“Is everything in place for the run?” Brass sat, and everyone else followed.
I nodded and laced my fingers together in my lap. “As ready as it can be. There are always variables, but we’ve done our best to plan for every contingency.”
As always.
Brass always asked this question.
I was prepared for it and for his response.
“Good. Less than a week left.” He made a show of stretching his arms behind his head and locking his hands together.
The power stance might intimidate anyone else. Not me.
“What about the police?” Brass continued down the line of questions exactly as I expected.
Ash shifted in his chair but kept quiet.
“They won’t be an issue.”
They were up our asses about a lot of shit, but there was no way they had a clue what we were up to at the end of the week.
26
NOELLE
I’d barely made it out of the clubhouse before the weight of the lie pressed down on me.
Meeting my editor.
I scoffed so hard, a cloud of white puffed in front of my face.
What a joke.
A bitter taste lingered on the back of my tongue.
I’d been lying to them from the beginning, all while expecting them to tell me the truth about themselves.
They could never know I was a detective and not a local reporter.
Every instinct in my body screamed that this would get harder the closer I drew to the truth.
What was the truth?
The town was quiet, almost spooky in the lack of noise.
Snow crunched beneath my boots, the sound punctuating the eerie silence.
I scanned every storefront.
Had the whole place shut down and I didn’t know it?
No. The OPEN signs shone brightly.
Maybe it was just too early for everyone else to be out.
My luck changed when I rounded the corner and came face to face with a man I recognized from the Christmas drive.
“Hi.” I smiled, keeping my tone light.
