Page 39 of Unexpected Redemption

Louder and still without eye contact, she asks, “How did you figurethatout? Is it on the recording? I’d love to hear it. Or did you hack his medical records?”

Shep puts his hand out, reaching slowly in Sue’s direction. “Hold the fuck up.” There’s no anger in his tone, just a baffled amusement. “There’s an Icarus complex? Like a psychological disorder type of thing?”

She meets his gaze while nodding with vigor. “Oh yes. Most definitely.” Facing the board, her eyes keep searching. “Lots mythological tales have parallels to psychological conditions, often getting their names from the characters in the stories. Take, for instance, the Oedipus Complex.” She closes her eyes, face pinching. “Not only mental health terms, but physical health ones too. For example, Hymenaeus was the god of marriage in Greek mythology, ergo the termhymen, which according to the patriarchy is when the female should finally lose that part of her anatomy.”

Instantly, I’m reminded of my first night with Lettie, and warmth spreads from my chest, landing on my cheeks.

When no one speaks—because what do you say after learning a fun fact about the hymen—Sue faces me.“You didn’t answer me. How did you find out about Yev’s diagnosis?”

She’s completely unaware of the awkwardness. It’s so fucking relatable it hurts.

“We didn’t,” I start, but the sentence stalls.

All my attention is hijacked so my mind can play out the possibility that Yuri may have been referring to mental health rather than figurative roles. Then again... to what end would he provide that information to us?

Klein steps up when he notices I stopped mid-thought. “Sue, we weren’t talking about mental health. Yuri told Shep the story from Greek Mythology about Icarus, his dad, the feathers, the evil king, and all that. We were getting ready to decide who inthis shit show was starring in which role from the tale. He said that Yev flew too close to the sun, so we put Icarus by his name.”

“Oh. I see.” Her head and shoulders hunch forward. “Sorry. Got ahead of myself. I can go if you want so I don’t distract you again.”

If she were Mia or Lettie, or hell, even one of the guys, I’d pat her shoulder to reassure her. But Sue doesn’t like much physical contact. Since I’m standing beside her, I brush my shoulder against hers gently. “No, you’re good, Sue. Stay. You’ve given us another angle to consider. Klein, write it at the top. As we listen to the rest of the playback, we’ll see what else Sue picks up along those lines or any others.”

She glances at me with fleeting eye contact and whispers, “Thanks, T.”

Once Klein jots that on the board, he turns to Sue and gives her a brief recap of what we’ve heard during the first part of the recording.

While he’s doing that, Mia joins us at the board. To me, she says, “I give up on finding Yev’s dad.” Before I react, she holds up her index finger. “For now. Giving upfor now.”

“If you want other files to analyze about that cocksucker, I’ve been digging up crap on Yev for a while now. Maybe you’ll see something I didn’t.”

She inclines her head back toward her workstation. “Show me?”

“Sure.”

By the time we get to her desk and I start directing her to the file, all the conversation in the room dries up. When I glance over at the team, they’re looking at me expectantly.

“What?” I ask.

Klein responds, “Sue’s all caught up on what we’ve heard and discussed thus far. She already knows the mythologicalreferences. Waiting for you before we resume listening to the recording.”

“Give me a second.” Redirecting my focus to Mia, I point out the shit fuck’s file.

Mia arches a brow at me, inquiring about the file name. “MFKL one?”

“He’s got the top honors onmy fucking kill list.”

“Heh, heh. Nice.” While rapidly loading documents, she tosses, “Hope there isn’t one of those for me.”

Barely able to restrain my smile, I goad her some. “I deleted your MFKL file when you helped me save Lettie.”

Shep’s unable to keep his reaction in check, barking out a laugh and widening his eyes at Klein.

“Yeah. Tomer makes jokes now.” Klein throws his hands to the side in anI give upgesture. “You’ll get used to it.”

“Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.”Shep taps his capped marker on the board. “Let’s get back to this. Daylight is burning, and we’ve still got more of Yuri’s bullshit to suffer through.”

We all nod and refocus on the wall, except Mia who will be forever buried in that monitor. Fine by me. I’m going blind looking at that shit. I’d love her eyes on it.

Sue raises her hand. “Before we listen, can I ask a question?”

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