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“He didn’t want me to even know what his job was now. He never wanted me involved in this part of his life,” he said and shook his head. “Regardless of what happens, he wanted me to stay here just to keep this place ready. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Part of me wanted to scream at him for not being willing to help us, and the other part of me could see plain as day that that was absolutely what Jersey would want. I turned back to Memphis to follow her to the house.
“Let me know if you have problems with the new person,” he called back to us. “Intercom is always on.”
“So, I think I’ll wait until he gets here to go over everything with both of you at the same time,” Memphis said.
“Have you already watched it?” I asked. “What they sent this time?”
“Yeah.”
My stomach threatened to empty itself when I realized that she didn’t intend to offer any other explanations or insight on what they sent.
“When will he be here?” I asked, following her into the kitchen. She’d emptied the giant box already and had things spread out all over the place.
“Just a few minutes now.”
“So, you absolutely had him follow me back here earlier today.”
Her lack of response to that was response enough. I rolled my eyes and looked through all the equipment that she’d laid out everywhere. She went back to the seat where she’d set up two laptops this time and went back to typing away. The moment there was a knock on the door, she pulled her phone out and called somebody.
“I’ll get the door then?” I asked. She didn’t even look at me. I couldn’t even believe that I was in the presence of someone who was worse at doing people things than I was. I didn’t have a fucking thing prepared to say to Utah when I opened that door either, so I just opened it and stepped off to the side to let him through. It dawned on me when he didn’t bother to say anything either that none of these people were good at acting like humans. That’s why they all ended up in this job. He moved away from me to wait for me to lead the way. He stopped cold in the doorway of the kitchen, and I looked back at him just in time to watch him choke on nothing momentarily while he stared at Memphis.
“Hey, Indy,” Memphis said taking the phone from her ear to lay it on the countertop beside her computer. “He just walked in so we’re all here.”
“Utah,” I said and nodded toward her. “Memphis.”
He nodded at her, but I watched his Adam’s apple bob up and down a couple times when he tried to swallow.
“I already sent the video feed to you, Indy,” Memphis said. “I’m going to let these two watch it now. Stay on the line after. We’ve got a lot to discuss.”
“You got it,” Indy said through the speaker.
Utah and I both went to stand behind Memphis and watched her push play on the next video.
“They, uh — they sent it with audio this time,” Memphis said quietly before she looked back at me. “Do you want to hear it?”
“Yeah,” Utah said.
“I wasn’t asking you,” Memphis snapped at him.
“I want to hear it,” I said.
“It’s — rough.”
She played the video without any further warning. My whole body involuntarily convulsed at the sight of Jersey slamming his own hand down into a rat trap. I’d jumped badly enough that I even felt a hand on my lower back like Utah was prepared to catch me if I was about to faint.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” Indy whispered through the speaker. “Who is this guy?”
“My stepbrother,” I said into my own hand, that I hadn’t even realized I’d brought up to cover my mouth.
“No,” Indy said. “We all know who that is. I meant New Jersey. Because my God. He’s such an impressive smartass. Even under pressure.”
“Down, Indy,” Utah said. “His girl is standing here too.”
“Ah. Is he only into girls?” Indy asked.
“This isn’t the time, man,” Utah snapped.
