Page 28 of Mine to Keep

I scanned the screens one more time, searching for the red-and-black bagger bike but never saw it. The stranger had entered from the street, and they’d exited the same way. Maybe that was where they’d parked.

Unfortunately, there weren’t any visuals for that area. “Shit.”

I went digging as best as I could with the information I had until there was a knock on my door, and JJ popped his head in.

“Hey.”

I waved him in, he entered and shut the door. “What did Darnell say?”

“I tried to play it off and asked if Matt wasn’t feeling well. All he told me was that Matt had a family emergency and had to deal with it. But I know for a fact Matt doesn’t have family. He was raised by his grandparents, who have both passed away, and he’s an only child.”

“Yeah, I think I know why he wasn’t here today.”

“You do? Why?”

I hit play where I’d recorded Matt finding the note and showed JJ.

“A note.”

“It’s not the first time, as you know, JJ.”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

JJ knew quite a bit, but I filled him in on the parts he may not have known. The more I told him, the angrier he got. Realizing I’d seen Matt twice at The Alibi, something he hadn’t been privy to, and how I’d lied somewhat about the Friday I wasn’t there for family night, and things he may have known—I spilled it all. When I was done, JJ smacked me on the arm.

“Ouch, what the fuck?”

“You broke the rules!”

“I know, Noel ripped me a new one.”

JJ’s eyes widened. “He knew?”

Fuck. “No, it’s not his fault. He told me to stop, and I did until this morning.”

I could tell JJ was torn. He was upset with me, but in the end this was exactly what he would’ve done. We both knew that.

“Here’s what we need to do. We have to have a family meeting. We vote.”

“What are we voting on? Matt said he didn’t want our help.”

JJ huffed. “We vote that if we can convince him, we help him. We show them and tell them everything we know—then maybe we get Matt here and explain how we can assist him with this.”

“You know that means telling him things we aren’t supposed to.”

JJ nodded. “It’s why we need the vote, Nick, and you know it. Matt’s moral compass is true north, that’s for sure. It’s risky divulging everything, but maybe he’ll see that we’re equipped to find out who this is and protect him.”

“We’ll vote.”

“Wasn’t he going to go to the police on Friday?”

“He may have—between that and the note, it could be why he’s upset. We both know the cops aren’t always our friends, or they’re tied up in so much red tape, they have to wait until Matt’s almost dead to intervene.”

“I don’t want that.”

I squeezed JJ’s hand. “Me either, so let’s get a family meeting set up.”

JJ stood. “I’ll send out a group text.”

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