Chapter 21

TWENTY-ONE

TAVISH

I was more than positive that what Leland was asking us to do was just some bullshit we should ignore, but Ellis was acting like it was an ultra-important mission just for him. A part of me wondered if he just wanted something to distract him from thinking about his father, so I didn’t fight it. Anything to distract him or make him feel better was okay with me.

Hell, maybe Leland also thought he needed something to distract him. But what we found inside was definitely not what I imagined.

“So… Leland sent me here… to pick up a cake?” Ellis asks as he follows me back into the car, still rather confused why the baker passed him a box and said, “I hope you enjoy your cake! Don’t let it sit in the car or the frosting will melt!”

“I fucking guess,” I answer as I start the car a moment before my phone beeps.

I pull it out, fully expecting more nonsense and errands from Leland, but instead, it’s my father.

“Fucking hell.”

“What?” Ellis asks. “Is it the cake?”

“Not the cake.”

Bastard: IOU.

Bastard: Saw what you’re doing. IOU. 453 W. Simmons Drive. Promise it’s worth your time.

Me: You’re not worth my time. Give me my shit back.

And of course he never replies. Was he watching the house and knew I’d gone in to get my stuff? Was he waiting for me to go to it so he knew when to lay some of his special bullshit on me? I’m sure it’s something good, my father’s not known for shitty information, but he’s going to claim whatever it is isn’t equivalent to what he owes me. He’ll then assume I owe him. Quickly, I text Cassel.

Me: What’s this address? 453 W. Simmons Dr.

Cassel: Let me see.

Cassel: That’s the home of Nate Stewart. You think there’s something there?

Me: I might drive by it… or look inside. Something I should be looking for?

Cassel: Hell if I know. But grab his computer tower or laptop. I can nose through it.

Me: He live alone?

Cassel: He does. No close relatives or anything that I see. Be careful. If someone sees you snooping around just after finding him dead, you might be in big trouble.

Me: I will be. Can you tell if there are any security cameras on the house?

Cassel: I can try to see if the address pings anything. I’ll let you know.

I look up at Ellis. “We’re making a quick stop.”

“Of course. I’m happy to go anywhere with you… almost anywhere.” Ellis thinks about this for a moment. “I would like to retract that prior statement. I’m happy to go most places.”

He’s too damn sweet. “Quick in and out. We’re stopping by Nate Stewart’s house.”

“The guy who just died?”

“Yeah.”

“Doesn’t any part of that sound risky to you? Like horrifically risky?”

“Nah. Sounds exciting.”

“Hmm…” Ellis thinks a bit longer before going, “Hmmm” again. “You know what? I think we need to fix your idea of exciting. It should be like… ordering a water at a restaurant and filling the glass with Coke.”

I risk my life by taking my eyes off the road to stare at him. “You are a unique man.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not, but thank you?”

That makes me laugh.

“My… dad texted me about it.”

“Your dad?” Ellis asks.

“Yeah… He’s going to play it off like it’s in exchange for what he took. Honestly, it’s no big deal. This is what he does. Jump into my life and then fuck off for years.”

When I reach the location, Cassel has messaged me that he doesn’t believe there’s a security system, so I drive around the block just to see what I think of the place.

It’s an awfully nice house, and while it’s in the suburbs, the property is large enough that neither neighbor is anywhere close. Instead, a large brick privacy wall surrounds it.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Shouldn’t we wear masks or something?” Ellis asks.

“Cassel said there aren’t any cameras, but don’t touch too much if you can avoid it.”

“We don’t have gloves?”

“Does it look like I came here planning to break in?” I ask.

“But Cassel even had those little booty things.”

“Cassel’s just weird,” I decide. We really don’t need him thinking that Cassel is superior in any way.

“Ah, okay. Note to self: taking resources so the police can’t track you down and throw you in prison is ‘weird.’ Got it.”

I eye him as I shut the car off. “Don’t sass me. And don’t start thinking Cassel is better. He’s so… little and not better. You coming?”

