Page 10 of Brother's Keeper

Also on the table was a plate of food, presumably from the cafeteria downstairs. Fish and chips competed with the candle’s sweet fragrance, growing more mingled and muddled as I ventured farther into the room.

“Mister Farrow,” Grimm rumbled without looking up. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Telekinetically plucking the magazine from his hands, I dropped it on the floor and sent the folders to him instead, heaping them gracelessly in his lap.

“My new work assignment.” I came to a stop across from him and propped my fist on my hip. “Thought you’d wanna know what’s going on out there.”

He chuckled, doing a damn good job mimicking Maximus’s mannerisms and tone. Funny as it was to imagine him practicing in the mirror for months or years before this, facing it now was downright eerie.

“I hardly need check-ins, Fitch.” He gestured to the room around us. “This is a well-oiled machine, capable of running itself without my constant oversight.”

I glared at him until he heaved a breath.

“Very well,” he said. “I’ll have a look.”

He’d barely opened the first folder before the smug look wiped clean from his face. “Oh,” he murmured. “I see.” After several seconds of leafing, grunting, and frowning, he offered the stack back to me. “It’s hardly unexpected.”

“That’s all you have to say?” I snatched the folders. “I can’t work this shit; I’ll incriminate myself.”

Leaning over, he took a French fry from his plate and dipped it in tartar sauce. He put it in his mouth and chewed while I stood, waiting.

Finally, he swallowed and asked, “What would you like me to do about it?”

“Call off the dogs!” I exclaimed. “You’re in charge, right? Give them something else to do.”

His lips pursed, surrounded by salt and pepper stubble. “That would be terribly suspicious. It’s obvious there’s been foul play.”

I laughed, incredulous. “It’s me.I’mthe foul play. And these dipshits would like nothing more than to pin this on me, so I could use some help here.”

“I think it’s perfect. Imagine what might happen if you weren’t involved. If they carried on without you. This way, you can direct things and intervene when necessary.”

Talk about suspicious. If I pointed one way, Tobin would go the other purely out of spite. Come to think of it, that was knowledge I could apply.

Still, I had further protest. “There’s four of them and one of me. I can’t be everywhere at once.”

Grimm nibbled another fry. “A problem for a less-connected fellow, but you have powerful friends.”

Who?I almost shot back.The gang?

Instead, I replied with equal vehemence, “We aren’t friends. None of us are friends. Everyone’s just biding their time until it’s more convenient to kill than play kiss ass for one more day.”

Grimm worked his jaw around the French fry far longer than was necessary. He was definitely flexing his illusory powers to keep his expression neutral.

He picked up a fish filet next, tearing off a piece that left grease on his fingertips.

“How is Donovan?” he asked. “I haven’t seen him in some time.”

Was it a threat? I’d talked about killing, and he went straight to my brother.

“Ask him yourself,” I replied. “You have his number.”

He nodded, popping the food into his mouth and wiping his fingers on a paper napkin from the side table.

“How’s Avery?” I taunted. “Or, sorry, thenewJacoby Thatcher? Is he still recovering from true love’s kiss?” The laugh that shook me felt cathartic after a morning full of stress.

Grimm’s hand dropped onto the table with a thud. “You exhaust me,” he said. “You ask for my help, then ensure you won’t get it in the same breath. When has it ever served you to be so contrary?”

He’d already told me he wouldn’t help, and I should have expected as much. Despite being a member of a gang, I was on my own. Our small group may have been like a family, but it was the crazy, dysfunctional sort.

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