Always Crew

“Tab.” I was whispering. She was breaking me here. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t know who else to contact besides you and your brother, except… Drake. I contacted Drake.”

That’s how he knew.

The dots were starting to connect, but there were so many of them.

“Just tell me.”

Her head bobbed up and down. “I will. I promise. It’s just, it’s hard.” She flicked another tear away, and her voice dropped another decibel. “I got in contact with him, and he called me. I told him what was happening, and I asked if he knew or could find out anything to help me, help my family. That’s all I did in the beginning, I swear.”

And knowing Drake, even if he was in prison, that wouldn’t stop him.

“What else?”

“He said he’d ask around, see if he could find a solution to my problem. After that, nothing happened. Not for a long time until suddenly he called, the day before Jordan came to get Zellman, and he said that things were in motion. He was going to set things in motion and to be ready. That’s all he said.”

I frowned. “The day before Jordan went to Roussou?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Then the next day, he called again and he said, he had a name to help me out. But he couldn’t tell me over the phone because you know…” Because calls were recorded, and I nodded, knowing what she meant. “But he said he’d email and give me directions what to do.”

“That was the day Jordan went to Roussou?”

Another nod. She started picking at the grass underneath her. Pulling blade after blade up, running her fingers down it, smoothing it until she tore it in two. She sliced each one straight down the line, an almost perfect tear. “The day, but I didn’t know Jordan was coming when Drake called me.”

“What did he say in the email?”

“It was weird, but I figured it was coded again, because you know.”

Because they could read emails, too.

“He said, “I’ve thought about your problem and I think you need to go back with your boy. You need to take the advice of his crew, and you never know, the solution might be the most random.”

“That was it?”

“Yeah, and he also said he’d email again telling me what to do with what I got. So, it didn’t make sense until Jordan showed up. Then I got what he was saying. I was supposed to go back with Jordan, hear what you guys had to say, and then listen for some random thing. None of that made sense until I overheard Jordan and Zellman say that Drake called you, and you guys needed to have a crew meeting. After that, I mean, it was simple. I came here, waited for your meeting, and overheard everything. I didn’t know anything about the Red Demons or the witness. Then they asked if Drake said anything else, and you said…”

I was there.

I was remembering.

“He say anything else?”

I shook my head, then remembered. “It was weird.” I looked at Cross. “He mentioned Harper.”

“Harper?” Jordan’s head lifted farther up.

Cross added, “Said there’s a Harper on the prison board where he was, and knew he was from Cain. He knows Harper’s son, and wondered if we knew him.”

“The fuck?”

Cross nodded at Jordan. “I know, but with Drake, who the fuck knows what he was really after.”

“Harper.”

“Yeah,” Tabatha said. “I knew that was the name I was waiting for, but it didn’t make sense to me. None of it made sense. After that—”

I was remembering that part, too.

“You left. Went back to your sorority.”

“Yeah, and then I got another email that night.”

“What’d it say?”

“Just a name.”

I looked over, waiting.

“Kess Foster.”

I drew in a ragged breath, feeling as if I was just smacked in the face.

This was the second time since last year she popped up for me. “I saw her recently.”

“She goes here. I didn’t know that at first, but I figured since he told me her name, I should look her up. When I saw she was a student here, and what dorm she lived in, I was guessing that Drake was telling me to go to her. I didn’t know why. I didn’t—I mean, I remember Kess. She was nice. Quiet, though. She was the only other girl in a crew back home and I thought, it’s Drake. He’s crazy, but he tends to know shit, and because I didn’t want to wait, I went to her place. Knocked on the door, and a guy opened up.”

I was remembering that, too.

She stopped, still frowning, and looked up.

The guy—he seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place him. Dark hair. Blue eyes that almost matched Kess’, but not quite. A brother? I didn’t remember if Kess had any other siblings, but no. There was an air about them, about them both. He moved into her, also looking at us, but he wasn’t looking at me.