Page 25 of Edge of Control

“Awesome, ten bucks. Might be the best investment you’ve ever made.”

“Better at least than the five hundred I wasted when my cousin tried to get me into crypto.”

Mason’s eyebrows shot up toward his curly hair. “Fivehundred? Dude, you could have given that to me. It would have been a waste, too, but at least I could have replaced my couch. Gregory has decided it’s the perfect scratching post.” Mason shot a sidelong glance over his shoulder at an unbothered Gregory.

“I would have if I knew. Sorry, Mace.”

“Oh, that’s fine. I’ve been saving up. Should be able to get a new one next month.”

“How much do you need?”

“I’m a hundred and fifty away.”

Without a second’s hesitation, I took out my wallet. I took out a ten and then pulled out the only thing left in my wallet: a crisp hundred-dollar bill. “Here, put the ten in the pot for the lotto, and use this to get yourself a new couch.”

Mason’s jaw dropped. He shook his hands in the air. “No, uh-uh. Absolutely not. You’re crazy. Did you breathe in any fumes on your way to work today? Was there a gas leak in the subway?”

I chuckled at him and pushed the hundred toward him. Yes, I had my own financial shit to worry about, but I was feeling extra generous today. And my job here at Stonewall was giving me a comforting financial cushion. There was still plenty of debt I had to climb out of, but giving Mason a hundred bucks to get a new couch wasn’t going to break my bank. It would have a year or two ago, but times were (thankfully) different now.

I’d been scared about my financial insecurity, that was for sure, and I felt some of those ripple effects in my daily life. I didn’t splurge anymore, I stayed off Amazon, and Ididn’t go out to eat nearly as often as I used to. I understood the profound fear and the unnecessary shame that came with having your bank account sit in the red. It was all just 1s and 0s in a computer, and yet somehow, it amounted to the value of my entire being.

That shit was fucked-up. Money had too much power over us.

Now that I was a little more stable, I could at least help ease some of that stress away from Mace.

“Take it. Trust me.”

“I literally can’t, Jace. That’s way too generous.”

“Consider it an early Christmas gift. Just make sure you get a tough fabric. Or cover it in plastic.”

Mason blinked a couple of times, and I realized it was because he was getting teary-eyed. He wiped away at his cheek and took the money. “Thank you. Seriously. Wow. And hell no, I’m not covering it in plastic. I’m not a serial killerora grandmother.”

I shrugged and laughed. “You never know these days.”

Mason cocked his head, shook it. He looked down at the money in his hands, then back at me. “You’re the best. I’ll pay you back, I swear.”

“No need. I’m much happier giving you this than I was throwing money away with my cousin on his Lizard Coin or whatever the fuck he was trying to sell me.”

“Lizard Coin? Damn, people are wild.”

“They are.” I gave a friendly knock on his desk. “Alright, let me get to my office. I’ve got a call to make about this Nevermore case. Send me a picture of whatever couch you get. Now I’m invested.”

“I will, I will,” Mason said. Gregory also appeared to take notice. He stood on his perch and stretched, his green eyes turning toward the money.

I left before Mason and Gregory got into a tussle over who got to spend the hundred. Back inside my office, I sat at my desk and got comfortable, moving aside some papers and setting down my water bottle. There was a tiny ceramic pot with a succulent I had been given by Zane as a welcome gift, so I sprinkled a little water into the pot and moved it closer to the sun that streamed in from the window.

With that done, I pulled out my phone and opened a notebook. I went to the number that the photographer had given me and dialed. There was silence on the other line. I was nervous the line was disconnected, but after a couple more seconds, it started to ring.

And ring.

And ring.

Finally, someone picked up. “Hello?”

“Hi, Allecia? This is Jace Holloway with Stonewall Investigations. How are you?”

A brief pause before she answered. “Fine.” Short and brief. A baby cried in the background. I could already tell there wasn’t much time to dig on the call. As if she read my mind and wanted to reinforce that thought, she added, “I’ve got five minutes. What do you need?”

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