Page 65 of Heart Stopping
"I can do it if you want," I offered. If the idea of handling dismembered digits was too much for Cass, it wasn't for me. Besides, I really wanted a look at what was on that phone.
"I…" Cass took in a deep breath and let it out with the words, "I can do it."
"Cassius—" Jules started.
"I can do this," Cass said again, more firmly this time. "Harlow, you might want to see what's on here." Without another word, he turned and headed out to the other room.
I gave Jules a quick glance before following Cass over to the table.
"Lucky thumbs are shorter than the other fingers," I said. "It makes it easier to find them." It didn't hurt that Boner lined them up in order, with the middle fingers sitting across the pointers as though Fairfield crossed his fingers for luck. It hadn't worked too well for him, maybe it would work better for us.
"Right." Cass pinched the right thumb, grimacing as he picked it up and pressed the pad against the phone. "I guess it's the other one." He picked up the left thumb and tried again. The screen opened onto a generic screensaver that came with the phone.
"It figures he'd be unimaginative," I said. Of course, he wouldn't put anything incriminating on the lock screen or the home screen. If anyone saw, he would have gotten into trouble long before now. It also figured that the phone was almost fully charged. Fairfield was chaotic evil at best.
"I'll change it so we can get in with a passcode," Cass said, tapping on the settings icon. He changed it to one one three seven. "We won't forget that.”
"No, we won't," I agreed. It was the street number for my restaurant. I was surprised he noticed or remembered. The fact he did was touching. "Can we have a look at his contacts?"
"Yeah." Careful not to touch the photos icon, Cass brought up Fairfield's contacts and held the screen so we could both look.
"He knew some very rich, influential people," I said. I knew that already, but some of these names were surprising. Honestly, many would surprise the entire world.
Some were likely to be innocent business contacts, with absolutely no knowledge of Fairfield's activities. Othersthough… If we could prove they were involved, they were going to end the same way.
I wasn't surprised Fairfield knew Reuben Brantley. From what I heard, he was a notorious mob boss from Australia. I suspected he was one of the ones who didn't know what Fairfield was up to. His interests lay elsewhere. Hopefully he wouldn't decide to track us down and retaliate. The last thing I needed was a mob boss taking a hit out on me.
Although, he'd have to find me first.
"And a few pseudonyms." Cass pointed to someone referred to as Eros, and another who went by Hypnos. Right at the bottom of the list was Zeus.
"Coincidence?" I asked, not believing that for a moment. Three men, three Greek gods.
These were the last three men who murdered my sister. I was certain of it.
"I'll send the information to your phone." One by one, he sent the details to me, making my phone vibrate in my pocket. "It'll take a while to do the rest of them. I'll look into them and see if they need to be…"
"Dealt with?" I offered.
He swallowed. "Yeah, dealt with."
I put a hand on his bicep. "You don't have to take part in any of this. You and your brother, you could both walk out of here right now and not look back."
I'd be disappointed if I never saw Cass again, but Jules could get lost and I wouldn't lose any sleep.
"I'm staying," Cass said firmly. "I'm in this with you until the end. Whatever that may be."
I nodded slowly and squeezed his arm. "I'm glad you are. What about Jules? Do you think seeing Fairfield like that has given him what he needs?"
"What's that?" Jules asked from the doorway. "What do I need?"
"Closure," Cass said softly. "We can finally put Auggie to rest. Get on with our lives."
"Is that what you're doing, Cassius?" Jules stalked into the room. "Getting on with your life? Is that what this is?" He waved a hand toward the table containing ten dismembered fingers and ten dismembered toes. Not to mention a shit ton of blood.
"That's exactly what this is," Cass said. "I'm doing something meaningful."
Jules stared at him. "You're doing something twisted. Not to mention illegal."
