Page 91 of Reactant

“Which isn’t happening anymore.”

She smiled saccharinely. “Do you need a new appointment card?” The look told him she didn’t think he would accept. She was waiting for him to storm out and leave.

He straightened his jacket, taking his time to do up two of the middle buttons and smooth it over his chest and abdomen. “Let Mr. Randall know that if he continues to waste our time, we’ll be forced to charge him with obstruction of justice.” Grady would think his birthday had come early if they got to do that. “We’ll see him on Friday at one thirty, as organised.” He gave her the same smile right back. “We’ll be coming with a warrant, so either way, we’re coming in.” It was a bluff; she didn’t need to know that. And sometimes Quinn had a silver tongue. He might be able to find a judge that would give him one. He had more than a few favours he could call in.

He tugged on the hem of his jacket. “I’ll take that appointment card. Thank you.”

Her smile was less friendly as she carefully wrote out the appointment details—Friday at one thirty p.m.—and handed it over.

“I appreciate your time,” he said with false sincerity.

He deliberately ripped the appointment card in two and dropped it in a bin on his way out, in full view of her.

He stopped at the steps of the oppressive building and gave a long sigh, staring up into the clear blue sky. Every time they thought they had some kind of lead, they were shoved right into another wall, and Quinn was getting sick of scraping his cheek on the concrete.

He stepped out of the way of the crowd moving swiftly in and out of the building and leaned his back against the wall. What did they have next? He hoped Grady got something useful from the prison. Sebastian had said he knew someone inside—a Rohan Harris if Quinn had been reading that right—but he hadn’t yet set up a time to meet with him and see if he had any answers that could be helpful for them. He preferred not to push that, considering the case had been years ago, and Sebastian was still carrying it around, which meant it had a heaviness to it that Quinn was loathe to unearth. He might be forced to if he and Grady didn’t find something new soon.

His phone beeped in his pocket.

Grady:Two guesses why I’m not in speaking with this guy.

Lady Luck was definitely not on his side. She was actively fucking with him.

Quinn called his partner.

“Suicide,” Grady said in greeting. “Coincidence? I don’t fucking think so.”

Quinn scratched his beard. Shit. Shit.Shit. “There are four names left on the list.” Two of which Quinn had a personal vested interest in, and he had no desire to see either of them on a cold slab in a morgue. “Randall is dodging us.”

“You didn’t get in to see him?” Grady asked.

“He changed the time of the meeting again.”

“Is he just being a dick, or is he hiding something?”

“Probably both,” Quinn muttered. The two things weren’t mutually exclusive. He’d met plenty of people that were both.

“Fuckin’ hate lawyers.”

“One of them isn’t so bad.” One of them he was so desperately in love with, some days he didn’t know how to contain everything he felt for him.

“I beg to differ.”

Quinn chuckled. “What next?”

“Well, get this. Chris Digby, the other criminal on the list? He was in prison, awaiting trial. Got sprung just this morning by our smarmy lawyer—not yours, the one dodging us—and all charges were dropped.”

“That’s curious,” Quinn murmured. It was how Sebastian had kept Jericho out of prison. How they’d managed to get the charges dropped was a mystery best kept secret, Quinn figured. “Think he’s at home?” he mused.

“If I were him and my friends were dropping off one by one, I’d be getting the fuck out of Dodge,” Grady said. “Bet he’s at home packing a go-bag.”

“Better catch him before he disappears.” He was the last of their leads. Theyhadto catch him before he slipped through their net.

“Meet you there?”

Quinn agreed and hung up. He took one last look at the tall building behind him. What was the lawyer hiding? Hopefully, they would find out soon, and Quinn could put this to rest so that Sebastian was safe. So that both heandJericho were.

THE HOUSE HE PULLEDup to stood out more than he’d expected it to for a criminal. He’d been expecting something more like the house that Dane Howell had resided in. Innocuous and not something that would be looked at twice.

---