Page 72 of Declan

Matt sighs, giving him a bland look as he replies, “We wanted him to be found at some point, though, I suppose it would’ve been better if he had been found in like a year or two.”

“You think?” I ask sarcastically.

“That’s my fault,” Jessica interjects. “I refused to store him in my deep freeze in my garage, and we didn’t have a lot of time to coordinate.”

“I wonder how many dead bodies are hidden in freezers in storage units,” Tony asks randomly, and Jessica frowns at him.

Dare answers, “I’d imagine more than one would guess. I’m not sure how many storage units offer electrical hookups.”

Jessica turns her frown to Dare, and then she looks at me with her brows raised, but she doesn’t say anything. I laugh, knowing she must think we’re all insane. “You get used to it, Jess.”

“Get used to what?” she asks tiredly.

“Us,” I reply seriously. “We’re a bit out there, but we mean well.”

She snorts, not even attempting to hide her disbelief as Dare and Tony chuckle at my wording. Then, I turn to Matt and ask, “Who else knows about this?”

“Just the man who cleaned up the mess and then held the body for two weeks, but I highly doubt he will be a problem.”

I don’t argue with him because it’s true. The professional cleaners we use could have had us locked up a hundred times over, but they’ve always remained quiet and loyal. I suppose it helps that we make it well worth their while every time we have a need to call them, but some people won’t keep their mouths shut for all the money in the world.

I turn to Jessica and ask, “Have you spoken to Issa recently?”

“No,” Jessica replies with a sigh. “She appears to be outright ignoring me as well as avoiding me, and I have no idea why.”

“Yeah,” I respond. “Same here.”

“What do you think her game is?” Dare asks.

I shrug and reply, “Don’t fucking ask me. She refused to tell me. Just told me to trust her.”

Jessica gives me a horrified look. “You went to see her?”

“Of course I went to see her,” I exclaim. “Penny told me she waived her spousal privilege, and you expected me to just sit back and be okay with that?”

“What happened, then?”

“We got in a bit of a spat, then we made up, and I left.”

“She didn’t give you any insight on what her plan is?” Dare asks.

“Nope,” I reply with a small amount of petulance. “She repeated that I need to trust her and left it at that.”

“And do you?” Tony asks quietly, but I hear the underlying menace in the question and answer without hesitation, “Yes.”

He nods, his body relaxing instantly at my response, and Jessica pipes in, “Maybe I should just confess. If I confess and explain what happened, I might get off lightly since it was obviously self-defense.”

“Absolutely not,” I reply. “If it comes down to someone needing to do jail time, it will be me. Issa will never forgive me if you end up incarcerated.”

“I prefer it if no one ends up incarcerated,” Penny says from the doorway, and we all turn our attention to her as she walks into the room as if she owns the place.

Tony gives me an incredulous look and asks, “Does anyone and everyone have unfettered access to your residence?”

“Well, no. This is basically everyone. Plus, Issa and Clementina, of course.”

Tony shakes his head at me and mutters under his breath, and Dare laughs as he says, “Not everyone chooses to keep their home locked up like a vault.”

“Well, this further proves my reasoning behind it.”

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