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ChapterFourteen
It’s pretty out, despite the chaos caused by the raging storm last night. Maybe that’s why. The savage destruction is a reminder of the saying this too shall pass as the sun peeks through the clouds, turning the remaining puddles into pools of gold.
“There wasn’t as much damage as there could have been,” Graves states while Blink drives.
“Yeah, this part of town seems okay, but I haven’t checked the news to see what the rest of the city looks like.”
We keep going, avoiding the debris scattered on the road until we pull up outside the gym. I spot Law talking to a beat cop dressed in his uniform. He laughs at something Law says before nodding and walking away.
As we all climb out of the car, Law turns to face us and smiles brightly when he catches sight of me.
“Fancy bumping into you here.”
“Yes, I can just imagine your shock, what with me owning the place and all,” I deadpan.
“Wait, you own the place?”
I feel Graves’s eyes on me too, reminding me that he didn’t know either.
“Long story. Come on, let’s go inside. Are you here to workout? Because we weren’t planning on opening until later this afternoon.”
“That’s okay. I can hang around and help out if you need it. I have nothing else to do anyway. My sister and niece were supposed to be coming for a visit but had to cancel because of the storm.”
“You’re always welcome here, man. That’s why you have a key,” Blink tells him, opening the door and holding it for me. “How many times do we have to all tell you that?”
“Well, now that I know who the boss is, perhaps I will pop in more.”
“And perhaps I’ll just take the key back.” I grin, my boots crunching over the broken glass from the window.
“Be careful,” Graves tells me quietly, taking my elbow and guiding me around the worst of it.
“Cops came by and checked it out, but a lot of the buildings around here have broken windows, some with trees hanging half out of them.”
I’ll have to pull the security cameras to know for sure. I’ll do that when I call Becky, to see if she can get someone down here to fix the window.
“It’s fine. If a piece of broken glass is the worst of it, I’d say we got off lucky. Wouldn’t you?”
“For sure,” Vega agrees.
“Mal.” I look up at the sound of Hank’s voice and see him waving me over before he disappears toward his office.
I head in his direction without further ado, with the guys in tow. The door is open, and a glance inside shows Bill sitting on the floor in the far corner, holding on tightly to his dog.
I signal for the guys to stay back as I approach him slowly, not wanting to spook him any further than he seems to be already.
“Hey, Bill. How you doing?” I ask him gently as I crouch beside him and run my hand over the dogs fur.
“You said to tell you if I saw something. I saw something, so I came to tell you.” He spits the words out so fast that I almost miss them.
“What did you see, Bill?”
“A man. He came and took Mick.”
“Who’s Mick?” Hank asks from behind me, but Bill isn’t listening to him.
“He came and told him he had money and food. And, well, it was so cold last night, but he changed his mind, Malice. I saw him try to walk away, but then the man punched him and pushed him into the car. He didn’t come back.”
I reach out slowly so as not to spook him and wrap my hand around one of his trembling ones.
