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“After I find Desmond,” Rees said, and some part of me hoped he never paid—because with that much cash, I had a feeling Alvin would drink himself to death. “Good luck.”
He hung up the phone and leaned back.
We stared at each other in silence. A real number, and a real address. I typed it into my phone and found it in Chicago, like Alvin had said originally. “Looks like an apartment building,” I said, squinting down at the satellite image on Google Maps. “Could be for real, but it’s hard to say.”
“Forget calling,” Rees said and stood up. “We’re going. We’ll finish this.”
I chewed my cheek. “What about Alvin? If you pay him straight up, he might not live for long.”
His eyes clouded. “I’m not sure I give a shit.’
“Rees,” I said, glaring at him. “Come on.”
“I know,” he said, sighing. “I’ll pay him in installments. Spread it out over a long time. Maybe that’ll help keep him alive.”
“He won’t like that,” I said, shaking my head.
“He can go fuck himself.” Rees grinned at me, but before he could say any more, someone knocked at the door. It sounded urgent and rapid, and I turned with surprise as Jack stepped into the room, breathing hard.
“Sorry,” Jack said, gesturing behind him. “Tried to warn you— the phone was tied up— I wanted to stop her, but—“
“What are you talking about?” Rees asked, but Jack stepped aside, and Lady Fluke strode into her room followed by her assistant, who remained near the doorway, tapping away on a phone.
Lady Fluke stood in and put a hand on her hip, studying Rees with a little frown, then glanced about the office. “You now, for all the time we’ve known each other, I’ve never been here before,” she said, almost with disdain. “It’s rather nice.”
Rees snapped out of it first. “Lady Fluke,” he said. “What are you doing here?” He moved around the desk and shook her hand gently.
She glanced at me, frowned a bit more, then looked at Rees. “We need to talk,” she said. “Alone, if we can.” Her assistant took the hint and left right away. Jack looked like he was drowning, but sighed and followed the assistant out. I lingered near the door, but Lady Fluke spoke before I could leave. “Actually, Millie, you should stay.”
I hesitated, and Rees gave me an uncertain nod. I shut his office door as Rees took Lady Fluke to the table at the far end of his office. They sat, and I took the chair closest to Rees, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
Something was wrong about this. I didn’t know what—but Lady Fluke didn’t just show up somewhere like this. She was the type of woman that made appointments, then stuck to them. She structured her days, every day, and didn’t do a single thing that wasn’t on her calendar. And yet she appeared out of thin air today, and seemed like something horrible just happened.
Rees held it together. He was clearly shaken as well, considering his conversation with Alvin, but he did a good job of pushing that aside and giving Lady Fluke his full attention. From what I cold tell, they’d made up, though I didn’t know if that meant their friendship would resume like it always had.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Rees asked, doing his best impression of a calm and charming man, even though I could tell he was anything but.
“I’ve come to inform you that we can no longer be friends.” Her words were clipped and accented, and she sat with her back straight, in a simple black pant suit that was both formal and conservative and absurdly expensive. Her dark eyes stared at Rees, unblinking and intense, like she wanted to rip his face open and read his brain with her fingers, like braille.
Rees grimaced, then his mouth fell open, and his shook his head, clearly at a loss. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“I spoke with Modesto,” Lady Fluke said. “He told me about your visit. I’ll admit, Modesto is a bit gaudy for my taste. I don’t plan on being friendly with that man, but his church imports a good deal of my company’s product, and so I find it necessary to deal with him from time to time.”
“What did he say?” Rees asked, seeming to gather himself. His tone took on a hint of anger.
I genuinely didn’t know what Modesto would’ve told Lady Fluke that she didn’t already know—unless he had a security camera out back, and saw me sleeping with Rees. I felt ice crawl along my spine at the thought. Maybe that was why Lady Fluke wanted me in the room—so I could witness her embarrassing Rees, and feel horrible about it in the process.
“Only that you’ve become toxic,” she said. “And if a man like Modesto thinks you’re toxic, well, I must reconsider my position.”
