Please don’t do anything stupid.
Will smiled down at his phone. Davey was such a good kid.
I won’t, just need to visit an old friend and get some answers.
Reed says he isn’t a friend.
Frenemy, then.
He says this guy would happily piss on your grave.
Oh, definitely.
Probably, but I’m not dead yet, Baby Boy. Besides, this guy came through for me tonight. I want to know why.
More than that, though, Will wanted to know what had happened to the real Iberian Puffin, and he had the feeling that Cole was the man in the know. He had skills Will had never bothered to pick up and access that only a shit-ton of money could buy. Will was comfortable but he was never going to havethatmuch money. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he did.
I repeat—don’t do anything stupid.
There was a pause, and then a picture came through.
Ellie says goodnight.
It was a close-up of Will’s three-year-old towheaded niece, clad in Moana pajamas and resting on her daddy’s shoulder with her eyes almost shut. She had her stuffy Pangy clutched against her chest, and Will’s heart clenched for a second.
Goodnight, Ellie. Goodnight, Baby Boy.
Will stared at the picture for a second longer, then deleted the entire thread. No backups to the cloud, either; this phone was a dead end for anyone who might take it off him. There were no loose ends allowed when it came to Davey and his girls.
He took a deep breath, then stared up at the building. It was a nice place; probably had someone manning the front desk and everything. Locked elevator, long stairwells, and knowing Cole, he was high enough up that Will didn’t want to free climb unless he had to. Not to mention, he didn’t even know the man’s apartment number, just his address. So… that left a few options. He could partake in some targeted vandalism of his car and let the alarm system summon the man in question, but that would put Cole in a bad mood and Will was trying to avoid that right now. He could try sweet-talking the security guard into letting him up, but that was an iffy maneuver and might end with a call to Cole, which was also a non-starter.
A pizza delivery car pulled up in front of the building, and Will smiled. Sometimes the best ideas were the classics. He darted over to the driver as she got out of the front seat.
“Hey!” he called out, a big smile on his face. “You’re here!”
“Um… yeah?” The driver was a young woman wearing a basketball jersey and a trucker hat.
Interesting combo.
Will got his head back in the game. “My boyfriend asked me to pick up the food if I saw you on the way in.”
Her eyes went wide. “You’re Mr. Dalton’s boyfriend?”
Oh, wow. He’d hit a bigger jackpot with this than he knew. But Will got it; who wouldn’t need some comfort food after the night they’d had?
“Sure am,” he said, letting a bit of his drawl back in.
“I didn’t know he had a boyfriend.”
Why did she expect to? Was Cole in the habit of confiding in his pizza delivery people?
“I’m just back from deployment,” he said, mentally apologizing for stealing his brother’s backstory. “Cole doesn’t like to dwell on me not being around under the circumstances.”
“Oh, yeah. I get that.”
“I’m happy to take the pie up for you, though.” He winked. “Save you a trip.”
The charm offensive didn’t work as well as he’d hoped it would. “Mr. Dalton always tips in cash,” the woman said.
