And in fact, the moment he was finished making faces at Luke, the door to 221B opened. A woman appeared, her blouse half opened, her eyes darting this way and that. The scent of alcohol wafted from her.

  She spotted Sean immediately. Sean flashed a goofy smile, trying to appear like he was just trying to make his way past her to another room.

  She staggered forward, one foot crossing in front of the other like she was trying to model down a catwalk. She then tripped on her own feet.

  Sean caught her, getting the strongest smell of vodka in his nose. She must have bathed in it.

  “Oh,” she said. “What happened to me?”

  “You tripped.”

  There was the sound of a car horn from below.

  The woman groaned and she immediately coughed, breathed, and spoke at the same time. “Don’t he know I’m workin’ here?”

  She left Sean to trapse down to the first floor. She spoke through the window of a black car at first, before eventually getting in. The car drove off.

  Luke popped up, walking over to Sean. “What did she mean, working?”

  Sean smirked and mussed Luke’s hair heavily. “I’ll explain it when you’re older, kid.”

  3

  Sean’s eyes refused to open, but he was awake. Barely.

  There was a warmth at his back. For a moment, he was okay with this. Not awake enough to notice what it was. A pillow. A hump of blanket bundled up behind him.

  ’How had he made it home?

  Awareness settled in. This was his condo. They’d been working on putting more furniture in it since he got it. But it was mostly bare bones.

  The living room couch had been ordered.

  The spare bed mattress was arriving... today?

  At least it was his own bed. The hospital’s beds were mostly just cots with over-bleached hospital bedding.

  Suddenly he realized the warmth at his back had to be Owen.

  This didn’t particularly matter. On several instances, they’d had to share a bed before, some smaller than this. What was amusing was that Owen was super close to his back. Was it that cold in here? He wasn’t sure. If they’d been at all attracted to each other, it’d almost be romantic.

  Instead, it was likely even Owen had found his limits. Instead of going home, he’d decided to stay here and was now passed out so hard that nudging up against Sean wasn’t even a factor.

  They were just in time for a much-needed break. The school project might prove a lifeline for them.

  Sean slowly rose from the bed, doing his best to ease himself out of the room as quietly as possible, not even daring to look at Owen. Owen didn’t often sleep past sunrise, so he must have needed the extra sleep.

  The kitchen in the condo was in serious disarray. The island was covered with moving boxes Sean had yet to even open. No food in the fridge except leftover takeout. Would Owen want Italian or Chinese for breakfast?

  Sean opted for the Chinese. He could eat it cold. He found a spoon and took the entire bag with him to the living room, where he sat cross-legged on the carpet. With a lack of access to the coffee table, he used a box to prop up his food.

  He popped up again to search for a cold brew coffee in the fridge. He needed a little pick-me-up now.

  How’d he get home last night?

  His mind struggled to recall. He remembered Mr. Marshall at the hospital. He remembered North and Luke asking for help with their project. He remembered dangling Luke off the side of a motel.

  All perfectly normal occurrences.

  But going home? It wasn’t coming back to him.

  He probably should go back to bed as his brain was so foggy, but now with an open container of boneless spareribs in front of him, he couldn’t stop his mouth from watering and his stomach from desiring the contents. As he ate, he drank the cold brew straight from the bottle.

  Heaven.

  Delightful.

  Best meal he’d ever had. Cold Chinese was the best food.

  He was working on slathering an eggroll with sauce when Owen finally made some noise from the bedroom and went straight for the bathroom.

  Before Sean could finish the dumplings, Owen returned with the smallest of small towels around his waist and wearing nothing else except his glasses, which were fogged. His chest still wet with droplets of water, his hair damp and combed back. Without hair on his torso, the droplets trailed down quickly, before being caught either by the towel, or on the very light strands of hair just above his crotch area.

  Sean had spaced out so much that he hadn’t even heard the shower running.

  “I don’t have spare clothes here,” Owen said.

  Sean blinked at him. “So?” he managed to say around a dumpling. It wouldn’t be the first time Owen had to borrow clothes.

  Owen stared at him for a moment, seeming oddly disappointed in him. He disappeared.

  But something was nagging the back of Sean’s brain. Why would he be disappointed in him? There was something that was obvious to Owen but Sean was struggling to catch up.

  What was it?

  He didn’t have spare clothes here.

  Why would that be a disappointment?

  Because he asked someone to drop things off... and it didn’t happen. Was it Sean? Was he supposed to?

  He shook his head. No. Family lead does that. He’d forgotten in his brain fog that he wasn’t even family lead anymore.

  Kota.

  Where was Kota?

  While Owen made noises in Sean’s bedroom, what sounded like him scouring through the boxes for clothing options, Sean tried to map out the last few days in his mind.

  He was off duty. While last night was a struggle, his load at the hospital should lighten considerably. That didn’t mean he was off work completely. He was just exchanging one set of hours for another.

  The school. He started at the school today.

  Registration was today.

  Easier work, or so he thought, and he’d be more on call for the hospital than keeping extra hours, relieving Dr. Roberts more. When did he have time to set up his new condo and unpack?

