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“You said the security wasn’t anything to be worried about, right?” Logan asked.
“I can pick the lock on the back door no problem,” Dexter said. “And they had a logo up for a security system, but I didn’t see any sign that it was actually installed.” He glanced back at me. “Sometimes people put up the logo stickers as a deterrent without actually having the system.”
“Not like there’d be much to steal in a fish market anyway,” Slade said.
I shivered. “We don’t know what else they might be stashing there.”
“They wouldn’t want to go overboard with the security and make people wonder what they’re protecting,” Logan said. “It’s possible they don’t keep anything illegal on the premises anyway, just use the business as a front for shipments they redirect elsewhere.”
He gave the explanation in a tone that was outright warm, as if heenjoyedfilling me in on how criminal operations work. I was having a little trouble wrapping my head around this new, more companionable dynamic… but I couldn’t say I minded it.
Slade stretched out his legs and took my hand, running his thumb over my knuckles. “Even if the alarm system is in place, Logan’s found the codes for disabling most of those.”
Logan had been doing a lot of digging into all kinds of things I wouldn’t have imagined a few weeks ago.
Dexter swiveled in his seat more fully and held a thermos and a spoon out to me. When I accepted them with a questioning glance, his vivid green gaze flicked away from me with his usual discomfort at sustained eye contact.
“I made a lamb and vegetable curry,” he said. “I thought you might like some.”
As if on cue, my stomach gurgled. “Oh,” I said, startled but remembering Logan’s comment about the pots in the guys’ apartment. “You didn’t have to.”
His gaze flitted around the car before returning to meet mine briefly. “It’s easy to end up skipping meals when you’re wrapped up in a case—or at least, I find that happens with me. I haven’t noticed you eating when you’re with us at all, so I figured I’d make sure you have some fuel, just in case.”
An unexpected flush warmed my cheeks at the sweetness of that gesture. Dexter didn’t show much emotion, but he was trying to take care of me in his own way. And getting the awkward gesture of affection made it hard to ignore the striking face of the guy who’d made it. My pulse skipped a beat despite myself.
Like you don’t have enough guys on your mind already, Maddie,I chided myself, and opened up the thermos. The hearty, spicy scent wafted into my nose, making my mouth water. I hadn’t actually eaten since lunch, and it was now late in the evening, an hour after the market had closed.
I took a bite and almost swooned. The meat was perfectly tender, and the sauce was rich and flavorful without being too biting. “This is amazing!” I said before shoveling more into my mouth.
Slade chuckled, looking nothing but pleased that I was enjoying the fruits of his friend’s labor. “Dex is quite the star in the kitchen.”
“I’ll have you know I have nothing in common with gaseous giants,” Dexter replied in a deadpan tone, which made both of his friends crack up. It took me a second to realize he’d meant the comment as a joke, not a real misunderstanding, and then I giggled too.
I was just finishing the curry when Logan cruised past the Fresh Catch Seafood Market. I took in the sign with its lobster logo and the darkened windows. Definitely closed.
Logan parked down the street, and we all got out. Slade motioned for us to follow him. “The best route to the back door is down the alley.”
He loped along in front, his strides so perfectly even you’d never have known about his prosthetic if the swish of his pantleg hadn’t revealed occasional glimpses of the brightly colored metal. I remembered how well he’d danced on those legs, and then I was getting heated up for a totally different reason.
Nope. Not going to get caught up in those thoughts. It was time to focus on this case.
Something in this building might lead us to answers about Dad’s death—or at least whatever he’d been interested in at the warehouse to have written down its address.
The alley, unsurprisingly, smelled strongly of fish. I suspected the nearby dumpster was full of discards from the day. In the shadowy space, Dexter knelt down, pulled out the thin metal rods he used, and made short work of the two locks on the door.
He eased it open carefully to a rhythmic beeping that had him beckoning Logan over. “They do have a system, just inside. You’d better deal with it.”
Logan ducked past him, peered at the alarm systems control panel, and quickly typed in a code. The beeping stopped at once. He flashed a grin at me. “Every system has technician codes that allow access. They’re supposed to be closely guarded secrets.”
“Not closely guarded enough to keep them out of our computer expert’s hands,” Slade murmured jovially, and we tramped inside.
Logan and Slade both stuck close to me as we slunk around a storage room and out into the main market. “Don’t wander off too far,” Logan ordered me.
I bumped him lightly with my elbow. “It’s an empty store. The biggest threat is death by fish stink.”
The merchandise had been cleared from the racks, but a cacophony of fishy scents saturated the air even in their absence. The only light in the place was the streaks from the streetlamps outside the front windows. My heart thumped faster as we peered through the empty space.
We weren’t meant to be in here, and I couldn’t help tensing at the thought that a security guard might leap out of nowhere. But at the same time, I couldn’t deny the thrill of it. We were searching for answers, carving a path where no one had wanted us to look. And I was in it right beside the Vigil guys.
