Page 206 of No Headlines Please

"I didn't want to. It was just part of the job, that's all."

Again? Fine. Two could play at that game. "That's all?"

He gave a derisive snort. "What, you've never done stuff you didn't like because your employer told you to?"

"Oh, come on! You make it sound like you were asked to scrub a toilet, which just for the record, is a perfectly respectable thing to be doing. And you wanna know why?"

He gave me a wary look. "Why?"

I could hardly contain myself. "Because nobody gets hurt or scared when you scrub a freaking toilet!"

Next to him, Cal made a sound. It might've been a laugh, but he clamped it off so fast, I couldn't even be sure.

Brian scowled. "What, you think I never scrubbed a toilet before?"

"Hah! Well, you should be scrubbing it with your face after what you did to me." I sat up straighter. "And Lacy, too."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Wait…you want her to scrub it?"

I muttered, "Oh, forget it." But then, my eyes narrowed. "And what did you mean, she's 'no longer a factor'? And why would you threaten anyone in the first place? You said it was over a court case, but you never said which one."

"Yeah, because I figured you knew."

Oh, for God's sake. "And maybe I would've, except you got the wrong freaking girl!" Dumbass. I didn't say it, but boy, was I thinking it. "And what about the island?"

He looked around. "What about it?"

Through gritted teeth, I said, "On my porch, you told me not to run to my friends on the island. What, exactly, did you mean?"

"Oh, that?" His confusion cleared. "I didn't mean this island. I meant Catalina."

Catalina? "But…I don't even know where that is."

He waved it away. "Eh, it's not important."

"It is to me."

"Fine. It's near California. You happy?"

"Not particularly. And why that island?"

"Because Lacy's got friends there with connections. If she started blabbing, the story would've been everywhere. The boss couldn't let that happen."

I sat back in my seat and muttered, "Unbelievable."

"You're telling me," he said.

I gave him a look. "So? Which court case was it? Was it one of Lenny's?"

He just looked at me.

I turned to Maddox. "Do you know?"

He nodded. "Yup."

"So, why aren't you saying?"

He smiled. "I will if you want me to, but you want the truth?"