I glanced at people walking by, who saw the gun and immediately moved away from Calvin. Not that he gave off bad-guy vibes, but he wasn’t in uniform and didn’t drive a cruiser, so I didn’t blame folks.
I handed over the set of keys.
“Stay here,” he said sternly before approaching the front door.
Sure I would.
Calvin unlocked the door to the Emporium, pushed it open, and slipped inside. I grabbed it before it could shut behind him, and poked my head in. I watched Calvin’s back as he moved through the dim shop toward the light in the back.
Still. Silent.
Nothing.
And then….
“Freeze!” Calvin shouted, his body stance changing as he pointed his gun. “Hands where I can see them!”
Holy motherfucking shit, someone was really in my shop. World, I seemed to have gotten on a roller-coaster ride back in December. May my boyfriend and I get off? I’m much more of a teacup person.
I stepped inside when I saw Quinn walk through the shadows from the back, weapon trained on a target I couldn’t see around Calvin. She holstered her SIG before taking a pair of handcuffs from her coat. I heard her snap the cuffs on and give the guy his rights. She then asked if he had anything in his pockets that could hurt her while she searched him. Calvin didn’t move a muscle as he waited for Quinn to finish.
“Is it him?” I asked, not that Calvin had ever met Luther before.
Calvin didn’t take his eyes off his target. “Just once would it kill you to listen to me?”
Maybe not, but why take the chance?
I walked down the first narrow aisle, coming up behind Calvin. I moved to his right, looking around him.
“I fucking knew it.”
Luther was standing by my counter, hands behind his back. I slipped by Calvin as he lowered his weapon, and could see the wild, terrified look on Luther’s face. Yeah, I guess having a gun aimed at your head would scare the shit out of anyone.
“Sebastian!” he said, sounding awfully surprised. “What’re you doing here?”
“It’s my store. Should I have called first to make sure you weren’t breaking and entering?”
“Sebastian,” Calvin said firmly.
Quinn directed Luther toward the steps and made him sit down. The middle step creaked under his full weight.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Calvin with his phone to his ear before I joined Luther. “Why’d you do it?” I asked, suddenly feeling exhausted as the epic conclusion turned out to not be so epic. “I was almost blown up. Some nutcase tried to kill me with a hammer.”
“Huh?” Luther’s face was blotchy, the varying gray tones making it look like he was going to be sick or maybe have a heart attack.
“My apartment.”
“What about it?”
I looked at Calvin again. He was watching Luther while talking to someone on the other end of the call. I crouched down to be eye level with Luther. “You started this whole mess, didn’t you? The bricks? The—”
“No, I didn’t do that! I… I knew about it, but it wasn’t me!”
“Then how did they get inside, if it wasn’t you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Luther!”
