"We found photos on his phone that weren't taken by him," I said. "We don't know who took them."
"That's some weird shit," he said. He didn't sound like he thought it was significant.
"We don't think someone was sending him unsolicited shoe pics," I said dryly.
"Who's we?" He sounded unimpressed. Like he already knew the answer but was asking anyway. Knowing for certain he wouldn't like what he heard.
I glanced over to Harlow and Boner. Both were listening. Boner with interest, Harlow looking like she wished Jules wasn't involved in any of this. She wasn't sure if she could trust him and they couldn't stand each other. I hoped at some point they'd learn to get along, because I wasn't giving up either of them.
And Boner, and Archer? I wasn't sure where I stood with either of them. All of this was too new. Too fragile to jump in too far, too fast. The only thing I knew was that we all wanted Harlow. And she seemed to like all of us. That was all I needed to know right now.
I put the phone on speaker. "Harlow and Boner," I said. "We're at my place."
"Cassius—" Jules started.
"Julius—" I said in the same tone. "Don't be weird about this."
"Weird?" he echoed. "You…" He lowered his voice. "I saw what you did. Whattheydid. You can't seriously get caught up in this."
"I already am caught up," I said calmly. "I'm going to keep beingcaughtup. This isn't just about Auggie anymore."
It started that way, yes. The more I got to know Harlow, the more important her mission was to me too. For our younger brother Augustus, and anyone like him. As long as I was still breathing, I couldn't let this go.
Jules sighed, the sound crackling against his phone. "I didn't see anyone else in Fairfield's brownstone. Can't say I waslooking. Once I realized he wasn't there, I got the fuck out. You think there might have been someone else? Someone he was?—"
"Archer let somebody go while we were distracting Fairfield," Harlow said.
"She was wearing slippers," I supplied. "I saw her on the security camera as she came out of the brownstone. The police received an 'anonymous' tip off to her whereabouts half a block away.”
She should be back with her family by now. Safe. One less innocent person with their life torn apart. Broken by monsters.
I couldn't suppress a small surge of pride at that. Didn't try. We'd done some actual, practical good in the world.
Go us.
"So, either someone else was there," Boner said slowly, "or someone wanted us to see those photos."
"Why would they want that?" Harlow asked. She was frowning, like she was turning thoughts over in her brain, but not settling on a conclusion.
"Two reasons," Boner said, counting them off on his long fingers. "One, the girl Archer and Cass helped to get away from there took them in another location, hoping someone would help whoever's shoes those are. Or two?—"
In unison, we all said, "It's a trap."
Boner waved a finger in the air. "Bonus points for everyone."
"If that's the case, they must have known we'd go after Fairfield," Harlow reasoned. "Or someone else would."
She gestured towards the phone in my hand, indicating she was referring to Jules.
"They might have figured out there's a connection between Fairfield and his other associates," Boner said. "In that case, we're going to be extra careful when we go after?—"
Mindful Jules was listening, he mouthed, "Hypnos, Eros and Zeus."
"What's going on, Cassius?" Jules said, sounding dangerously close to heading over to my apartment to start swinging punches. "You need to get the hell out of this before you're in too deep."
"Like I said—" I started.
"That was before they knew we were coming," he interrupted. "They could have been sitting there waiting for us. For you."
