Page 58 of Callow

“She’s obsessed with reading. For her last birthday, the girls took her to the bookstore and for her gift, let her pick out as many books as she could carry in five minutes. That might be a fun way to show my gratitude.”

“I don’t think that would be fair,” I said, smiling.

“Right. She can’t hold the books,” he said, nodding.

“No, no. No, it wouldn’t be fair to your wallet,” I told him. “She’d clear the shelves of the YA section.”

“My wallet can take it. And my arms can hold more than hers could even on a good day.”

It sounded like he was about to set up a sort of… family outing. And, God, my heart felt like it was about to explode at just theideaof it.

“Can I have a cup of…” Daphne started to say as she walked into the kitchen, stopping mid-sentence as she looked over at something on the side of the cabinet.

I hadn’t been paying attention when I’d walked in, so I had no idea what it was.

But her entire posture went tight.

“Mom,” she said, her voice filled with horror as she suddenly reached up, ripping a piece of paper down and turning it to me. “This is him!”

“What? That’s who?” I asked, moving closer.

“This is the guy who was in the apartment,” she said, voice wobbling.

“Are you sure?” Callow asked, voice as tight as Daphne’s had been.

“Yes,” she said, giving him a fierce look.

“Who is it?” I asked, taking the paper from my daughter and looking at Callow. “What is going on?”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Callow

It was bad fucking news is what it was.

It was one thing for the club to have some new, shadowy threat. And for Daphne to have had some random unfortunate attack.

It was a complete other thing for the shit to be linked.

“Daph,” I said, voice serious as I took the paper from Sabrina and turned it to face the kid again. “Are you sure? One-hundred percent sure?”

“Yes,” she said, eyes wide. “You missed the tattoo on the side of his neck, though,” she said, pointing toward the image where Croft had drawn something that looked like a scar on the guy’s neck. “That’s a tattoo.”

“Croft said it was red,” I said.

“Itisred,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “But it’s the edge of a dragon’s tongue,” she told us.

“Callow, what the hell?” Sabrina asked. “Who is that?”

“It’s the guy who shot at us that day when Daph was with us,” I told her. “One of my brothers saw him well enough to draw this.”

“What does that mean?” Sabrina asked.

It meant… a lot of shit.

“It means I need to get the club girls out of here,” I said, moving out of the kitchen and into the common room.

“Hey, don’t yell at me. Sheofferedto get us coffee,” Sully said, not looking up from the cards in his hands.

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