Joker shakes his head in exasperation, then turns to Oscar and Henri. “Your parents are nuts.”
“Can’t deny that,” Henri says.
Oscar elbows her. “Shut up.”
“Out,” Joker says to the kids as he throws his thumb over his shoulder towards the door. “Catch a ride with Trigger and Rocky.”
“Yeah!” Henri says as she pumps a fist in the air.
“No fuckin’ way,” I say. “You go with King and Coyote.”
“Why?” Henri asks.
“I’ll explain later,” Oscar says gruffly as he grabs Henri by the elbow and heads toward the door.
“Don’t forget,” Benji calls. “I want my clothes back.”
Henri looks over her shoulder as she trots alongside Oscar. “Don’t worry. We’ll get them back to you.”
“Stay the fuck away from Oscar,” Hangman says to Renfrew. “And this lunatic.” He points at Selkie. “If you take her out, the Jury will probably get stuck with her kid. So let this one go and I’ll forget you kidnapped them.”
“I didn’t kidnap anyone.”
“Fuck off, asshole.” He turns his back and stalks out of the warehouse.
Stark hangs back. “You need help with the clown?” he asks me.
Selkie is headed over to Sadie but stops and turns to him. “He’s my bounty. So no.”
“But you don’t have Brambles with you,” I observe.
“But I have you,” she says as she grins. She yanks Sadie to his feet and pushes him towards me. “Do your goon thing.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Selkie
Eight is side-eying me as we drive towards the police station but stays tight-lipped.
After a few minutes of the silent treatment, I say, “What?”
He shrugs. “No point in sayin’ what you already know.”
“I know a lot of things. Could you narrow it down?”
He sighs as he takes a right turn without signalling. “You’re nuts. Right? We get our kids back and instead of doing the mom thing, you gotta pick up a bounty and go to the copshop.”
“She doesn’t fuckin’ know how to be a mother,” Sadie pipes up. “And the kid? Probably crawled out from under a rock. None of them are Einstein.”
I twist around and peer at Sadie. “Sure. Because you’re a genius.”
“Shut up, you fucker,” Eight says at the same time.
“Me or her?” Sadie replies.
Eight says nothing which seems to be enough to make Sadie shut up.
I turn to Eight. “You said yourself that the clubhouse is safer than anywhere else, so why does it matter?”