  Sean screwed his eyes shut and rubbed some sleep out of his lashes. Another few minutes and the caffeine might actually kick in...

  Kota.

  Kota was supposed to do this. At bare minimum, Kota was supposed to be making sure they had food, clothes and things ready so they could be prepared for the busiest times. This transition.

  Kota said he’d do it.

  And he hadn’t.

  Sean popped another dumpling into his mouth. Last night was the first night in a while that Luke had come to him for help. North... that could be understood. Sometimes you needed someone more ‘adult’ to help with things like security footage and securing it. But Luke... Where was Nathan? Or Gabriel?

  Sean looked around his living room and it was like he was seeing it for the first time in a week. Furniture still wrapped up, not put together. The patch of wall that needed to be repaired. The curtains... just put off to the side.

  The clothes not being out of the boxes.

  Suddenly, Sean got it and, at nearly the top of his lungs, he shouted into the empty space. “Where the hell is everyone?”

  Owen arrived in the living room, wearing jeans and a polo shirt, Sean’s clothes, fresh out of a box. He had his glasses off and was wiping them clean with a cloth, but his eyes flashed with that insatiable curious expression, when he knew something was off and he was about to get to the bottom of it. “That’s exactly what we’re going to find out.”

  4

  The ranch-style house of the Lee household seemed quiet for the moment. The red-brown brick stood out against the bright green lawn, giving it an inviting and cozy presence. The yard was well-kept with neatly trimmed shrubs lining the walkway.

  It was still early in the morning in August, and the sun was warm enough to make the grass glisten. It promised to be a humid day.

  Owen parked his BMW in the driveway. Sean gazed up to where Kota’s room was above the garage. “What do you think they are up to?” he asked.

  Owen appeared unnerved. He adjusted his glasses a little and then checked his phone, as if awaiting Kota to message him now. “I have my suspicions.”

  He and Sean shared a look before Owen continued, “But we can’t really be certain.”

  Sean nodded. “We need to be extra careful.” The silent agreement between them was crystal clear. There were very few things the boys would not turn to them about. Sean ran that short list of ideas through his mind quickly as he unbuckled and exited the car. Kota’s father was out of prison? He was due for parole sometime soon, if he remembered correctly. Although the Academy lawyers were fighting to at least delay it.

  Delay the inevitable.

  Had it happened already? Or it could be his mother or sister committed crimes and he was hiding them? One of the other guys on the team was in severe trouble?

  Still, he couldn’t imagine Kota would be the one to hide anything from them. He expected the other boys to perhaps. They still struggled on occasion to communicate. Kota was usually better than that.

  As it was, Kota’s mother’s car was here. If she wasn’t, they would walk right in through the garage door. Since she was home, and this was a surprise visit, out of courtesy, they decided to go to the front door.

  They stepped up onto the porch and rang the doorbell. Sometimes the direct approach was the best.

  A moment later, the door opened. Kota’s mother, Erica, stood to greet them. She wore a white shirt and blue jeans. Sean could smell a sweet, fruit-scented perfume as she looked at him with a smile. “Hello, you two. I haven’t seen either of you in a while.”

  “It’s been busy,” Sean said. “But we wanted to catch Kota before his registration. It’s today, isn’t it?” He knew the answer, but he was pretending to not know to give her a chance to talk. Maybe she could reveal a bit about what her son was up to.

  Erica’s gaze seemed to focus off into the distance as she tilted her head. “Is it? I suppose it is. I’ve been busy at the hospital as well.” She held open the door for them to enter. “Come in.”

  “Thank you,” Sean said.

  Owen followed him inside. He’d kept quiet, but Sean could tell he was studying their surroundings, and Erica, with interest.

  As they walked into the house, Erica shut the door and led them to the living room. There was a plastic basket on the coffee table, and the couch was partially covered with neatly folded laundry. The smell of something bakery sweet filled the air, as if someone was baking muffins. “He’s upstairs. I think I heard his shower running a moment ago.” She went back to plucking a towel out of the basket to fold.

  Normal. Everything seemed... normal. How odd. At least it was good to see Erica was fine, and the house seemed fine. “We’ll go upstairs,” Sean said.

  Owen and Sean made their way up the stairs to the room over the garage. Kota’s bedroom seemed normal at first glance, too. The blue carpet and papered walls were familiar to Sean. It was a large bedroom, but most of the furniture was pushed to the edges, making for more space in the middle. The shower was running, so they had a few minutes to explore.

  Instead of venturing further in, Owen took one look across the room and said, “Ah, I see.”

  Sean raised his brows in surprise. “You see? We just got here.”

  “Just look,” Owen said, and motioned with just a short wave of his fingers.

  In particular, he directed to the computer chair, positioned right at the window, where someone of Kota’s height could look out. Binoculars sat on the sill.

  The dents in the carpet near the chair suggest it had been there for quite some time.

  Then Owen pointed to the bed, where Kota’s had been made, but it was obvious the roll-out bed had been utilized recently, hastily made and pushed underneath. Not like Kota at all. Maybe one of the others had slept here.

