Page 95 of A Scandal in Homeroom
Happier still I’d actually wanted to do it. To touch him. There was so much freedom in that.
In the end, he didn’t try on the tux. Instead, he pulled on a clean T-shirt and took me out for coffee.
We didn’t say much to each other for the rest of the afternoon. I didn’t think we needed to.
We’d taken this step forward together and it was enough to just let that be between us.
22
The Next Day
Locke
“Locke, hold up!”
I stopped and turned at the sound of my name. Fitz was jogging to catch up to me. I should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings, having recently been attacked, but I was lost in thought. Besides, it wasn’t like I was worried I couldn’t handle myself if Moriarty thought to send yet another thug after me.
I hope my point had been made. I was not someone to be trifled with. Not even by a grown man.
“Yes?” I asked Fitz when he finally caught up.
“You got into it with Coyle?”
How did he know that?
I didn’t even ask the question. He just raised his eyebrow in a way that suggested I was foolish for thinking he didn’t know everything that went down in his kingdom.
Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if he knew about what was happening to his mother.
She, like Sheffield, like the mayor, was being blackmailed. I didn’t know the specifics. She hadn’t gone into much detail with Croft. Only that she wanted to take aggressive action.
Naturally, given her position as a U.S. Senator, there were procedures to follow in such an event. The Feds had been notified and were working the case. She’d only come to Croft because she wanted to go beyond just protecting herself, but also wanted someone to privately look into the matter as well.
How she’d known Croft was more than just a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, I couldn’t say, but it really didn’t matter. Moriarty had mis-stepped, and it was going to cost him.
Now the Feds wanted Moriarty. Croft wanted Moriarty.
I wanted Moriarty.
All we had to do was identify him.
“I thought the plan was to be subtle about getting some answers,” Fitz said, as he matched my pace. We were only about a quarter mile from school. The sidewalks weren’t yet crowded with teens pressing in on us. We could speak privately.
“I ran out of time for subtlety. Irene is never going back to that game. It’s too dangerous. I need to shut it down. Now.”
“How are you planning on doing that?”
I shrugged. “Easy. I plan to expose Moriarty.”
“You know who he is?” Fitz asked.
“I have a very strong suspicion. I simply need to prove it.” I stopped then and turned to Fitz.
I’m not sure what my expression told him, but he sighed. “Fuck. You think Mr. BennetisMoriarty.”
I did. He’d been the one collecting money at the table. He’d purposely played poorly just to wait for his victims. I’d already garnered the secrets he was holding over Sheffield’s and the mayor’s heads.
Turned out, one of Sheffield’s dogs had bitten Eric’s girlfriend on the shoulder. Severely. So severely, he’d done the surgery himself to correct the damage in an attempt to not have her file a complaint against the dog. It seemed the young woman was not the dog’s first victim. The resulting punishment would have meant putting the dog down. Instead, Eric’s girlfriend kept it quiet and no one was the wiser.
