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“Fine. Before I tell your wife that you told your mother that your wifewantsDaniel to stay in St. Lucia.”
What the fuck?I stare at Goldie as she tucks her freshly highlighted, freshly cut hair behind her ear again. She didn’t need to. It was already perfectly tucked; she was merely making a point.How the fuck does she know that?
She must see the question in my stunned eyes. “Esther called me,” she goes on. “Told me she understands why Rose would want that and, actually, Rose should be here if only to stop you from self-destructing. Or getting locked up. Or killed.”
Fuck. We all know Goldie wouldn’t dare tell Rose that, but what Goldie has succeeded in doing is reminding me that Rose will go nuclear on me if she finds out that I’m playing her and Mum against each other.
Brad snorts as I get back in my cage, visibly shrinking before everyone’s eyes. But I do give one last look at Otto, who is blatantly occupying himself on his laptop to avoid my threatening stare. There’s only one reason my mum would want to come back to Miami, and I’m staring at the fucker, so intently, I hope he bursts into flames and turns to ashes. Otto is causing me a headache I do not need.
I look at James like he can help me, and he looks at me like, what do I expect? What do I want for my mother? I don’t know, but it isn’t Otto. “Back to Collins?” he asks, tilting his head.
“Back to Collins,” I mutter, slumping down in my chair, moody. “So she’s hungry. Hungry for a bit of British meat or hungry for some Polish, Russian, or Irish animals?”
“Yet to be determined,” Otto says, infinitely poised over his laptop. “But I’m gonna use my initiative and say she’ll take whatever she can get. She’s smart. Graduated from Yale with a law degree before she followed in her mother’s footsteps and joined the LAPD. She moved to the East Coast a few months ago. Higham confirmed she’s causing a stir.”
Followed in her mum’s footsteps? I look at James. He’s blank. Probably thinking what I’m thinking. Jaz Hayley. Beau Hayley. Beau was definitely following in her mother’s footsteps... before The Bear blew her mother up. “Who is her mother?”
“Sharon Collins. FBI. San Francisco.”
“And causing a stir for them or us?” I ask.
“For everyone.”
“And she was pressing Beau on Dexter,” I muse. “Building a picture?”
“Oh, for sure.” Otto laughs. “She’s been checking out files from the archives left and right.”
“How’d you know th—”
“Higham,” he grunts, tapping away at the keys. “And I have a name on The Shark.” Otto sits back, twirling the ring in his lip, comfortable, whereas everyone else at the table sits forward, intrigued. He remains mute as we all wait. I look at James, exasperated, after seconds of no enlightenment.
“Well?” Brad asks, just before I’m about to. Otto takes his laptop and turns it to face us, revealing a face. His nose is absolutely colossal, his forehead larger than my desk, his eyes close together, his ears, I’m sure, making it impossible for him to pass through a door without brushing them on the frame. His buzzcut only reveals how fucking huge his head is. “Fuck me, he’s even uglier than you, Ringo,” Brad says on a laugh as we all take in the man dominating the screen. Or less of a man, more of a fat head. Goldie chuckles, it’s girlie, and she appreciates that because she soon clears her throat in time to apologize to Ringo when he turns a curled lip her way.
“Who is he?” Brad asks what we all want to know.
“Former polish military,” Otto says. “Marek Zielinska. And since you told him where to swivel for his guns last week, he’s been on a little spending spree around Florida with a fake gun license.”
“Oh?” I say, impressed. “And what’s Marek Zielinska, AKA Mr. Shark buying?”
“Everything from grenades to M249s from any store he can find.”
“So he’s desperate if he’s stretching to buying with the commoners,” I muse out loud.
“And what of Beau’s thoughts?” Ringo asks, making us all look toward the end of the wharf. Rose now has her cropped T-shirt on, and Fury is holding out her bag to her. Beau is still face up to the sun.
“I think she might be on the right track,” I say, as James nods. “They’re all jumping ship and scrambling to protect themselves.”
“So where is The Bear?” Goldie asks, looking agitated. She knows if he’s disappeared off the face of the earth, the chances of us finding him are slim, which means James and Beau’s peace will elude them, which also means Goldie’s freedom will eludeher. “His last move was ordering the exhumation of Danny’s father and Beau’s mother. No one’s heard anything from him since?”
“Not a peep,” James says quietly, sinking farther into his chair, thoughtful. “And Frazer Cartwright?”
“There’s a camera opposite his apartment. He’s not there, nor has he been there. Not since he called Beau. He seems to have disappeared along with The Bear. It’s Tom Hayley’s funeral tomorrow. He might be there.”
“He might not,” I say quietly.
James looks at me. Just me. “Tom’s funeral can’t be anything but a funeral.”
“Understood. The delivery on Friday.”
