Page 39 of Cosmo

Up to the third floor he went via the back stairs, and he put the cat into his room, then searched around the kitchen, finding a lone can of tuna in one cabinet.

He got a small bowl, filled it with water, opened the tuna and shook it out onto a plate and took it to his room where he sat them down near the dresser and called the cat over.

Like he hadn’t eaten in days, he chowed down on the food, purring the entire time so loudly, that Liam had to laugh.

“I guess you were hungry. And you either like tuna, or don’t care what you eat.”

There was extra bedding, including a pillow, on the closet's top shelf, so Liam got a sheet and folded it, placing it over the pillow. “There’s a bed until I get back up here. I’ll be back, okay? I promise not to leave you alone unless I have to.”

When Liam stood, he got the card and slid it into his pocket, then watched the cat cleaning his face after his meal. Liam gently picked him up and set him on the pillow, petting him until he fell to sleep, purring and yawning the entire time.

“You know,” he whispered, “around here we all get weird nicknames. I guess you’re gonna be called…” Thinking of all the drinks he’d recently been studying, he wanted everyone to know the cat belonged to him, to know that absolutely. Liam knew in that second, the cat would have a red collar, and he’d be named after a red drink.

He thought over all the drinks, their weird names, and then one of the simpler came to him. “Strawberry Daiquiri! How’s that? Daiq, for short.”

When he left his room, he steeled himself for the confrontation he was about to have. He was a lone man with a lot of others that could probably kill him and get rid of the body without breaking a sweat. Still, he had to do it. He was a scrapper; he’d been told all his life that his first instinct was to fight. Sometimes, however, fighting without using his fists might work better.

In the basement, no one was there yet, which is why he’d gone early. He went into the secret room and sat at the top of the long table, ready to watch them all walking into the room through the secret door.

It wasn’t long before the door swung open and he saw Murphy’s head poking through the opening. “Hey,” he said, dejectedly.

Once he was fully inside, the others filed in after him, like a mother duckling and her babies swimming behind her.

They were all there, including Eazy and Tally. Mick must be babysitting the kids, he thought.

They all stared at him, scared, but no one said a word. They were all seated, some with their hands on the table, others hiding them under it, but few were still. Almost all of them fidgeted and tried to look away from him.

“So, you found these rooms,” Murphy started. “I hope you know we had good reasons for hiding them.”

“Oh, sure. I saw the list. You all must make a ton of money, and not just from the pub.”

Eazy spoke next, in a smooth, diplomatic way, “Cosmo, we’re sorry if you’re hurt over this, but we don’t tell anyone right away, and I’m sure you can guess why.”

Liam held up both hands and said, “Listen, I’m not in here for some gotcha moment. I get it. I got busted by a snitch, soI get why you all would worry about that. In fact, here is my peace treaty.” Taking the card from his pocket, he slid it down to Murphy, who grabbed it off the table while everyone stared on anxiously. “What is it, Paps?” Mims asked.

“From that fucking fed,” he spat. “Damn him.”

“It made no sense to me until I found this place. He’s after you?”

Goldie answered, “He’s been after us a long time. He can’t figure out how we’re doing it. But he knows, and frankly, we don’t know how he does.”

“From Scorpion’s death,” Murphy whispered.

Liam stared at him as he asked, “One of you died?”

It was Eazy that answered, “He was a great guy. He was from Tennessee, beautiful, but a little reckless. He took too many chances one night, and a guard shot him. The police followed his timeline to discover he’d worked here since he’d gotten out of prison, and, well, they know he wasn’t acting alone. We’ve not done a job since.”

“There’s a list on that board of a bunch of them.”

Murphy said, “Yeah, that list has been there for almost a year. We’ve talked it over so many times. It’s insane, but none of us had the heart to start up again until recently.”

Mims spoke then, and his voice cracked with deep emotion. “He was the sweetest guy. It took the wind out of our sails, but it also scared us. None of us want to go back to prison, but Paps planned for that, too.”

“What plan?”

Murphy answered, “I met a guy who can do passports for us all, paperwork for our travels if we need to pick up and leave. It’s a last resort, but it’s needed.”

As he looked around the room, into each sad and sullen face, he said boldly, “Then have him make me one, too.”

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