Page 110 of Never Forget

“It’s weird that the janitor was part of this.”

“Is it?” Cory says. “He has access to every room in the building. For all we know, he’s the one who planted the camera in Blake’s office. It’s a perfect cover.”

“Actually, you’ve just given me an idea,” Blake says, picking up his phone. “Hey Kit, sorry. I know you just left, but I thought of something. Can we legally access the security camera archives for my floor? Yeah. Anyone entering or exiting my office without me. Perfect. Thank you. I owe you big.”

We spend some more time going over everything we learned today and trying to come up with a plan. The trouble is that we have so much information we can’t actually use to prove anything.

We know there’s something going on at the label, but we can’t question the higher-ups without letting them know how we got the information. And when you say it out loud, it sounds like an unhinged conspiracy plot, with no idea what the endgame is.

We know Francis is involved, but we don’t have any physical proof that he is, or that he is directly responsible for any illegal behavior. All we have is the recording of Scott’s phone call with him, but that doesn’t prove it’s him. Curtis said his name today, but that also doesn’t prove he committed a crime.

We know there’s a plan to ruin us, to accuse us of heinous crimes, that may or may not work because of the quality of the ‘evidence,’ but we can’t really do anything about that, at least not yet.

We know a lot of little pieces in a very intricate puzzle, and none of the pieces seem to go together in a way that doesn’t sound like absolute madness.

The door to the apartment opens while we are lost in thought. Emmy strolls in carrying a few takeout bags and a briefcase, stopping short when he walks into the kitchen and sees us.

“I didn’t know you had company,” he says.

“Sorry, I lost track of time. Today was a lot.”

Emmy’s brow immediately creases. Putting his bags on the table, he walks right over to Blake and stands between his knees, cupping his face. To my surprise, Blake allows the affection and even wraps his big hands around the back of Emmy’s thighs.

I cut my eyes at Cory. Did he forget we’re still here?

Cory cocks his head, indicating that we should get out of here, but we get sucked back in before we get a chance. The way they’re interacting is fascinating. Blake almost seems human.

“What’s all this?” Emmy asks, looking at the several sheets of notebook paper where Blake had written copious notes in his small, neat print.

“Notes. My cybersecurity contact came through today.”

“Is this what you’re so stressed out about? Is it bad?”

“It’s not good. I can’t say how bad it is just yet, there’s still a lot we haven’t figured out yet.”

“Mind if I take a look?”

Blake shrugs. “Go ahead. I’m not sure I can look at it anymore. My eyes just cross, and it somehow gets more confusing.”

“Why don’t you go have a shower, and I’ll tidy this up. I brought dinner from your favorite Thai place.”

“What would I do without you?”

“Pick up your own dry cleaning?”

Blake scoffs. “I would never.” But he’s grinning now, and Emmy swats him out of the kitchen.

When he looks up and notices we’re still here, and that we watched that whole scene, his cheeks turn pink.

“We’re going to go before we’re accidental witnesses to whatever that is leading to,” I say, making a little circle with my hand to gesture to all of him and Blake being all domestic and shit.

As Cory and I are making our way to the elevator, he shows me his burner phone. There’s a text from Scott with an address.

“Let’s go check on your man.”

The bar we walk into is dark, a little decrepit, and a lot sketchy. It also doesn’t seem like the kind of place where you can run into another dude’s arms, so I settle for a lingering bro hug when we find Scott in a booth near the back.

I take a seat across from him, next to Cory, to avoid putting my hands on him.