Page 45 of Soul of Discretion

He drew a breath when his lover walked into the room, clad in a pair of jeans and no shirt. Simon’s torso was riddled with livid purple bruises. The way he towelled his hair gingerly told Nick he was still in pain.

Simon sat down beside Nick, threw the towel over the back of the couch, and looked at Nick curiously. “Is all this,” he waved at the papers and SD cards scattered across the table, “the stuff you got from Margaret?” He picked up an SD card and flipped it from side to side.

Nick nodded. “Yes. I thought we’d look at it together, see what Jack’s left us with. You game?”

“Hell yes. I’ll do anything to get this cleared up, so I can get back to normal. All this excitement is giving me grey hairs.” He grinned.

Nick certainly didn’t see any grey hairs, but he did feel a twinge of panic at the thought that Simon might be going back to his normal life once all this was over. It was something Nick had tried not to think about too much.

Enjoy the time you have, he told himself. No one has promised you anything, and you don’t want to mess things up.

Nick picked up a camera and inserted one of the SD cards. “Let’s look at some of the pictures on here. Maybe we’ll find something interesting.” He fiddled with the camera then gave a satisfied exclamation. “Here we go. Sit closer, and then we can both see.”

Simon laughed softly. “Don’t mind if I do…” He pressed up close to Nick on the couch, the exposed skin of his arm brushing against Nick’s, sending a tingle down his spine.

Down, boy, he chided himself. You have a job to do right now. Full-on body contact sport will come later.

Satisfying himself with that thought, he went into cop mode, eyes following the movement on the small screen as blurred figures made themselves clearer. For a few minutes, the two watched in silence.

“Oh my God,” Simon whispered, as someone they both recognised entered the frame. Nick nodded grimly. “Oh my God indeed.”

The picture, set in the same basement Simon had been held in, clearly showed Anthony Baronne shooting a man in the head. A few minutes later, an older man entered the dim concrete prison and sneered down at the body. Nick recognised him instantly: Augustus Baronne.

“You did good, son,” he praised as he pulled Anthony to him in a hug. “That bastard won’t be stealing from us anymore.” He looked directly over to the camera, no doubt secreted somewhere on Jack. “You see what happens to people who mess with us, Mr Teeman? We have a zero-tolerance policy here at Baronnes. If you continue to work with us as you have, you’ll not fall foul of it.” Both men chuckled, and the camera bobbled and lost focus for a minute. The next shot showed a warehouse filled with bales of white packages. A quiet voice accompanied the video.

“That’s Jack’s voice,” Simon said, his tone strained.

Jack’s whispered tones held a hint of apprehension and resignation. “This is the warehouse Augustus and Anthony tend to use mostly to move the stuff. You’ll find all the details of venues, meeting notes, and people’s contact information in the notes accompanying this tape. There are also more photos of known Baronne connections and some details of bank accounts they use. I hope this helps somehow in redeeming some of what I’ve done.”

His voice trembled. “Simon, if you ever get to see this, I’m sorry. I got caught up with these bastards, and I couldn’t break free. I took the money from the company, so I could create a nest egg for me and Margaret to escape them. It’s all in an offshore bank account, the details of which are in the notes I left. I’ve hardly spent a penny, I swear.”

Simon’s face was pale as he watched the screen. Nick squeezed his shoulder, knowing it must be tough to hear the last words of his best friend. “Margaret—” Jack’s voice broke. “She’s bad. I’m trying to get her professional help to get her clean. She got in with a bad crowd here and Baronne took advantage of it. She’s like this because of me. I want to take her far away, get her healthy again.” He laughed sadly. “If you’re watching this I might be dead already. I don’t care about that. Just please, whoever sees this, take care of my wife. She doesn’t deserve the shit I’ve left her with. I hope this information gives you a way to bring down this fucking cartel once and for all. If nothing else, I might have helped you achieve that.”

The video shuddered to a halt. Simon’s jaw clenched. “Let’s look at those notes he left. The sooner we do that, the quicker these bastards will be brought to justice.”

They spent the next hour dissecting the papers and their contents and finally Nick sat back with a satisfied smile.

“This is a gold mine,” he declared. “I think we’ve got enough here to put the Baronne family and their minions away for a long time.” He winced and gazed at Simon apologetically. “I know you’ve been through a lot, but I really need to get this information to my inspector, get the ball rolling. Do you mind if I give him a call? Arrange to get it to him? I’ll try not be too long, I promise.”

Simon gave him a tired smile. “Do what you must, Northernsalute.” He reached out and caressed Nick’s cheek. “And when you get back here, I’ll give you a proper thank you for saving my life.”

Nick stood up and gathered everything together. “I look forward to it. Try to get some rest, yeah? Those bruises look fierce and I can only imagine what your body feels like underneath them.”

Simon stood up and pulled Nick against his body. His eyes darkened with desire. “Later on, you can feel my body however you like.” His lips met Nick in a passionate kiss and Nick, burdened with his camera and documents, could only stand there and let his mouth be taken.

God, I wish I didn’t have to leave. All I want is to drag this man to bed and make love to him.

Finally, he was released, and Simon smacked his ass. “Go on then, my brave Mountie. Go get the bad guys. I’ll be waiting when you get back.”

“I’m counting on it.” Nicked flashed him a grin. “See you later, sexy. Don’t start anything without me.”

He picked up his jacket and car keys and heard Simon’s soft chuckle as he opened the

door and walked out into the hotel corridor.

Let’s go get these motherfuckers.