Page 20 of Cosmo

“Fine. I won’t be showered so if I stink I don’t want to hear one complaint!”

“Lord,” he said as he ended the call. “Fucking princess.”

He kissed his sister as she entered the kitchen with bags in her hand. “What did you buy now?”

“Don’t bitch. I was going to the mall and Eazy wanted me to get the kids some light jackets and galoshes. Theirs are too small. You realize your children grow an inch every three minutes, right?”

“Duh.”

“Then stop bitching when they get new clothes.”

Murphy thought for a moment to take Tally to each of the kids’ rooms and show her the overly full closets and dressers, but he knew that would be fruitless. “Fine, whatever. Do you want to come down with me and find out about your pet project?”

“My pet project?”

His sister was so…classy. He had no clue how they were raised in the same home. Unable to count the times he got scathing looks from Eazy as he farted in front of the kids, Murphy just knew either he or his sister were switched at birth.

Getting her goat was his favorite pastime, however. “Your little Irish lad, the same one Dad is already fawning over for being fucking Irish.”

“Oh! Liam, sorry, Cosmo. He’s a sweet kid under all that damage.”

“How do you know there is damage? Because he was in prison? Lots of guys from happy homes are in there because of their own choices.”

Tally rolled her eyes and goaded him right back, “So you’re only after him for his special skills? You don’t find him endearing in the least?”

“Shut up. Are you coming or not?”

“Of course I am.”

After she placed the bags in the kids’ rooms, she and Murphy walked down the three flights of stairs to the basement, where Mims was surprisingly waiting. “I grabbed a coffee from the place across the street. Where have you been?”

“Mims, I’ll—”

Mims had the cutest little giggle, and he used it then to quell Murphy’s ire. “Sorry, Paps.”

“Open the damn door, and Tally, can you lock up in case Liam…fuck! Cosmo, if Cosmo comes down.”

“Yes, big brother.”

Mims went to the bookcase and pulled out The Fall of the House of Usher. Behind that classic novel was a small button that, when pressed, opened the door the bookcase really was and allowed it to swing open for them.

After the three of them walked through, Tally pushed the button inside the door for it to close and once they were secure, Murphy let his eyes scan the room.

Only the adults in the family and the current bartenders knew about these rooms. There were two, one a meeting room with white boards, chalkboards, tablets, and a table with ten chairs.

The other room was all about the computers and the huge monitor they had on the wall, so everyone could view what they needed to see.

Mims was their computer wizard. He could do just about anything, and had in the past, only once getting caught and doing a short stint in prison for internet scams.

He got behind the keyboard at the long table that served as a computer desk and started logging into the thing. He had ways of doing shit that Murphy would never understand, but he figured that was why he’d hired the best.

“Okay, what are we looking for?”

Tally stepped over and sat in the metal chair near him. “I know it seems terrible, but we need to know about Cosmo. Everything about his past.”

“Do you think this is the first time I’ve done this, Mama?”

Murphy hid a smile by turning to the opposite wall.

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