Page 81 of The Older Brother
And so she does.
Chapter 26
The man waitingfor us at the coffee shop near Central doesn’t radiate federal investigator, at least not in the movie-TV sense. I suppose that’s my first mistake.
His unkempt mustache twists in two different directions on the sides, and his belly fully fills the ill-fitting green polo shirt with some generic emblem on the right-side pocket. He kind of reminds me of the grounds crew guys who work the PGA tour that passes through town, but maybe that’s the green shirt and khaki pants talking.
“Good to see you,” he says, standing and shaking Rowan’s hand first, then mine.
He glances around the empty shop, the morning rush well over and the lunch break yet to begin. It’s ten in the morning. It took Rowan and I a good two hours to come up with the perfect outfit to hide the wires and wrap my body in the straps.
“You understand what you’re doing here? This is aiding in a federal investigation. And you are offering to participate willingly and without expectation for reward or exchange of immunity.” He pulls a single page out of a beat-up leather bagsitting beside him in his side of the booth. I drag the paper and pen toward me and scribble my name on the line.
“I’m fully aware. I believe in doing the right thing. And I don’t have any skeletons in my closet. I’m not my mother’s parent, so whatever’s in hers she can take care of on her own.” He holds my gaze for a beat, probably trying to read if I’m truly in for the long haul or if I’m simply a jaded young adult. I’m probably both, but I nod and reciprocate with my own serious expression.
“Alright then. Let’s get this going.”
The man Rowan refers to as Mike-Steve pushes generic-looking EarPods in his ears, and I chuckle lightly at the rudimentary tech being deployed. I suppose they’ve dealt with much worse crimes. White collar exploitations of the market seem petty compared to trafficking humans or drugs.
The investigator heads out a few minutes before us, and I watch over Rowan’s shoulder as he drives away, heading somewhere to park and listen to my mom spill all the secrets I can pull from her.
“Are you sure about this?”
Rowan’s eyes squint slightly, his mouth turned down on the corners with worry. I slide my hand to the right on the tabletop, and he lifts it in his, pulling it to his lips to kiss my knuckles.
“I’m positive. If she has nothing to hide, then she’ll be fine. If she did something wrong, then she won’t.”
Rowan sighs at my flippant summary, and I get his concern that I’m not seeing the full weight of what we’re about to do. But I am. I’m just tired of people disappointing me. I let my head fall to his shoulder and wrap my hand around his bicep, squeezing him tightly as I shift my gaze to blink up into his.
“I promise, I know the potential consequences of this. And if my mother loves me more than her fraudulent career, she’ll do right by me, too. By everyone.” I wait for Rowan’s slow nod, thenI push against his side to urge him out of the booth so we can get to business.
I press the small button tucked against the waistband of my jeans, and Rowan checks the app on his phone to make sure it’s reading sound. He nods, then gives me a chaste kiss at the door before holding it open for me as I head down the sidewalk toward my mom’s office with two cold brews in my hands. I know she’s there. I texted her thirty minutes ago and asked if I could stop by to talk about my major in more detail. It’s one of her triggers, and I’m sure she’s spent those thirty minutes preparing her best argument for why I’m making a mistake with my life. The shock on her face when she sees I’ve spent that half hour getting fit to wear a wire should be one for my memory book.
The lobby is quiet when I step inside the towering glass and concrete building that’s been the home to David’s firm for as long as I can remember. I manage to snag an open elevator on my own, which gives me several floors to check my breath and calm my pulse. I wasn’t nervous until this very moment. As the numbers climb to my mom’s office’s floor, I begin to sweat rather profusely. I don’t want to mess up the wire I’m wearing, but I need to get some air moving in this space before I feel faint. I pull the taped-together press release from my back pocket, keeping it folded and sturdy so I can fan myself through the final two floors. I tuck the paper back into my pocket and run my palms along my jeans to try to erase any evidence of the flop sweats. This is as good as I’m going to get.
I worried Caleb might be here when I arrived, so I’m a smidge prepared when he basically pounces on me as soon as he spots me from across the office space. His cubicle is in the very center of the room, one that he’s merely squatting in for the summer before he heads off to college.
“What are you doing here? Trouble in lovers’ paradise?” He folds his arms on top of the short divider wall that separates his space from the path toward the actual offices.
“Caleb, let’s not do this today, okay?” I keep walking, but I hear his steps join mine quickly, so I make a hard stop. Ironically, I’m right next to the water cooler.
“Look, Saylor. I know I didn’t handle things between us well at the end. I was a real asshole.”
“Ha, ya think?” I can’t help my response. I hate that every word of this is being heard by others. Maybe I’ll luck out, and Caleb will incriminate himself.
Caleb leans into the wall, crossing his ankles and tilting his head as he smiles. It’s a practiced pose, and I recognize it now. He has a handful of them that he pulls out when he knows he needs to turn on the charm. I’m impervious, though.
“I’m trying to apologize.” His gaslighting is on point today.
“Good. Keep trying,” I say, turning my back to him. His hand brushes my shoulder, though, before I get too far. I spin around and hold up a finger, but instantly grow aware of the fact that Rowan might be hearing some of this. I don’t want him rushing in here to defend me, so I leave my protest at the nonverbal gesture.
“Just . . . please think about what you’re doing, the optics of who you’re with. Rowan is my brother, and I wish that we were closer, but he’s a liability, Saylor. And I know now that if I want to have a solid future, I need to protect my peace. Rowan really fucks up my peace. Do you understand?”
I stare long and hard at his exaggerated expression, the false care pushing dents above his brows. What a load of bullshit. I thought his confidence was so adorable when we were juniors in high school, but now I see it for what it is—a spoiled kid who refuses to grow up.
All I can do is laugh, then walk away. Before I made it to the conference room, though, where I spot my mom reading through a binder of who knows what, Caleb makes one final attempt to sway me away from his brother.
“He ruined our family, you know? When he burnt down that house? Nothing was the same after that. None ofuswere the same.”
