I was weighing my words carefully, but Judge got what I was going with. “Yeah, but not the usual suspect.”
I didn’t think so. Beck was one with his fire. Honest to God, it was like he could control them with his mind. He was that good. If someone died in one of his blazes, it was on purpose.
Lo’s brows lowered, but I gave her a little headshake.
“Everyone is on watch,” Judge said. “Glitch is set up in front of a dozen monitors, keeping an eye on all the systems in our network. So far, all good. But keep your guard up and your phone on.”
“Got it,” I said.
He didn’t have much more info, but it was possible that it was a different enemy doling out some retribution. If my list of enemies was long, it was a safe bet a strip club run by the Irish mob had a much longer one.
We still weren’t fuckin’ around about it.
When neither ofus could sleep a few hours later, Lo turned on the bedside lamp and looked at me. “What was with theusual suspectline from Judge earlier?”
“I’ll tell you if you really wanna know, but it’s not anything to do with this.”
“You make a lot of jokes about having someone torch Rye to save you the headache.”
“Yeah, but I never would. You told me you loved me for the first time in that building. Now I gotta keep it till the day I die.”
“That shouldn’t be romantic, but it really is,” she said with a sweet smile.
“If you’re beating around an accusation bush?—”
“No. No, definitely not. I’m just checking if you’re sure you don’t know who’s responsible for the fire.”
“Wouldn’t lie to you, hellcat. Why’re you grilling me?”
“Because I need to tell my handler about Sean Butler’s ties to the Irish mob.”
I sat up. “Areyousure?”
Lo pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “No. Not at all. If you asked me to name my top three enemies, Murdoch would be all three. He’s such an insufferable asshole. But I don’t think he’s a rat. That takes work, and he’s too lazy for that. Matthews is out since he’s too green to be of any use. I trust Murphy most, but he usually only swings by Rye on the weekend with the protests, and I don’t want to wait that long. If I go against protocol and call Captain Talbot directly, that could set off a chain of questions that would end up in Murdoch’s ear anyway.” Indecision warred on her face. “If I’m already going to them with breadcrumbs and suspicions but no concrete proof, I need to be cautious.”
“You can’t hold off?”
She answered my question with one of her own. “Are you sure the fire wasn’t started by someone you know?”
I smiled.
And her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You’re trying to protect my people.”
“Ourpeople,” she corrected, and that made my smile grow to a grin. “But I’m also trying to protect other people. When it was just a theory about Butler, I was okay to hold off to get evidence first. But with this escalation? I need to cut off retribution. Someone is going to get hurt, and I couldn’t live with myself if I had the chance to stop it.”
“It’s not one ofourpeople.”
“Then I need to loop in Murdoch.” She pressed a kiss to my lips before climbing out of bed to make her call in the other room. She was back a helluva lot quicker than I expected, muttering vicious insults and scarily creative threats as she walked.
“That good?” I asked.
“He said I’ve been watching too many crime dramas and to go to sleep. Bastard.”
“Come here.”
She climbed back in bed and plastered her body to mine.
