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I get in bed next to her so she can sleep. She mentioned the pills are knocking her out, and I do not like that, but the doctor said she needs rest and not to overwork herself. She takes the pill and slides under the cover.
I leave the bathroom door open while I shower so I can hear her if she needs me. Once done, I get back in bed with her.
“I’ve missed this,” she mumbles.
“Me too,” I say, kissing her forehead. “Go to sleep sprinkles. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“Thanks Bruce,” she mumbles as she drifts off to sleep. I sit up in bed and ping my brothers.
Me: We are home, she’s resting
Luke: That’s good news. How are you, Bruce?
Me: Good, now that she’s home
Daniel: That’s good news.
Adam: Glad she’s back home
Declan: Good to have her back home. How is she doing?
Me: She’s tired and barely ate. The doctor said it could be a few days, but she needs rest
Luke: We trust you will take good care of her
Me: Talk later. Just wanted to let you guys know we are home.
They each say bye and I lock the phone. My brothers and I only use that phone to talk in private. I hear a tap on the door. I know it’s Ice. I get up slowly and open the door. He’s standing right there.
“Malik has some information,” he says.
“My office,” I reply, closing the door. Jola is sleeping, but I refuse to leave her for long.
Once we connect on my computer, I ask, “What’s going on?”
“Boss, Aspen is not one of the men killed. He’s still at large. The woman could not ID any of the dead men, but she said Aspen is the one who threatened her to poison Ice.”
After Ice’s second food poisoning, I had some of my men go at different days and times to the same store and order the exact same food. None of them got sick. It took a while, and hacking into the store’s camera showed the woman would jump in front to help whenever she saw Ice and Jola. She did not poison the food each time, it was done at random, which made it harder to track. I was going to have her picked up when he called saying he needed Smith because he was sick again.
“Anything else?”
“They all came from California. One of them went to school with Aspen and Nick, Mr. Lloyd’s brother.”
“Any money trail?”
“Yes. It’s coming from California, but not from Nick. Which is strange, but I’ll keep digging.”
“Is Aspen still under watch?”
“Yes. We are still monitoring him, but I think he has noticed he’s being followed. It’s possible he may try to lead us astray.”
“Stay alert and tell the guys not to lose him.”
“Will do.”
“Reach out to Clarke at Centrium. I need to know what he knows.”
“You sure?” Ice asks, concerned.
