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“Anyway, I’m using my key to stage an intervention. You’re not going to outrun me now,” she continues. “We need to talk, and I refuse to let you walk away again.”
“Look, I’ve had a long day, and I’m too tired for this bullshit. Get out.” I gesture toward the door, exhausted. “Not to mention you can’t stage an intervention with one person.”
Naomi laughs loudly and presses the screen on her phone to lower the volume of the music. “Who says I’m alone?”
Something breaks in the kitchen as if on cue. A rumble of pots and pans clanging together, accompanied by the tinkle of broken glass.
“Sorry, sorry! I got it. I promise I’ll clean it up.” Something else clanks together, and I wince. “Is there a broom somewhere? Gosh, a dustpan will do.”
I slowly shift my gaze back to Naomi, who looks anything but apologetic.
“Please,” I say. “Please tell me that’s not who I think it is.”
She shrugs again. “Depends on who you think it is.”
Bill, the IT wizard, comes around the corner gut first and stops when he sees me. His eyes light up. His ponytail is a little lower on his head than Naomi’s but slicked back as well, with something I’m willing to bet isn’t gel or mouse but good old-fashioned grease. “Please don’t be mad,” he starts.
“Why would I be mad?” I stress every syllable.
Adam is a few steps behind Bill. “Because this one is basically a blue whale on two legs, and he broke your Tweedy Bird glass. I’ll replace it. I’m sorry.”
Christ, deliver me. This is ridiculous.
“You called in the geek squad?” I direct that toward Naomi, and she flinches at my sarcasm.
“Yeah, well, no matter how covert you try to be, I've seen you and Adam talking. And let’s face it, Dev, you need friends. And you need help.” It’s the bluntest I’ve ever heard her be. “We need help if we’re going to make it work on our cases. Your mind isn’t in the right spot. We’re all worried.”
“This isn’t some game. We’re not a crew of fucking superheroes, and I don’t need friends.” I stiffen, muttering a string of less-than-pleasant curses under my breath.
“We’re doing this for Pocahontas,” Bill puts in as though it will help me change my mind.
Damnit.
If he’d said anything else, if some other stupid crap came out of his lips, I might have actually gone off the way I wanted to and burned some bridges I should not. But Bill’s not-so-politically correct nickname for Layla…it hits me right where it counts.
It hits me exactly the way Naomi had surely hoped.
“What are we doing?” The air goes right out of my sails, and without looking at the three of them, I shrug out of my coat and go through the same ritual of hanging it up near the door and kicking off my shoes.
“We’re waiting for pizza,” Adam tells me. “I ordered it before we left, so it should be here any minute now.”
I stare around at the three of them. “You guys really thought through this whole intervention thing.”
“We’re Empire Bay’s version of the Scooby Gang, and right now, we’re going to help you take down Broderick Stevens,” Naomi says, leaning back on the couch with her arms angled behind her head.
“Excuse me?” I ask gruffly.
“That’s what you want, isn’t it? What you work so hard to accomplish? You want to bring down the entire Black Market Syndicate, and our current case ties directly back to the operation. You know it does. That's why you brought the woman in earlier. Right?” Naomi finally pushes up from the couch and stands, turning her neck in circles to crack it, working out the same area I kneaded earlier on myself.
Hazard of the trade and those uncomfortable chairs.
“You…” I’m at a loss.
Saved by the bell, thankfully. The buzzer rings, and Adam and Bill spring into motion to greet the pizza man.
“You want to take him down. We want to take him down. We’re never going to get anywhere unless we work together. Even the four of us aren't going to get anywhere unless we find an in with the operation. But!” Naomi holds up a finger. “I’m working on that. I’ve got a few irons in the fire.”
This is insanity at its finest.
