Page 89 of Second Story

Noah thrusts it at someone I’d rather push over a cliff than trust with anything important.

Josh doesn’t take it. His gaze is locked on me, and for someone who Joe describes as his bossy older brother, he sounds way younger. “I’dneverwant to hurt Joe.” He finally takes the envelope and peers inside. His tone shifts abruptly to all business. “Who does this phone belong to?”

Noah spits his own questions. “Joe said you’re a digital forensic expert, yeah? That there isn’t anything you can’t extract from a SIM or hard drive. That true?”

Josh glances Joe’s way, then nods.

Noah isn’t done yet.

“And he said the reason kids like me keep getting knifed or burned or worse is because there’s no proof. No trail leading to who gave those orders. No hard evidence for a court case.”

I’d hate those true-crime stories if Noah’s version didn’t have the potential for a happy ending.

“If you need evidence, the SIM in that phone should have plenty.”

We won’tall fit in the back of a pursuit car.

We don’t need to—those blue lights will flash for Joe’s twin and carry away a phone that might not only place an attempted murderer at the location of Noah’s stabbing. In the hands of an encryption expert, it could prove that Mum wasn’t responsible for all that Class A hidden in her kitchen.

“It can’t be me who does that,” Josh says. He eyes me. “Not because I wouldn’t want to. I’d doanythingfor him.” That sounds as bruised as anything I’ve ever heard from Joe.

Mum’s legal counsel agrees. “Any conflict of interest could jeopardise a prosecution.”

“But there’s nothing to stop me from advising.” Josh takes that lawyer with him, leaving three of us to watch those blue lights flash until they’re swallowed up by the city.

The moment they’re gone, Joe gets busy. The first thing he does is make a promise I never wanted to believe more.

“It’s going to be okay.”

He pulls out his own phone next and questions Noah. “You must have left the farm early. Did you let your brother know where you were headed?”

Noah shakes his head, paler now than ever.

“How about the school? Ah...” Joe reads a message already waiting for him. “Your headmaster wondering if I know where you might be.” He texts a quick answer, then places a call to Noah’s brother and hands his phone over to him.

Joe backs away then.

I don’t, and like earlier this morning, it doesn’t matter that we’re on a busy street and in the way of people. I get as close to him as I can.

Fuck it. I hug him.

He hugs me back. “You... You came out fighting for me.”

“Course I did.” That urge still floods my system. “Everyone should.”

“If you mean Josh, I think he did. Fight for me, I mean.” His voice has an edge of wonder. “He always has been. If there’s anything on that phone, Josh will help them find it.” He sounds disbelieving. Stunned. “He’s been gathering proof. Has been for years. Even when he couldn’t talk about these.” Joe touches old scars. “Made his mind up when I was still recovering and hasn’t stopped since. Everything he did was for me.”

If I wasn’t still fizzing with fight, I’d tell him that I get it. That I understand. That I’d hunt the same way for him. “Still want to hit him,” slips out instead, and Joe laughs.

“He has that effect on a lot of people.” How the hell he finds some humour in this helter-skelter situation only adds to why I love him. So does the care in his next question. “She’d definitely decided to plead guilty?”

I nod. “Keir didn’t advise it. Mr. Brodie, I mean. Her legal counsel. Mum won’t change her mind about keeping her lips zipped.”

Joe repeats his promise. “If there’s proof, Josh will help to find it. Your mum got caught in the middle of something he never meant to happen. He was after whoever gave the order to hurt me.”

Now that sword hanging over my family might not fall at all because of a kid who holds Joe’s phone to his ear and pales even further.

Joe reacts to that the same way I did at seeing his heartbreak from the far side of the street—he comes out fighting for Noah the same way I came out swinging at Joe’s twin. He takes over the call, reassuring a big brother first, then he does the same for Noah.

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