Taste for Trouble (38 page)

“Kate
says Bel quit last night,” James announced. “Just
thank you for the
opportunity
, etc.”

“So
Audrey tells me.” Drew continued typing. “I’m pulling former addresses right
now. Maybe she’ll go somewhere familiar.”

“Good
thinking.” James battled back a surge of hope. “Any luck so far?”

Drew
scowled at the screen.

“Not
yet.” Audrey put both fists in the small of her back and straightened with a
wince. She glanced at her watch. “All right, I think it’s finally a respectable
hour. Let’s call Bob. I’ll bet he knows—”

“Probably
does.” James handed over the scrap of paper Kate had given him. “Only he’s in
the wind, too.”

“What?”
Audrey stared at the paper. “What does that mean?”

“It
means he left his resignation on Kate’s desk this morning, too. Retirement or
some such. Effective immediately. That’s his answering service and home address.”

“Good
thing your contract’s solid for another eighteen months,” Drew mumbled around
the pen in his teeth.

“Did
we even know he was retiring?”

“News
to me,” Audrey said. Drew just squinted at his screen and swore under his
breath.

James
flopped onto the couch to stare helplessly up at the ceiling. What the hell was
he supposed to do now? He was more foot soldier than general. He blew at
strategy.

He
sat up like the couch had goosed him. Jesus, of course! He didn’t need to
be
a strategist. He
had
a strategist. World-class, too. A guy whose middle
fucking name was brilliance, and who happened to owe James, major large.

He
said, “Where the hell is Will?”

The
frantic clickety-clack of Drew’s keyboard hitched then resumed. Audrey said,
“Oh. Um.” James stared.

“Oh,
fuck, are you
kidding
me?” Because he wasn’t Mr. High IQ but his
intuition was faultless. Last night notwithstanding. “He’s gone, too?”

“I’m
sorry, James.” Audrey twisted her fingers until James thought they might snap
off. “I told you I’d keep an eye on him last night but—”

James
dragged both hands down his face and came to his feet. “I didn’t expect you to
chain him to his bed, Audrey. You’re fine.”

“I
hate
that guy,” she muttered, and James tried for a smile.

“Don’t
we all? Skated out from under a good punching, too.” He patted her shoulder. “Ran
like a little girl from my mighty Fist of Death.”

She
obliged him with a smile but it was half-hearted at best. “Hey. No knocking
little girls.”

The
chatter of the keyboard stopped dead for five full seconds and the resulting
silence was louder than a jackhammer. Hope blossomed inside James for the first
time since he’d discovered Audrey instead of Bel in the kitchen.

“What?”
He flew across the room, grabbed a handful of Drew’s sleeve and leaned in. “What
did you find?”

Drew
stared at the screen, his arm hardening like concrete under James’ hand. “Juvie
records.”

“Juvie
records?” James frowned at the screen. “Whose?”

“Bel’s.”

James
huffed out a startled laugh. “Shut up. Bel does
not
have a juvie record.”
Drew’s silence was grim and the laugh died. “Does she?”

“I’m
about to do something relatively illegal.” Drew turned flat eyes on him. “Plausible
deniability would suggest you take a quick walk.”

James
blinked. “What?”

Audrey
threaded her arm through his. “Walking!” She dragged him to the window
overlooking the driveway. “What a pretty day.
Look
at the view, will
you?”

He
glanced over his shoulder at Drew’s dark, bent head and wondered when his baby
brother had moved beyond geek territory and into hacker land. Wondered what
else he’d missed, because he was starting to think he’d missed plenty lately. Enough
to drive three of the most important people in his life into hiding. Christ. Some
instincts.

A
printer hummed to life in the corner and James leapt for it. The pages were
hot, the information bare-bones, and James scanned it avidly. He read it a
second time more slowly, while his stomach knotted with horror and disgust. While
his heart wept with pity.

Losing
his parents had been the shittiest thing life had ever thrown at James, and it
was the gold standard by which he judged all life’s shittiness. The shittiness
Bel had survived hadn’t even been on his radar. He handed the papers silently
to Audrey, and met Drew’s sad, patient eyes.

“How
the hell did this happen?” he asked. Drew shrugged.

“Kids
land in the system for all kinds of non-criminal reasons,” Audrey said quietly.
“Your parents take a walk and there’s no family to step up? Hello, juvie.”

He
glanced at Audrey, at the cold anger in her eyes. A pang of sick dismay edged
up his throat. “Is that what happened to Jillian?” he asked. “A stint in juvie?”

“No.”
Her smile was faint but fierce. “Jillian has family. She has me.”

“Lucky
kid.” He worked up a smile. “But what about foster families for those who aren’t?”

“There
aren’t nearly enough of them, particularly not those willing to take on older
kids like Bel would have been.”

“But
why would she need fostering in the first place?” he asked, while sick anger
churned inside him. “Vivi might not have been a first rate mom but, God, she’s
alive
,
isn’t she? I can’t imagine that she’d have abandoned her own—”

“Of
course you can’t.” Audrey handed the papers back. “People with normal moms
seldom can.”

He
accepted that in silence, and rage prickled at the edges of his mind.

“Academic
records,” Drew said quietly. “Coming right up.”

James
didn’t bother to ask how the hell he’d managed that one. He was too busy
fighting the urge to break something. Because while breaking shit would be a
righteous outlet for the rage boiling inside him, it wouldn’t help him think. And
he needed to think. Slowly, coldly, rationally. Because he simply could not
grasp the idea of Bel—his beautiful, gentle
Bel
who made homes
everywhere she went—living in a concrete dungeon like the one where they’d just
taught those hard-eyed girls to bake.

Especially
when her mother was damn well alive.

