He pursed his lips. “My name is Lorcan Anders. I’m a business associate of your boss. Is he here?”
“No. He left an hour ago. Can I help you?” I didn’t like the look of these guys. They smelled like money but reeked of corruptness.
“I wanted to speak with him. See, a friend of mine’s house was burned down a week and a half ago, his children almost killed.” He narrowed his eyes at me, but I didn’t flinch. “There was a savior, thankfully. He ran, and we’re all trying to find him and thank him.”
“Okay…and you think this hero is here?”
Lorcan lifted a shoulder. “Probably not, but we tried all the classier establishments, combed the town, and then I thought of Kaleidoscopes. People come here to disappear. Perhaps bossman saw someone suspicious, or Lacey, perhaps?”
I turned to the mop and wrung it out. “I’ll let him know you stopped by.”
I felt his gaze boring into the back of my head as I continued washing the floor. Neither man left right away.
After about two minutes, Lorcan muttered, “See that you do.”
As soon as they left, I went and locked the door again. Lacey came in through the rear entrance, carrying a box she’d gone to get at her place. Extra rags, she’d said. Apparently she had a ton at home, and it was cheaper for the boss than to buy paper towels.
“Were you talking to someone?”
I rolled the bucket to the side and helped her pull out the rags. “Some guy, Lorcan something, looking for the boss.”
She froze mid-fold. “Lorcan Anders?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Shit. What did he want?”
I glanced up at her, and I knew that look of fear. I might not have experienced it, but I recognized it.
“Looking for someone is all, don’t worry.”
She hummed. “I hate that man.”
I snorted. “You hate a lot of men, Lacey. Why this one?”
“He’s rich, sure, but, sleazy. Boss got himself in a bind, and Lorcan swooped in, and now he’s in more debt than he was before Anders so generously helped him.” Her tone dripped with sarcasm.
“Does he know Gideon Hendrix?”
Her brows shot to her hairline. “Damn, you’re all about the dangerous men tonight.”
I threw a rag at her face. “I ask, because remember that fire like a week and a half ago?”
“Yeah, Hendrix’s kids were in there, right?”
“I guess some guy saved them. Lorcan said he was a friend and trying to help find the guy to thank him.”
“Ha!” Lacey moved a pile of rags to the side. “Lorcan Anders is no friend of Gideon Hendrix. If he said that, he’s a liar. Likely, he wants to find the guy so he could lord it over him or some sicko game.”
“Lord the guy over him, why?”
She sighed and looked at me with tired eyes. “Rumor has it Gideon had something to do with Lorcan’s brother’s death. Nothing has ever been proved, of course, but Lorcan became crueler after that. Disappeared for a year and came back and bought up properties as if he were building an empire…one to rival Gideon’s. There’s a lot of bloodshed between those two, and if they can get one up on the other they will. Whoever this mystery hero is, I hope he stays hidden. No good deed goes unpunished in the underworld, my friend.”
Well, shit.I was starting to like Northchester, but it seemed like I had to move on. That fucking fire. I didn’t regret saving those kids but because of that, I’d have to leave. This sucked sweaty balls.
CHAPTER FOUR
Gideon
