Page 54 of Overstaying His Welcome

The screen behind us lit up to show the channel in question. A breaking news bulletin alert ran across the bottom of the screen. But it was the image in the background that had my attention.

“Is that — ?” Arick asked softly.

“It is,” Chance said, far calmer than I would expect. “That’s the city offices.”

The volume of the broadcast rose, the reporters voice formal as they told viewers, “We’re here with breaking news. There’s been a fire downtown. It’s contained to the City Council building for now, however, crews are working to maintain things. We’re not sure what started the fire, only that it originated in Councilman Chance Sheppard’s office. Thankfully, Sheppard was not there. His assistant was rescued and is receiving treatment for smoke inhalation. As you may know, Councilman Sheppard is currently running for mayor. That makes us wonder if this is a direct attack or a chance encounter. We’ll update with more when we have the story.”

Memphis muted the rest of the program. “Fuck,” he grunted.

“Chance? You ok over there?” Orion asked the question carefully, like he was worried the other man was about to blow.

When I looked his way, there weren’t any outward signs of anything to signal such. But I wasn’t the best at reading people all the time. We were all trained to do it at some degree, however, Orion was the expert. He could always sense feelings and emotions even when someone had an amazing poker face.

If he thought Chance was upset, then he likely was.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “I’m fucking furious. How could they do this?!”

“Oh shit! The good councilman is cursing,” Cohen teased.

Chance shot him an irritated look, to which Cohen raised his hands. I stepped between the two, careful to block Chance’s line of sight for our most annoying team member. I loved Cohen like a brother. Didn’t mean I didn’t want to knock him around sometimes.

“You have every right to be pissed right now. Thankfully you were already here, or else things could be worse off. You could have been in the building with the fire. Your safety trumps all else.”

“I know that. Rationally, I do. Doesn’t mean I can ignore the more irrational thoughts I have.”

Orion decided to jump in again. “Irrational how?”

“Like I really want to help you find this Lune guy and give him a piece of my mind. How dare he attack my office? Hurt my friends? Come after the man I love? He’s goading us, all of us. And we’re running in circles.” Chance tugged his hair as he spun away to pace towards the door.

I shared a look with Orion. Neither of us had to say a word to know what we needed to do.

“Why don’t we go check on Tank?” Arick offered, as if he were reading our silent communication. Maybe being in a relationship with Orion lent him some of that mind reading my friend always seemed able to do.

Either way, I appreciated his choice when he led Chance out of the room so the rest of us could talk freely. The second the door closed, I spun to Memphis.

“What do we know about the foster parents? Are they a part of this? Still alive at all?”

He nodded. “Both alive. They’re up there in age, but seemed to have settled into retirement. Tank donated funds to their pension accounts, so they’re living in peace from what we can tell.”

“And the records about the other kids who were there at the time?” Godric asked.

Memphis shook his head. “From the little I could unearth, there’s nothing suspicious of note. Especially not at the time they were all in the same home. It looks like they were the perfect parents with the perfect siblings for him. I’m kind of at a loss.”

Godric leaned over the table, his fingers tracing over the candy. “Just because something looks perfect on the outside doesn’t mean it is. We need to go talk to the parents. Ask them questions to help get some answers. Something more than a file can tell us.”

“He’s right.” Tank’s voice drew our attention to the open doorway.

I groaned and threw my hands up. “What the fuck are you doing out of bed? You’re supposed to be resting.”

“Well, I was until my boyfriend came in all upset and shit. I was able to get him to tell me the issue, and now I’m here where I should have been all along. This problem is mine too. Let me help,” he argued.

Chance covered his face with his hands as he let out a frustrated growl. It would have been hilarious any other day besides now. I couldn’t imagine what the man was feeling.

Speaking of which… “Why hasn’t anyone called you about the fire? How did they know you weren’t there?”

“I emailed everyone that I was taking time off. I’m sure someone else told the media I was out of office. As for the calls, my phone was on silent. I refuse to even glance at it right now considering there’s more to focus on than the fire itself. It’s only part of the problem. The only person I’m truly worried about is Marten, my assistant. He would have likely been in the office working despite me telling him he didn’t need to.”

We all marveled at how easily he took all this in. It was clear he fit into this life better than most. Others would be losing their cool knowing their office full of belongings was set on fire. Instead, Chance seemed more bothered at the way his staff was affected rather than the property itself.

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