FREDDY (WITH THE HOT BUTT)
hey
have i said how sry i am
bc im super sry
Wynert being real twat 2day
drinks wed nite?
Hey. Sorry for not responding
i dont mind
I've been thinking about what you said last night
Maybe things are going a bit too fast
oh
Perhaps we should take a short break?
oh
ok
Just need some time to think
sure watever u need
Jacob stares at his mobile and has to resist the urge to fling it against the nearest wall. Fucking perfect, he thinks. Just fucking perfect.
It's well past seven in the morning when he's finally able to leave a terrible shift and drag his tired feet home. All he wants is to do brush his teeth and fall on the sofa; sleeping might let him forget Freddy's sad face, and he needs a break from that image in a real and meaningful way.
But when he walks in, Henry Green is sitting at the kitchen table.
Jacob's brain takes a few seconds to tick this over. "Greenie? Why are you here so earl…" Then he spots Evie in the kitchen, wearing her robe and a bright red face, and it all slots together. "Oh- oh-ho. Oh-ho."
She covers her face with a hand. "Jacob, please don't."
"Well done, you two! It's about bloody time." He claps Henry on the shoulder. "So was it- actually, oh my God, ew, don't tell me anything, la la la, gross."
Henry looks torn between being thrilled and embarrassed. It's disarmingly sweet, and Jacob feels the deeply seated urge to taunt something so pure kick into high gear.
He slides into the chair beside Henry and throws his arm around Henry's shoulder, leaning in with a grin. "So what d'you say, Greenie? You've tried out one Frye, ready for another? I'm ever so much more adventurous than she is."
Henry's face flames into a brilliant shade of magenta and Jacob cackles, quickly pulling out his mobile to document it. There's a blur of movement out of the corner of his eye and he lurches back just in time to avoid the spatula that Evie whips at his head, her aim and precision deadly. It clatters to the ground and she picks up their egg-timer, ready to throw again.
"Fine, fine," Jacob yells, raising his hands in surrender, still laughing. "Seriously, though, this is excellent." It's good that someone is happy in love, anyway. He claps Henry on the shoulder again and staggers away towards the shower. He really does need to clean up and get some sleep.
Even with the door closed behind him, he hears Evie say "don't worry about him, Henry. He's an idiot."
Henry makes a relieved noise.
"Don't get me wrong," she continues, "he did steal a boyfriend from me once back in secondary, but I know where he sleeps."
When he eventually wakes up, the afternoon sun slanting through the windows, Jacob shuffles off of the sofa and slaps a piece of paper down on the dining room table. After staring at it with a frown for a few minutes, he takes a pen and carefully begins to write.
Things That Freddy Likes, One Of Which I Can Hopefully Use To Win Him Back:
- West Ham United
- Mint Aero bars
- Blowjobs
- Compact semi-automatic Smith & Wesson .45
- The Great British Bake-Off
- Soft socks
- London Porter Beer
- Things that smell like cinnamon?
- Lemon iced lollies
- Catching bad guys
- Cats (the musical, not the animal, allergic to the animal)
- Australia
He sighs and leans back in his chair. Beer and candy are unimaginative and boring. He can hardly get a Smith & Wesson to Freddy without breaking about a million laws, which Freddy would definitely dislike. He can't properly afford tickets to Cats or the next West Ham United game, let alone Australia. The Great British Bake-Off would be difficult to incorporate short of abducting Mary Berry, which seems overly complicated and is probably a bad idea anyway.
He considers the blowjob option for a while. For longer than is strictly necessary, probably, mostly because it lends itself to some nice daydreams. But in the end, he admits to himself that it would be tricky to find the right amount of privacy for a surprise blowjob and if there's something that Freddy hates more than anything in the world, it's the potential for being embarrassed in public (which is unfortunate, given Jacob's propensity for embarrassing him). Best to not start with that.
The list is still on the table when Evie clicks through the door, and Jacob quickly stuffs it into his pocket before shooting her a bright smile. "Good day?"
She narrows her eyes at him. "We need to talk."
"Uh-oh. Is this about Greenie? I promise that I'm not actually going to-" She settles down across from him, and he trails off when he spots the serious look in her eyes. "What's wrong?"
