The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

I sighed. "Well, good luck to them. I'm living with the shooter."

She laughed. "Well, maybe you shouldn’t tell them that."

"Wait, what about Jameson’s vault? What was in there?"

"An encrypted file which your man is working on. Look, stop. I’ve already told you more than I intended to. I get that you’re bored, but let’s get you back into tip-top shape before we deal with any of that.”

“Amelia, I’m dying here. Please give me something.”

“I’ve gathered some stuff that you might need to make sense of the files Theroux gave you."

I wanted to hug her. I knew that moving my arm in such a fashion would be problematic, but I was happy at least. "You did?"

"I did. Look, it's not every day your bestie gets shot. Especially by her very handsome boyfriend."

"He's not handsome. And I don't even know if he's my boyfriend anymore."

Amelia just laughed. "If you say so. I happen to know that the two of you are a very volatile combination, and that you can't stay away from each other. So deal with it."

I wrinkled my nose at her. "Well, honestly, that arse though."

She coughed a laugh. "Yeah, that arse though." She kicked the box over to me. “To help with what Theroux gave you, I pulled all the files from the archives that I could get on the time that your dad and Theroux were doing their royal dance. I wanted to be careful about pulling anything that was already in the electronic archives, because there would be a record of that, so I gathered the paper files instead. I really focused on the time period when your father almost caught Theroux. There was a woman involved. Did you know that?"

I frowned. "What woman?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. There are photos in the files. She was some kind of informant for your father. I don't really know who she is, but I figure you can dive deep and figure it out, at least until you can officially come back to work."

I was already digging one handed into the box. I felt like my brain had started to atrophy. "Any word on that?"

"Your father is insisting that you take at least another week, and none of us are to discuss work things with you. But don't worry, I'm looking out for the London Lords, and I’ll fill you in if need be. Right now, we have nothing. East hasn't heard from Theroux either.”

All of that, getting shot, and East wasn’t any safer. And we weren’t any closer to solving the mystery. "Fucking fantastic. I blew this. I blew all of this."

"No, you didn't blow anything. For starters, your keen eye noticed the Collins painting in the first place. And now that I've been in there, I can ask some lovely probing questions about it. That's if Jameson hasn't moved it. It’s something to go on at least. And I have probable cause now to ask him all sorts of questions since we have a lovely replica in our possession. He won’t be pleased about that at all. I’m sort of looking forward to the conversation if I’m being honest."

"Yeah." My frown deepened. "Do you ever wonder why Ryder Stone had a sudden change of heart? Suddenly calling us and giving away all the treasure that they'd stashed?"

"I have no idea. But why look a gift horse in the mouth?”

She had a point, but something just didn't sit right.

“Look, it's another few days before they'll let you back on desk duty, so work on this business between your father and Theroux instead, okay? Anything East and the crew need to know, I can tell them. And as far as Denning goes, I'll keep an eye on him. I got this."

I nodded. "Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

"And thank goodness you’ll never have to find out."

I smiled. "This is the most I’ve felt like me in days."

"Well, maybe you should tell that very hot man in there what you actually need. Something that's good for your brain and body, and not just good for your recuperation."

"You try and tell him that."

"You know, I don't think he'll listen, but I can try."

I settled back against the pillows. "At least tell me you’ve missed me."

She nodded. "Every day, and twice on Fridays."

"Oh no, our Friday tradition."

"I know. We missed it today. But we'll get it next Friday, okay?"

I nodded as Amelia stood and turned toward the door. "Hey, Amelia?"

She turned with a smile. “Yeah?”

"Thank you. I'll dig into this and call you if I find anything."

"Sure. And don’t thank me too much, you're all I’ve got. I need all your mental faculties in place."

I stared at the box in front of me. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to be working on, but it was better than nothing, so I dug in.

* * *

East

"You think this is wise? Keeping this a secret from the girls?" Ben asked nervously.

I glanced around, waiting for Nyla to spring up from behind the bar. "Look, I told Nyla I had a business meeting. She needs her rest, so I don't want her involved."

Bridge chuckled as he took a sip of his beer. "Now you understand how I feel."

I lifted a brow. "Except Nyla and I are in a relationship. I care about her. Are you and Emma in a relationship we don’t know about?"

It was a stretch. I didn't think he'd actually come out and say it. And hell, he was still very much firmly encamped with Mina. I wondered how much of that was my fault.

He didn’t answer of course. Every emotion with Bridge was hard fought. Instead, he just glared at me as if I was nothing more than a mere nuisance. Twat.

Ben shook his head. "You know I won’t be able to keep this from Livy. She has ways of discovering things. The girls are going to find out."

Drew grinned at him lasciviously. “Do these ways include anything sexual? Inquiring minds and all