“We had a case briefing earlier on the break-in and fire at your place.It’s basically a meeting with everyone involved in the investigation, where we go through each piece of evidence and any and all information we’ve pulled together to see where we’re at,” he explains.“I want you to know I brought up your brother’s name.”
Suddenly I’m free-falling, the shaky ground I was trying to balance on abruptly gone.
Part of me knew this was coming, but I spent so many years burying the past, I almost deluded myself into believing it never happened.This is only the first layer, but it will lead to the next one, and the next, until there’s nowhere left to hide and I’m completely exposed.
I want to be angry at Hugo, but what would that accomplish?Besides, it isn’t like he had any way to understand the ramifications, or could’ve stopped the truth from coming out.It always finds a way.
So I simply nod, resigned to the fact I no longer control my history.
“I looked him up,” he confesses.“I had a sense there was more to the estranged brother.I’m sorry, but you seemed scared after that phone call, and I didn’t quite buy in to your story.”He shrugs.“It’s the investigator in me.But knowing his background, his connection, plus the fact he only recently was paroled, I couldn’t sit on that information.Not when you may be in danger.”
Of course, he was looking out for me.It’s the kind of man he is: kind, caring, protective, dependable, and honest to the core.
God knows I don’t deserve him.
Hugo
I’msurprised at how calm she seems.
Not sure what I was expecting, but definitely some level of upset.
Instead, her voice is level as she opens up about her brother.A lot of the factual information she shares I was already able to pull together on my own, but she puts the facts in context, providing me with a more complete, three-dimensional story.I hear the love she still feels for her brother, or at least the brother he used to be.I can tell how painful it was for her to cut his toxicity out of her life, and how conflicted she is now he’s trying to force his way back into it.
Listening to her gives me a better understanding of her motivations for keeping all this information hidden, even from me.
“So, he’s after money from you so he can skip the country?”
“Yeah,” she confirms.“Except everything I own is invested in the coffee shop.”
“Did he explain what he’s running from?”
She shrugs, and her gaze drifts to the TV, which is on but muted.“I know it probably has something to do with his gang.”
The Lotus Squad.Jesus.I’m pretty sure we’ll need to draw on the FBI for at least some intel on a violent gang like that.Maybe they have picked up rumbles of something going on in their routine surveillance that might explain why the newly released Lotus Squad member is in such a hurry to leave the country.
It could be anything; a rival gang Ken Choi wronged at some point in time, or perhaps he knows something damaging to his own gang members, or he owes money to them.I don’t particularly like any of those options, because they could all put Bess in the crosshairs as well.
Hell, it could be the guy is just milking his sister for what he might see as easy money, using some hyped-up story about being in danger to apply to her good heart.It might have even been him who set the fire, hoping to get the insurance money from his sister.He could’ve taken the notebook, laptop, and phone records to eliminate any possible connection to him, or maybe just to reinforce his fabricated story someone is after him.
“Do you still have his number?”
“I blocked it after that last call,” Bess admits.“He hasn’t tried to call me from another number.”
“There would still be a record of the number in your phone,” I suggest.
She gets up and grabs her cell phone off the little table by the door, and unlocks it before handing it to me.Then she walks over to the window and crosses her arms over her chest as she stares outside.
I easily retrieve the number from her call log on the date we had dinner at Fusion and copy it into a message for Rick Althof with a brief message.Next, I get up and close in behind Bess, putting my hands on her shoulders.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble in her hair, recognizing none of this was probably easy for her.
“Why would you be sorry?”
“For making you feel as I imagine you might after sharing all that information.”
She turns and lifts her face to me, placing her hands on my chest.
“You didn’t.But, Hugo, I hope you can see now why it’s for the best not to get involved with me,” she pleads.“What you see is a quiet, simple coffee shop owner, but I come with a dark and complicated history I can’t seem to outrun.You don’t want that in your life.”
