“What?” James blurts. “Burrows?”
“Yes,” Rose whispers. “We left. He came after us.”
“Fuck!” He slams his fist into the dashboard and starts his Range, pulling off fast.
38
JAMES
“Talk to me,” I demand, sweating fucking fury.
“She’s at Mid Bank,” Otto says down the line, sounding grave.
“What the fuck is she doing there?” The bank where her mother’s safety deposit box was held? The empty safety deposit box. Empty because The Bear found it before we did with a little help from the bent manager Spittle. I hang up on Otto and look at Danny in the rearview mirror. “We should never have let that prick go.”
“The key,” Rose says out of nowhere.
The words have me losing concentration on the road for a split second, making Danny yell and me swerve. “Fucking hell,” he breathes as I miss a man on a bike by a whisker.
“A key?” I say, splitting my attention between Rose and the road, heading for Mid Bank.
“Amber had a key. Beau took it.” Her eyes dart, as if she’s struggling to piece together the events.
“Think hard, Rose,” I say as softly as I can.
“Come on, baby,” Danny says, soothingly. “We need details.”
“Amber pulled a key out. Asked if that is why we were there. I was trying to get Beau to leave. I could see she was going to snap. But then I saw Ollie on the surveillance screens in the office. I was distracted. Amber barged me to the floor and got my gun.”
“You had a gun?” Danny asks, proverbial steam coming from his ears.
“Yes, I had a gun.” Rose’s eyes narrow. “Amber told me you were going to look after her. I believe you’ve killed men for less where I’m concerned.”
Danny can’t argue with that. “And you ran,” he finishes, putting aside his grievance for now. If Amber was still alive, Danny would kill her.
“Yes, we ran, but as soon as we were on the main street the cops came after us.”
The cops? Or Burrows? “Anything else?”
“Beau dropped me at the hotel, and I tried to stop her, but she removed me from the car and refused to listen.” Her eyes overflow again. “I tried to stop her.”
I blink slowly, going back to the road and focusing on getting us to Mid Bank without killing us. I know Rose would have tried. I know Beau would have won.
I also know how much Beau loves Rose. She knows she’s walking into danger and she didn’t want to expose her pregnant friend to that.
God help me.
Otto makes it to the bank before we do. “Cameras are all cut,” he says, falling into stride beside me. “Doors all open.”
“Is she here?” I ask, getting straight to the point.
“No. Her phone’s fallen out of service.”
“Not switched off?” I ask, sounding robotic. It’s the only way right now.
“I’m waiting for it to come back online.” Otto leads the way into the bank, and I follow him, scanning the place. “Spittle’s dead,” he says, just as my eyes fall onto his body wedged between the door and the frame into the vault, a trail of blood leading there. “He was dragged.”
I assess the scene, the blood, the pieces of Spittle’s brain coating the wall.
“Two security guards through there also dead.” Otto leads me into the vault, both of us stepping over Spittle’s dead body. “No call has been put into the police yet.” He goes on, as my eyes find the open safety deposit box on the counter.
“Beau and Rose found Amber,” I tell Otto, giving him a quick, emotionless rundown. “She had a key. Beau took it after Rose shot Amber.”
“Rose shot Amber?”
I nod. “Burrows showed up. They ran. I think he cleaned up the body.”
“Why?”
“Because he thinks Beau killed her and he wants to protect Beau.” I laugh under my breath, walking over to the box, wondering what the fuck was in there. Burrows’s name? How the fuck did Amber come to have the key? And was that why he was at Amber’s place? The man we’ve all hated, all wanted dead. The man who’s been present yet absent. Hiding when his fucking ducks were no longer all in a row. The man with the largest reach with every criminal house . . . except us.
“Burrows?”
I look at Otto, the pieces still all rearranging as I think. Otto knows it adds up, and so many things are falling into place. “Beau’s never been at risk. Not only because she’s with me.” For fuck’s sake. I should have killed him. I should have fucking killed him! The straightest fucking cop is The Bear. And he now has Beau.
“How do you explain the Russian in the hospital who tried to kill her after she was shot?”
“Sandy,” I say simply. “He was retaliating after I took out his men at the factory. Nothing to do with The Bear.”
Otto steps back. “And Burrows didn’t like that,” he says quietly. “So he and Sandy aren’t friends anymore.”
“Correct.” My stomach turns, my scar tingles, my fucking veins burn. “Fuck!” I roar.
“Calm down,” Otto says, and I throw my head back, laughing dementedly, seeing my family home going up in flames. “James!”
“I’m fine,” I exhale, pacing up and down, slowing to a stop when something comes to me. “He’s too young.” I say quietly, turning my eyes onto Otto.
“What?”
“Burrows. He wouldn’t have even been out of college when my family were…” I swallow. “…murdered.” Blown up. Burned alive. I exhale and rake a hand through my hair and watch as Otto absorbs what we should have thought about instantly.
“Fuck,” he breathes. “He’s not working alone.”
I feel like my head is about to spin off. But who? “Where is she?” I ask, calm but not.
“We need to find this lawyer he’s seeing.” Otto’s phone starts screaming with the sound of an alarm, and he looks down. “Shit.”
“What? What is it?” I ask, not that I have to. Otto’s nervous sweat speaks volumes. He’s tracked Beau.
“Burrows address.”
I fly out of the bank and throw myself behind the wheel.
“What’s going on?” Danny asks from the back as Otto comes after me.
“You need to stay and clear up that mess,” I say, starting the engine.
“What mess?” Danny asks.
“I’m not fucking staying anywhere.” Otto runs around the front, hopping in the passenger seat. “Remember who he wants, James.” Otto looks at me with a face full of fury. This is one of those times when I won’t argue. “I’ll call Len and Bud to come sort this.” He goes straight to his phone as I wheel-spin away.
“Will someone tell me what the fuck is happening?” Danny orders shortly.
“Spittle’s dead.”
“Who killed him?”
“Beau.” I don’t question that. She’s a stellar shot. She also needed to keep her escape open, hence using Spittle as a doorstop.