Page 23 of Wicked Riddles & Bitter Heartbeats

I’m met with an automated message on the phone, and I go through the prompts to get to my brother, even typing out his last name when it asks.

“I’m sorry. The name you’ve entered has come back with zero searches.”

“Fuck,” I growl, ending the call and dropping my phone to the desk. I take a deep breath and try again, this time with another location. I get the same message, so I press different numbers to speak with someone. Every person I reach tells me they don’t know who James Erickson is or that they can’t connect me due to security concerns—whatever that means.

Dead fucking end.

I guess the only way I’m going to find him is if I go to him directly. Who knows how long Gavin is going to take to get back to me, if he gets back to me at all. Meaning, I’m on my own.

Chapter Ten

Atticus

It’s three weeks to the day when the cops knock on my door looking for Lilah. Despite knowing this whole thing could blow up in my face, that Lilah could completely ruin my life and maybe I made a huge mistake in bringing her here, I’m rather calm.

“Can I ask what this is about?” I ask the detectives before letting them in.

“You can, but we aren’t going to tell you,” one of the guys says. Obviously the smart ass of the two. “Is she here or not?”

“She’s here,” I say with a smile, ignoring his rude demeanor, but I don’t move to allow them in.

The asshole cop opens his mouth, but the other one speaks first, taking a step closer to me.

“We just have some questions.”

“Okay then,” I say simply, moving aside and gesturing for them to come in.

“If you want to take a seat in the living room over there, I’ll go get here.” I gesture to the small sitting room to the left, then head to the stairs. She’s already aware they’re here. We both saw them walking up the driveway, and I told her to go upstairs, get some clothes on, and do whatever she needs to do to calm the fuck down so she doesn’t ruin this. She seemed calmer than me, though.

“Lilah!” I call up the stairs. “Can you come down here, please?”

“One minute!” she returns, and I go back to the cops. I don’t want them to think I’m trying to talk to her in private. It’ll only make us look guilty. So I go to the living room.

“Can I get you anything? Water or coffee?”

“No thanks,” the nice guy says. The other one ignores me.

Lilah is down a moment later, and steps into the living room. “Oh, uh… hi?” she says, looking from me to the cops.

“Lilah Spencer?” the nice guy asks.

“That’s me.”

“I’m Detective Upton and this is my partner, Detective Figeiro. We just need to ask you a few questions. Shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.”

“Okay,” she says carefully, taking a seat across from them and looking confused enough that even I’m convinced. “Is everything okay with my father?”

“Your father is fine,” asshole cop says—Detective Figeiro. He’s the younger of the two, with dark hair and eyes. Upton has sandy blond hair with a thick matching mustache.

“Do you know a Steven Lewis, Miss Spencer?” Upton asks.

“Yeah,” Lilah answers. “He’s my ex.”

“Have you talked to him recently?”

She shakes her head. “Not since we broke up.”

“And you’ve been staying here since? With Mr.—” Upton looks at me with a raised brow.

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