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“Want to fuck her senseless.” Xavier was such an ass.
“—not. I think we can all agree that she’s pretty smart. While she was busy planning our demise, why the fuck would she send us a calling card alerting us to the fact? One that leads us right to her door?” I looked around at the other guys as I spoke.
“Having witnessed what she did, she would surely have figured we weren’t to be messed with. Why would she prematurely shut off opportunities to observe us and pull together material for her story, the way she clearly had been before we received that photo?” I might not always agree with her logic, but it was fair to say that I could generally follow it, whereas the Polaroids didn’t seem to add up.
“The more I think about it, the less sense it makes, and the less like her it seems. If she sent us that Polaroid, she must have guessed she’d be putting a target on her back. It was dumb and sloppy. Two adjectives I think we can all agree do not accurately describe Honey St George.”
“Fair point.” Drew’s tone was conciliatory, which was almost as good as an apology.
“She’s sworn from day one that it wasn’t her, and I may be biased, but I believe her. Lying doesn’t seem to be her MO, either. In fact, she’s brutally honest. All. The. Fucking. Time. If this was just a petty game in the arsenal of tools she was planning on using against us, why wouldn’t she just come right out and say so?”
Drew was listening intently, his head cocked as he considered what I was saying.
“Besides which, she’s a writer, not a photographer. I’m sure she can hustle up a decent iPhone photo like the rest of us, but other than that, pictures aren’t her chosen mode of communication. She’s all about those words. All day. Every day. I’m sure if she wanted to lay a trail for us, she’d go all wordsmith on us, and leave us some cryptic clues—just like you, Xavier.” It wasn’t the time to stir the pot and piss Xavier off just because I could, but somehow I couldn’t stop myself. “Not that that is anything like conclusive, but all these little things add up, right?”
“Also valid. But in any case, unless she’s working with someone else, there’s no way it could be her, given she’s physically in these ones, and not just a reflection this time.” Drew was already on board with my train of thought. It was just a matter of getting the other guys to come to the party also.
“I mean, having said all that, there is a possibility that she could be working with someone. When we did the photos for the pimp piece, she came with a photographer guy, who instantly put me on edge.”
“How do you mean?”
“He was just vibey. You know? When you just get that feeling from someone? It was nothing I could pin down specifically. Just generalized weirdness. My guess is that he’s an ex who wishes it was still on, or he has a thing for her, which he’s keeping on the DL—well, from her, anyway. Either way, the dude was passive-aggressively hostile. Not enough to alert Honey, but definitely something there.”
“And you’re only just mentioning this now because...?” That was Drew, channeling his best friend’s assholery, again.
“Because, Drew, I’m human, and amid all the crazy bullshit that’s been going on around here, I was a ‘little’ preoccupied with the small matters of terrorizing someone and trying to keep our asses out of jail. Call me slack, but I just didn’t see the possible connection before. In fact, I’d forgotten about that whole interaction. Until now.”
“I don’t know who this guy is, and maybe it’s him, working with her, but one thing we’re overlooking is that whoever it is, they have insider access or knowledge.” Fox looked around the room slowly staring each of us down.
“Think about it. Nobody knew about the plan for the reception except us, not even the Cygnets. And not Honey. She can’t even have known we were going to be at the reception unless someone told her. And if she didn’t know, why would she have had her photographer sidekick with her? In fact, thinking about it, whoever it is must have intimate knowledge of our inner workings, as not only do they know what we’re doing, but they clearly know exactly who we are. There aren’t that many people who fit that profile. And the vast majority of them are in this room.”
“You’re not seriously suggesting what I think you are, are you?” Kane shot at Fox. “Because think about what it would mean if you followed the thought through to its logical conclusion. Clearly, it’s neither of us, and obviously neither of them”—he pointed first at Xavier and then Drew—“so that just leaves...”
All eyes were on me.
“Really? We’re back to this again? Fuck all you assholes. I don’t know what I’m more offended by—the fact that after all the shit we’ve been through and done together, you’d in any way question my loyalty or trustworthiness. Or, considering my involvement with all of it, you think I’d be stupid enough to do anything that would incriminate any of you, and therefore myself. What the fuck kind of treacherous moron do you take me for?”
“Wait. What did you say before?”
“That I was offended by the way you guys neither trust nor respect me.”
“Nope, before that.” Xavier swatted impatiently at the air.
“I don’t know. That the guy was bad-vibing me.?”
“Not that. The adjectives.”
“Oh, I said I didn’t think it’s Honey taking those photos because it’s all a little dumb and sloppy.
“Yeah, that. Dumb. And. Sloppy. Fuck! Fuck. Fuck.” He was madder than I’d ever seen him, and that was saying something, because I’d seen him plenty fucking pissed.
“What?” Drew was instantly poised and ready for action. We all were.
“Holy shit. What the fuck is wrong with me? Jesus. Why didn’t I see this before? I gotta go!”
“What’s going on Xav? Go where? I’ll come with you.”
“No, I need to take care of this alone. You finish here, and I’ll catch you up when I’m done.” We watched in silent awe as he ran out of his own room, leaving us all there. He’d gone so quickly and abruptly that if it had been a cartoon or comic book, there would have been a Xavier-shaped hole left in the door in his wake. As it was, the only gaping holes were in our mouths as we stared at Xavier’s retreating back.
