“No, you didn’t connect with your father.”
Joey’s laughter had the bright red tint of hysteria to it.“No.I did not connect with my father.”
“But that’s okay,” Gideon said, and Joey saw his hand reaching in the darkness while he used the other to drive.
Joey seized it, realized that his own was clammy and he was shaking from telling that terrible story, the thing he’d never spoken of, on this quiet, spooky drive from New Jersey to Manhattan.
“Why’s it okay?”he asked, his voice smaller than he remembered.
“’Cause you connected with the gamekeeper,” Gideon said.
“And the cat,” Joey said, thinking about his fondness for Crosby and Garcia’s cat.“I think I like cats.”
“Good,” Gideon said, squeezing his hand.
“And I like you,” Joey said softly.
“Also good.”
Joey had used his free hand to call up some more Bruce on his streaming service, and they let the music speak for them all the way back to the city.
RIGHT BEFOREthe trail ended and the gravel driveway began, Joey paused before peeling off and took a solid measure of Crosby.Back in March, Crosbydefinitelywouldn’t have been able to fit through this passageway—his shoulders were wide and he’d put on muscle like the football player he’d been in college.But that was before the weeks undercover, losing nearly sixty pounds to stress and a peptic ulcer, and finding his way back.He didn’t look like death anymore, but he was still a big guy, and Joey wondered if he could make it through.
“Whacha thinkin’, Carlyle?”Crosby asked.
“I’m trying to figure out how much weight you lost in the last few months, you big tubby bastard.This passageway isn’t for football players, and I don’t want you to get stuck, ’cause that wouldsuck.”
Crosby grunted.“Yeah, it fuckin’ would.Where is it in the house?”
They’d studied schematics on the way in, so Joey gave him a quick sketch about the kitchen and the door almost hidden by the walk-in refrigerator that led to the stairs.
“It’s not easy,” Joey said.“I mean—if Dad’s got his goons there, you got a lot of people to shoot through.”
Crosby nodded and then said one of those things that made all that effort he put into looking like a meatloaf disappear.“Yeah, but if Gid’s hurt, you’re gonna need a way out that ain’t gonna kill him.And I’m pretty sure all those goons are gonna be focused on the front of the house where Harding’s about to throw his little party.You think you’ll have comms in the basement?”
Joey grunted.“Naw.Don’t think so.Lotta rocks.”He glanced at Pearson.“You got a problem with small spaces?”
She shook her head.“Nope.Honestly, you had me at bodies in the basement.I’ve never seen the set of a horror movie.”
God, Joey loved his team.
“All right.Crosby, find your own way in, and don’t get shot.”
“Yeah, you neither.And don’t get stuck either, ’cause seriously….”He shuddered.“That sounds like a fuckin’lot.”
And then he reached out and gripped Joey’s arm and leaned his head in to touch foreheads briefly.Joey returned the gesture, his heart suddenly full.His brother.His team.He remembered what Gideon had said about who would pick Joey up if Gideon didn’t come home one day.
And he realized that Gideon had been right.He had family here he’d never reckoned on.
After a quick fist bump with Gail—who told him he’d better not be fucking bleeding when she saw him next—Crosby was gone, and Joey gave Pearson a grim look.
“Ready for the horror movie?”he asked.
“Lead on,” she said.
And with that, he took two steps up toward the rock face and disappeared.
Horror Movie 101