  That wasn’t unusual, of course. Someone, maybe Nathan, maybe someone else, could have slept there and Kota hadn’t had a chance to fix up the bed like he usually did. The chair and the binoculars, however, suggested something that Sean felt was the most telling.

  “If I didn’t know Kota any better,” Sean said, “I’d crack a joke about peeping toms. For Kota and whoever stayed here last night.” He tilted his head. “Are they called peeping toms anymore? After all, girls peep as well...”

  Owen shook his head. “Let’s leave.”

  Sean wasn’t sure why Owen suddenly wanted to leave without just asking Kota what was going on. However, Owen silently turned and went down and Sean followed him out, waving to Erica on the way out.

  “He is in the shower,” Owen said. “But we have to get going. We just stopped to say hello since we were on this side of town. We’ll stop by later.”

  Erica smiled. “Want a muffin for the road?”

  “No, but thank you,” Owen said. “They smell delicious.”

  Sean gave a small wave, as it was clear Owen wanted to get out of there quickly and not stick around for small talk.

  Wanting to get out before Kota had a chance to realize they had been there?

  ♥♥♥

  Owen and Sean got back into the BMW and Owen put the car into reverse.

  Once they pulled out of the driveway, Sean said. “What do you think it is?”

  Owen turned the car around to exit via the other end of the street. “It’s somewhere down here...” He drifted off, seeming to ignore Sean’s question, peering over the steering wheel toward homes further down the road.

  Sean fiddled with his seatbelt. The sound of the seatbelt sliding back and forth across Sean’s lap filled the car with an uneasy background noise as Owen became fixated with whatever he was studying along the street.

  Outside, it was a quiet day on Sunnyvale Court, at least this early in the morning.

  Owen slowed down in front of the gray house. It seemed barren except for one car at home. Two stories. The shades were mostly pulled down, and the long tan driveway was lined on either side with short cut grass, with a very plain lawn.

  “It’s something that is happening here,” Owen said.

  Sean gazed at the house. It was too neat. Too... empty. There was little to go on, information wise. The only car was a small blue one, at least a decade old.

  “Kota is spying... isn’t this the new neighbors?” Sean remembered there was a new family in Kota’s neighborhood. Were they trouble? Was Kota trying to figure out what they were up to?

  Owen didn’t say anything and Sean found himself wishing he had kept quiet. All of his questions were probably obvious to Owen who had a way of sometimes not answering when Sean should be able to figure out the answer for himself.

  It wasn’t like Kota to do something like spy on neighbors, but it was the only reasonable explanation for what they had seen in the bedroom. So what could it be? Had they given him some trouble? A new boy that could be a bully?

  And the others were in on it, too. Someone had slept there last night, so it meant at least one of the others knew about it. How many? And was this why they weren’t engaged with helping North and Luke tackle the motel project?

  Maybe there was something else going on that Sean and Owen hadn’t even considered yet.

  5

  After Owen had a chance to change into his usual gray suit and maroon tie and Sean had traded in comfortable clothes for slacks and a tie for registration day, they made their way to Goose Creek to find the school that would be their new project. They’d been here a couple of times before, but usually it had been at night, for meetings. And most of those had been with just Owen.

  Ashley Waters High School wasn’t much to look at. Even for the middle of August, the lawns were dry with patches of dirt and the very few decorative bushes appeared to be on the verge of dying, or were already dead.

  The building itself was brick, with uninteresting windows and plain glass doors. Behind it was a large football stadium, some baseball fields and tennis courts, and a long line of trailers for classes, installed when the local student population had outgrown what the old school could hold.

  And that was the problem with Ashley Waters. Too many students, many of them from poorer neighborhoods. Without proper funding, they’d get a poorer education experience. It would make their futures that much harder.

  To improve the community, start with kids, giving them every opportunity. That was what improved neighborhoods. Better opportunities decreased interest and necessity in committing crimes in teenagers. That was what the Academy was trying to accomplish, and had done so in several smaller neighborhoods.

  This project would be one of their biggest. Sean considered the time and effort it would take. A school year to figure out where the lost funding went that the school desperately needed. It should be enough to give a down payment, at minimum, for starting to build a better school.

  Sean was hoping they would be able to afford to tear it down and start over again. The whole thing probably needed to be reworked.

  Owen parked his BMW in the teacher’s parking lot. There were few cars in already. Most faculty that had arrived would be setting up their desks and classrooms and assisting with scheduling students as they registered today.

  Owen double-checked his face in the mirror in the car, appearing immaculate. Sean often tried to get him to take off the jacket, or at least switch the tie. He understood Owen liked his own uniform, but it didn’t stop Sean from trying to get him to change things up every now and again.

  Sean quickly combed his hair with his fingers, as if to assure himself that he had brushed his hair and it wasn’t sticking out all over the place. He gazed at the school’s uninspiring entrance.

  “Don’t forget our main objective,” Owen said.

  “To keep an eye on the people in charge?”

  Owen raised a brow. “No...”

  Before Owen could tell him, Sean jumped in to try again. “To find the money and return it in one night so we can impress... you know who.”

  “No,” Owen said again, sounding more annoyed. “We...”