“How are you holding up?”I asked.“After yesterday.”
Her gaze dropped to the table while she considered.“Scared.Tired.Though somehow stronger.The sensation reminds me of finding my spine again.”
“Your spine never went missing,” I said.“You needed a safe place to stand tall.”
Her eyes softened.“I have that now.”
“Yeah.”
She glanced at the fence.“Think he’ll drive by again?”
“If he does, I hope he waves,” I said.“I think Spade needs a better look.”
“And if Roth doesn’t drive past?”
“Then we make him.”
That earned a small laugh.
Inside, the clubhouse smelled like coffee and pancakes.Marci worked the griddle.Ace stole one and dodged her swat.
“Morning,” Marci called.“You eating?”
“Already did,” I said.“Spade called us in.”
“Of course he did.Man lives on caffeine and spite.”
Jade lifted the travel mug.“We came prepared.”
“Smart.”
Spade’s office door stood half-open.Voices drifted out.I knocked once and pushed it wider.
Screens glowed everywhere.Spade looked wrecked.Atilla leaned against a cabinet.General sat back, watching.Knuckles sprawled nearby.
Spade appeared haggard, with bloodshot eyes and stubble darkening his jaw.
“You resemble death warmed over,” I told him.
“Accurate assessment.”He grabbed the coffee from Jade and gulped down half the contents in three desperate swallows, as though someone might snatch the mug away.“God bless your beautiful soul.”
She took a seat near the desk.I stayed behind her, hand resting lightly on the chair.
Spade turned a monitor toward us.“I dug into Jason Fairmont’s case,” he started.“The DA leaned hard.”
“Because they wanted someone higher,” Jade said quietly.
Spade nodded.“Your brother sat in a sweet spot.Useful.Disposable.When they grabbed him, he talked.”
He clicked through documents.Redactions everywhere.“He gave specifics,” Spade continued.“Names.Routes.Fronts.Enough to scare his bosses.Here’s the part someone missed.He mentioned a secondary record, and that one of his contacts knew about it.Told them he’d given it to his sister.”
Jade went pale.“The flash drive.”
“They didn’t take him seriously,” Spade said.“Street-level guys did.”
“Roth,” she breathed.
“Or someone above him.”