He
flashed back to Bel’s disappearing act at the girls’ school, and a bunch of
puzzle pieces fell into place. Kate had known. That canny bitch had
known
.
She’d sent Bel there on purpose, same as she’d invited Vivi last night. She’d
buried her landmines for maximum possible damage, but his girl had grit. Bel
had walked right through with a strength and courage he could hardly imagine. A
strength and courage he’d betrayed.

He
didn’t deserve a second swing. He knew that. But he was going to take one
anyway. Or die trying.

Four
hours later, James was still very much alive and no closer to locating Bel. Bob
and Will were still in the wind, too. He rubbed a palm over the banging
emptiness inside him and decided to name it hunger. It was pushing noon and he
hadn’t eaten since the night before. He could probably do with a sandwich or
something. He doubted it would fix whatever was wrong inside him but it was
something to do. And he desperately needed something to do.

“Hey,
why don’t I get us something to eat?” He leapt to his feet with an abruptness
that had Jillian in the window seat glancing up from her book with a startled
frown. He dug his keys out of his pocket. “I’ll just run into town—”

“Are
you kidding?” Audrey said. “You saw the fridge. We have enough leftovers from
last night to feed a small army. It would be a crime to go buy more food.”

“Oh.”
He forced a smile. “Right.”

Of
course the kitchen was full of food. Bel wouldn’t have left it any other way. She’d
made his kitchen the heart of his house—full of light and color, good food and
laughter. And now—food or no food—it was empty as hell. And he couldn’t face
that.

“How
about Jillian and I see what we can rustle up?” Audrey said quickly. James
figured his poker face could use some work. “You should stay here in
case...Well, in case.” Now it was her turn to force a smile. Nice.

“Fine,”
James said. “Thanks.”

“Come
on, Jillian,” she said. “Let’s go see about lunch.”

The
door swished shut behind them and he was right back to where he’d started. Desperate
to take action, no action to take. Fuck.

He laced
his fingers behind his head and started pacing the perimeter. He was going to
wear a track in the floor at this rate.

Drew
shot him a sympathetic glance. “Have you tried her cell?”

“Every
half hour since dawn.” James reached the corner and hung a left. Headed for the
next corner. “Complete with increasingly pathetic messages.”

“Okay,
that should probably stop.” Drew went back to his screen. “We’re going to find
her and you’ll get a chance to make your case face to face. Meantime? Let’s not
get into restraining order territory.”

James
stopped pacing, dug his fingers into his hair and gripped his scalp. “Drew, I
was such an ass last night.”

“Kind
of our specialty, bro.”

James
dragged his hands down his face, blew out a breath. “That shit’s got to change.”

“Okay.”

“
We
have to change, Drew.” He frowned into space, struck. “You, me, Will? We’ve got
to pull our shit together.”

“Right.”

“We’ve
been boys long enough. Been a hell of a run, but it’s time to grow up.”

“Wait,
what?” Drew finally looked up from his monitor, startled. “
You
fell in
love so
we
have to grow up?”

“This
is some brave new territory for the Blake boys,” James mused, continuing to
pace. “But Bel deserves better than—” He waved an arm that took in the Wii and
the massive couch, the beer fridge and the computer guts. “—well, than
this
.”

“What’s
wrong with
this
?” Drew looked around. “I like our
this
.”

James
continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “Better than us, that’s for sure. The
drinking, the fighting, the suspensions, the scenes—”

“Hey,
don’t blame your shit on us. Bel was cool with me and Will. She didn’t blow
town until you got all judgy on her family situation.”

James
scowled, ashamed. “Well, that might’ve been, you know, the last straw but—”

“And
telling me and Will you loved her before you told
her
?” Drew snorted. “What
kind of asshole does that?”

He
jammed his hands in his pockets, mortified. “How do you know I didn’t tell
her?”

“Please.
I saw her face in the kitchen last night when Will outed you.” He sent James a
beatific smile. “She looked like you’d rapped her on the melon with that meat
mallet of hers. No wonder she left.”

“Oh,
hell.” James dropped his head. “I have
got
to stop fucking this up.”

“Well,
sure.” Drew shrugged. “She’s a peach, our Bel. You want to deserve her, you’d
better man up.”

“But
how
?”

“How
what?”

“How
do I man up?”

Drew
blinked. “You’re asking me?”

James
threw out helpless hands. “Bob was my first choice. Then Will, maybe. But since
they’re both in the fucking wind? Yeah. You.” Fear and love tangled messily
together inside him and he rolled his shoulders, trying to settle it all. “I
love her, Drew. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to be what she needs,
and it’s pure killing me. So if you have an idea, I wish you’d lay it on me.”

“Huh.”
Drew leaned back in his chair and linked his fingers thoughtfully behind his
head. “You’re serious.”

“Yeah.”
James shoved his hands into his pockets again and shrugged miserably. “I am.”

“Well,
shit.”

“I
know, right?”

The
door flew open—hard enough to bang the wall—and Audrey appeared. “Hey, guys.” Her
smile was big, bright and furious. “Look what I found in the kitchen.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Drew
looked at her empty hands. “Not lunch,” he said dolefully.

“No.”
Audrey’s smile was a vicious slice of fury. “Not lunch.” She stepped into the
room, folded her arms and aimed all that malevolence at the threshold. “I found
your stupid brother.”

Will
appeared in the doorway, wary and rangy in jeans and a button-down shirt. He
looked tired and thin, and not precisely happy to be there. James vaulted over
the couch and pelted toward the door. Will’s hands jerked up automatically,
half-curled, then dropped. It was like his nervous system said
fight
,
his conscience said
don’t
, and Will himself was reaching for his better
angels. By the time James hit the door, Will’s hands were up again, but open
and empty this time.