Page 64 of Hide From Me

Zeid was too quiet.

“Lull us into a sense of security if we’re dumb. Think it’s a one off. Or, worst case, keep us on our toes. Make us paranoid and look for us to make a mistake.”

I hit the steering wheel and was just lucky we were at a stoplight.

“That’s exactly what they are doing. Waiting for us to fuck up. Well, fine. Let’s just make sure we are diligent about everything. All the Is dotted, Ts crossed. I mean, whoever this is already knows we’re breaking the law. But we have some of the smartest and wealthiest on our side.”

We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I drove around the block of the judge’s house. Police tape closed off the door from the public. It wasn’t a crime scene, but if cops were still looking for clues, we let them. It would have been easy to pay them off and tell them to forget, but someone killed the judge and we wanted to know who.

“There’s nothing out of place from a few days ago. In fact, it looks undisturbed. No cars. No figures in the shadows.”

Zeid wasn’t wrong. There was nothing out of place along the street.

“X, want to see if you can find an open door while we hang back? No going in if you find one. Just come back if you do.”

He nodded and grabbed for a glove that Zeid was handing him. He was carrying, and he was deadly with just about anyweapons he touched. I was the one who was gifted in disposing of things no one wanted found. Zeid was the one who saw things none of us noticed. Still, I didn’t like to be separated.

The seconds ticked by. The streetlights made this a little less than a covert operation, but somehow X could shield his massive body in the darkness. He was back in less than a couple of minutes.

“Nothing. I don’t hear anything either. No lights.”

I pulled out my phone and remembered that I had Rylee’s in my pocket too. Fucking hell.

“I’ll send a text back to that number, but it’s probably a burner. Do we think going in is a good idea?”

We all stared at the front door. I looked back at my phone and typed out a couple of words to get the asshat’s attention. Although I wasn’t sure it would change anything. I then clicked on the app to check the camera. I needed to know Rylee was safe. I was such as asshole for keeping her phone. It would keep her from texting anyone to come get her, but I was a damn fool to think that would stop her from leaving. No, it just made life harder if she wasn’t there.

“Something seems off. I don’t think we go in. There’s nothing here.”

I took a deep breath when I saw her on the camera pacing through the apartment. Good. She’d listened.

“Alright. We’re out of here.”

At the next intersection, I pulled a U-turn, heading back to our territory.

“Why the fuck would they pull us all the way out here and there wasn’t an ambush? Nothing obvious. It was too fucking quiet in that house. You think someone would have left a door unlocked if they wanted us in there.”

I was just talking like anything made sense half the time.

“This doesn’t feel like the same type of thing either. Just saying. Whoever killed the judge didn’t want us to meet and have drinks. They just wanted to spook us. Leave us guessing,” said Zeid.

We drove in silence for a bit.

“So, why was Rylee in your gran’s reserved row, anyway? Maddie I get, she works with Winnie. But Rylee? Gran never met her when we all lived on the strip,” X said.

We hadn’t been back over there since we cleaned it out, not until this little judge issue. But really, I would have let someone handle that had it not been for Rylee. I hated whoever that fucking detective was. He seemed to pull her in on a lot of jobs. It was fine when the body wasn’t someone that would get her shot.

We’d called that neighborhood the strip like the landing strip for hell.It would never not be hell.

“Me. Tell me you wouldn’t do whatever it took to protect her?” I finally answered about Rylee. The one thing that wasn’t a mystery.

The road was clear and yet I focused on it like I was in rush-hour traffic trying to pay attention. I could feel their eyes on me.

“Brother, exactly what all have you done for her?”

Fuck. Truth time.

Long steady breath and that was a giveaway that this wasn’t going to be short.