Scorch (Virtues & Lies 2)

“We need to figure out what it is, and we need to do it before she gets herself in trouble.”

“Unless she’s there for the atmospheric drink, she’s found something.” Freddie pulls up a blurry photo of a list. Pointing at the illegible writing, he growls in frustration. “We’ve tried running it through a fuck tonne of programmes to make the picture quality better, but it’s not working. The focus is fucked.”

“Who gave it to you?”

Looking between the three of us, he shifts in his seat. Before he opens his mouth, I can already tell I’m not going to like his answer.

“Well?” Casper presses.

“The cloud.” He answers with a shrug.

“The cloud?”

“What the fuck have you done, Fred?” Rounding the table to where I’m standing, Casper looks closer at the screen.

“I needed information, and the only way to get it was by getting into her phone and taking it. So, I got into her cloud.”

“Excuse me?” Taking a step back, I look down at him.

“It was the only way. She’s disabled all the location shit on her apps and shit, so I found a way around it.”

I take a deep breath, steadying myself so I don’t smack his head off his shoulders. Boundaries have never been his strong suit.

“Point is, this was on there, and that logo belongs to the club. I’m assuming by the grid that this is a manual log they keep for the members that can’t have a traceable record.”

“That’s traceable though,” Casper says. “It’s a written record.”

“It’s a discretionary record,” I tell him. “I’m guessing that it’s kept for a short period of time and then discarded.”

It’s not an uncommon practice when it comes to dealing with prominent public figures. No one wants their dirty laundry hung out for the world to judge.

“What matters is that there has to be a reason she took that photo. From the looks of it, she did it on the sly. We just need to figure out the reason. It’s like Cluedo, except we’re the killers.” Chuckling at his own quip, Freddie shuts his laptop.

“Ask her.”

“Really?” Leo cuts an irate scowl at Casper. “Pray tell, how do you intend on getting your sister to tell us anything when she won’t even come to us?”

“There has to be a way.”

“There is a way.” Looking at me, Leo stands from the table as he grabs his cufflinks before he saunters towards the bedrooms.

“Where are you going?” I yell after him.

“You need a change of clothes; we’ve got places to be.”

Fuck, I’d forgotten about the mess I’m in. There’s blood dried down my top and my jeans. Swiping my hands over my face, I grimace at the pain that shoots from my nose through to my eyes.

“The state of your face and clothes are his concern…” Freddie whistles low as he ogles my face.

“Get a lead on that list.”

“I’m on it.” For the first time today, he sounds serious. When I look up at him, I find him perched on the table directly in front of me. “Don’t get messy, Christopher.”

“I don’t give a fuck about mess, Fred. I’ll do whatever it takes to end this.”

“If anything goes down, you don’t get dirty. Get me? It’s what the three of us are here for.” Slapping me on the back, he packs up his shit and fills his glass with some water. Sniffing it, he scrunches his face, grumbling his disapproval. “Fucking fruit in water. Pansy-arse twat!”

Chapter 3