Chapter 51

CHAPTER 51

I t was after midnight when Max came in, looking disturbed, which was new. I mean he'd been a lot less stoic since we'd started sleeping together but never upset about anything. He was carrying a rifle, probably from the dead guy unless Pike was arming strangers now, which was possible. I was accepting pretty much anything was possible now. He was also carrying a black vest that had stuff in the pockets, which he draped over a chair.

"Is that blood?" I asked, pointing to a smudge on the webbing on the left side of the vest.

"Yeah," Max said.

"But I shot him in the legs, right? How did he die?"

"Somebody else shot him. Different kind of gun. You just wounded him. The other shooter hit him in the heart."

"Did Pike kill him?"

"No. Norman did."

" Norman?" My mind boggled and then boggled again.

He nodded.

"Who was he? The dead guy, I mean."

"No one from here," Max said. "A Russian."

"A Russian? Why would a Russian break in here? "

"He might have been working for someone."

"Who?"

"Probably Serena. Maybe someone else. Maybe himself." Max waved that off. "Right now, there's nothing for us to do. Pike took the body. He'll be back in the morning, and we'll hash this out."

"Don't leave me," I said without thinking.

"I won't." He nodded at me. "We need to get some sleep. Pike said Oz's death celebration is tomorrow at five."

He wanted me to sleep after shooting someone? He really had a high opinion of my coping skills.

"You said Herc got Serena to back off," I said.

"I thought he did. Might not have been her."

"If Serena wasn't behind it, who could it be?"

"The Russians. Maybe."

"The Russians? Maybe?"

"Or maybe the guy was freelancing, looking for a score."

A lot of maybes. I decided to focus on the essentials. "Are we safe?"

Max nodded. "Yeah. I'll be here. We've got Maggs. She's trained to guard. Pike and Luke are keeping their eyes open. You and Poppy are safe. Trust us. But it's probably best if we don't, you know, get distracted."

I'd thought he was gone forever, just a blip in my life, and now he was at my kitchen table with a big gun on it within easy reach, we'd had a lot of sex, I'd shot someone, then Norman had shot someone, and . . .

"Rose, I've got your back," he said. "I promise."

"I know," I said. "Let's go to bed."