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Carlos had buried his face against Xavier’s side, his breaths coming fast. And he was crying. After all of this, all the joking, all the keeping things light... Now his best friend was crying.
Xavier had to fight his own tears. If he started crying now, he’d never finish. And he wanted to be finished with this, so damn bad. “We’re okay,” he murmured to Carlos, ignoring the sympathetic expressions around them. Even Manny looked like he was about to cry. “Don’t, dude,” Xavier told the older brother. “I won’t be able to stop.”
Carlos pulled away, accepting the box of tissues that Molly pushed across the table. “Damn, everybody. I’m sorry.”
“It’s cathartic,” Molly told him. “You’d be surprised how many Marines I’ve seen cry.”
“Zero,” Carlos said, his tone self-deprecating, and Xavier hated to hear it.
“A whole lot more than zero,” Molly insisted. “Go on, Xavier. Let’s get this on the table.”
“Not much more to tell. We went into the house and saw the blood on the floor in the spare bedroom and the laundry room. And drops down the driveway.” He winced. “I think he took some of your good towels, Mom. To stem the flow.”
Cicely rolled her eyes. “Towels can be replaced. You can’t. So what do we do now?”
“We find out who hired the hit man,” Gabe said. “My guess is when the first guy failed, whoever hired him sent Eckert the hit man after Xavier.”
“He’s a real hit man? Seriously?” Xavier demanded. Molly had told them while they were driving, but it was so surreal. “Like on TV? This is... This is insane.”
“He’s a real hit man,” Burke said. “I never met him, but I knew him by reputation when I was with NOPD.”
“He pointed a gun at us when we blocked the exit,” Gabe said quietly. “At Molly, actually.”
“Road rage,” Molly said with a shrug.
“Shit,” Manny whispered. “That’s hardcore.”
“We stopped him from following you,” Molly stated as if she hadn’t had a gun pointed at her face. “He was pissed off. But the cops pulled him over, and Gabe saw them with the gun he’d used. He’ll get busted for that, and maybe he’ll give up the person who hired him.”
That was encouraging. Xavier hadn’t had time to think that far out. “That would be so nice. What about the man impersonating Lott?”
“NOPD got him, too,” Burke said. “My friend André, who’s a captain on the force, was in one of those vehicles you saw stop the white SUV. André’s brother is Antoine, who works for me. Good guys, both of them. I trust them with my life.”
“Do you trust them with Xavier’s if they try to charge him with murder?” Cicely asked coldly.
Burke didn’t seem offended. “For now? Yes, ma’am. If that changes, you two will be the first to know.”
“What are you thinking, Burke?” Molly asked. “About the guy who died in the hospital?”
“I don’t know,” he said honestly. “We need to find out who hired him, but we need to keep our interest low-profile for Xavier’s sake. I’ll get Antoine to see what he can find out. Finding out how the Paul Lott impersonator fits in is also critical.” He turned to Xavier. “You’re not the only one who’s been attacked. Someone had planned to attack Gabe last night. They tried to poison his dog.”
“Oh no.” Gabe stood up and dug his phone from his pocket. “I forgot about Shoe.”
“Your restaurant?” Carlos asked with a frown.
“No, my dog. His name is Shoe. Because he chewed shoes. It’s a joke,” Gabe finished lamely. “He’s at the vet still, Burke. I want to go get him.”
“I’ll go get him tomorrow morning,” Burke promised. “If anyone is watching the vet, waiting for you to pick him up... Well, let’s not give them an easy target, okay? Xavier, do you have anything else you need to tell us or just want to say?”
Xavier quieted his mind and thought about Rocky, about the last time they’d seen each other. “He was worried. Rocky, I mean. He told me that he was getting closer, and that I needed to be aware of my surroundings. He didn’t want me to get hurt.” He frowned, trying to remember. “He said he’d make sure that Gabe understood everything, and that if anyone tried to hurt me, to find Gabe.”
“But he didn’t tell me anything,” Gabe protested. “Not even about you.”
“But he did leave a UPS box,” Molly said, her voice growing excited. “Maybe he left a safe-deposit box, too. We need to check for any keys he might have hidden. Xavier, did he leave you a key?”
“Not after he died. He set a UPS box up for me when he was alive and I have a key to that, but I never got anything from Rocky after his death. Only got a letter from the lawyer, information about a trust he set up for me. I was shocked, because I wasn’t expecting anything. He’d given me so much when he was alive, and this trust is on top of all of that. It’s supposed to help pay for expenses in med school. I’ll give it back to you, Gabe. It’s rightfully yours.”
Gabe shook his head. “No, Xavier. He meant you to have it. Do you know who John Alan was?”
