I would have moved a goddamnmountain for him at this point, I could figure out what about these files wasso important. If it meant I could put him at ease, protect him like I sodesperately wanted to, I’d doanything.
Including out-sleuthing Sherlockfucking Holmes if I had to.
Luckily for me and mylimited powers of deduction, the clue I was looking for fell out of the folderthe moment I opened it. A note written by hand in neat, legible block print.
Miles,
Meet me or I’ll make everythingin here public. This is not a joke.
Underneath it was an addressand a time and date.
Seven o’clock in themorning, today.
I vaguely recognized theaddress, too. It was right near the Emerson Medical head office.
A quick search on my phoneshowed me it was a run-of-the-mill coffee shop, with what the reviews told mewere exciting gluten-free breakfast options. They’d also just startedoffering coconut milk as an alternative to the regular kind.
The opposite of sinister,unless they were running an evil scheme to kill their customers extremelyslowly with small amounts of extra saturated fat.
Just a meeting place, then.Probably somewhere this asshole was comfortable, I guessed. He didn’t exactly seemlike a professional, and I was starting to think he’d gotten lucky with thedoor.
Still, after everything, nowhewas demanding a meeting?
And in a little less than anhour.
I paused to look out thekitchen window at the world waking up outside, letting all this new informationwash over me.
“Son of a bitch,” Imurmured, internally kicking my own ass up and down the street for missing thislast night. If I’d seen it, this might all have been over by now. I’d have hadtime to arrange to meet Sergeant Moreno at the place, get some kind of…something set up.
I wasn’t sure how itwould have worked, but Iwassure it would’ve worked a damned sightbetter than the current plan forming in my mind.
Which was that I was goingalone to confront this asshole and tell him to back off. I couldn’t drag Milesinto this. He’d been through enough.
Much as I knew he’d want to come,he didn’t need that. He didn’t need the stress, he didn’t need to deal with anymore of this shit. Miles had been through enough for a lifetime, and I wantedto protect him.
I’d wanted to protect himsince day one, and not just because I was getting paid for it. There wassomething special about him.
If I could spare him fromany more misery? I would.
Fine.Fine. If thiswas how it was going down, this was how it was going down.
As quietly as I could, Isneaked back into the bedroom to grab yesterday’s clothes. There was no wayI had time to go and get a fresh change, but that didn’t seem to matter allthat much right now. I would have chased this particular asshole down thestreet naked if I had to.
For a long moment, I pausedto stare at Miles, sound asleep, the covers pulled up to his ears.
Taking a risk, I steppedtoward the bed, bent over, and kissed his forehead, running my fingers throughhis hair. He smiled in his sleep, shifting a little, and for a half-second Iworried that I’dwoken him up again, but he settled back down right away. With the tiniest, mostcontent sigh I’d ever heard anyone make.
I loved him.
The thought should have beenjarring, shocking even, but it wasn’t. It was like I’d always known, and mybrain was just reminding me why I was about to do something that definitelyscored at least a seven out of ten on the stupid scale. I’d fallen in love withthis tired, kind-hearted man who wanted to make the world a better place anddidn’t deserve all the times it’d kicked him in the teeth.
“Love you,” I whispered as Iretreated from the bedroom to dress, knowing he couldn’t hear me, but wantingto say it out loud, anyway.
I’d fix this for him. Then…
Then maybe there could be anus.
TWENTY-THREE
