Page 33 of Secret Squirrel

“Seriously?” I asked, my gaze snapping to his. “His body hasn’t been released yet.”

“You saw him on that plane.”

I had, but the more I thought about those few seconds, the more I questioned what I really saw. His face flashed in my mind, but I just couldn’t be sure it was really him.

“Rae?”

“Hmm?” I murmured, pulling myself out of that flashback.

“You did see him, right?”

I bit my lip. I didn’t want to cause confusion now after all this time, but uncertainty was swirling in the pit of my stomach. “I did.”

“Why does that not sound convincing?”

“I…I don’t know. What if I was wrong? It was only a few seconds.”

He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing on me. “You said you saw him.”

“I know, but what if I was wrong?”

“Fox saw him,” he stressed.

“I’m not sure he’s on board with saying it was him either.”

Cash heaved a sigh. “Christ, what a clusterfuck.”

“I know it would be best if this could be settled. It’s been hard on everyone.”

“Especially Thumper,” Cash added. “He’s beating himself up over what happened that night at the bar.”

“He couldn’t have done anything about it,” I said thoughtfully. “If he had gone out sooner, he might be gone too.”

“Yeah, try telling him that.”

“What about Bree? Has she started working yet?”

He nodded. “I put her on the money trail, everything we could dig up on Rafe and his connections with the syndicate…Hell, I even asked her to dig into the financing around the plane. I handed it all over to her, but it’s going to take a while for her to sort out the financial trail. I’m not even sure if she’ll find anything.”

“Thumper said she’s really hard working and focused. Hopefully, she can piece something together.”

He nodded distractedly. “Fuck, we need some regular jobs. I should have known when Rafe handed this property over to me that it would end in us dealing with him more than anything else.”

“You did know,” I pointed out. “Remember why you accepted. Eva wouldn’t be safe if it weren’t for Rafe. It’s a small price to pay for your own sanity.”

“Do you really think that now that FNG is gone?” he asked.

At that moment, I realized his guilt wasn’t just over not being able to find out why FNG got pulled in, but because this all started the minute Rafe pulled him into his mess.

“Boss, remember, Eva might have been the catalyst in all this, but Rafe would have done whatever was necessary to get what he needed. This was going to happen one way or another.”

“I should blame IRIS,” he snorted. “If my building wasn’t blown up, we might still be in California.”

“You know that’s not true, not after what happened with Sinner.”

He nodded in agreement. He had been the one that suggested we find someplace more secluded. Swiveling in his chair, he stood and walked around the desk. “Rae, thank you for all the work you’ve put in over the last two weeks. I know it hasn’t been easy on you.”

“I healed just fine.”

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