Calvin’s face was hard. “Where do you think it’ll show?” he finally asked.
I shrugged. “The Emporium is where it all began with the bricks. It’s as good a place as any.”
Quinn looked up at Calvin. “Want to go fishing?”
Calvin let out a held breath and ran a hand through his hair. “When writing my obituary, just be sure it says, ‘Sebastian was the death of him.’” He turned and walked to the exit.
“Ha, ha,” I said loudly, following. “Heart disease is more believable.”
Calvin turned as he held the door open for Quinn and I. “Not once people meet you, Seb.”
I stood in the doorway, looking up at him. “Look—”
Calvin shook his head. “Not now.”
No arguing with that, then.
I walked outside into a mix of rain and snow—cold and miserable. The sun was already setting and I startled, realizing I’d been inside the grubby club for several hours. Where was hand sanitizer when I needed it?
I headed toward Calvin’s car, then paused when a uniformed officer tipped her cap at me.
“Evening, Mr. Snow.”
It was Brigg, the poor responding officer to all of my out-of-this-world calls at the Emporium. “H-Hi,” I said in passing.
Quinn opened the door to the backseat of Calvin’s car and got inside. She looked at me as I approached. “You can have the front.”
“He doesn’t like me at the moment.”
“Poor baby.” She shut the door.
Damn it.
I opened the passenger door and climbed in.
Calvin followed, started the car, and swiftly merged into traffic. He took a left at the end of the block, heading downtown on Ninth Avenue. Evening rush hour was already starting. Bicyclists neglected the bike lane and wove through cars, pedestrians crossed when and where they pleased, and cabs seemed to be giving it their best effort to ignore lights and signs.
Calvin handled it all like a native New Yorker.
“Who taught you how to drive?”
He looked sideways briefly. “Why?”
I shrugged.
He was quiet for a beat. “My big brother.”
“What’s his name?”
It had never come up. Calvinneverspoke about his family. Not even in passing. I only knew what that photo under his bed had told me—parents and two siblings. Hell, I’d only known whatever relationship he had with them soured completely when Calvin decided to come out in order to make us work. His father calling yesterday was the first bit of communication I’d been privy to, and what had I gleaned from it?
Retired military.
Asshole.
And that was about it. I didn’t even know his father’s name. So the fact that Calvin had uttered a word about his older brother had me on the edge of my seat for more information.
I watched Calvin look into the rearview mirror a few times. Possibly at traffic; more likely at Quinn. Did she know about his family? They had been working together months before I came into the picture. I supposed it was possible, considering the extensive time they spent with each other.
