“Come in silent. Key to the back door is under the first step to the gazebo. Hurry.”
“Copy.” The line clicked and went dead. George lifted a brow.
“Trouble?”
“I’m not sure. There’s drying blood, and the insects are going crazy because of all the adrenaline in the air.” He closed his eyes, this time diving into the stream on purpose to get more specific information. “There’s a gun, recently fired, not here, somewhere else, gunpowder flaring up when the male moves, female on chair, fear, pain, all so sweet, blood, both are healthy, delicious, heartbeat too quick, adrenaline—”
“Okay, snap out of it. You’re becoming too incomprehensible for my liking.” George had his gun already out, one hand on the door to open it. “If there’s somebody waiting in there, we can’t stay out here much longer without them getting suspicious. Since Forard is on his way, I’d say we go inside and see who it is.”
Andi nodded. “Be careful. I-I’m distracted. This is my home; there shouldn’t be so much upheaval.”
“Can you do this? If you’re not sure, stay outside. I’ve got this.” Instead of getting Andi’s hackles up, George’s worry ignited a warm feeling in his chest.
“I’m not going to let you go in there alone. I can manage. I just need a moment to adjust.”
“Fine. I’ll take the lead.”
They left the car with their weapons held behind their backs. Whoever was inside the house must have heard the car approaching but was not leaving their spot in the kitchen, which meant they could get to the door unseen. Still, hiding their guns was a somehow automatic reaction. George took the keys he still had out and opened the door. Since there was no use in being silent, he did so as if nothing were amiss, trying to fool the people hiding inside.
“Man, I’m beat. I can’t wait to have that beer you promised me.” George started walking quickly in the direction of the kitchen. From the door, they could already see the edge of the cooking island, and the intruders were directly behind it, just out of sight. Andi followed, concentrating to shut out the arthropods, since they were more a distraction than an actual help at this point. When they rounded the corner, George stopped so abruptly, Andi almost smacked into his back.
“Harris.” It was more a hiss than anything else, and somehow, Andi wasn’t surprised. He peered around George’s shoulder and saw Harris standing behind a chair. Rose was tied to it with her hands behind her back, drying blood on her chin and a ghastly looking cut in her lower lip. Harris was holding a gun to her temple, an angry gleam in his eyes.
“Drop the weapons, Detectives. Or do you want me to blow her brains out here in your kitchen, Hayes?”
Andi had stepped next to George, and they exchanged a short glance. George made an almost imperceptible nod, affirming Andi’s own assessment of the situation. Even though they might be able to overwhelm Harris, the risk for Rose’s life was too great. One hand in the air, they both put their weapons down. Harris jerked his head in the direction of the fridge. “Kick them over there.”
They complied, and when both weapons hit the base of the fridge, some of the tension seemed to drain from Harris’s shoulders.
“Detective Harris, we’ve been looking for you.” George sounded almost bored, as if Harris wasn’t a rogue detective who could kill them all with a few well-placed shots.
“I know that.” Harris practically spat the words out, making Rose flinch. She had been very quiet the whole time and didn’t seem overly relieved to see George and Andi.
“Well, now that you’re here, perhaps you could answer some questions for us?” Andi had to admire George’s cockiness. He wasn’t sure poking the already angry detective was a good idea, but then again, backup was already on the way and they had to stall him somehow.
“What questions could you still have? You’ve already ruined my entire business!”
“Your business?” There was a hint of disbelief in George’s tone, echoing Andi’s thoughts. “This was Castain’s enterprise from beginning to end. He confessed to it.”
“Ha! That spineless uppity asshole! Of course he did. What kind of deal did you offer him?”
“None of your business,” Andi snapped. Harris’s eyes narrowed.
“Well, whatever he told you, it was a lie. That weakling could have never pulled off something as big as this.”
“We do admit we were surprised by how vast his net of connections was.” George cocked his head, clearly trying to get Harris to keep on talking.
“His net?Hisnet? This was all my doing! I was the one who made contact with every single cop out there, talked them into helping me. All Castain did was provide money and locations, giving my business a face.”
“A mask, you mean. Wearing a lion mask—a bit over the top, if you ask me.” Andi had to admire George’s interrogation skills. Harris was either not aware what was happening or he didn’t care, which meant he thought he had the upper hand. Rose was still suspiciously silent, not making eye contact with either Andi or George, which made Andi’s gut instinct scream at him.
Harris scoffed. “Showy idiot. But it helped build a narrative, and these days, if you want to successfully sell something, you need a strong narrative. Those rich freaks loved the whole mystery thing, and as long as the money was flowing, I couldn’t care less how he was doing it.”
“Sounds plausible.” George hummed. “But if you were the boss, why did you allow Castain to keep doing business here in Charleston when we were already breathing down your necks? You don’t strike me as being the reckless type.”
A vein in Harris’s left temple started ticking. George had obviously hit a nerve. “Son of a bitch was getting cocky. Thought he knew better, when he was simply just his arrogant self. I told him his status wouldn’t protect him, but no, he said he had everything lined up to establish Charleston as our base of operations and couldn’t wait to go through with it. Fucking idiot.”
“So he ignored you.” Andi knew he sounded smug and did nothing to hide it. Harris turned to him with fury in his eyes.