“I was actually thinking I’d be like the person who calls you if someone shows up. I’d sit out here and like… do bird calls to you or something if I see anyone suspicious.”

“Nah, definitely don’t need anyone like that. Come on, I’ll show you how exciting it is,” I coax.

Ellis doesn’t look overly convinced as I get out of the car, but he does follow… holding the cake.

“Why do you have the cake?”

“The car’s too hot. You heard the lady. I don’t want it to melt. I thought I’d set it down in the shade, but now I’m being chewed out by a squirrel. You think he’d get into it?” He eyes the sassy squirrel.

“Don’t know and actually don’t care.”

“But I don’t want their cake ruined. Leland seemed to think it was pretty special. Is it Waylon’s birthday?”

“It’s probably The Fence’s birthday. Just… put it on the roof of the car.” Then if we forget it and it flies off, it’s really no big deal.

Ellis eyes the roof of the car. “In the direct sunlight?”

“Yep.”

I head toward the house, and after a moment, I realize he’s still carrying the cake box. “What are you doing?”

“Finding a shady spot.”

“What if you forget it and now your fingerprints are all over the cake box, and when the police show up to investigate, they’re going to find a weird cake sitting here. So they go to the cake company and they’re like ‘Yeah, yeah, a handsome lad with dark hair and brown eyes came in and picked that cake up.’ And they’ll be like ‘Weird, there’s a guy who meets that exact description who was in the building the dead guy was found in.”

Ellis hugs the cake to his chest. “I will not put it down.”

I meant for him to put it back in the car, but he’s determined now. So with a sigh, I leave him to it and head toward the rather large two-story home. We’ve let ourselves into the backyard and from this vantage point, I believe Cassel’s right since I don’t see a security system in place.

We walk around the large in-ground pool and over to a glass sliding door. Using my shirt, I check the door as Ellis juggles his cake while I choose to hold a much more important item: a gun. The door is firmly locked, so I look around for something hefty enough to break glass. I pick up a rock and chuck it at the door just as Ellis goes, “This window’s unlocked.”

The rock bounces off the sliding glass door and slingshots itself right at Ellis, who literally flings his body in the way of the rock so the cake remains unharmed.

Ellis gives me a look of disbelief. “What the fuck? You were crying about Leland breaking shit and now you’re doing the same thing! I almost dropped the cake!”

“Why the hell did you step into the rock? Now I look like the asshole beating you with rocks!”

“Because I didn’t want the cake to get damaged.”

“Forget the cake!”

Ellis looks horrified by the suggestion. “No! Leland’s done so much for us! He took us in. He’s fed us, clothed us, made a bed for us, and went and helped us deal with the bad guys! I want to do something for him!”

Where the hell did this kind soul come from? He’s like a rare item I must not let get tarnished.

“Okay,” I say. “Yeah, where’s this window?”

He nods at it, so I use my shirt to push it open before crawling inside.

“Can you… hold the cake while I come in?”

What am I doing with my life? “Sure.”

Ellis holds it out to me then hesitates. “You’re not going to like… drop it, right?”

“I would risk my life for this cake,” I say with enough sarcasm to frost the entire thing.

He raises an eyebrow. “Promise me. Pinky promise.”

“Yeah, yeah. Pinky promise.”

Ellis still seems quite skeptical when he hands me the cake. His eyes tell me that I better treat this cake with the care I would a newborn child. And just because he’s cute and not Leland, I do.

He hoists himself up and then wiggles a bit before his pants get a little snagged and he has to shift his ass to get through. I do my best to try not to glance at it as he does so.

“You looking at my ass?”

“I would never,” I assure him.

“Now I’m offended you’re not looking at my ass.”

“I mean… I’ve never seen a prettier sight.”

Ellis laughs and wiggles some more to get through in a way he won’t crash down on his head. “You made this look significantly easier than it is.”

“You’re not used to B and Es?” I tease.

“Bacon and eggs? Ooh, that sounds good. You want breakfast for lunch? I would say my treat, but I still have absolutely no money. I could pay you back, though.”

