel.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“You think Morrow was threatening you with your brother.”
“I thought he worked for Nathaniel.”
“He did.”
“He still does sometimes.”
Wren looked toward the window, though Nathaniel was gone.
Gabriel followed her gaze. “My brother believes Morrow betrayed him.”
“You don’t?”
“I believe betrayal suggests a line. Nathaniel’s lines move.”
“Did he order the attack?”
“No.”
The answer came fast.
“Are you sure?”
“No,” Gabriel said.
That honesty was worse.
Dahlia emerged holding a jar of mustard. “I have decided we’re making sandwiches before the next assassination attempt.”
Neither of them answered.
She looked between their faces. “What did I miss?”
“Family history,” Gabriel said.
“Can it wait until after lunch?”
“No,” Wren said.
Dahlia put the mustard down.
Gabriel stared at his cane. “Nathaniel and Morrow worked together for years. Not officially. Morrow protected shipments, warned about investigations, made evidence difficult to locate.”
“Corrupt cop,” Dahlia said.
“Yes.”
“And Nathaniel paid him.”
“Yes.”
“So your brother created the man who tried to kill you.”
May you like
Gabriel’s mouth twisted. “Created is generous to both of them. But he made him powerful.”
Wren thought of Nathaniel telling her Morrow had killed the attorney. She thought of how carefully he had explained some crimes and avoided others.
