“Good. Maybe it’ll teach him not to poke it where it doesn’t belong.” Jonah could add bruised knuckles to his list of grievances, right alongside his ear and ribs. At least it all seemed to be superficial.
Cas turned away, staring out the window. He hadn’t even asked where they were going. Jonah reached across the console and took his clammy hand in his own. A shudder ran through Cas’s shoulders before he let out a tiny, broken sob that reached inside Jonah’s chest and twisted around his heart.
Shoving thoughts of Red away was easy. He’d had years of practice with compartmentalization, and he knew later the box would fly open in some opportune darkness. The memories would spill over him haphazard, one by one. He’d be ready. He’d be alone.
But Cas couldn’t be locked away like that. He’d burrowed too deep under Jonah’s skin.
“I need to get some things at my apartment. Then we’ll go back to the other place and get cleaned up. You need to eat something and take your meds. I need to make some calls.” Jonah squeezed Cas’s hand. “We’ll figure this shit out. We’ll figure out who killed Red and I’ll take them out.” Jonah spoke evenly, methodically, though he was almost certain Cas wasn’t hearing much of it from the way he nodded absently without looking away from the window.
Jonah pulled into the parking garage in Queens and parked in a guest spot.
Once in the elevator, they both stared dully at their reflections in the polished chrome doors, and when it stopped on the tenth floor, Cas let Jonah lead him down the quiet hallway to his apartment on the end.
Jonah fished his key from his pocket, opened the door, and stopped short, cocking his head.
“Wait right here,” he commanded Cas, then drew his gun and nudged the door wider. “Cas,” he said, to get his attention, then ticked his chin toward the emergency exit across the hall. “Take the stairs down to the third floor if anything happens. Code for the door is 2476. Find parking spot 38. There’s a keypad on the car door. Code is 5997. Look in the glovebox. Repeat what I just said.”
Cas drew in a breath and repeated it, and Jonah was relieved to see a flare of life in his eyes when he got to the end. “That’s my birthday. The code for the car is.”
“Yeah.” Jonah reached out, hesitating before he ran his knuckles down the side of Cas’s cheek. Cas met his eyes, blinking rapidly before jerking away from his touch and swiping at a tear trekking slowly down his face.
Stepping inside the apartment, Jonah pushed the door closed behind him. As glass crunched underfoot, Jonah had to wonder if he’d really amassed enough shit karma to deserve two apartments destroyed in two weeks. Not to mention Red.
Didn’t that fucking rapist he’d taken out in November count for something? Or the douche who’d been acquitted of murdering his wife and kids? Jonah wasn’t the scales of justice by any means, but he’d had clients who’d asked him to serve in its stead when the court system had failed them. Probably didn’t make up for how much he enjoyed doing it, sometimes, though. Or all the people whose crimes were little more than pissing off the wrong person.
Fuck, he supposed he did deserve it. But Cas sure didn’t.
Hugging the wall, Jonah crept toward the kitchen as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
Nothing moved.
Moonlight spilled in through the floor to ceiling windows in the open living room area, revealing a formidable level of destruction even Cas hadn’t managed at the old apartment.
The couch cushions had been ripped apart, stuffing strewn everywhere. Every single breakable object was shattered. Even the kitchen chairs were splintered. For the first time, Jonah regretted the soundproofing the real estate agent had boasted about when he’d looked at the place.
He moved through the two bedrooms, master and hall baths, and all of the closets before determining whoever had been inside was gone. How fucking kind of them to have locked up.
Jonah muttered a curse and went back to the hallway to retrieve Cas.
“Wow.” Cas slowly trailed Jonah inside.
“Yeah, I doubt there’s a single dish that hasn’t been broken.”
“No, I mean, this is a really nice place.Was,” Cas corrected a second later.
“Watch all the glass.”
“What about the cameras?” Cas pointed one out and Jonah was grateful that his fog seemed to have lifted. At least, for the moment. Subdued Cas was far worse than angry Cas. At least Jonah felt confident in his handling of the latter. Subdued Cas made him second-guess everything.
“Nothing on the feeds. I already checked the app.”
“They’re not that hard to hack, honestly. Hardwired is still the way to go. The building might have some footage. I’ll bet their cameras are wired.”
“Once we finish here, I’ll work on that. Think I know who to ask.”
Cas gave him a wan smile. “Don’t bother. I can look myself.”
“But I thought—”
