Page 154 of Beau and the Beast

“I went to the penthouse and rang the goddamn doorbell,” Lincoln said, exasperated.

“Jesus, Lincoln, what if something had happened to you? I wouldn’t have even known where to start looking for you,” Noah said, his stomach dropping at the thought.

“It was dumb, whatever,” Lincoln said, dismissing Noah with a wave of his hand.

“Did they answer the door or what?”

Lincoln recounted the strained conversation he’d had through the penthouse security system, the way that the guy on the other end of the line had told him that Beau Blake wasn’t inside the penthouse and never had been.

“I guess it’s not surprising that they’d deny it if something fucked up is going on,” Noah said.

“Yeah—or maybe he’d not even there, dude,” Lincoln cut in. “I mean, we don’t have any proof at all that Beau is still at that address—or ever was, other than when he was there to make the drop. Maybe he’s working for someone else. Maybe you don’t know the whole picture.”

“I sure as helldon’tknow the whole picture,” Noah admitted, suddenly angry that Lincoln was doubting him after all of this time working together, “but it’s the best goddamned bet that I’ve got. If he’s not there, we don’t even know where to begin looking for him.”

“This is fucked up,” Lincoln said, shaking his head and finally coming to a stop in the middle of the living room. “Maybe we have it all wrong. I mean, the dude sounded genuinely puzzled about why I was there.”

“He was probably lying.”

“We don’t have any way of knowing though, do we?” Lincoln asked. “Unless we find a way to get inside that penthouse, we’re never going to know if he’s there or not—if he needshelpor not.”

“Then what the hell do you propose we do?”

“You said you can get their security system down for a window, right? You said that before.”

Noah swallowed against the anxiety rising in his throat. “Yeah, probably. But it means I’ll go to jail.”

“I have some money saved,” Lincoln said—and Noah immediately hated wherever this plan was going. “And my credit’s not bad. Maybe I can post bail and, like, hire you a lawyer. I mean, if they’re doing something illegal then there’s no way they can even press charges, right?”

“Lincoln, that’s insane. Even if I do get you in there, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going tofind Beau,” he said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “We’ve been sneaking around for a month and trying to figure things out—and it’s not fucking working. Wehaveto try something different.”

Noah knew he was right. But there had to be a better way to go about it that wouldn’t land Noah in jail.

“Let me think about this, ok?” Noah asked gently. “I think you’re right, I just… need more time.”

* * *

Beau was surprisedto find that when Wolfram returned to the study, he had Violet in tow. He stood to greet her. Apparently, theywouldn’tbe picking up right where they left off.

“I’m going to go for a run,” Wolfram said. “Violet would like to speak with you.”

Wolfram disappeared down the hallway and Violet stepped toward the table in the center of the room, Beau crossing to meet her.

“What’s up?” he asked. “Everything okay?”

“I was just checking in with Wolfram about your progress with the book. He said you were nearly finished.”

Beau nodded. “I’m revising right now. Still got a few sections to nail down and revisit—but yeah. Almost done.”

“That’s great news,” Violet said, smiling.

“Why? Would you like to read some of it?”

She looked struck, as if she hadn’t considered the fact that she and the rest of the staff were welcome to read what he had written.

“Could I?” she asked.

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