Page 115 of Bourbon and Secrets

I give him a nod and wrap my jacket around me. “I’ll send you an invoice for my hours.”

He taps the desk as he walks back toward his team. “You make better money than me. You do realize that?”

“And imagine that, it’s a side hustle,” I shout back, chuckling to myself.

The desk officer gives me a half smile this time. His mutton chops look as thick as the coiffed hair on top of his head. “Faye, you let me know when you want an assistant, if that’s true about pay.”

I give him a wink.

My phone dings, and within a few seconds, the rest of the station’s phones start dinging. Before I can even slide the news alert open, I hear one of the officers say, “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

The headlines stem fromThe New York Timesin national news:The Men Behind The Largest Scandal in Horse Racing’s Historyby Murray Ackroyd.

I read through the article about the history of winnings and the long lineage of horses that had been Triple Crown winners over the past decade and a half. The amount of money that is being estimated to have been won and earned throughout—and how misappropriated funds, the drugging of horses pre-races, the web of trainers, jockeys, and staff who all fell beneath one name: Finch & King. All of it had been brought to light by an unnamed, protected source.

Maggie.

When I step out into the cold air, I pull the tie on my jacket tighter. I start down the sidewalk toward my new favorite place to go on Saturdays now. My phone buzzes in my hand that I just buried in my pocket.

FOXX

Urgent matter. You are being volunteered to pick up all the proper candy for tonight’s candy salad bar. According to Lark, I’ve gotten the wrong kind of sour straws.

I can’t stop smiling as I answer his very serious request.

FAYE

I’ll stop on my way home.

FOXX

You’re calling my place home now?

FAYE

Minor slip. I’m still very much enjoying a big house all to myself.

FOXX

I still very much enjoy it too. Should we ditch the kids and meet there instead? Father of the Year is asking hypothetically of course.

FAYE

But now I’m craving candy salad.

FOXX

You said salad, Peach. You make my dirty thoughts soar with shit like that.

FAYE

Love you, see you in a while.

FOXX

Hurry up, I miss you.

I open my bag to toss my phone in, and the letter that Cortez gave me catches my eye. The manila envelope is stamped with no return address and sent to Cortez, but attention to Faye Calloway. When I open it, I swallow, my throat suddenly dry. It has been right around six months since I left her and my mom behind. And this time, it felt so much more final. Saying goodbye was more than most had, but I still felt like I wish I had more. Maggie chose to stay with Mom, and I needed to forget where that was—there was still a chance that connections and associates of Wheeler Finch would go looking for the woman who brought down an empire. But right now, with the looping cursive handwriting, my chest feels lighter.

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