All of the Lights (32 page)

My heart clenches at what this means. He's just told me something only his family members know about my brother, a family secret of sorts, and I just want to lean in closer to him. His musk already fills up the truck—a heady concoction of pine and fresh rain—and if I do lean in closer, I'm terrified of what else I might do, what else I might say. So I keep my distance, even if I can only get a few feet away.

"Thank you for telling me that," I whisper as I let my eyes drift back over to him again.

His lips pull apart in an easy smile. "No problem."

After that, I don't know what else to say. His gaze lingers, or maybe my eyes are just playing tricks on me, and then he blows out a deep breath as he folds his arms underneath his head behind his seat. We endure a few more moments of awkward silence before we finally see what we've been waiting for: some movement from the restaurant. Jack jerks up to the steering wheel and leans forward just enough to get a closer look while I ready the camera on my phone.

As soon as the mayor emerges, it's just more of the same thing we've seen all week. He slides smoothly into the car idling by the side of the street and then the car drives away. Jack jumps into action, shifting into drive and takes us around the block so we can get a view at the back of the restaurant, but it's too late. There isn't a car or person in sight.

"Goddammit!" Jack smacks his hand on the steering wheel.

I swallow tightly, but I feel the tension just as much as Jack does. Maybe he was right before. We can't keep doing this and expect different results every time. It's just not going to happen. The mayor is too smart for that and if he really is meeting with people he shouldn't be, there's always a way to explain it even if we're able to get evidence of the meeting. They were a potential investor, the restaurant owner invited him in for lunch, the owner's an old friend from college...he could say virtually anything and we'd never be able to disprove it completely unless we knew exactly what happened in there.

And even if we could somehow prove him wrong, I still just don't know how that helps Sean.

All we have left is the Gianottis. Like playing with fire, it's a gamble we're just going to have to take.

THE NEXT DAY, all I have to do is just hold out for a few more minutes. At this point, I really should have this routine down, but every time I have to do it, the frustration only deepens. We've only been at this for two weeks and already, I'm just as sick of it as Jack is. I know we need to have patience, that we need to wait until an opportunity arises, but I'm tired of seeing the same song and dance over and over again.

I glance around the corner, right in position to get all the intel I need, and still nothing yet. The mayor's meeting was supposed to wrap up ten minutes ago and there's still no sign of him. So here I am, reduced to lurking in corners and spying on the one person who can bring us all down with the flick of his finger.

This entire operation is a house of cards. One wrong move and it'll tumble to the ground at a moment's notice.

That moment arrives when I come face to face with the mayor, who materializes in the wrong hallway. And by wrong hallway, I mean
wrong
hallway. His schedule was clear—I'd even checked it with Denise before I started my lurking—and based off the meeting he'd just left, he should've been coming from the completely opposite end of City Hall.

I'm so thrown off-kilter by this revelation that my mind just completely blanks. The mayor halts right in his tracks, his mouth hanging open a little in surprise, and his eyes narrow ever so slightly. That subtle accusation is enough to jar me back into reality and I have to plaster on a fake smile when he takes a step my way.

"Dad. Hey," I greet him.

There's really nothing I can do about how breathless my voice sounds. He's caught me literally red-handed and it's going to be all I can do to just keep from pissing my pants, let alone form a coherent sentence.

"Raena," he nods tightly and he takes another step toward me, sliding his hands in his front pockets and narrowing his eyes at me. "What brings you here today?"

"Uh," I swallow hard. Thinking on my feet and lying...those things used to come pretty naturally to me, up until now. Now, I've got nothing. "I, uh...I was just in the neighborhood and I thought I'd swing by."

He looks at me like how he might appraise a two-year-old and when he finally speaks, each word is slow and clipped. "You were just in the neighborhood."

"Yeah, uh, I told Lucy that I'd stopped by here earlier this week to see if we could get some lunch together and she thought that was a great idea. You know, because you're always so busy and I thought that maybe if you could spare a little time today or tomorrow—"

"I'm sorry," he interrupts with a wave of his hand like the motion might somehow make me disappear. "Preparing for the fundraiser gala this weekend has me swamped for the rest of the week. You'll have to tell your sister I'll just have to plan something with her next week."

I open my mouth to tell him the idea was for all three of us to be together, but those words fall short. Even if it wasn't a lie, I don't want it to be true. And unfortunately for me, that also doesn't ease the sting of yet another rejection.

So instead, I just nod and reply: "Sure, Dad. I'll make sure I tell her."

Now I needed to cover my ass with Lucy, too. Just great.

At the very least, he seems satisfied with the exchange and he sets back on his previous path without another word. It's just as well. I don't think I have it in me to say much else, but by the time I get back to where Bennett and Jack wait for me in the Prius, I'm shaking so hard I can barely get the door open to slide into the back seat. The opposite door opens just a few moments later and Jack slides in next to me as Bennett whips around in the driver's seat with wide eyes.

"Rae?" Bennett whispers. "What happened?"

I shake my head and try to push my purse to the ground, but my hands are trembling too much for that to happen easily. My purse suddenly slips off my shoulders and I realize that's because Jack is setting it on the floor next to me.

"Rae," he murmurs, his grey eyes boring into me. "What happened?"

I suck in a deep breath and when I exhale, the words come tumbling out. "He saw me."

"Shit," Jack winces and scrubs both hands across his face.

Bennett twists even deeper into his seat. "Are you okay?"

I nod as much as I can muster, but it's weak. Just like me. Weak and shaken. Helpless and useless.

"Just drive, Benn," Jack tells him quietly.

