“God, Ian, that was so dangerous.” She slaps my arm, and Steve grunts in agreement.
“I had a gun.”
“You have a gun?” she asks and looks around wildly until she spots it on the kitchen counter. “Put that thing away!”
“It’s not hot. There’s no bullet in the chamber, and the magazine is lying right next to it.”
“Seriously, can you put it in a drawer or something? It’s making me nervous. What if it just accidentally goes off?”
“How?” I ask, perplexed.
“Just put the gun away, mate, and get on with this,” Steve snaps.
Tiny raises both eyebrows and mouths “wow” at me. Shaking my head, I push away from the table. I drop the gun in the drawer beneath it, which happens to be the utensil drawer, and stick the magazine in my pocket. “Good?”
She makes a face at me but nods.
“Sorry,” she apologizes to Lauren. “We can help you. Ian has more money than small countries. Tell us what the problem is, and we can solve it. It’s your brother, right? Richard Howe is threatening your brother?”
Lauren sucks in her lip and then bites it, as though that will prevent her from spilling the story, so Tiny forges on.
“Your brother got into some trouble, and he’s out on parole. Maybe Richard helped with that, and if your brother breaks parole, he goes back in and serves more time, right?” She doesn’t wait for a response this time. The question is clearly rhetorical. “You don’t want him to go back in, but since Howe got him out, he can send him right back in. Howe has a cop, maybe someone on the parole board, in his pocket, so he says keep your mouth shut or your brother’s parole will be revoked?”
Lauren’s mouth is hanging open, and even Steve looks on with some approval. Me? I’m starting to understand why Jake thinks Tiny is wasted behind a desk.
“Can you fix this with money?” Tiny demands of me.
“I’m not into bribing cops,” I admit. “That’s a high risk proposition. Maybe if we knew more about your brother’s situation, we could think of another resolution.”
Lauren stands up. “I see you’ve done a lot of investigating, but talking about possibilities isn’t enough for me. I’m going to go now. Either call the police or let me leave. Otherwise, this is kidnapping.”
Steve whistles. “You got some balls accusing us of wrongdoing when you’re guilty of breaking and entering.”
“I didn’t break in.” She sniffs. “The door was unlocked.”
“We have you fiddling with the door. You’re dressed in all black, and you’ve delivered a threatening note.”
“What threatening note?” Tiny looks around and then grabs the plastic baggie that is now holding the letter Howe had Lauren deliver to me. I’m not sure how much of it she can make out, and I’ll read it to her later. Her face takes on an ashen quality; maybe she can make it out just fine.
I glance at my watch. I need to check the markets again. “I hate cutting this party short, but it’s late. Or early, however you want to look at it. Steve, you take Lauren home. Lauren, this is my card. You change your mind, let me know. I think between the four of us, we can come up with a solution to your problems.”
Steve nods and reaches for Lauren, who jerks away. As she stomps toward the exit, he gives me a wave and then the two disappear downstairs.
I turn to Tiny. “I want you to get some sleep.”
“I can’t sleep now,” she grumbles as I lead her up toward the bedroom. “How many times do we have an intruder in the house? This is kind of exciting.”
“Only you would think this turn of events is stimulating.”
“I have something to tell you, and I think you’re going to be mad,” she says as we stop at the bedroom door. The serious tone in her voice has me pausing.
“Let’s go to the office.” My gut clenches.
She settles into one of the chairs in front of the massive desk, and I drop into the chair next to her instead of rounding the desk and sitting in the office chair.
“Tell me,” I order. And then, because I don’t want to argue, I add, “Please.”
“I didn’t want to tell you because…” She pauses to pinch the bridge of her nose, and I take the time to practice my deep breathing so I don’t get to my feet and start throwing things around in frustration and fear. “Oh god, I have no good reason. At the time, I thought I had it all planned out, but now that I’m thinking about how best to explain it to you, I realize that my plans are really really stupid.”
“Please tell me,” I say quietly. The even tone in my voice is a f**king miracle.
“I’ve got two other notes.”
“I’m sorry, but I thought I heard you say that you had received two other threatening notes and are just now telling me about it.” I can hear myself yelling even as I try not to, but the terror of what she’s saying is breaking down all my self-control.
“I know. I’m so sorry.” Her words are muffled because she’s placed her hands over her face. “I should have told you before, but I thought…I thought I could help you. Find something on Howe, and then we could put it all behind us.”
“Tiny,” I say, my voice hoarse with the shouts I’m trying to keep suppressed. “We are a team. I told you about the men who attacked me. You are my f**king world. If you are gone…” I trail off. Her body is convulsing from harsh silent sobs. In short order, I have her on my lap. “Stop. I’m not mad. I promise.”
“I’m not crying to make you feel bad for me. I’m not manipulating you.” She cries, her frame is shaking.
“I know, bunny. You’re breaking my heart here.” I run my hands over her arms and legs and head to reassure myself that she’s hale and unhurt.
“It was wrong. I see that now. I should’ve told you, but I didn’t because I knew I shouldn’t have done it.”
“All right,” I try to soothe her. “What’s done is done. Tell me so we can figure out what happened.”
It takes several minutes before she’s composed enough to recount the f**king foolhardy plan that she and Sarah cooked up and the two notes she’s received. “We need to get those to Jake.”
She nods and hangs her head. No doubt Jake will be yelling at her, too. I’ll go with her in the morning because no one gets to yell at Tiny but me.