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“Her description wasn’t great, but it sounded like him, yeah. She said she heard raised voices but couldn’t make out what they were shouting about, but that’s it.”
A car pulls up, and this day just keeps getting fucking better.
“Fuck my life,” I whisper beneath my breath as Jasper Williams steps from the car.
“This is fucked up, Seb. What if he knows who we are? And where the fuck is Ray?”
“Nothing we can do about it now. Once we get away from here, I’ll talk to Rick. For now, just follow my lead, Jason,” I say, giving him a heads-up by using his alias.
“Afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Detective Williams, and you are?” He seems surprised to see us, which is odd if Ray sent him. He offers Jay his hand first, then turns to me and it takes everything in me not to squeeze his fingers till they snap. “So, what’s going on here?” I find it hard to believe he doesn’t know whose house this is, and I’m going to watch his face very closely when he sees Noah.
“We knocked a few times, but when we didn’t get any answer, I looked through the letterbox, and well… Maybe you want to take a look for yourself,” I tell him with a grimace. To be fair, it’s not a fake grimace. I’ve seen some shit in my life, but I wasn’t prepared to see a guy with a bullet hole between his eyes, holding his own tongue. The message is pretty clear; should have kept his mouth shut.
He eyes us both as though this is some kind of trap, but walks to the door, us following behind, and lifts the letterbox, taking another look at both of us before leaning down and looking into the house.
I watch from the side as his eyes widen, and he inhales a small breath before composing himself and standing upright.
“Looks like you were right to be worried. Do you know the man?”
“Only that his name is Noah. We met at a bar, got chatting, you know how it is. He offered us some work, told us to come by.”
“And what bar was this?”
I need to tread very carefully here because I know who he is, but I don’t know if he knows who I am or my connection to Jamie. “Tempest. You know the one on—”
“I know the one, thank you.” Jay and I exchange glances at the obvious bite in his words. “I can see the back door is open, and I assume you two had nothing to do with that?” he asks accusingly.
“Nope. Haven’t touched a thing, except the letterbox, of course. We saw him sitting there and called the police straightaway,” Jay says.
I’d love nothing more than to call him out on knowing exactly who Noah is, but I can’t risk jeopardising the job or Jamie. This whole thing has me second guessing taking Jamie with me tomorrow night, but Rick was right about her being safer with us.
“You two need to stay here while I go inside. I’ll need to talk to you both again once forensics get here.” And with that he disappears round the side of the house to the back door.
“This is not good, man,” Jay says as soon as Jasper is out of earshot. “Of all the fucking detectives that could have turned up, it had to be this one.”
Another car pulls up just as I’m about to send a text to Rick, and Ray and another guy step from the car. I walk towards them as Ray takes in the car they pulled up behind. Jasper’s car.
Keeping my voice low, I say, “Good to see you, but there’s a detective already here.” Ray frowns, and now I’m even more suspicious of Jasper because I get the impression he’s not meant to be here.
“So I see.” Ray sends the other guy to go find Jasper, while I quickly fill him in on what I discovered earlier that led us here, leaving Jamie out of it for now. I need to talk to Rick right now. I’m beginning to feel like there is some connection between this job and whoever is threatening Dom.
“Ray, I can’t tell you anymore just now, not until I’ve spoken to Rick. Give me two minutes to make a call.” Ray nods, and I leave Jay with him while I call Rick.
I walk across the road to the car, so I can’t be overheard as Rick answers.
“Seb, what’s going on?”
I quickly explain about Noah and his connection to not only Tempest but also to Jasper and Jamie. Then I tell him my suspicions about there being a connection between the two jobs, and my concerns about taking Jamie tomorrow in case Jasper is there and sees us.
“Fucking wonderful. I might just kill Dom myself when I finally get hold of the bastard. For now, bring Ray in on what’s happening with Dom, but keep the details minimal.”
“Okay. But I don’t like this, Rick. We are missing something. Something really fucking important.” I end the call and walk back to Ray, who is now standing with the guy he arrived with and Jasper. As I get closer, I realise that Ray and Jasper’s conversation isn’t of the friendly chit-chat variety.
“Get back to the station and do the damn job I asked you to,” Ray tells Jasper. Jasper’s eyes flash with anger, the right one has a small tic, but he doesn’t say anything just walks past me and gets in his car.
“Problem?” I ask, stepping round next to Jay.
Ray turns as his gaze follows Jasper driving away. “I don’t know yet.” He frowns, then turns to me. “So, what you got for me?”
