Page 119 of The Fixer

“I’m off for a while,” Reece offered. “Show me what you need, and I can step in for you, as long as it’s temporary.”

This was a surprise. “You never take time off. How long is ‘a while’?”

Reece scratched the back of his head. “I’m not sure. Let’s call it indefinite for the time being.”

Charlie’s eyes widened. “Why?”

Other heads turned like ping-pong spectators now. Dixie, of course, disappeared.

Reece shrugged. “Needed a break, which means I have time on my hands. Put me to work.”

Neve gave Charlie’s arm a shove before Charlie could call his older brother on his evasive answer. “Yeah. Put him to work and catch the next plane to Chicago.”

“Who’s going to Chicago?” Where the hell had Micky come from? “And can I come too?”

Neve swiveled her head toward the new arrival. “Joy left, and Charlie’s going after her. Isn’t that romantic?”

“Wait. Joy left? When? Did she take the M3 with her?”

The group groaned. “Of course she did,” Neve admonished. “Did you think she was going to gift it to you?”

Micky grinned. “A guy can dream. So when are you going after her, homie?”

“You don’t have any other excuses,” Hailey added helpfully.

“Actually, I do,” Charlie protested from the corner they were backing him into. “I have a meeting with the Silver Summit dudes on Tuesday.”

“Hey,” Noah chirped from down the bar, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because, asshole, you did squat to set it up. I figured you had no interest.”

“Tell me when. I’ll be there. I’ll even drive.” Noah had the balls to grin at him.

“Fucking fantastic,” Charlie grumbled.

Hailey tapped him on the arm. “So go right after.”

Charlie flung out a hand. “Don’t you guys have customers to wait on? Why don’t you go take care of them and leave me the hell alone?”

They scattered, which left Charlie with Neve and Micky.

“Watch out,” Neve whisper-shouted. “Charlie’s kinda grumpy.”

“For good reason.” He finished off his Jameson. “Micky, you may have my barstool. Neve, thank you for the drinks. Reece—”

Reece turned and gave him a wave. “I’ll stop by tomorrow.”

These knuckleheads were practically putting him on a plane to Chicago. As he stepped outside, he pondered what Joy would do if he showed up. Would she be happy to see him?

He decided to take a roundabout way home to help walk off the whiskey. The streets were quiet. People had either retreated to their homes or hotel rooms or they were part of the Miners crowd. Without giving his direction much thought, he let his feet carry him toward Crystal Harmony Haven.

“I need to stop calling it that,” he muttered to himself. The sign had been taken down, and the building was more a set of walls than a structure. “You have to rip them down to build them up,” he said to the night.

He paced along the walkway that wrapped around the side of the store, taking in the paper-covered windows to be sure they were well secured, when the reflection of a red light in the glass caught his attention. It was coming from the backyard.

Flattening himself against the building, he crept sideways, trying to keep himself in the shadows. He heard voices, heard the rumble of a running engine. When he reached the back corner, he craned his head. The red turned out to be a pair of taillights on the back of an enclosed construction trailer. They threw little illumination, and there was no other light. Even the motion sensor he’d installed around the store seemed to be out.

He caught movement around the trailer—one or two forms, he wasn’t sure. The trailer’s door clanged shut, and someone slapped the back of the trailer.

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