“Breaking and entering,” I clarify for the confused man.

“Oh. Significantly less delicious,” he says as he takes the cake back.

He cradles the cake box and hurries after me into the next room where someone goes, “ I’ll fuck you up .”

Ellis leaps off the floor, losing his hold on the cake that’s sent careening through the air, but I’m quick enough I grab it before it’s flipped over or hits the ground. In the same breath, I point my gun at the source of the noise.

“Fucking hell,” Ellis says as he grabs his chest and stares at the bird bobbing around inside a tiny cage. I don’t know much about birds, but it’s on the larger side and doesn’t seem to have much room.

“ I’ll fuck you up! I’ll fuck you up! ” the bird announces as it does a dumb little dance.

“Sure, sure. You just try to fuck me up,” I mutter as I wave my gun at it.

“Don’t you dare shoot the sweet bird,” Ellis says as he rushes over to it. “Oooh, who’s a pretty bird?”

The bird seems pleased by this if its weird little head bob has anything to say about it.

“You poor baby. Does anyone know you’re here?” He turns to look at me. “Did this Nate guy have family to come get the bird?”

“No, but someone will notice it. Why are you worried about the bird? It’s fine,” I growl as I stuff the cake back in his hands and continue on with my B&E.

“You’re in such a small little cage. What if you’re crammed in here for days until someone finds you? Why are you in such a small cage?”

I watch as he sets the cake down and opens the little door before sticking his whole damn hand in there! Like the thing could tear a fucking finger off and eat it for lunch, and he’s like “Here, have my whole damn hand!”

“What the hell are you doing? It’ll just rip your finger off. You don’t know if it’s nice!”

“I don’t think it’ll hurt me… I mean, it might, but I don’t think so. You wanna come out and stretch your wings? Can you even stretch your wings in this cramped little cage?” he says sweetly to the bird. He’s forgotten all about the mission as he gives up his hand to the bird. It holds out a talon and sizes up Ellis’s hand for a moment, likely trying to find where the vitals are, before poking his hand with a foot, like it’s testing it out before climbing on board. Then, when it’s situated enough to let Ellis pull it out, it hops off his hand and onto the top of its cage.

“Isn’t that a pretty bird?”

“ Pretty. Pretty ,” it repeats in its creepy bird voice as it hops this way and that.

“Ellis, come on.”

“Yes, you’re very pretty,” Ellis coos as he scratches the bird’s head. Its eyes get all half-lidded as it leans into it.

“Ellis,” I say, trying to remind him that we’ve broken in here for a very legit reason that doesn’t include playing with creepy birds.

“I have to go but I’ll make sure someone knows you’re in here, okay? That would be horrible if you starved because no one knew you were here.”

Clearly, all I need to do to have this man smitten by me is to coat myself in feathers and screech the word “pretty.”

“I’m leaving you.”

Ellis gives one last scritch then grabs the container of food and starts pouring it into the bowl until it’s heaping.

“You’re leaving fingerprints on everything .”

“Who the hell is going to dust the bird food container for fingerprints?” he asks as he then just pours the entire thing out while the bird dances, thrilled by this. “There you go, you cutie pie!”

“ I’m gonna fuck you up, ” the bird announces.

“I would prefer you didn’t,” Ellis says as he tries to rub the container clean of fingerprints, but like he said, no one is going to be checking it. Then he grabs the cake and hurries after me. That creepy feathered fucker glides down and struts after Ellis, screeching the whole way about how pretty Ellis (or it) is.

“Why is it following us?”

“She’s probably lonely,” Ellis says.

“I don’t trust birds. They’re just looking for ways to peck your eyes out.”

“Oh yes, I’m sure that’s all she’s thinking about.”

“You can tell the gender?”

“Absolutely not. I have no damn idea, but on the food container it said Daisy, so I assume she’s a female. She’s so cute. I’m pretty sure I already love her. She doesn’t really look like a Daisy, does she?” Ellis says. “Daisy?”

