He shifts against the railing. “No.” He scowls again, pulling his collar up around his neck. He purses his lips and looks down the street, then opens his mouth. “I heard that someone sold his laptop to Desree. You could talk to Desree, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you got an angle. It’ll be wiped already, or so I’m told.” His hand goes to his pocket, and I shift backward, and a sly grin curls over his face. When his hand comes out again, a phone is sitting in his palm.
“He dropped this as he was leaving the building. A bit careless of him if you ask me. If you persuade him not to go to the cops and give me fifty bucks, you can have it.”
Always on the take.Yeah, well, he wouldn’t have survived on the street if he wasn’t.
I step forward, right into his personal space. “What the fuck did you do to him?”
He puts his hands up. “Whoa! Whoa! Nothing, girl! He was pushed over, that’s all. He wasn’t injured.”
Jesus Christ.But you have to be careful who you challenge around here, and this is all low-level crook stuff. It doesn’t sound like James would need to go to the hospital. Would he go to the police?
“Where am I going to get fifty bucks from, Cade?” It’s worth a shot.
He scowls, no doubt at the use of his nickname. “Get it from your boss. His pants cost that, minimum.”
I make a face at him. “Thirty.” I’ve got to negotiate with him—that’s how this works.
“Na, Sadie. I can’t do that. Manny’d give me more than that.”
“Not sure your brother would be so thrilled to hear you were trying to screw me over, Cade.”
He hoots. “Screw you over! You’re mad, girl.”
I fake an unconcerned shrug. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m saving you a load of hassle here. Trouble with the cops, lineups, lots of questions.”
He frowns. “Forty. You can Venmo me.”
My lips curl up. Even low-level crooks use Venmo? “Okay.”
He scowls but pulls another phone out of his pocket and gives me thedetails, and I set up the transfer as he studies his screen, his buzz-cut head bent close. Once it’s transferred, he presses James’s phone into my hand, and I turn and start heading off up the street. The precinct is a twenty-minute walk—it’s a bit out of my way, but I can drop in on my way to the subway.
“Don’t come asking for favors no more, Sadie, yeah?” Cady shouts at my retreating back.
Maybe he needs another reminder of what I did for his brother. I swing around and shoot a fake gun at him with my fingers like we used to when we were kids. “I’m sad you think your brother’s life is worth as little as forty bucks, Cady.”
He flips me off, glowering. I never thought I’d be using the promise he made me, but now it feels like a valuable thing to be holding on to.
Who knows when I might need it again?
Chapter 35
Sadie
After a lot of stalling at the precinct, they eventually tell me that no one has reported an assault, and the only option I have now is to try and find James at home, so I head back to the subway and jump on a train. When I slot my keys into the door of the apartment on Water Street, I’m greeted by a soft glow from the appliances in the kitchen and my whole throat tightens when I make out a dim shape sitting on the couch in the dark. When I turn on the lamp, I’m almost light-headed to find James with a whiskey in his hand. There’s a huge scrape down one side of his face, and he’s wearing a different pair of glasses.
His eyes widen on me, and he tips his head back onto the cushions as he blinks up at the ceiling. “Thank Christ,” he says in a rough croak.
Well, that was a more positive response than I was expecting. I walk over to where he’s sitting and sink down next to him. He turns toward me, stretching out and pulling me into him, long arms wrapping around me.
“God, I’ve been beside myself all day,” he mumbles into my hair. “Where have youbeen?”
Where do I start? At the end, that’s where you start, Sadie.Work backward. Build up to the difficult conversation.I tip back and look up at him.
“Des messaged me. He said you were in trouble.”
He groans. So I shift back and delve into my pocket, fishing out his phone and holding it out to him.
His eyebrows shoot up as he takes it and turns it over in his hand. “Where did you get this?” His eyes dart from the screen to me.
