Page 346 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I stood and moved to the bar to talk to Alex, ordering another drink for Sir and myself. He’d given me a pass on drinks tonight.

What did you do,I thought, knowing she’d hear me.

Alex had, at one point several years ago, made the world disappear with nothing more than a blink of her eys. She’d pulled me into her own head, showing me what she sees and experiences on a constant basis. It was the moment I came to trust her.

As an answer, she did the same thing. Only this time, I realized that Alex was not just trustworthy. She was also a liar.

We were back in the courtroom, sitting in the defendant’s booth where Woodrow had sat. No, that wasn’t quite right...we were Woodrow. The prosecutor glared and smirked as she accused him – us – of all kinds of outlandish things that we hadn’t done. Drugs. Weapons. Blackmail. Murder. The judge was disgusted that someone who had such a good reputation was so involved in serious crimes.

We were furious at the accusations, and knew that our only chance was a trial. Even if it meant some of his secrets were exposed, it would at least buy us time.

The experience only lasted for a few moments, and then we were back in the bar. Alex turned and faced me, her face void of all expression.

“Whatever happened to not getting involved?”

“I’m tired of people getting hurt when I can do something about it.”

“Man, I’m really glad you’re on our side,” I said, heading back to Reuben without ordering the drinks.

“Are you okay?”

“I want to go home,” I looked up at him. I was tired, and I just wanted to not think about anything. I needed to experience silence, and safety, and his hands on me, wherever he chose to put them.

He rose immediately and offered his hand. “Okay.”

We were silent on the drive home. When we pulled into the driveway, the light in our living room was on. Reuben didn’t pull into the driveway, instead circling the block and handing me his cell phone. He gave me instructions on what app to open to view the security footage in the house.

“Wait,” I said. “I knew you had cameras in the dungeon. You have them in the house, too?”

“Better safe than sorry.”

I clicked the button to view the living room, and laughed, nearly crying from the relief of the day and of the people sitting on the couch.

“It’s Lindsay, isn’t it,” he muttered.

“Yeah. And she’s drinking your scotch.”

Inside, Lindsay andBrett were chilling on the couch. She had her feet up on the coffee table again, which I think she did just to annoy him.

“Lindsay, we’ve talked about this.”

“Yeah, but it’s so much fun to piss you off.” She downed the rest of her drink. “I would have come by The Lounge, but I’d have to publicly admit to a crime, so... here we are.”

“What is this?” Reuben gestured to the black composition notebook shoved in a plastic bag and resting on the coffee table next to her feet.

My jaw dropped and I froze in the hallway. “Holy shit, Lindsay!” I stared with my mouth agape.

She shrugged. “Viva la revolution. Down with fake Doms and rapists.”

“What’s inside?” Reuben asked.

“Just a littlesomethin’ somethin’to help with the trial. If I were you, I would bring it to the courthouseafterthe case gets reassigned to a new judge, which I think Alex is working on. Don’t bring it to the cops, there are way too many dirty people involved in this case.”

“We’re going to get in trouble for having this and not submitting the evidence immediately,” I whispered.

“I doubt it. Once you submit this evidence, it will expose the corrupt cops involved, and I think you’ll be given a pass. Besides... pretty sure your former boss is going to have to testify at some point, so you might have some leverage. Anyway,” she slapped her thighs and stood up, heading for the door. “If anyone asks where you got it, just tell them it showed up in your living room and you have no clue how it got there. Don’t mention me. Have fun, see you in court.”

“You’ll be there?”

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