Page 55 of The Hate We Breathe
“No,” I say, turning to press my hands against his chest. Lex moves back a step, but I know it’s not because I’m actually forcing him. If he didn’t want to be moved, he wouldn’t. End of story. “Please go sit down.”
“He’s not supposed to be near you,” Lex says.
Lann dabs at his forehead again, eyes looking over Lex warily. “I merely came to confirm whether or not the information I received was accurate,” he states.
“You still haven’t told me why it matters where I work,” I snap. “Besides, aren’t you supposed to be investigating a murder?”
Detective Lann carefully slips his handkerchief back into his wrinkled suit pants. “I’m investigating suspects and their circumstances,” he replies.
I stiffen. “I didn’t kill him.” The words hiss from my lips before I can stop them. They’re true, but the words ‘murder’ and ‘kill’ are definitely beginning to draw attention from the other hosts and their guests. I shake my head. “This is unprofessional. If you want to talk, we can do it outside.”
My hands drop from Lex’s chest and I head for the doors. Lann eyes Lex for a moment longer before turning and coming after me. The relief that floods my body makes my steps far less jerky as I pop open the front doors to The Dionysus Lounge and lead the detective outside.
Twilight burns across the sky, bleeding red, orange, and pink as day shifts to night. I take several steps away from the doors, stop, and turn back to face the man. Lex, of course, has followed both of us, but hangs back, hovering with a dark look by the club doors.
“I don’t know who told you about my job—” And I doubt he’d tell me since he claimed it was an ‘anonymous’ tip, so I won’t even bother asking. “—but you can’t just come in here. This is harassment.”
“It’s not,” Lann says.
My gaze narrows on him. “Harassment is defined as aggressive pressure or intimidation,” I state. “Are you going to tell me that you’re not trying to intimidate me by coming to my place of work?” I don’t wait for him to respond, as I’m sure Iwouldn’t like his answer anyway. “Besides, this is my first shift in months,” I tell him. “Since before Morpheus was killed.”
“That so?” Lann asks, intrigued. I grimace as he pulls out a small notepad and pen. “Mind if I put that on the record?”
A groan works its way up my throat. Abel is going to kill me, but answering a few more of his questions can’t do me any more harm, especially if I’m truly not the one who killed Morpheus. “Fine,” I snap with a wave of my hand. “But I will tell my lawyer about this.”
“Of course,” Lann agrees. “I’d expect nothing less. Now, if you’re available, a few more questions since I’m already here…”
“I’m on a break,” I say. “I don’t have much longer.” How long has it been already? Fifteen minutes? I doubt Mads will be mad, but I’ll still feel bad for making her do double the work.
“How long have you worked here?” Lann asks.
I answer him, glossing over the period where I’d been fired due to Darrio Vargas and instead giving him some bullshit about taking time off to focus on school for midterms. He asks a few more questions, most of them regarding my income and what I’d been previously using it for when I wasn’t living with Morpheus. He inquires about when I moved back in with him and why—that, though… I have to lie about.
“I wasn’t sure how good of an idea it was for me to be staying at my friend’s place after my apartment burned down,” I say. “Morpheus offered…”
“But you left pretty soon after he died,” Lann deadpans.
“I was gone for that night, but I still had things at his house,” I say. Things he’d bought me that I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but the detective doesn’t have to know that. “If you’ve searched his home for clues, you’d know that.”
“Why haven’t you been back to pick those things up?”
“Because I didn’t know I was allowed to now that Morpheus is gone,” I say, exasperated. Taking a step back from him, I cutoff his next question before he can verbalize it. “Maybe if you spend more time actually looking for the killer instead of chasing me, you’d have caught them by now. I have to get back to work. I suggest you do the same.”
Detective Lann’s sagging jaw gapes as I stomp away from him and back towards The Dionysus Lounge. Lex reaches for the handle of the door as I approach and holds it wide for me. “Do I need to talk to him?” he asks as I pass by and into the dark interior.
“No.” My arms close around myself as I realize several eyes are on me as I head towards the bar where Mads is standing guard, filling up another tray with drinks.
“Thanks.” I offer her as much of a smile as I can muster as I take the tray from her hand. “Which table is this for? I’ll take care of it now. You can take your break.”
Without answering my initial question, Mads cups my shoulder gently. I stiffen under her gentle touch. “Are you okay?”
Closing my eyes, I force myself to inhale quickly and exhale slowly. When I reopen them, I paste on a smile that is far more false but at least it stretches wider. “I’m fine,” I lie. “Go on—I know I took a longer break than I was supposed to. I’ll cover things here.”
With that, I turn away and move down into the center of the club. I guess which table she’d been able to deliver these drinks to based on who has the emptiest first rounds and am grateful when I appear to be right. I pass out the drinks onto the low-top table and men mutter to each other as the host glares at me and reaches for her own drink—a mocktail meant to make it look like she’s drinking with them. Ignoring her, I straighten and move away.
The rest of my shift is uneventful with both Gio and Nolan popping in about an hour after the detective to take up residence alongside Lex. I deliver a few beers to them—grateful Lanndidn’t even think to call out Lex’s potential drinking when he was here. But by the end of my shift, the guys have switched to soda. When the lights go up and the last of the regulars have left, Nolan’s and Gio’s expressions are as dark and frustrated as I feel.
Mads and I finish cleaning the club faster than we ever have before and are out well before our usual time. We walk together into the back parking lot, a car already waiting for Mads with its lights on.
