Page 52 of Alfie: Part Two

“L-B-S,” I chuckled. “Liver, balls, skin.”

“That’s the one,” he murmured. “I think—I didn’t understand all of it, but I think maybe she couldn’t reach the liver…? I mean, if he was, you know, pressing down on her… And I don’t know if she managed to scratch him up. I sure hope she did.”

I clenched my jaw and nodded to myself. They had to die. They had to suffer.

“She did get him in the balls, but I don’t know how forceful that coulda been,” he finished.

Maybe not enough to create a perpetrator walking around with a limp, in any case. But that was still good. Good for her. The liver was a forceful strike in self-defense, so were the balls, but scratching the skin was for the authorities to collect evidence. DNA under the nails.

“Aight. Um, someone might come by later,” I said, clearing my throat. “Liam said we’re gonna talk to a detective, so don’t protest or mention it to the other cops, just in case.”

“I’m not known to chitchat with cops.”

No, but he was known to protest.

Three sharp knocks on the front door saved me from circling back to why West and I were smoking again, so I wrapped up the call and told him to let me know when I could visit.

For the record, were we really smoking again? Trip and Ellie didn’t know. And we were at what, three or four per day? Bitch, please.

I unlocked the door and opened it. “Oi. Come on in.” I noticed Finn and Liam weren’t alone. They had someone I didn’t know with them.

Finn frowned at me. “Why are you always opening the door shirtless?”

I snorted and draped an arm around his shoulders. “To give you a reminder, cousin. This is what abs look like.” I smooched his cheek before I backed off.

“Piss off.” He walked farther in and shrugged out of his suit jacket. “I’m sorry to hear about your ma.” He gestured at the other guy, who strode into the kitchen with a device—wait. Was he checking for bugs?

Liam smacked me upside the head. “I don’t need the abs reminder. Put on a shirt.”

I smirked and shut the door.

It was good to have them here.

“So, uh…” I gestured vaguely at the no-name guy.

Finn didn’t respond until the guy offered a nod and left something on the table. It was another gadget, something I couldn’t even guess what it was.

“Okay, we’re good to go,” Finn said.

The guy left again, and I raised my eyebrows.

“Seriously?”

“It’s not you.” Liam clapped me on the shoulder. “We’re just careful.”

Finn pointed at the thingamabob on the table. It was the size of a fist. “It’s a noise container. Kind of like noise-cancelingheadphones, only this one sucks the noise in rather than shuts it out. We can speak freely in a ten-foot radius.”

Jesus Christ.

“Technology of tomorrow designed by Eric?” I guessed.

“My God, you’re new.” Finn shook his head and draped his jacket over a chair. “I’mma pray for you.”

I rolled my eyes.

In a battle between running up to the third floor to find a T-shirt and…getting coffee, the coffee won.

We sat down at the kitchen table, and I shared everything I knew, from what had happened and where, to what my mom had been able to tell the cops.

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