Page 90 of Midnight Racers

“I—” I trailed my fingers through my hair, everything from that day a mess in my head. “I was pissed at Dale and Craig and their fucking lies. You know I tend to retreat into myself to prevent me from killing someone in public.”

He nodded, since he’d known me a long time. We both went quiet when murder was on our minds.

“We got home and—” I broke off again and groaned. “My cousin Lydia phoned. She’s a potential organ match for Dad and was crying her eyes out. My aunt made her get tested even though she didn’t want to, and now she feels compelled to give that selfish dick one of her kidneys. When I got into the house after speaking to her on the phone, my dinner was cold and Charlotte asleep in bed. She was a little quiet the next morning, but I thought it was because she’d been upset. I did a check, and my asshole half-brother was a match a while ago but didn’t share his good news.”

Jordan gave me a tight smile. “Women are not the same as us. They tend to feel things differently and get upset over situations that totally baffle me. She was upset when you two left, and from an outsider’s point of view, she probably thought you were angry at her and believed Dale.”

“What the fuck?” I exploded. “Why would I believe that lying snake?”

“I know that, but take a step back and see that day from her point of view. Dale accused her of terrible stuff, and you went quiet and angry, not speaking to her.”

“Fuccck,” I groaned and leaned back in my chair.

“Hey, boss.” Joshua took that moment to appear at my office door. No one else was supposed to be here or I would never have spilt my heart out to Jordan. “Just popped in to pick up my laptop.”

“How’s the hand?” Jordan asked.

“I was lucky.” Joshua shook his head and smiled. “It was a freak accident and thankfully Charlie was there to get me to hospital straight away.”

“Charlotte was at the hospital with you?” I asked, the hairs at the back of my neck rising.

“Yeah. She drove like a speed demon to get me there,” Joshua replied. “Even followed me in, though the sight of blood makes her sick. It’s as well she doesn’t work in this side of the business.”

“Followed you in,” I echoed, everything starting to fall into place.

“Problem?” Jordan asked.

“No. I wish I had have known you were there that day,” I replied. “I was at the hospital with my cousin Lydia.”

Jordan’s expression said he was following my thought process.

“Shit, man, I wish I had’ve known. I made her promise to text me when she got back to the garage. She insisted I didn’t ring you because you had an appointment that morning.”

My heart fell down into my stomach to be melted in the acid found there. “You need a lift home?” I asked, trying to sound normal even though I felt sick.

“No, thanks. My chauffeur is waiting outside.” He grinned at the description of the poor soul he had coerced into driving for him.

“Take it easy, Josh,” I said. “You need anything, just let me know.”

He waved and left with his laptop tucked under his arm.

Jordan turned to face me. “She thinks you’re cheating on her,” he said.

My eyebrows shot up. “She couldn’t ask me?” I replied. “Lydia was upset and crying.”

“I repeat what I said earlier. Put yourself in her shoes. Did it look like a cousinly encounter?”

“She was crying and I hugged her.” I stopped talking, because even though I knew I was innocent, I knew how guilty I looked. “What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

“She hasn’t gone home, and you don’t have a tracker in her. Has she turned her phone or laptop on?”

“No.” I shook my head. “The last images were of her arriving at my house. She stopped on her way out and went to feed Matilda and Mavis, and then she left.”

“Matilda and Mavis?” Jordan queried.

“My geese.” He had the good sense not to reply. “My gut says she went to her mum since that’s where she wanted to go initially.”

“I phoned Victoria,” Jordan said. “She hasn’t seen her and has phoned me a few times after that to see if I’d found her.”

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