We played out that scenario in silence.
“I wouldn’t trust the BPD with digital forensics if my life depended on it,” I finally said.
“Agreed,” Maeve said.
“I’m assuming there’s nothing they can do that you can’t do better?” Bram asked Aloha.
He shrugged. “You said it.”
“Keep working the phone,” Bram said. “Let us know if you come up with anything else.”
“What are you going to do?” he asked.
I couldn’t hide my surprise. Aloha wasn’t usually invested in the shit we asked him to do. We told him what we needed and he did it and went on to his next project.
But he was in it now with the rest us, wanting to take Todd down for Maeve.
“We’ll work on the five cities you gave us,” Maeve said. “Maybe we can turn up a connection with all the other stuff we’ve learned about Todd along the way.”
“Good idea,” Aloha said. “Doubt he’ll use his plane when he knows we’ve got the tail number, but want me to keep an eye on it anyway?”
“Please,” Maeve said. “We should cover every base, just in case.”
“You got it, Maeve.” Why was he using her name? Fucker. “Just let me know if there’s anything else I can do to help.”
Fucking Aloha, the bald motherfucker, had obviously been as domesticated by Maeve as the rest of us.
We said our goodbyes and stepped out of the box, then made our way through the empty warehouse to the exit.
“Shit,” Maeve said when we stepped outside.
I took her hand. “At least we have someplace to start.”
Five cities wasn’t exactly a hot lead, but it was something.
“I guess,” she said with a sigh.
Poe’s phone dinged as we headed toward the loft. He looked at it with a scowl, then shoved it back into his pocket.
“Everything okay?” Maeve asked.
“My gramps and gran both have the flu,” he said. “They want me to go see Whit tomorrow in their place.”
Poe had a complicated relationship with Whit, one he mostly conducted at a distance. I thought he was avoiding some hard talk with his brother, but he hadn’t asked my opinion so I didn’t give it.
“I’ll go with you,” Maeve offered.
Poe shook his head. “I wouldn’t ask you to do that. It’s not a nice place.”
She slipped her hand into his. “You’re not asking. And in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve gotten pretty good at navigating not-nice places.”
It was true. But I still hated it.
All the things I’d rejected about my upbringing — the normalcy, the sameness, the fuckingaveragenessof it all — were now all the things I wanted for Maeve.
For myself.
Go fucking figure.