"Why is Pearl Attaway bragging about kissing you?"
Of all the things that he might have expected, that wasn't even on the list. "I beg your- what? Seriously? Kissing and telling is so tacky."
"This is serious, Jacob. She was bragging to my boss and to someone called Maxwell Roth. Does the name ring a bell?"
It does, somewhere far off in the corner of Jacob's brain, and he holds a finger up to Evie while he returns to the sofa and digs through his things. Crumpled in the pocket of his jacket, he finds the old business card and hands it to her. "I know he's been trying to recruit some of my staff."
Evie smooths out the card. "She referenced him running some kind of coup of Eden. Why would he want the firm? Why would he want your staff?"
"Search me."
"I think it's related to the collaboration of Starrick and Attaway somehow, because it all seems to lead back to that, but I can't figure out how." She sets her head down on the table and groans, a feeble sound. "I've been working at this for far too long to not have any proper leads, but I feel like everything is just out of reach. It's definitely corruption of some kind, and there's money involved somehow, and I think there's a charity for refugees and moving children involved in some way, and I just know that it's all completely illegal at the root of it…"
She's still talking, but Jacob isn't listening any more. Illegal. Starrick is doing something illegal, of course, and so is this Roth character, and that's why Evie is investigating them. He had always listened when she talked about it before, of course. And he had tried to help with Attaway. But it had really been more of a half-hearted-brother-helping-annoying-sister-so-she-stops-talking-about-this sort of thing.
He pulls out his list discreetly under the table and opens it, ignoring Evie's rambling. And there it is, near the bottom.
Catching bad guys.
A big gift. Something spectacular.
He interrupts Evie's flow of thought to grip her hand, so forcefully that she looks up in surprise. "It's your lucky day," he says confidently. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this for you, because I'm the best brother in the world. You sit tight. I'm going to figure out how Roth is connected." He's already tugging his coat on and reaching for his shoes while she gapes at him. "Us Fryes, we've got this in the bag. You wait and see."
"What? Huh? Jacob, what-"
"Don't wait up!" he shouts, racing out the door.
There were some raised eyebrows when George left Jacob in charge of Eden Security, and Jacob knows it. He's young, and going purely by experience, there were lots of better candidates around.
But Jacob also knows that George left him the job for a good reason. A simple reason, as well.
Jacob is damned good at his job.
It takes an hour to find Roth's home address (forty-five minutes of that time being the process of shaking Wynert awake and ignoring his death threats). In another hour, Jacob obtains a working knowledge of Alhambra security – the official front, which is security detail and monitoring, and the real business, which mostly deals in protection rackets and drug trade.
It's almost supper time when Jacob is confidently knocking on Roth's door, smiling widely when a trim man in a suit opens the door.
"Cheers," Jacob starts. "I'm here to see a Mr. Roth."
"May I ask who to announce?"
"Jacob Frye."
The man raises an eyebrow and disappears down the hallway, leaving Jacob to shake the damp off of his coat. The whole place is decorated in a Colonial era England vibe, with dark wood panelling and maps on the walls.
Re-emerging from the end of the hall, the man intones, "Mr. Roth will see you. This way," beckoning Jacob down a corridor.
The office is as fancy as the hallway, and when Roth holds out his hand to give Jacob's a firm shake, Jacob takes the chance to give his most charming smile.
"You're an honoured guest," Roth starts, his voice somehow raspy and filled with energy all at once. "Come, sit."
They settle down in two plush arm chairs, the wood groaning a little under Jacob's weight.
Roth leans back and regards Jacob with a tilted head. "It's good to finally meet you, face to face. I've had my eye on you for some time."
"Should've come said hello directly, then."
"But where would be the fun in that, my boy?" Roth cracks a grin. "Surprise is the spice of life. And besides, I knew you'd come to me, eventually."
They stare at each other for a few moments, thrown into shadow when a log in the fancy fireplace suddenly crumbles with a crash of sparks. Jacob can see that Roth is practically vibrating with a manic energy, almost a hunger, and it's accompanied by a look that he recognizes all too well.
"Well," Jacob says, "you were right, and I'm here now. Care to tell me why you're so interested in my business?"
