Page 143 of Long Way Down

“I know it does, but I swear to God I didn’t hurt her and I was never going to. I was trying to warn Dana Brown.”

“About what?”

“I thought…” He fidgeted. “I had reason to believe she was in danger.”

“From who?”

He hesitated, fingers drumming on the table. Then he shook his head. “I’d like to speak to my lawyer, now.”

~*~

“Coffee,” Pongo said, as he climbed onto a bar stool.

The bartender – was it Lars? – lifted his brows in silent question.

Pongo glimpsed the pyramid of bottles on the back wall, felt the pull of temptation, but shook his head. “Yeah, just coffee.”

“Me, too,” a now-familiar voice said, as someone took the stool beside him.

Kat braced his elbows on the bar and looked, in his own, expressionless way, the same way Pongo felt: like he badly wanted a cigarette. “How’s Melissa?” he asked, and nodded a thanks as steaming mugs were set in front of them.

“At work.” The bartender offered a bowl of individual creamer pods and Pongo grabbed three. “She had her IAB interview this morning, and then some interrogations.”

“Any idea who left that note on her door?”

“No.” He frowned as he spooned in sugar. “I texted her before we got here, but she hasn’t responded yet.”

As if on cue, his phone buzzed in his pocket. It was a new message from her:Eyes Apen Support Group, it read, and an address. A second text pinged in a moment later that read:DW + classmate members, maybe someone else of interest.

Kat leaned in closer – not spying, but silently asking – and Pongo turned the phone so he could read the screen. Afterward, his brows lifted up beneath his hat bill. “She’s letting you in on it.” He sounded surprised.

Pongo wasverysurprised. Which was, perhaps, unwarranted after all that had happened yesterday. Things had changed. The reminder, in the form of her texts, sent a thrill up his spine.

“Does she want you to go check those places out? Or giving you addresses to search if she doesn’t check in?” Kat wondered aloud.

“There’s a charming thought.”

The floorboards creaked behind them and Pongo glanced over his shoulder to find the rest of their joint party, sans cigars. The light was better here, by the bar, bright enough to glint not only off all of Prince’s rings, but what looked like diamond cufflinks, too.

Mav seemed satisfied. “Alright,” he said. “All done.”

Pongo bolted back half his coffee, nodded, and left some cash on the bar. “You heading back home, or sticking around?”

“Getting the hell outta this dump,” he said, making a face. “Every time I come into the city, I remember why I hate it all over again.” His gaze was knowing. “Tell Melissa I said ‘bye.’”

“Thanks, boss.” Pongo slid off his stool and tossed a wave over his shoulder as he legged it out the door. He was twelve strides down the sidewalk when he realized someone was following him. Turned to find that it was Kat, tattooed hands in his pockets, shoulders tucked against the breeze barreling down the street.

Pongo thought it must be a coincidence; that Kat was headed in the same direction as him. But then he reached Pongo, and halted in front of him.

Pongo blinked. “Wait. Are you, like, coming with me?”

Kat’s shrug was meant to be nonchalant, he guessed, but came off as tense instead. Awkward. Under that icy façade, he was an awkward dork, wasn’t he? “Prince said we’d deliver the rapist, didn’t he? Well, turns out it’s not just one guy, and we don’t renege on promises.” His jaw firmed at the last, expression hardening, daring Pongo to send him off.

Pongo grinned and slapped him on the shoulder, grin widening when he flinched. “Sweet. It’ll be good to have some company.”

~*~

Doug’s leg seemed four times its normal size, swathed in thick bandages from hip to ankle, the knob of his knee obscene and bundled with extra padding. It was elevated in a sling hooked to the ceiling, the gown he wore bundled up around his waist and just barely offering him any modesty. Both wrists were cuffed to the bed rails, IVs and all, though from his sickly pallor, it was clear he couldn’t have made a break for it, anyway. Uniformed officers were stationed outside and inside the room; the one inside nodded a greeting to Melissa and Contreras and ducked out, shutting the door softly behind him.

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