Page 74 of Mine to Keep

Gabe nodded. “We can swap out. It’s smart.”

We faced Greg, who noticeably shrunk in on himself. “Text Lenny and tell him to come see you when he’s in town. You’re not feeling well, and you’ll be taking a few days off work.”

“You want me to call out of work?” His eyes widened.

“If you think you’re getting out of our sight for a second, you’re crazy.”

Greg swallowed loudly, and I watched as he told Lenny exactly that.

Okay, bud. I’ll be home Sunday night, how’s Monday morning, that work?

“Tell him yes.”

“I’ll stay here with Greg.” Gabe winked at the man. “We can switch out at midnight. Angel should be free. You stay with Matt. We got this.”

I patted Gabe’s shoulder. “Thanks. Make sure he calls out of work.”

“I don’t work Sundays, so I’d only need to call out Monday.”

I nodded at Greg. “Tomorrow night call out.”

“O…okay.”

“Angel will be here at midnight. I’ll see who else can take over for him.”

“Sounds good.” Gabe didn’t take his eyes off Greg. “We’ll be fine.”

With one last look at Greg, I left the apartment to head home. I had to see Matt, ask him if he knew Lenny Harlston, do a background on him, and tell Angel he was babysitting later. I was sure he was going to love that.

Angel did,in fact, not like that he was on babysitting duty but agreed to drive up there at midnight to relieve Gabe. Gabe was checking in every half hour, letting us know he was fine. Greg appeared to be a perfect hostage. He’d cooked Gabe food and so far wasn’t giving Gabe any problems.

Noel immediately started delving into all the Lennies, Leonards, Harlstons he could find. There were a shocking amount of them in the world. Some were easy to discount.

Matt had no idea who I’d been talking about when I’d mentioned the name, and with them not on the list Matt gave me, I wasn’t shocked.

“When I left the shop, that motorcycle was still there,” Shep said as he sat in the living room with me, Matt, Four, and JJ. “I also asked Lizzy at closing, and she told me it was there.”

“Which makes sense if Lenny is out of town.” JJ reached over for a handful of popcorn.

“Why would he leave the bike there, though?” Matt looked at me. “There were no apartments above any of those buildings.”

“It’s bizarre, but maybe this Lenny guy knew you saw the bike and likes knowing how unsettling it must be for you to see it,” JJ surmised.

“Except he didn’t know I’d be there.” Matt was right about that.

“But…” Shep leaned forward and stared at me. “You, he did know might be there. You work there after all and it’s assumed, if they know you, they know we’re brothers. Likely that you told us.”

“He put the bike there to piss off Nick?” Matt snorted. “Why?”

“When motivated by anger, mistakes are often made.” Four spoke softly. “Like I told you earlier, Nick is the threat. Perhaps this Lenny is shifting to remove Nick first before continuing his pursuit of Matt.”

I pointed to Four. “You also concluded the note was written by a woman.”

Four nodded. “It’s not an exact science, but I still believe that.”

Matt snapped his fingers. “Lenny maybe is a woman. Did Greg say he or him?”

“He said they, but never corrected me when I referred to Lenny as he.” Huh, I hadn’t realized.

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