Page 46 of Rebel

“Whatever you need, we’ll get. Give them an hour or so to gather up supplies, load up, and get to your place, okay?”

Grateful for the club’s support, I responded, “Will do. And thanks again.”

There was a slight pause and then Storm asked, “Did you run down the particulars on the information Hacker found?”

“Yeah, all of it turned out to be unrelated. Zoe and Lacey like at least one of her former employees for the break in. That’s where I’m gonna look next.”

“Let me know when you’re ready to pay them a little visit. I’ll get Grit and Celt to come along for the ride.”

“I’d be a pretty shitty brother if I couldn’t handle a couple of former employees with no history of violence by myself.”

“True, but why take a chance? One of them could pull a weapon, you never know how people will act when they’re accused.”

“I get that. You’re giving good advice right now and I will let you know when I can free myself up from this mess to get back to solving this crime, since Griffinsford’s finest are apparently too incompetent to get things done.”

“Ain’t that the damn truth, brother. I gotta run. Zoe’s calling me.”

“Catch you later, Prez.”

When the call ended, I got busy clearing up. I found some trash bags in the front closet along with the vacuum cleaner and started filling bags and carrying them out to the dumpster. I was on my fifth bag when the prospects came strolling through the front door with their arms full of cleaning supplies.

“Where do you want this stuff, Rebel?” Eric asked.

“You can dump it here, near the closet for now.”

James made a sound of surprise, “Storm wasn’t joking when he said the office was trashed. It looks like a tornado tore through this place.”

“Just regular assholes,” I responded. Though whether those assholes were cops or the fucker who broke in was debatable.

Rodney asked grimly, “Where do you want us to start?”

I pulled out another trash bag and tossed the roll to him. “I think the best thing to do would get rid of all the debris first and then concentrate on cleaning. That fingerprint powder is a bastard to get rid of, I once dropped a toner cartridge for the copier machine in my office and spent months trying to get it out of the fucking carpet.” My eyes went to Eric who had been trying to wipe it off with his sleeve and now the entire bench was smeared in black. I heaved out a sigh, it was gonna be a long, long day. “Lacey’s ordering some replacement items, so we’ll need to collect those later too.”

Rodney tore off a trash bag from the roll and tossed it to Eric. “I’m on it, Rebel.”

The other two sounded their agreement. I was grateful for their help and volunteered, “If we can clear out a place to eat, I’ll order us some lunch here in a few hours.”

They perked up at the mention of food and we all got back to work. By the time noon rolled around, we’d cleared up and everything was looking way better. I walked into Lacey’s office and asked, “What are we doing for lunch?”

She glanced up from her computer, appearing far happier than when she first arrived. “How about pizza?”

I nodded, “Sounds good to me. If you call it in, I’ll pick it up and grab some beer for the prospects, you know, it’s the least I can do for them pitching in to clean up this mess.”

“Absolutely. This isn’t a formal workday and even if it was, they’re not employees. If having a nice cold beer lifts their spirits, I say let’s go for it.”

That’s my Lacey, always such a straight arrow. Good thing too. I considered it one of her finer qualities. “Great.” I walked up to her desk and looked down at her. “You seem to be in a really good mood. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you’re not as distraught as you were when we arrived and all.”

I didn’t even have to finish my thought because she volunteered, “I’m in a great mood because my folks just left to take my dad to that experimental treatment program. We’re both thrilled that he didn’t kick up a fuss and are hopeful that something good will come of it.”

I walked around and gave her a big bear hug. “That’s great news. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If there’s anything I can do to support him better, just let me know.”

“Aww, you’re so sweet. You’ve been wonderful and my dad adores you.” Her expression fell for an instant, but she recovered quickly. “Most of his friends dropped him when his Alzheimer’s got bad. He talks about you like you’re his new best friend.”

I couldn’t help the smile that took over my face. Squatting down beside her chair, I reached out and cupped the side of her face. “I’m really glad to hear that. I’ve told you I honestly enjoy spending time with your old man. He’s pretty amazing.”

“I couldn’t love you any harder right now if my life depended on it.”

My face would not stop smiling for anything. Hearing her say she loved me was never gonna get old. It filled the small hole in my heart that had been empty my whole life.

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