He lurches to his feet, opens the door and jumps off the chopper. He heads toward the mansion with large strides, ignoring the Club Car.
Shit. If things were bad before, now they’ve gone straight to hell.
***
I climb out of the small Club Car as soon as we reach the house entrance. Raylin follows me, calling my name, and I slow down. Plus, when I see all the steps leading to the front door, I wince. With Raylin’s help I make it up there and then force my aching leg not to drag as we enter the house.
“Hawk!” We enter an airy living room with dark furniture and huge black-and-white photos covering the walls.
“Wow,” Raylin whispers. “Amazing photos.”
“Hawk takes them,” I tell her as we pass the room and wander deeper into the house. “He doesn’t seem the type, but he’s quite the artist.”
We find him in another living room open to a pool. He’s sitting in a dark red armchair, hands on his thighs, head hanging.
“Hey,” I say and drop into an armchair across from him, pulling Raylin to perch on the broad armrest by my side. “Everything all right?”
He grinds his teeth. “No.”
Dammit. “Then tell me. Tell us.”
“You should call your lawyers.”
“Fuck the lawyers.” My head throbs so bad it’ll split in two. “Spit it out before I shake it out of you, goddamn, Hawk!”
He sighs and lifts a hand to stop me. “All right.” He works his jaw. “The detective sent me his list of people your uncle met with and talked to in the last twenty-four hours of his life.”
“And?”
“The list is actually quite short. Apart from the usual suspects at the company offices, he didn’t meet anyone, and at home that night he didn’t have any visitors. Except…” He winces. “Except for two men.”
“Who?” I’m starting to lose my patience. “Come on.”
“Rook’s father,” Hawk says. “And mine.”
RAYLIN
“He’s right,” I say as Hawk walks out of the room and around the pool, as he lifts the cell to his ear, calling someone. “This is fucked up.”
Storm says nothing. His eyes are bloodshot, his jaw dark with stubble. He looks exhausted.
“I’ll find you some water,” I say. “We need to get those antibiotic
s and painkillers the doc prescribed for you.”
“Hawk is having them delivered here.”
Oh. Never even imagined that was possible. I’m so out of my depth here it isn’t even funny.
“Good. I…” I get up from the armrest and wipe my hands on my pants. “I’ll go look for food.”
“Just ring the bell.”
“The bell?”
He points at a small device on the table. Small and silver, it has a button on it. “Just press.”
Fine. I press the button and glance around.