Roth chuckles. "Not particularly, no."
"Pity. Either way, how do you feel about easing up on trying to recruit my staff from under me? It's not going to work, anyway."
Nodding slowly, Roth folds his hands together. "You do seem to have an admirably loyal workforce."
"Besides," Jacob adds, leaning forward onto his knees so that his hands are a hair's breadth from Roth's legs. "I have a much better idea."
"Oh?" The hungry look is intensifying. Yes, Jacob thinks, definitely not my imagination.
"How about we work together? Join forces. Conglomerate."
There's a long silence while Roth's eyes narrow. He leans forward slowly, until their faces are inches apart. "I wouldn't be opposed to the idea. But what, exactly, would you get from this arrangement?"
Jacob deliberately looks Roth up and down, really working his best slow smile. "I can think of some advantages." Then he suddenly huffs, leaning backwards into his chair. "Besides, this whole thing is a lot more work than I'd expected. I thought it would be a lark, you know, being the boss? But it's actually just a lot of filing and accounting and I'm bloody sick of the lot of it. Would be nice to be able to hand that off to someone else."
Roth slowly rises then, pulling an expensive looking bottle of liquor out of a cabinet. "To a mutually beneficial arrangement, then."
Jacob follows, accepting a glass and softly laying a hand on Roth's cheek, tracing the scar that bisects his face. "To a mutually beneficial arrangement." So simple, Jacob thinks. It's helpful that the man clearly wants to believe that this is happening. With his focus completely drawn in that direction, he doesn't even notice when Jacob slips a sedative in his glass.
When Jacob steps back into the hallway, Wynert is leaning against the panelled wood.
Jacob shoots him a thumbs up. "Where's the butler fellow?"
"His name is Lewis, and he's busy. The less we share, the better- which, by the way, is why I'm not asking why you've decided on this insanity. Roth?"
"Out cold," Jacob says. "You get to work, I'm gonna find a bedroom and undress him. Leave a sexy note, some empty bottles, and a few bruises. Hopefully he'll just think he had the time of his life-"
Wynert suppresses a delicate shudder, which Jacob ignores.
"- and if he doesn't, well, I don't actually care. If I get my way, he's going to have other things on his mind anyway. See you in fifteen."
When Jacob makes it back downstairs, Wynert is plugged into Roth's computer, fingers rapidly flying along the keyboard. Ignoring him, Jacob begins to make his way around the room, first focusing on the bookshelves, then the fireplace, then spaces along the wall.
Wynert interrupts him without looking up from the computer. "Do you really think he would hide things in here? I would definitely opt for a warehouse or somewhere a bit more secure."
Jacob shakes his head. "Does Maxwell Roth really look like the trusting sort to you? No, he'll want everything somewhere nice and close, where he can keep an eye on it."
"You're the boss," Wynert grunts.
Jacob feels a grin begin to form when a latch suddenly clicks under his fingers behind a portrait, and the panel swings forward to reveal a safe. A biometric panel is on the door, obviously requiring a retinal scan and fingerprint.
Wynert raises his eyebrows. "Well, I'll be damned. Now what? Are you going to take whatever's in there?"
Swinging around to frown at Wynert, Jacob quickly shakes his head. "Don't be mad, of course not. No, I'm just going to spread it around a bit- providing that some of it is heroin, which I'm pretty sure it should be- and make sure it's clearly visible from outside." Just cause for entry and whatnot.
"You're… What?"
"And then we're going to wait until midnight."
If Wynert's eyebrows went any higher, they would lift clear off his face. "Midnight? Why midnight?"
Because midnight is the shift change at the Yard, and Freddy works nights on Thursdays. "No reason."
"All right… What happens at midnight?"
"We leave. You take everything you find straight to Evie, and you two work out why Roth is working with Starrick."
"That's it?"
"Well, okay, I set fire to the bins outside and smash a window and then we leave once we've made sure that someone calls 999."
There's a long beat of silence where they look at each other. Then, with a shrug, Wynert turns back to his computer.
Starting to feel giddy, Jacob runs up to go retrieve Roth's limp form for the scanner. Hang on, Freddy, he thinks- I've got Detective Inspector in the bag.