The bird doesn’t seem to be overly pleased when she hears that word. I don’t know a whole lot about birds besides the fact that this one is probably evil, but she’s definitely not as happy as she was when Ellis was calling her pretty.

“Do you not like that name?” he asks. “What about pretty bird. You like that?”

She’s immediately pleased again.

“Look at her following us! It’s so cute that I’ve almost forgotten all about the fact that we’ve broken into a dead guy’s house and are likely going to get murdered.”

I look over at the bird and am highly confused about what’s so cute about it, but boy does Ellis look delighted. It’s… ridiculously adorable. What the fuck do I have to do to get him to look at me like that? “If I strut after you and wave my arms around, will you look at me like that too?”

“Huh?” he asks as he glances over at me before giving me a beaming look that shoots me right in the goddamn heart. “Are you jealous of a little bird?”

“Maybe,” I grumble.

Ellis scrutinizes me for a bit, and because I can’t look less cool than a damn bird, I wink at him. It makes his smile fucking bloom across his face before he quickly looks away and rubs his face.

Fucking hell, he’s cute.

“What exactly are we looking for?” he asks as he trails after me.

“I… really don’t know. But Cassel asked for his laptop or computer. So we’ll see if we find anything like that.”

“Okay,” he says, but clearly all he knows how to do is smile at the weird bird.

The downstairs area doesn’t prove to have much, so we head upstairs.

“ You’ve been a bad boy, ” the bird tosses out.

“Why does this bird only say weird things?” I ask.

“I don’t know, but she’s cute, so she can say anything she wants,” Ellis decides, very pleased that the bird has followed us up the stairs. I think he would have been sad to see it stay behind, but I’m not quite sure why.

“This looks like an office space,” Ellis says as he rushes over to a door that’s cracked open. He pushes the door the rest of the way open and hurries inside. I follow behind him, immediately seeing the desktop computer on the desk.

“I just feel like there has to be something here for my father to have sent us here, right? I mean, maybe he meant there was something on the computer, but I feel like there’s more to it than that.”

“We can check drawers?” Ellis suggests as he sets the cake down and the bird hops around going, “ Bad boy. Bad boy. Motherfucker! Bad boy. ”

I start pulling open cabinets and rifling through them. There’s so much paperwork in them, and I have no damn idea what I’d even be looking for. Something that connects this guy to Arthur? To Ellis’s father Zachary? To the death of Arthur’s daughter Jasmine? I feel like nothing is clearcut or really even a lead to latch on to.

“ Oh noooooo. Oh nooooo ,” the bird continues on.

“We’re not being bad. We’re just looking for something,” Ellis assures it.

The bird’s probably considering how hard it’d be to tear out our jugulars.

“That thing creeps me out,” I say as I start unhooking the computer tower. I stop midway when I feel like I might have heard something, but the racket the bird is making might have covered it.

“What’s wrong?” Ellis asks.

“Not sure if I heard something. Just keep looking,” I instruct as I head to the sliding glass door that leads out onto a balcony. I unlock it and slide it open before stepping out onto the balcony, but I don’t see or hear anything.

I leave the door open just in case. “Bird, can you shut up?”

The bird looks offended, and I swear she sharpens her beak on the floor so when she goes for my jugular, she can tear it out with precision.

“How do you get this thing to stop talking?” I ask.

“Just ignore her,” Ellis says as he flips through the documents. “I’m not seeing anything.”

Now the bird is doing a weird little jig in front of the closet door. “Why’s it so obsessed with this closet?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she wants something out of it? Why don’t you close the sliding door so she doesn’t fly out? She’d be impossible to catch and wouldn’t handle our weather well as a free bird.”

“Sure, sure,” I say, heading over to the sliding door just as the closet door whips open.

The bird jerks back in alarm and starts flapping her wings as I begin to turn, but I am far too late when the person plows into me. The balcony railing hits my thighs a moment before I’m flipped right off it as I hear the bird go “Oh nooooooooo,” and as I plummet from the second floor, I swear I hear that feathered fucker laughing.