Hux sighed. “It’s an air scooter. In case you don’t recall, your creepy Horn-flirt downgraded your air-speeder when he tinkered with your bobbetts.”
“It was a mistake!” Kev shouted. “I already told you he apologized.”
Hux shrugged and made a big production of putting his headset on.
Kev turned to me. “Champ, I cannot tolerate these working conditions—”
“Great. Same. Trace the source of that surveillance equipment, and we’ll get out of your hair.”
Thankfully, their squabbling was interrupted by the arrival of Riggs and Carter.
“We come bearing coffee,” Riggs said, handing out the drinks.
“And gossip,” Carter added with a glance at me. I closed my laptop and took a sip of my drink.
“What kind of gossip?”
He took the seat across from me at the table. “The kind I’m not sure if we should be concerned about or not? I had lunch with Tucker Johnson earlier. When I stopped by his office to pick him up, I overheard Vienna Goodley talking to Lurlene Jackson about seeing someone suspicious outside Taffet Events last night.”
I shoved my chair back and stood up, leaning my hands on the table. “Someone was at Quinn’s place? Riggsy, go talk to her and find out exactly what she saw.”
Riggs took the seat next to Carter and lifted a placating hand. “Already done. I spoke to her right after Carter called me about it. She said she saw a man around six feet tall dressed in dark clothing and a dark wool cap looking in the windows and trying the door. She called the cops when she saw him try the door, but they came out and didn’t find any sign of a break-in. Between you and me, she probably makes enough false claims as to be on their special list of busybody wannabe witnesses.”
I looked at my second-in-command. “But you believed her.”
He nodded. “She said he came back after the cops were gone and snuck around back. She called the cops again, but they slow-rolled the response because of a scuffle out at the Devoted Dogs’ roadhouse around the same time.”
Elvo moved away from the safe he’d been focused on and clapped Riggs’s shoulder. “What two-bit B&E perp comes back to try again after the cops arrive?”
Riggs shook his head. “None that I’ve ever known.”
“Which means it wasn’t a petty criminal.” The idea that someone sent by the Cartel de la Luna might have been trying to get inside Quinn’s workplace, his home, made me feel like vomiting.
“Okay, maybe. But boss, aren’t you always the one telling us not to jump to conclusions? I agree, it’s suspicious, so I asked Marlon Waters at Uncle Marlon’s Tax Prep if he could get us copies of his security recordings from last night, just to see if the intruder might appear. He said he’d send them over. Why don’t we wait, and—”
“Get on him again,” I instructed, already halfway to the door. “Get that footage now. I’ve gotta go.” I needed to find Quinn immediately. To set my eyes on him and confirm for myself that he was okay. And I didn’t care how bossy it made me, Quinn wouldn’t be working there anymore until after this case was closed and the Horn was no longer associated with him in any way.
Riggs scrambled out of his seat to follow. “Want me to come with you?”
I waved him off. “No. You stay here and keep trying to find us a way into that vault. And could you ask Mrs. Clayborn to take care of Hercules? I want to end this tonight if we can, before someone gets hurt.”
Before Quinn got hurt.
When I got to the front door, I yanked it open and strode through the doorway, nearly knocking Quinn on his ass.
“Baby? Oh, thank fuck. I was just coming to get you.” I grabbed the front of his jacket in my fist and pulled him into a tight embrace. “Jesus. I’m overreacting, I know I’m overreacting, but I—” I felt his uneven breathing and realized he was crying. I held him away from me by his shoulders. “Wait, are you okay? Did something happen? Are you hurt? Talk to me, dammit.”
“I did something that’s going to ruin your p-plans,” Quinn wailed. “I’m s-so sorry. But Cherry said to do what I knew I could live with, and I just knew I couldn’t l-live with myself if I didn’t do it. Maybe I could have lived with it before. A few months ago—even a few weeks ago. Before I really knew how good it could feel to be with the right person. But now I do, and I couldn’t let it go—I’m so sorry, Champ. Please believe me.”
The noise of my men racing toward his sound of distress drowned out what he was saying, and I was halfway through visually inspecting him for injuries when his words caught up to me.