That snaps me out of it and I jerk my head toward the front seat. "What do you mean? We haven't seen him leave yet."

"We can't tail him today," Jack shakes his head at me. "Not after he saw you. It's too risky."

All the air rushes out of my lungs and I squeeze my eyes shut. This can't be happening. I've ruined everything—there's no way we can keep tailing him now, not with the mayor's suspicion weighing on me.

"Look," Jack's voice feels like it's right next to my ear. "It was bound to happen eventually. We all know that. It's not your fault, Rae, okay? We'll figure something else out, especially now that Brennan's set up that meeting for me tonight."

"Tonight?"

"Yeah," he shrugs. "It'll be good, I'll scope everything out, see what the Gianottis really want from me and then I can scope out what kind of security they have around them."

"By yourself? What happened to—"

"I'll be with Brennan. It'll be fine."

God. He really isn't going to back down from this. Jack setting up a fight with anyone connected to the Gianotti brothers still seems like the worst idea I've ever heard, but then again, he's right about this too. Now that the mayor's onto me, if he wasn't before, we're all out of other options.

"Where's the meeting?"

"At one of their clubs in the North End."

Now, I see an opportunity and decide to take it. "So then Benn and I can hang out in the background and I can see if I recognize anyone. Sounds perfect."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Bennett calls out from the driver's seat and waves a finger in the air just for good measure. "Who said anything about hanging out in the background?"

"And," Jack eyes me carefully as he speaks. "I thought you had to close tonight."

"I do," I just lift a shoulder. "But it's not like Benn and I can't drop in after I'm done at the store."

Jack's gaze clouds over and he shakes his head. "I don't know what the security's gonna be like there and I won't be able to help you guys if you get into trouble. Besides, what happens if someone recognizes you? Why don't we just wait to see how this first meeting goes and take it from there?"

The problem is that I don't want to wait. I don't want to sit on my hands in my apartment tonight and wonder what's happening at that club without me. I don't want to miss a chance to finally find something we can use.

"I'm pretty sure you were the one who said nobody can go off on their own and Brennan doesn't count because he doesn't know what's going on. Maybe nothing will come of it, but we have to try. What if
I
recognize someone? That would be the breakthrough we're looking for."

Jack's eyebrows knit together and I can see the wheels in his head turning, trying to find a way out of this. It's his own fault for setting up that meeting without really talking to me about it—him mentioning it in passing once the call was already made doesn't count. We need to gain some ground and this might be the only way to do it.

"Well," Bennett offers as he turns into the parking lot for a drive-thru. "To be fair, when Rae and I went to Na Soilse, no one recognized her. Not even you, my friend."

Jack resorts to chewing on his bottom lip and he glances at me for just a second before shifting his hard gaze out the window.

"I think all of the lights in that club might help keep us hidden a little," he continues, shooting me a quick, supportive grin from the rearview mirror. "You know, all the flashing and strobing or whatever? No one will even see her, let alone know who she is. And if someone does, I'll get her out of there."

Jack opens his mouth to reply, but I cut him off.

"And if it should somehow get back to the mayor that Benn and I were there, all I have to do is say I didn't know who owned it and that we just wanted to try out a new club."

It's a dangerous, risky little game we're playing here, but I don't know any other way to play it. And, it seems, neither does Jack. He pushes out a deep, resigned sigh and runs a hand over his face before finally meeting my gaze again.

"I guess I can't stop you if that's what you really wanna do."

My lips break apart into a wide, victorious grin and his mouth quirks up a little before he turns his attention to the front of the car to tell Bennett what to order for him. That's the most I get from him the rest of the time he's in the car and something about that hits me deeper than I'd like.

"
CAUSE PENNY AND me like to roll the windows down
..." Bennett sings along as we wave a hand in the air through our rolled down windows. He nods to me and now it's my turn. Luckily for me, we dropped Jack off at his truck before Bennett decided to fill his Prius with the sounds of the musical trinity known as Hanson.

"
Close our eyes, pretend to fly,"
I sing and for a moment, I really do close my eyes. The stress of this day is behind me now, if only for this moment when I'm here, alone in this car with my best friend, free to let everything else go because I know Bennett will catch me.

Bennett joins in with me for the last line of the chorus, "
It's always Penny and me tonight."

I'm still smiling, even though the only real reasons I have to smile today are the sun and the wind on my face, when my phone buzzes in my purse. My lips turn down when I don't recognize the number calling me, but I still swipe across the screen anyway to hear:
This is a collect call from...
and then I hear a distinct, familiar voice...
Sean Callahan...
the automated voice returns to finish out the message,
an inmate at the Massachusetts Correctional Institute in Concord. If you would like to accept this call, press one.

My hands are shaking, but I somehow hit the right button as my heart leaps up into my throat.

"Hello?"

Then I hear that voice again. "Hey, Rae."

"Hey, Sean."

I squeeze my eyes shut to fight off the stinging, but a tear slips down my cheek despite my best efforts.
My head turns just enough to find Bennett observing with both eyebrows lodged high into his forehead and I swallow tightly.

"I hope it's okay that I'm calling," Sean continues and I can hear other muffled voices in the background. "Jack gave me your number yesterday. He told me he thought you'd probably like hearing from me, so...like I said, I hope it's okay."

"Of course it is," I nod into my phone even though he can't see it. "You can call whenever you want."

"That's good to hear," he chuckles and then his voice turns more serious. "Hey, just so you know, all these calls get recorded so, maybe, don't say anything you wouldn't want someone else to hear, yah know?"

"Okay. Got it."