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“What did you say your name was?”
“Baxter. Branson.” He gulps, his Adam’s Apple bobbing and making his bird of prey wings shift uncomfortably. Message received. Shame it didn’t need to be delivered in blood. “Be seeing you, Macerio.”
He nods once and turns back to the door, but pauses once more.
“You should know,” he says softly, not looking at us. “The baby didn’t make it, and the damage of the fall left Beth unable to have children. It’s a real heartbreak for her so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t say anything, you know, when you meet again.”
He’s gone before either of us can reply, and Raven is left staring after him, close to tears, with a ‘what the fuck’ look on her face.
“Go back and see Phoenix,” I tell her softly. “I bet she could use a cuddle right now and we’ve left the guys unattended long enough that Rebel and Thorn have probably got her all riled up and into all sorts of mischief.”
“Am I going to lose my sister again? I heard some of what happened. You guys were pretty awful to her. I wouldn’t blame her for running away.”
“Absolutely not. We know who they are now, they won’t ever be able to hide from us again.” She nods, sniffs, wipes her face.
“Are you coming?” she asks.
“You go. I have a quick phone call to make.”
She leaves, closing the door behind her and I pull out my phone straight away. It rings through to voicemail. I hang up.
I try again. And again. And again. When she still doesn’t answer I curse and bang my phone down on the table.
A second later the phone rings and I snatch it up.
“What?” I bark.
“S-sorry,” a timid female voice stammers. “I must have the wrong number. I was trying to call the children’s ward.”
I stare down at the phone in my hands and realise I’ve snatched up the office phone which was ringing and not my mobile.
“Yes. Wrong number,” I lie stiffly. I’m just about to put the phone down when the woman on the phone breaks out into a peal of laughter. Amelie.
“Ha! You should have heard yourself. Didn't expect the great and mighty Baxter Baudelaire Bojangles Branson to shit himself at a little old lady.”
“I told you never to utter my full name,” I growl, more pissed off about that than being tricked.
“How’re you doing, Batman?”
“How did you know to call me on a landline?”
“Gotta keep an eye on my best asset now, don’t I?”
“I’m not ‘your’ anything.”
“Ouch, I thought you were my friend.”
“Friends don’t hide persons of interest from one another.”
“I didn’t. We honestly couldn’t find her. The tip off was a total fluke and I didn’t even know if it would pay off. It’s why I kept it vague, at least that way if it was a bust, you still got a nice holiday out of it.”
“They’re Order. I’ve seen the tattoo for myself.”
“Any chance it’s a fake or a copycat?”
“No. He’s had training for sure.”
“Fuck. Then I have a problem.”
