“Is it okay if I go out on the landing to call my brother?” she asks me.
“Of course, girlie.”
“Do you mind if I piggyback on your wifi so I can video call him? He’s less difficult face-to-face.”
“Absolutely.”
I get her my public wifi key. It’s what I use for my Dutiful campaign and will be plenty strong enough for a video call evenout on the landing. It’s not that I don’t trust Emily, or Logan, with my hidden network; I don’t give anyone access to it. Ever.
I get Logan settled in a bean bag with a tablet so he can look through what I’ve assembled for him while I set up Emily’s phone and let her out onto the landing. August in the City can be oppressive and steamy, or it can be crisp with the promise of fall. Today’s one of the latter days, with a bright blue bowl of sky overhead and a cool whisper of wind against my cheeks. I brush off the cushions for her and bring her out a glass of water before leaving her to make her call.
“I should be used to you digging up truly scary shite by now, Maxie,” Logan says when I join him in my office. “But it never fails to impress me.”
I shrug. My skills seem impressive to someone like Logan who can’t figure out how to set up a chat group, but to the big boys who run ransomware rackets or go after military targets, I’m small time. Even the work I did for Ness wouldn’t get me a seat at their table and I’m very glad to put that work behind me.
“I’ll put in a public records request today for the death certificate,” I say, tapping the edge of the tablet he’s using. “Get us a street legal version to give to your lawyer.”
“Thanks, Maxie.” He rubs his fingers through his hair. “The only thing we really have tying her to Nicholas’s death is her confession to me and the neighbor’s testimony. I wish we had more.”
“I’ll keep digging,” I promise.
He reaches up his hand without looking at me and I grasp his fingers.
“Thank you for yesterday—” he begins.
I squeeze his hand. “You don’t need to thank me, Lo. You never need to thank me. Yesterday was your day to fall down and wallow. I’ve done that plenty of times. Today’s the day to dustyourself off and get back on the horse. I’m right there with you, okay?”
He nods and squeezes back before releasing my fingers and sinking back into the beanbag chair with a crunch.
I grab my wireless keyboard and drop into the beanbag next to him. “Whaddo you think of those jobs?” I ask as I tap to bring on my big screen on the wall. I pop up the list of low-risk security jobs I’ve assembled for him.
“First one’s a no-go,” Logan says. “I’ve dealt with that company before. They don’t pay their bills.”
I scoff. “No wonder they’re advertising.”
I tap and their listing disappears.
“Second and third look good,” Logan says. “I’ve never heard anything bad about those companies and they’re both an easy distance. That third one looks fun. I’ve never been in an escape room.”
“They are fun,” I confirm. I did a Harry Potter-themed escape room with some buddies from the Navy last Christmas after more than a few beers. We laughed more than we finished the various puzzles.
I tap out acceptances for the two jobs and fire off a query for another on the list which hasn’t listed a required timeframe. If it’s not urgent, Logan could combine it with the escape room job since they’re close to one another in Midtown.
“Maybe we could get a group together to do one,” Logan suggests. “Sounds like a good activity for littles.”
I nod. “I’m, uh, just waiting on some things, then I’m going to talk to Cynnie. If things work out, maybe we could take her and Emmy to the Harry Potter-themed one in Sunnyside.”
Logan shifts in the beanbag to look at me. “Whaddo you mean, you’re going to talk to Cynnie?”
I keep my eyes on the big screen. “She ghosted me.”
“Why?” Logan asks.
“I fucked up. I slept with her on the first date and was too rough with her. I didn’t trust myself and she ran away from me. But I’m going over to talk to her today. See if I can fix things.”
Logan growls. Fucking growls at me.
“Start from the beginning, Max.”
